After a long... LONG flight, we finally made it to Syndey. Unfortunately, it was a bit longer than the 16 planned hours from LAX here. With about 3 hours to go, they made an announcement that we were going to need to land in Brisbane due to low fuel. Why in the world they do not know how much fuel it takes to get from LAX here confuses me; however, we refueled and 2 hours later took off. Finally made it. Plane ride over was actually not as bad as I expected. It was long, but luckily Anne and I got seats by each other and we took turns sitting by the window and laying on each others shoulder. Met a nice guy on our row. originally from Africa that has lived in Sydney for 12 years now. He answered any questions we may have. We were forced to become friends when I was stepping over him and we hit turbulence and I ended up sitting in his lap :/. Thats one way to be forced to strike up a convo with the person next to you. Food on the plane looked good... however somehow or another I was marked for the "blessed" kosher meals. So I got specially served... with gross stuff. Breakfast I got an herb omelet while everyone else got a ham and cheese. Off the plane we go and then over to customs. The line is like none I have ever seen, CHAOS. This lady comes up to Anne and I and sends us over to another line and then this guy working randomly picks us out and tells us to come with him. He asks if we declared anything Anne states no and I said just my epi pen and a prescription to be safe and they send us around front and bypass all of customs. We are still a bit confused... but saved us a lot of time. Guess we don't look dangerous and they felt sorry for 2 gi
rls with large backpacks and 16 bags. The flight attendant actually asked me right before landing if I felt ok... you know you are looking good when this happens. Off to the hostel we come. We arrive here check in and go up to our room. Rooms remind me a bit of Camp Hopewell
style growing up. There are about 6 bunk beds in a room and girl bathrooms accessed by key at the end of the hall dormitory style. We unload our stuff and decide #1 priority find our own place! First, we meet our first roomate... Fanny. Anne is in the shower when Fanny and I have our first encounter. An approximately 40 year old asian woman comes in so I introduce myself and all she says is "I Fanny" pretty certain she speaks no English. We have one other roomate a girl from Holland. She is nice but also speaks limited English. We end up spending the rest of the day getting our phones activated and bank account set up. We ate dinner at a little Thai place in china town that was really good then went to sleep at about 730!
rls with large backpacks and 16 bags. The flight attendant actually asked me right before landing if I felt ok... you know you are looking good when this happens. Off to the hostel we come. We arrive here check in and go up to our room. Rooms remind me a bit of Camp Hopewell
style growing up. There are about 6 bunk beds in a room and girl bathrooms accessed by key at the end of the hall dormitory style. We unload our stuff and decide #1 priority find our own place! First, we meet our first roomate... Fanny. Anne is in the shower when Fanny and I have our first encounter. An approximately 40 year old asian woman comes in so I introduce myself and all she says is "I Fanny" pretty certain she speaks no English. We have one other roomate a girl from Holland. She is nice but also speaks limited English. We end up spending the rest of the day getting our phones activated and bank account set up. We ate dinner at a little Thai place in china town that was really good then went to sleep at about 730! The next morning Anne and I awoke like clock work at 3 am. Guess this is how much sleep we are used to. We manage to go back to sleep until we both awoke at 530 am to Fanny getting home. To wake up to an asian lady wearing a hoodie coming in your room is quite frightening when you forget where you are. We quietly attempt to shower and get ready and are out the 
door for breakfast around 8. Getting ready in the bathroom reminds me or being back in Martin... however where in Martin I was one of the most lowest maintenance here I am by the highest. I pull out my make up bag and jewelry and got some of the weirdest looks ever. And when I had hairspray and my teasing comb I got some of the strangest looks! Good thing we still havent purchased a hair straightener! New revelation Ole Miss low maintenance, Australian hostel--two totally different playing fields. We arrive at the IEP office at 9 right after the open for assistance on finding our own place. We talk to Pete about budget constraints areas we want to live etc and he makes a few calls for us and schedules a viewing at furnished properties for us with Shane in the afternoon. I guess this is when it is handy to have gone through a company and have these resources. Now we have about a day to waste before our showings 
so we head off to see the city! It was supposed to rain but it turned out to be BEAUTIFUL. We walked FOREVER but went to the harbor then decided to take a fairy ride out to Manly Island to watch the surfers, eat on the beach, and enjoy the day! We walked past a school, Anne wouldn't let me take a picture though because she didn't want to be marked as a pedfile but the little kids have the CUTEST uniforms. They have little blue matching cowboy hats-- it is so funny. After walking around we head back to the city center for our apartment viewings. Shane picked us u
p and we drove around town. He was a very nice Australian guy.. I kind of felt like we were on house hunters (I wish it was like the episode we watched before I left mom, however these were tiny studio apartments and share houses-- million dollar beach house sounds great thoug
h). We decided that our plan is to attend 10 o clock orientation here in the morning (couple hours) and attempt to find some girls that will share a house for us on Bondi beach... the place we really want isnt avaliable for 3 weeks at least. We are to call Shane in the morning and let him know what we decide. So we walk back to the hostel with this in mind and accept the fact we will be staying here longer than wanted... on t
he walk back we discuss budget etc and say how much we dont want to pay to stay in this place another night... just as we walk in there is an announcement saying if you want 2 nights free stay you can work a BBQ tonight. Without consulting Anne I beeline up to the counter and say we will do it. She says I only need one of you so I was like I dont care I will do it, but can we get 1 night free for both of us. They agreed. I ask for details and they say we will fill you in on the way it starts now come with me... so I go with Dan the guy that works the front desk and Cadi a girl from Germany. We go across the street, by this point Anne is calling to assure that I am ok but I have on rubber gloves covered in kangaroo blood and am in a kitched cutting KANGAROO. I also died when they said ok you cut the Kangaroo... Im like I thought they were fun creatures like pets... well no.. they eat them. So I cut vegies and Kangaroo and worked the money bag for all of the backpackers coming to eat at this hostel for the night. It is funny seeing as though I have still not learned what all of the money looked like so making change was quiet a challenge and tested my math skills! In the mean time I had called Anne and she says she will see me in a bit and is walking over with our hostel crew to eat at the BBQ. Worked out nicely-- we both got free meals and free place to stay for 3 hours of a little bit of work. I helped clean up the kitchen and then walked across the street home. And Anne made a friend... another lady probably 30s or 40s from Canada kept saying how she wants to stay somewhere else because we live near China town now (the irony of this is if you saw her you would definately think she was supposed to live in China town). It is amazing to me the people that are at the hostels.. there are actually very few people that fit the stereotype I would think. A good bit of families, older couples, some small children, and of course people doing what we are doing.. very diverse though! We decided to are going to volunteer all the time, next time is Anne's turn! I did get kangaroo blood on my scarf! It will need a good washing. After the BBQ we were able to make it a late night to 10 o clock! Now it is about 6 in the morning here and I am under the covers in our room with the laptop trying to be quiet. Thought I would catch up on this! That is all for now. Wish us luck, orientation in a few hours. We have cute outfits picked out to make friends! I am sure I forgot tons and there are lots of pics I didnt put up but it takes so long to upload pics! Later.
