Margaret River

My second day in Margaret River was taken up by another Bush Tucker tour, this time down the river itself. Lynne and I were in a canoe with another couple who also did the wine tour yesterday. We met at the beach where the river breaks out in the winter, and then we rowed upstream for a bit, stopping to be lectured on flora and fauna by the guide. It was surprisingly hard to steer- at least compared to kayaking, which I have done before. We also stopped at a cave on the way back, but it was just a very small cave in the limestone cliff overlooking the river, no guides or electric lighting installed like the other caves I visited. We had the option to crawl through part of the cave, which was mostly on hands and knees and partly completely flat out on your stomach. Somehow other people managed to make it out just dusty, but I emerged with cut up knees and elbows. Ouch.

We got back to the hostel around 3:30, but it felt more like 6:00. I took advantage of the shops being still open and went gift shopping. Some of you now have presents to look forward to! Tomorrow I leave at 7:15 for Albany, the next overnight stop on the tour. You'll hear from me when I get there!

Love,
Emma

Glass by the Wine

Thanks to mom for the title which never loses its humor no matter how many times we repeat it. In this context it refers to todays adventure- wine touring in Margaret River. This tour took me to 5 wineries, a cheese "factory" which was actually a glorified shop, and a chocolate "factory" which was much the same. But, the best thing was the included lunch. The tour is called "Bush Tucker" which means that they feed you weird bush foods, like grubs and kangaroo. I wasn't adventurous to try either of those, although I did actually eat a tiny bit of hummus with grubs in it, before I found out that it wasn't just regular hummus. I also got incredibly sleepy despite the fact that I took very small sips of wine. Other people were drinking every sample we got- about 30 wines I would guess. But my tolerance has never been that great.

I've been hanging out with this girl Lynne the past few days, but as nice as it is to have companionship, she is actually starting to get on my nerves. We don't really click well, I think, but we're just hanging out so that we're not alone. Tomorrow we are doing another Bush Tucker tour, canoeing down the Margaret River. It should be fun, at least keeping me busy. Then on Thursday the tour bus will take us to the next town, and Lynne is jumping off the bus in Augusta while I plan to stay on for a while. So maybe I'll meet someone who I get along with better- there is still time.

Now to backtrack a bit. On Monday I got picked up in Dunsborough and took the tour bus to Margaret River. We stopped at a few beaches, including the beautiful Canal Rocks. The water looked so inviting, but I think it was too dangerous to swim there- signs told us to beware of "freak waves" also known around here as "king waves"- although our driver said that it was okay to swim if you were careful. Our driver was actually really amusing. He kept giving us advice like, "well, there's only one pub in that town and it's a bit how's your father". I'm not sure what that means, but it seems like a good phrase to add to your vocabulary. In any case, we didn't do any swimming. We did get to see another cave though- much bigger than the first one. It was called Ngigli Cave and the boardwalk through it was I think a 1km circuit. I got pretty out of breath walking around down there- there's just not too much air to be had. But it was exciting. I felt like I was in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Without the dinosaurs, and with boardwalks instead. After all this we arrived in Margaret River, which is the tourist center of the region. The hostel is very small, but I have been out with some girls here last night and this evening, so its not so bad. Now I'm sitting in the lounge trying not to be distracted by Top Gun on the TV.

However, as some of you know, I am a little tired and stressed by being in these small isolated places all alone. In fact, it is making me a little upset, and I've decided to make my way back to Perth and go visit Andrew (my Dad's friend) in Melbourne. I may come home early, although Andrew doesn't think I should. But, we'll see how I feel when I am there. It may be, as Cathy and others have commented, that WA just isn't the place to be alone. Maybe Melbourne will revive my will to go on.

Love,
Emma

Caves, Waves, and Kangaroos

I'm writing from the Dunsborough Beachhouse YHA- just returned from a very eventful day. The day didn't start out very well though. I've been spending time with a girl from the tour, Lynne, and we were both hoping to get out of the hostel today and do some sight seeing. The problem is that the hostel is pretty isolated if you don't have a car. Most of this area is hard to see without a car, and in the heat walking anywhere was just painful and impossible. Fortunately, we convinced one of the guys who runs the hostel to take us around (with his girlfriend and another one of their friends). Then things started to get better.

