A quick visit to a land I love... Australia

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My visit to Australia was short and sweet. I arrived in Sydney and spent two nights at Base Sydney where I was able to rendez-vous with friends from New Zealand who were planning to spend a number of months in Australia and happened to arrive the same day as myself! I had a short visit with my friend Cheryl who I worked with at the restaurant in Ottawa... her and her man live around Bondi beach and were very hospitable. We watched an "old" episode of Grey's Anatomy, they are a little behind on this side of the ocean!

Arriving Sunday, I flew out Tuesday to Adelaide for a visit with some special people in my life. I spend my days with Danny, Ryan, Chantelle, all friends I spent time with in Darwin... 7 whole years ago! It was amazing to see them all again and felt like nothing had changed even though I suppose in many ways we've all had time to "grow up". I regret that I don't have any photos with Ryan and Chantelle though I can share that we had a really great Indian dinner on Wednesday night and spent the rest of the evening catching up. They hadn't seen Danny in ages, even though they all live in the same city now, so I think everyone got a lot out of catching up. During the day on Wednesday, Danny's mum Chris (yes, we have the same name!) took me on a "tour" of Adelaide. We got outside the city and saw Victor Harbour where many Adelaide folk go to vacation. We walked across to Granite Island and took a horse drawn trolley back. It was really neat! She is SO lovely, and I think we both really appreciated finally meeting after so many chats, letters and emails. On thursday I helped "babysit" Danny's nephews so that mommy and daddy could celebrate Valentine's day without their adorable children driving them crazy! We took the boys down to Christie's beach, visited with Danny grandmother who quite honestly gave me trouble for not staying longer (she's such a funny lady!), and had a little barbeque in the evening. On Friday I spent the afternoon with Chantelle. We went for sushi, visited and winery and chatted... a lot. We had so much to catch up on, I wish we could have many more days like that. I'm sure someday... Friday evening I went to the CIRCUS with Danny, Michael, Jacqui and the boys. There were some pretty amazing acrobats; reminding me that I still need to see Cirque du Soleil... perhaps if I get to rendez-vous with Holly in Las Vegas someday?

On Saturday afternoon I had to leave Adelaide. It was a sad day as I had such an amazing visit. Danny's family, Ryan and Chantelle were all so wonderful to me and it was really comforting on a trip like this to have a taste of "family". Hope I get to spend more time with them someday in the future!

I spent the next two days in Sydney trying to get my "life" organized. So many flights to sort out now that I must cancel my time in Kenya. Am working on a new adventure in Portugal and Spain with Michelle and am SO glad she's decided to come share some of this trip with me. It hasn't been too fun trying to coordinate with airlines, but it will be all worth it in the end! On Monday evening, I left Australia for Bangkok... That is where I am writing to you from... Keep checking for updates, I know Southeast Asia is going to be an INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE!

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