I've arrived in the land down under!

After 30 hours of travelling, 2 delayed and one re-booked flight, I finally made it to Australia! It was a long trip here, but definitely worth it. In Toronto, my first flight was delayed by two hours because of "mechanical issues." That's something nobody ever wants to hear! After two hours, we were finally on the plane and ready for take-off. What was even scarier is that we flew straight into a lightning storm, so there was a lot of turbulence and flashes of lightning all around us. The poor girl beside me was freaking out and I had to close the window to make her feel better. After we made it through though the ride was pretty smooth. I brought a travel sized pillow in my carry-on, which was a huge help the whole way. I watched the movie The Vow, and slept for most of the ride to Vancouver, which took almost 5 hours. When I arrived in the Vancouver airport, I was relieved to see that I wouldn't miss my second flight. Unfortunately, when I got to the gate, the screen said that the flight would be delayed by two and a half hours, leaving at 2:15am Vancouver time. Thankfully they gave us free food vouchers so I was able to buy some food to eat. Then I pulled out the amazing quilt my best friend Jen made me from my carry on and curled up on a few seats with it take an hour nap before the flight.

sitting and waiting for my first flight that was delayed

Flying out of Toronto into a lightning storm - the view wasn't overly reassuring

Curled up in the Vancouver airport in the quilt Jen made me

On the second flight from Vancouver to Sydney, I got another window seat. I was really happy about this because I was able to sleep up against the window. I met a nice girl named Lisa, who is from Oakville but has been living in Brisbane for the last year and a half working for a charity company. We talked a lot over the 16 hour flight and she gave me lots of tips about living in Australia. She gave me her email for when I travel up to Brisbane. They fed us three different meals on the flight, and we also got free alcohol. A word of the wise - alcohol + being up high in the air = you start to feel it really fast. I had wine with my breakfast since I fell asleep before I got to drink it for dinner. The plane has this nice feel to it when they turn the lights off and everyone is sleeping quietly. They do this to try to help people with the jet lag I believe. I watched the movie New Years Eve, listened to some music, read a bit of the second Hunger Games book and slept a lot on this flight. After 16 hours we finally touched down in Sydney. They announced that those who had domestic connecting flights would be re-booked on later flights. I knew I had missed my flight to Melbourne because we arrived half an hour after it was supposed to take off. I went through customs and then had to lift all my bags onto one of those trollies. Then I had to run quickly through the Sydney airport trying to find where my next flight was taking off from. After several dropped papers and bags, I figured it out and just made it under the wire for the next flight at midday (noon) to Melbourne. On that flight I could tell that a lot of the passengers were Australian. I was starting to get really excited at this point.

food on the plane and my white wine

Watched "New Years Eve" which was really cute

Good morning!

First glimpse of Sydney, Australia!

 After an hour and a half we touched down in Melbourne and I finally arrived! I navigated my way to the bag pick-up area and there was no sign of my friend Dave. I was waiting for my bags to come around when someone grabbed my shoulder. I spun around to find Dave and gave him a huge hug. I was so relieved to see him, as I wasn't sure if he'd find me due to the plane delays. We got my bags and met up with the limo driver who was waiting for us. It was a really fancy limo! Dave also had a surprise waiting for me in the limo, which was a delicious bottle of white wine made in the Peninsula where he's from. It was quite possibly the best wine I've ever had. It was sweet and extremely smooth. We drank wine to celebrate as we headed for Rye. When I arrived Dave also had a surprise basket of all treats that come from the area, which was really nice. I got the grand tour of the house and unpacked a few things. Then we headed out for dinner to the pub in Rosebud, which is the next little town over. It's interesting because the pub is not what you'd find in Canada. It's more of a restaurant really, and it has a room attached to it that is all slot machines. This was quite interesting to see. Prices here are a bit different too. A meal at the pub was anywhere from 20 to 30 dollars. In Canada these meals would cost about 10-15 dollars. It was quite tasty though. The portion sizes of food compared to Canada are huge! They give you so much food that it's basically impossible to eat it all. I feel like I'm definitely going to gain weight while I'm over here! Dave and Nancy took me to Kmart and Target to grab a few things I needed before we headed back home. I fell asleep around 8pm because I couldn't keep myself awake any longer that night. The jet lag finally hit me. I woke up around midnight and then again at 3am. It'll take a bit to get past the jet lag I think.

