The Far Side of the World

24 hours and two days later I have arrived in Australia! It seemed like this day would never come but looking back it happened all too quickly. I don’t think I could ever have fully prepared for this experience; it is much more daunting to be on the opposite side of the world than to talk about it. After the two layovers I had a smooth 14 hour flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane. Upon arrival I breezed through immigration and customs. I then caught a train that dropped me off about 3/4km from my hostel. The last time I had been outside it was about 7 degrees Fahrenheit (negative 14 degrees Celsius). When I arrived it was 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit). This was quite shocking to my sweat glands as one might imagine! Luckily for me it was overcast so I didn’t get my first sunburn.

After checking into my hostel (where none of my credit cards worked) I had about 2 hours before my room would be ready so I walked around town. I found a nice park. I thought the layout was very similar to that of a zoo, except there were no caged animals. I did see a lizard with a tail that was about 14 inches long, about twice as long as its body. Hopefully I will get back there with my camera as it was quite pretty. I saw my first Peugeot that was not a bike! That was pretty exciting. While I was walking around town I saw two police cars with body kits pull over drivers on two separate occasions. I have no idea what they did wrong but the police cars looked quite sporty, not like the burly ones in the USA.

When I finally was able to move into my room it was time for a nap. The room is quite nice, sparsely furnished but quite clean. I have WiFi so the Skyping is working out well for communication. I even used it to call Wells Fargo about my credit card issue. I have also been able to text through my email.

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow and show the sights. I can see the river from the hostel and I am going to see if there is a bike path or anything to run on tomorrow.