Hey all,
Just wanted to let everyone know that i managed to make it down under alright. My 14 hour plane ride to Sydney from San Fran was pretty long, especially because i was in the economy section with all the little babies. Who liked to cry.
I landed in Sydney at about 6:15 am local time (i dont know what that is back home, just that i was reallly tired), got through customs with my brothers two wishlist items ok, and managed to get to the hostel via shuttle bus. I met a Canadian university student from victoria who had been working in Malaysia, and sat next to a British guy who ended up being at the same hostel as me for the first night (we waved at one another from the elevator when we saw each other, and i havent seen him since. I dont even know his name, so maybe thats not a bad thing). My hostel is pretty nice, close to a lot of the touristy things which i am hopeing to hit up soon. I was too tired to really venture out anywhere yesterday, and ended up falling asleep at about 3pm local time, and waking up at about 7am today. Today, i managed to defy all directional laws by heading off in one direction, taking two rights over the course of about an hour and a half, and walking back to my hostel from the opposite direction. I guess i am just talented like that.
Thats pretty much been my only semblance of an adventure thus far. I managed to get a plug converter (but not for the voltage) today, and luckly both my camera charger and laptop have something which prevents them from getting electronically fried built in. I've decided not to tempt fate with my ipod, and will wait until i get down to Wollagung to see my brother. So, in about 12 hours, i can start snapping pictures (if i manage to stay awake), and it will hopefully allow for an adventure of some sort tomorrow. I'm hopeing to hit up the aquarium or wildlife world before i head down to see him, but unfortunately my roomies dont seem particularly interested in any of that stuff (one spends all her time in our room, sleeping or on her laptop, and the other heads out at 7am and gets back fairly late. we currently have an empty bed, which i'm hopeing gets filled soon). So, have tried to meet people at the hostel, and while most people seem pretty nice, almost all have their own little groups made up. So i might lone ranger it until wallagong, and then see what nick (possibly tornado dave) and i manage to get up to. Am hopeing to maybe meet up with Katie from highschool, but the phones here are pretty odd and charge A LOT, so i never seem to have much time on them. I'm also planning on heading down to Melbourne sometime soonish to see Lauren M, a girl guide friend.
Hopefully i'll be back on soon with an update, but my internet looks like it might be running low on aussie dollars (if someone knows, please tell me what the currency here is called!)