Dave and I in front of the limo he picked me up in at the airport

The inside of our fancy limo

A toast with delicious white wine made in the Peninsula where Dave is from

The amazing goody basket with Australian treats Dave put together for me as a surprise

My current sleeping quarters

The workout/guinea pig room

Kitchen

Bathroom

The very interesting shower

 The next morning I used the shower. It's an interesting thing really. It's a big deep tub that has no shower curtain (see above). After my shower, I realized that I had no idea how much a shower curtain keeps in heat. It was one of the coldest showers of my life. I'm pretty sure I am going to become the world's fastest showerer soon! I hopped on the bus to meet Dave at the plaza in Rosebud. The bus is a very interesting experience here. When you get on you have to tell the bus driver what kind of fare you want and where you are going. He will also make change for you, and then gives you a special ticket. I was amazed at how long it takes people to get on the bus. There are no bus tickets or passes here in Rye. The bus also doesn't run very often at all. On weekdays it's every 45 minutes and on Sundays it's every 2 hours roughly. There's only one bus so it's pretty inconvenient. I think I'll stay close to home for a while and just explore here. Driving on the other side of the road is pretty scary actually. I often feel like I'm going to have a head on collision with other vehicles. I am not doing the driving myself, but it's still pretty scary. I think that'll take a while to get used to. Dave and I did some running around at the plaza and then went to the Rosebud Market. Then we got some flake and chips (fish and chips, but the "fish" is actually shark) and headed to the beach. We sat at a nice spot where it was quiet and you could just listen to the waves. The view was really gorgeous. Surprisingly, eating shark isn't as weird as I thought it'd be. I'm not sure if I'm ready to try kangaroo or crocodile yet though. Apparently nobody around here plays baseball either. I brought two gloves and a ball with me to Australia, so Dave and I threw the ball around for a while. A lot of people who walked by were watching as if it was something they've never seen before. I don't think there's a lot of Canadians in this area either because I find that every time I talk in public almost everyone looks at me. I hope it's a good thing! We also saw a whole field of cockatoos. I was so amazed by this, because you'd never see that in Canada. Apparently they are just wild birds that fly around here instead of pets!

Bananas in Pajamas at Kmart

Historic kiln

Beach

Dave leading the way to higher ground for a better view

Gorgeous!

The water was really clear

Loved the view!

Mates

Rye pier in the distance

Anyways, after we finished eating and playing ball at the beach, we came back home to find Nancy waiting for us. Dave made dinner while we watched some tv and relaxed. They gave me a phone that Nancy's parents used while visiting and Nancy got me some credit on it, so now I have a phone! Dave made baked pasta for dinner, which is really quite good. I was exhausted though, so I took a 20 minute power nap because we were starting work last night. Around 8:15ish, we headed out to clean the banks. I have to say it's an interesting job. Basically Dave wipes down all the counters and changes the garbages while I become a ghostbuster. That's right, my new job title is ghost buster! I wear a vacuum thing that is a backpack and vacuum all the floors. I really just want to play the ghostbusters theme song every time I'm doing it. It's spot cleaning, so you just suck up the areas where you see dirt really. It's pretty hillarious overall. This is the job I will be doing until I find other work. We'll be doing it at night, but it gives me the rest of the day to do whatever I want really. This morning Dave and I made breakfast and watched some Russell Peters. Who knows what the afternoon will bring! It's pretty chilly here, so you can't go swimming. I might still go check out the beach or the pier today though.

This blog was written on the second day that I arrived, but I had trouble uploading the pictures to it, so it's taken a few days. I'll be posting again soon about more that has happened!