On our tour, first we stopped at a karri tree forest and took some pictures. Then we went on a tour of the Lake Cave. It's a limestone cave, about 20 degrees cooler than it was outside. I'd never been in a cave before, so it was very exciting. The cave is famous for this formation called the table- basically it is two huge columns of limestone, and a limestone base holding them together, so it looks like an upside down table. But the crazy thing is that this giant formation is not touching the ground. It hovers over the underground lake, and well, it is very cool. After the cave, we drove along the beautiful coast and stopped at a beach called Surfer's Point. There were lots of people, including kids in the water, despite the signs warning of rips and prohibiting swimming. I was hesitant at first, but decided just to go in around where everyone else was swimming, and it was absolutely fine. There was a big drop off, so it was deep, but no rips that I could see, and no waves any worse than a normal day at Dunewood. Out farther there were big waves though and you could see the crowd of surfers gathered there. It seemed to be a pretty popular beach.

All of that was great, but on the way home I got the real highlight of the trip- my first kangaroo sighting! There were tons of them, babies and everything. I was the only one in the car who had never seen them before, so everyone else probably thought I was overreacting. But I got pictures and I swear I will figure out how to post them soon. On the way back I also noticed some grazing deer, which I thought was very strange because I'ver only ever seen them running free on Fire Island. Then I saw a sign for a venison farm and I thought that was really sad. For some reason I've never contemplated the existence of a venison farm before. Weird.

Tomorrow I'm getting out of Dunsborough and getting back on the tour to Margaret River. Lynne has sorta talked me into stopping there although I wasn't planning to at first. She wants to do some winery tours and maybe canoeing- and I'd like to go back to the good beaches around here. I was also planning to do part of a nice coastal hike in the area, but it has been way too hot for that. Maybe if it cools down a bit I'll get a chance.

Love,
Emma

Dunsborough

Short post just to say that I arrived in Dunsborough. The hostel is a bit out of town, and I walked here with another girl from the tour. She's waiting for me outside, so I can't take too much time. Here's a brief summary.

It is HOT! Yesterday was Australia Day and I almost collapsed getting to Nicky's place for the fireworks. But I made it and the fireworks were fantastic. This morning I got up at 5:15am and got on my tour. We didn't see much before arriving in Dunsborough, where I am staying till Monday. I plan to sit on the beach and maybe go for a short hike around the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. I'm not sure how good the internet access is at my hostel, but hopefully I'll be able to post again tomorrow. If not, I'll catch up Monday night at Margaret River!

Love,
Emma

Rottnest

Rottnest Island is AMAZING! I spent the whole day there yesterday- even got up at 6am to catch the 8:30am ferry because Nicky guilted me into it. And I didn't get home till 7:30pm, at which point I was absolutely dead. I basically destroyed my body (so I felt last night)- my butt was killing me from biking around, I got way too much sun (my KNEES were burned!!), and I just couldn't post in that state. Today it is a lot better. What I thought was a horrible sunburn has actually faded into a dark tan, and my body is still sore but bearable. My goal is to not do anything today- definitely not sit in the sun- and just recover.

So, this was my day yesterday. I left Cottesloe at 7am, caught the train to Fremantle and the ferry to Rottnest. I hired a bike for the day and started my circut of the island. I stopped at Little Parakeet Bay, recommended by Nicky. The bay, like most of the others I visited, was a little sandy cove with rocks sticking out in the water on either side. The water was incredibly clear and shallow. You can't really swim, just sit in the water. And there's the reef. I cooled off in the water and then decided to try snorkeling. It was insane! I was floating around, through these channels in the reef, looking at fish (!!). I'm not going to lie, it was a little freaky. I kept getting disorienting and imagining that because I could look down and see a dark chasm full of swimming fish that I must be was out in the middle of the ocean. In fact I was two feet from the shore. It was so cool, I can't even describe how cool it was. Unfortunately, after a while I felt a little sea sick and had to stop. I ate some lunch on the beach and decided to keep biking to find a less crowded bay.