door for breakfast around 8. Getting ready in the bathroom reminds me or being back in Martin... however where in Martin I was one of the most lowest maintenance here I am by the highest. I pull out my make up bag and jewelry and got some of the weirdest looks ever. And when I had hairspray and my teasing comb I got some of the strangest looks! Good thing we still havent purchased a hair straightener! New revelation Ole Miss low maintenance, Australian hostel--two totally different playing fields. We arrive at the IEP office at 9 right after the open for assistance on finding our own place. We talk to Pete about budget constraints areas we want to live etc and he makes a few calls for us and schedules a viewing at furnished properties for us with Shane in the afternoon. I guess this is when it is handy to have gone through a company and have these resources. Now we have about a day to waste before our showings 
so we head off to see the city! It was supposed to rain but it turned out to be BEAUTIFUL. We walked FOREVER but went to the harbor then decided to take a fairy ride out to Manly Island to watch the surfers, eat on the beach, and enjoy the day! We walked past a school, Anne wouldn't let me take a picture though because she didn't want to be marked as a pedfile but the little kids have the CUTEST uniforms. They have little blue matching cowboy hats-- it is so funny. After walking around we head back to the city center for our apartment viewings. Shane picked us u
p and we drove around town. He was a very nice Australian guy.. I kind of felt like we were on house hunters (I wish it was like the episode we watched before I left mom, however these were tiny studio apartments and share houses-- million dollar beach house sounds great thoug
h). We decided that our plan is to attend 10 o clock orientation here in the morning (couple hours) and attempt to find some girls that will share a house for us on Bondi beach... the place we really want isnt avaliable for 3 weeks at least. We are to call Shane in the morning and let him know what we decide. So we walk back to the hostel with this in mind and accept the fact we will be staying here longer than wanted... on t
he walk back we discuss budget etc and say how much we dont want to pay to stay in this place another night... just as we walk in there is an announcement saying if you want 2 nights free stay you can work a BBQ tonight. Without consulting Anne I beeline up to the counter and say we will do it. She says I only need one of you so I was like I dont care I will do it, but can we get 1 night free for both of us. They agreed. I ask for details and they say we will fill you in on the way it starts now come with me... so I go with Dan the guy that works the front desk and Cadi a girl from Germany. We go across the street, by this point Anne is calling to assure that I am ok but I have on rubber gloves covered in kangaroo blood and am in a kitched cutting KANGAROO. I also died when they said ok you cut the Kangaroo... Im like I thought they were fun creatures like pets... well no.. they eat them. So I cut vegies and Kangaroo and worked the money bag for all of the backpackers coming to eat at this hostel for the night. It is funny seeing as though I have still not learned what all of the money looked like so making change was quiet a challenge and tested my math skills! In the mean time I had called Anne and she says she will see me in a bit and is walking over with our hostel crew to eat at the BBQ. Worked out nicely-- we both got free meals and free place to stay for 3 hours of a little bit of work. I helped clean up the kitchen and then walked across the street home. And Anne made a friend... another lady probably 30s or 40s from Canada kept saying how she wants to stay somewhere else because we live near China town now (the irony of this is if you saw her you would definately think she was supposed to live in China town). It is amazing to me the people that are at the hostels.. there are actually very few people that fit the stereotype I would think. A good bit of families, older couples, some small children, and of course people doing what we are doing.. very diverse though! We decided to are going to volunteer all the time, next time is Anne's turn! I did get kangaroo blood on my scarf! It will need a good washing. After the BBQ we were able to make it a late night to 10 o clock! Now it is about 6 in the morning here and I am under the covers in our room with the laptop trying to be quiet. Thought I would catch up on this! That is all for now. Wish us luck, orientation in a few hours. We have cute outfits picked out to make friends! I am sure I forgot tons and there are lots of pics I didnt put up but it takes so long to upload pics! Later. 
No comments:
Post a Comment