Hard to get excited when it doesn't feel real!

---

As I sit here nursing my sprained ankle, trying to motivate myself to pack and always being asked by folks if I am excited, I realize that I always have a hard time getting excited for trips because they never feel real. Not until I am zipping up my fully packed bag and heading out the door to the airport does it start to sink in. Therefore all of this prep work feels a bit silly and I probably have not done nearly enough of it. I got severely sidelined by this ankle injury that happened in my soccer game on Wednesday night. I sprained the same ankle I have hurt many times before and have spent the last couple days trying my best to take care of it, but it is still quite swollen and is producing all sorts of lovely blues and purples. Good timing right before a trip devoted to backpacking and hiking! I don't like the idea of having to baby it, but that is the only way I am going to make it through these next three weeks without stranding myself somewhere out in the bush :)

Enough of that, on to the exciting things! I leave Monday night to catch a plane to Sydney. My plan is to spend a couple days there before heading up to the Blue Mountains which surround Sydney and are supposed to be full of amazing hiking. I will return to Sydney for a few days before catching an overnight bus down to Melbourne. After exploring there for a couple days I will hop on a ferry to the island of Tasmania and spend about a week and a half working my way south along the east coast to Hobart. From Hobart I will take a plane back to Sydney the morning of the 24th to catch my flight back to SFO. These plans may change as I get advice or fall in love with certain places and want to stay longer. I do really need to do some more research but with Halloween and everything else going on in the Bay right now, I keep getting distracted.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my updates, which I will do my best to post regularly. The first half of my trip I am sure I will have access to the internet, but not sure how things will be once I get down to Tasmania. If you would like to subscribe to my blog it will email you whenever I post, or you can just check in as you feel like it.

So much love and thank you's to everyone who helped me get ready for this trip! A big special thanks to Timmy for finding my incredibly cheap plane ticket and to Rachel for letting me borrow her backpack :)
Love, love, love,
Sanje

---