Part of my goal for the day was to find a deserted or near deserted beach. I was biking away from the settlement waiting to find such a place, and I saw a pretty empty beach down a fork in the road. But, there was also a path down towards the water, over some rocks and I thought that there might be another tiny cove separated from the larger beach. Well, I was right! I walked down this path, thinking "I better not sprain my ankle" and taking very very careful steps, and I came to this rocky cove which had just enough sand to sit down and get comfortable. I was so excited!!! I found my very own beach, below this little cliff. It was so perfect and quiet. I sat in the water, I snorkeled again, I laid on the rocks, it was fantastic. And, this time when I was snorkeling I saw something really cool. I was looking into this little cave/hole in the reef and I see something bring orange and curled up- like some kind of eel. It was very cool looking and I half hoped it would come out of the hole so I could see it better, but I was also a little worried that it might be evil and poisonous, so I didn't get too close to it. I still don't know what it was, but maybe someone who feels like using google could take a guess.

Speaking of wild life, I also saw an ospery (although I didn't realize what it was at the time), a lizard, a peacock, some very cute birds that looked a bit like seagulls but with black spikey features on their heads, and also the famous quokka (a large rodent found only on Rottnest). It was a very action packed day. After leaving my private beach I kept biking around the island, I stopped once more to cool off in the water again, and that's when I started to realize how tired I was. I biked back to the main settlement, Thompson Bay, bought some postcards, returned the bike, discovered that I was a deep shade of red, and waited for the ferry to take me home.

Now I am recovering, as I said before, and trying to not do anything. Tonight I'm going to watch the Australia Day fireworks and have a picnic with Nicky and a group of her friends. And tomorrow I'm up at 6am again to leave on my tour of the southwest. If I don't get a chance to write tonight, the next post will be from Dunsborough!

Love always,
Emma

AQWA and Somerville

I am exhausted! I never did get to post again yesterday- too much back and forth between my room, the cafes, and the beach. I discovered that although the wind is worse in the late afternoon, the waves are slightly better. I went back in the water around 5:30 and stayed at the beach till the lifeguards left at 6:00. Then I socialized more last night. I met a crazy Swedish girl named Emma, so I definitely won't forget her name. She showed up in Australia with her friend (who has an unpronouceable name) and they didn't even know where they were staying. They just got in a taxi (from the airport at 3am) and told the driver to take them to Perth, and when he asked where in Perth they didn't even know what to say. It's not how I would travel, but it was a pretty funny story.

Today was a very full day. I went into Perth to go to the post office and buy another book to read. Then I went to the aquarium, AQWA, which was overrated except for the Leafy Sea Dragon which was the most incredible living thing I've ever seen. Wow. I just stared open mouthed at the tank for 10 minutes. It almost made the schlep out there worth it. This evening I went out with Nicky and her husband again- we went to an outdoor movie theater called the Somerville and saw a Danish movie called After the Wedding. It was sad, but good, and watching a big screen outside was really nice.

Unfortunately, now I'm completely dead and I need to go to sleep because tomorrow morning I'm off to bike around Rottnest Island. I'm also going to try snorkeling, because Nicky lent me her mask and gave me a few pointers. I have to watch out for the non-deadly but still painful "stingers" though. So that is tonights cliffhanger- what will Rottnest be like? will I get water up my nose trying to snorkel? will I encounter dangerous sea creatures? We'll see!

Love,
Emma

Cottesloe II

It's pretty early in the day for me to post, but since I'm doing my laundry, I thought I might as well. Maybe I'll post twice today. That would show you all how much of a life I have here!

I have been making an effort. Last night I watched the sunset, as I mentioned when I signed off. Then I actually drank a little with the German girls and some other people. We played a game called "shithead", which wasn't a drinking game actually, in spite of its name. It was a fine evening, considering that drinking with strangers is not exactly my favorite activity.

As I went to bed I discovered that I had a nice stripe of sunburn on my back where I couldn't reach to put the sun screen. There's one reason not to travel alone. It reminded me of my friend Daniel (who some of you know)- he used to come visit us at the beach and always fought with his parents about putting on sun screen. I remember once him telling Barry (his dad) that he could reach his whole back himself, and then watching Barry point to places on Daniel's back to make Daniel prove that he could touch his whole back. Weird memory, but those of you who know them will know how funny it is to remember that.

