Australia the Beautiful.....

I know I am due an update on my trip to Los Angeles but that will have to wait.  Australia really deserves the spotlight so I will start from the beginning......Oh and I do not have a camera.  Yes I know it's ridiculous but I had a battery failure and electronics are MUCH more expensive then in the States so I am waiting for mom to mail one to me :)......

My flight left LAX (seriously disappointing airport) at 11:20pm on Monday.  The flight was 15 hours so I decided to have a little snack and a few glasses of wine to help me sleep.  Australia is 14 hours ahead of east coast time, so I would be landing at 7:00am on Wednesday in Melbourne Australia and knew I needed to sleep since I would be missing out on Tuesday the 21st completely.  As I said before the bar was so sad, but it served it's purpose.  We boarded quickly and I have to say that Quantas is a superb airline.  I was seated next to a couple from Melbourne so they were so kind and happy to give me a few tips on my extended stay in Australia.

I landed in Melbourne and the temperature was about 40 degrees (freaking cold), but I didn't leave the airport.  I went through customs but was slightly harassed as my Visa did not have my middle name Louise on it like my passport so he gave me hard time.  After that I picked up my luggage at baggage claim then proceeded to what they call "bag drop" here.  It took about and an hour and a half and I already had my ticket so that was a little frustrating.

The airport in Melbourne was very nice and quite posh.  Very nice shops and great food options.  The best coffee I have had has been here in Australia as well.  So after a few hours in Melbourne airport I boarded my domestic flight to Brisbane.  I had a child behind me, kicking my seat the whole way so that prevented any sleeping.  I read a bit and before I knew I was deplaning in Brisbane.  I walked down the stairs to Katie (my friend from Raleigh who is engaged to Ben whose from Oz) holding a beautiful Gerber daisy and welcoming me to this great country.

It was so great to see and hug Katie.  We grabbed a kebab for lunch which is just slightly amazing.  It is sort of like a grilled wrap and gyro combination and so delicious you can hardly stand it.  Katie had to return to work and she dropped me off at home so I could shower.  After 24 hours of travel the only thing you want to do is take a shower and put your feet up so I did that and got a bit of work out.  After they returned home they took me to a "pub" for dinner which in America conjures of notions of greasy nachos, chicken wings and fries; not in Oz.  I had a marvelous roasted chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and grilled veggies.  Fine dining in the states, but standard pub fare here.  Juts one of the many drastic differences.....

I have so much more to tell, but honestly the jet lag is setting in again and I just made a nice stir fry for the five of us and enjoyed a few glasses of wine and need some more sleep to catch up.  But this country is amazing and I cannot wait to post pictures and tell you more.....