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Published: November 30th 2007
hello again!
A lot has happened since I last updated...lets see where to start. In the last week Danielle's cat had kittens, they are so tiny and adorable, so that was pretty exciting.
Sarah and I flew to Melbourne on the 17th, to stay with Josh, another one of our friends from camp. Our bus to the airport was absurdly delayed, so we ended up missing our flight and having to pay to rebook, which was a huge pain and from now on I think I'm going to leave for the aiport like a day before my flight actually departs.
Sarah and I both
loved Melbourne. Its super laid back, and totally walk-able, and a lot of the downtown is right along the Yarra river, with little cafes and bars-super cute! Josh was a great host and took us all over, to the Queen Victoria Markets and even the shopping district! There is an awesome area of the city called Brunswick street, which is a funky/hippie area with tons of bars, cafes, and cute little boutiques, we walked up and down it for a couple of hours one day, it reminded me a lot of Ann Arbor.
Downtown Melbourne
Josh + Sarah along the Yarra River* There are an ABSURD amount of 7-11s! From every 7-11 you can see another one. Its crazy.
*They have a great and cheap public transportation with trams running all over the city, 24 hours a day.
*Melbourne is kindof like the Michigan of Australia, in the sense that the temperature changes dramatically in the span of minutes. One day we were there it was 40 C (over a hundred) , and 15 minutes later I had to put a sweatshirt on
*Justin Timberlakes favorite gelato flavor is White Chocolate and Raspberry. Thats not really a fact about Melbourne but he was in town for a concert, and apparently had gone into this one gelato shop every day the week we got there! Sadly no celeb spottings.
We also went out with Scuba Steve, and our friend Eliza, who had been studying abroad in Melbourne for the last 5 months! Overall we just had a great time in Melbourne.
We got back to Sydney, and Sarah left to fly home to Scotland, which was super sad-she was my travel buddy! Now I'm on my own for a month before Ashley flies
out.
Last Monday I took the train up to Newcastle, to visit my friend Emma, who worked at camp in 2003. She lives in Newcastle, which is a college town about 3 hours north of Sydney. I hadn't seen Emma in ages so it was great too see her. Her family lives in a little rural town about an hour outside of Newcastle, where each house is about 20 acres apart from the next. Everything was just super green and gorgeous, except for Emma had me terrified for deadly snakes and spiders...i think I sprinted every time I went from the car to the house. Her house was amazing, and her family was super nice and just had a lovely time there relaxing and catching up. We went to the beach one day, and after being there for 30 minutes, got kicked out of the water because there were shark spottings! I also learned that you are not supposed to pee in the ocean, b/c Sharks can smell urine!! Not that I ever peed in the ocean before......but just an FYI.
After that I took the train down to the Central Coast, where Mark Dunston lives!! The central
coast is just a coastal (duh) area in between Sydney and Newcastle. I had the best time at Marks, we went to the beach everyday, he surfed while I splashed around and read on the beach. One of his close friends is in a band, and we went to go see them play at a bar the other night, which was super cool as well. Its been so nice to have all these people to stay with, its so great to see everyones houses and meet thier families, I've been loving it!
After staying at Marks for a couple of days, I took a ferry back to Sydney, where I'll relax for 2 days before hitting the road again. Thats about it for now....pretty bummed I missed Thanksgiving, I hope everyone ate double portions for me!!!
Love Alissa
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mom
non-member comment
great ferry and love your captions
Hi lis- I loved the butt crack in the photo of you and Mark. Mark looks great; I hope I will get to see him again, sometime. I will definitely take his parents up on their offer to let us stay with them! The kittens are adorable, and the ferry to Sydney looks like a fancy yacht. love it. MISS YOU! XXXXX-mom