You think that's a knife?

Well, I made it to Australia safe and sound, despite the 35 hours of travelling time (that includes stop over time in airports). The trip over was a strange mix, the 13 hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo was cramped and uncomfortable, stuck between a grumpy old man and a confused little child, I couldn't sleep or get comfortable. I was dropped off in Tokyo at the airport, quite groggy and very dissoriented. I wanted to make sure I had something Japanese to eat in Japan, but I only had a choice between a couple coffee shops and single cafeteria. So I chose the caf. I got a prawn tempura and noodle bowl, which was both expensive and not particularly tasty. But the surprise for the meal was the fact that, over the speakers in the restaurant, I heard the same Beyonce song repeated 7 or 8 times. It was the only song they played the entire time I was in there. No one else seemed to notice it (or at least, no one said anything I could understand, but that might be because they were speaking Japanese. But on the flight out to Sydney, I was placed into a first class seat, complete with a fancy tv and plenty of leg space.

I got into Sydney early on in the morning and was picked up by my friend Teresa to go back to her rez down in Wollongong. On the train ride I was explained all the various rules to Cricket and the differences between football, aussie rules, and rugby (I think those are the three) by an Australia biochem prof, an old englishman, and an eldery italian couple who gave me the phone number of their relatives in Canada so that I can stop in if I am ever in the area.

The country here is incredible. The culture is remarkably similar to Canada but the tree and animals are completely different. There are pine trees that grow right next to palm trees, but both are full of macaques and parrots. I've already seen some dolphins one day when I was down at the beach, and got to see hundreds upon hundreds of flying foxes in the Sydney botanical gardens. I tried to stir some up by knocking a tree they were on, but instead they all just woke up and stared at me, which was kindof unnerving.



But right now I'm in the Queensland state library, just checking to see if there were any messages from my couchsurfing hosts. Which there weren't. So now its off to find a phone and give them a call so that I can meet up with some locals and ditch my massive pack.

Ayden