First steps...

I apologize for taking so long to write about my adventures down under, but here is the start of the updates and newsflashes of awesomeness from Australia. I feel so blessed to be here right now and so lucky to be back with theone I love. =) God really is good.


Ahh Australia, the trip I have been waiting for these past five months is finally realized. The wait was killing me but it was well worth it. =) The plane trip here took about13 hours for the international leg, and then for the domestic transfer it took about an hour. I had a window seat next to this really sweet couple. Unfortunately though, while we were all sleeping the passenger in front of the man in my row dropped a suitcase (ironically his) on his head and for the remainder of the flight (3-4hours) our row was under constant supervision by the flight attendants and the poor man had to be given his own oxygen tank. He seemed ok though, if a little disgruntled. I was a little flustered when I got to the airport in Sydney though, because we found out we had to go through customs reclaim our baggage and THEN walk across half the terminal to re-check in our baggage for the domestic flight, then go through security again, then take a bus to the other terminal. I suppose though that the bus trip albeit short was a good intro into Australia because I was blessedwith being able to see the most beautiful sunrise ever come up around Sydney. I would attempt to describe it, but it was honestly the most beautiful and majestic sunrise I have ever witnessed and my words would in no way do it justice.

Getting off the plane I was so excited I could hardly contain it, in only a few short moments I would be seeing the one person I know I can't be without and whom I hadn't seen in over five months. As I walked through the terminal I was full of anxiety because I was so flipping excited, so imagine how much happiness I felt when I walked towards the baggage claim and noticed a striking figure, in a white hat, dark jeans and Pumas. Haha it was probably the best hug I've received in years that followed.

The drive back to his place was a blur, on top of being jetlagged, I was so excited to be next to him again that I kinda forgot to snap my camera out right away. haha No worries though, I'll be posting many pics of Melbourne and anywhere else we go.=) When we pulled up to his house I was so relieved because I would finally be able to rest up a little, since sleeping on a plane in no way counts as resting.

I would like to point out that it has taken me until today to fully overcome the jetlag I was experiencing. I haven't been on an international flight in 10 years so I was overwhelmed by the nausea, dizzyness and slight disorientation that I experienced.

The first few days we've been taking it easy. I've been to a few restaurants/cafes now and I have to say, the food scene here is EXCELLENT. Hahaha babe took me to Ganache which is a chocolate cafe and I had a cinnamon hot chocolate...and my taste buds werein HEAVEN. =D We also went to another chocolate cafe Max Brenners and the waffles were absolutely DELISH!!! It was crazy how good those babies were, but babe says that the shop we went to wasnt the original or something so we're gonna go to the "better one" and im expecting to be blown away once again. We've also eaten at a few bakeries, since babe and I have an affinity for bread. We've been to Chimmy's and Dench and I have to say that my tastebuds are LOOOVING IT! hahaha At Chimmy's I had what's called an open toastie (imagine an open version of grilled cheese) except the cheese was placed and melted on cherry tomatoes sliced on to the bread with basil on top of the whole thing. AtDench I had this awesome sandwich (and they do sandwiches differently here...but I'll get a picture next time) with roastbeef and some interesting mustard and some weird veggie they call rocket. It was interesting. Ok and on a total American trip we went to KFC cause babe held that it was betterhere than in the US, and while it was good I think it was regular KFC. I think though that babe has ONLY had the KFC by campus (in Irvine) and that one without a doubt BLOWS. So his judgement was slightly skewed. The homecoked food has also been amazing. Last night was actually my favoriteso far, Des' dad cooked this rice with chorizo (different from the US kind), chinese sausage, and ham along with searing freshly caught Tuna (Des' dad caught it himself) and then cooking some fresh celery. Des topped off the night by making an awesome apple dessert, and we tried to make ice cream, but des' ice cream machine has decided to malfunction...we can still make it using the freezer but thats going to take a while. It'll be ok though, the pizza we made the other night was excellent as well.

So in case you're wondering where I'm staying, I'm actually at Des' house right now but in a few days I'm moving my stuff into his friend Eileen's apartment as she's gone for the holiday and was willing to let us borrow her room while she's out. I'll be there for the rest of the trip but no worries its only 15min away from Des' place.

Ok I suppose this is getting quite long, so I'll wrap it up with some pictures and a few captions to let you know what's up. Expect a full photo upload on facebook. =)

The scenic drive. There's a cool building in the background which you might have to strain to see.

Your eyes are not deceiving you, yes they drive on the other side of the road.

This is the view from the second story of Des' law school.


Having some fun while drivint around the city.


Australian GPS....ok sidenote. We got lost and guess who figured out where we were and how to get to where we wanted to be...I'll give you a hint...it wasn't the Aussie.


The cool looking building on the left is part of UniMelb the buildingin the far right behind the yellow one is Des' law school building.


My first excursion into the City of Melbourne.


Waffles + chocolate + fruit at Max Brenners.


Des' pug Otis. He's awesome. =D


Des' room. Can you spot the Aussie?


In the kitchen....yeah I dunno what he's up to.

My current room, it's vibrant.



Ok so everyone thinks I'm obsessed with shoes well guess what Des is obsessed with?!?



OK so read the sign on the lower right...it says exactly what you think it says and yes those buildings are what you think they are...ew.




So funny story, Melbourne went through all this trouble to try to figure out how to keep the possums out of the trees and guess what finally ended up working...sticking a sheath of plastic around the tree trunk, lol.

Hot chocolate in Hug Mugs (cause you have to hug them to drink them) from Max Brenners.



And finally, there is some really interesting graffiti around Melbourne which I'm hoping to capture so you can see how cool it is. But like this one says, Ciao...for now!!


<3bam