So today- I got up and went to the beach before it got windy. The water is so calm and clear. There are basically no waves. It's warm and shallow. And yet I'm constantly hearing teenage girls shrieking when "cold" "waves" hit them. Silly. I'm also doing errands today, like the laundry, and making my plans for the end of the week. I booked my tour south- you can look at the itinerary here: http://www.easyridertours.com.au/. I'm doing the Sensational South, and I'm jumping off at Dunsborough (basically the first stop) to spend two nights. I might also stop in Walpole and Esperance, depending on how I feel.

So that's my day so far. Maybe there will be more later. Not that it matters to all of you, since you're all asleep!

Love,
Emma

Cottesloe

Greetings from Ocean Beach Backpackers. This must be the farthest Ocean Beach from the Ocean Beach on Fire Island- although the atmosphere is slightly similar. Cottesloe is the most popular of Perth's beaches. It is slightly sheltered in a cove and the water is shallow and clear beautiful green. I got here this afternoon and by the time I got down to the beach (its a few minutes walk to the flags), it was already pretty windy. I'm told that in the morning the wind comes from the east but in the afternoon it shifts and comes from the south, making it hard to sit on the beach without getting attacked by flying sand. The water is so warm though, that the wind doesn't stop anyone from swimming- it just makes getting out and drying off slightly difficult. I'm sure I'll master it by the end of the week.

Other things I did today... I ate an entire sandwich for lunch and found the supermarket and bought some pb&j for the rest of the week... I met my roommates, 3 German girls who have been in Australia for 5 months after graduating school (I'm not sure if it was high school or college), and 1 "Sydney-sider" who was here for a week "on holiday" and is leaving tomorrow. They're all very nice.

Now I'm going out to find dinner and watch the sunset. I have a feeling that my posts for the rest of the week will be very similar to this one. Sorry if you get bored!

Love,
Emma

Hunger

I forgot what it felt like to actually be hungry! I must be all better.

Today I went to King's Park and wander around. I saw lots of nice views of Perth and the many crazy jet skiers on the Swan River. I also saw the water gardens, which have a fountain/statue commemorating pioneer women of Western Australia. The statue is a woman holding a baby and the plaque said something about them walking stoically into the jets of water which represented their destiny. Nice sentiment, but also hard not to laugh at it.

I met the eldest son of the Willoughby's at the tennis club, and also some other friends of theirs. It was not posh at all, very relaxed and low key. This afternoon I also got to go swimming in the pool here, and we had a very nice dinner of crayfish (sp?) which were like small lobsters that we ate cold. It was a pretty relaxing, almost boring day. Nothing to write home about- despite the fact that I am writing about it.

Tomorrow I go to the hostel. That's the big cliffhanger. Will I make friends? I can't wait to find out.

Love,
Emma

Indian Ocean

I went swimming in the Indian Ocean!! That is so far the highlight of the trip- I wanted to write about it right after it happened, but I've been trying to restrain myself from using my hosts computer too much. I don't want them to think (I mean, realize) that I am addicted.

But yes, I walked to the beach yesterday (Friday) and found a "lifesaver" and went swimming. The water was very warm but it was also incredibly windy so my plan to lie in the sun and dry off and swim again was thwarted. I also didn't go swimming in a normal way because I've read so much about rips that I was nervous. The only people in the water were a few little kids, and they weren't going past the breakers, so I decided to be safe and not go out either. I just sat in the surf and ducked under a few times- but I think it counts as swimming. The current was very strong, but parallel to the beach, not out to sea.

I'm going to have a lot more chances to swim because on Monday I am moving to the Ocean Beach Backpackers at Cottesloe (the popular beach suburb of Perth). I was supposed to stay in the city, but it turns out that there isn't much of a city. The downtown is dead after business hours- stores aren't even allowed to be open past 5pm. And the "hip" area of Northbridge is less built up than Cambridge, as I mentioned already. Also last call in bars is MIDNIGHT! And I thought Massachusetts was bad! Not that I've been drinking at all. I'm still recovering, eating very small meals and being very careful not to get sick again.

Last night was my first successful dinner in a week. I went out with Nicky- the daughter of my dad's friend Andrew- and her husband. She took me for a walk around King's Park, which is an amazing place, bigger than Central Park for a city 1/8th the size of New York. Her apartment is also overlooking the Park, and is a ten minute walk from her office and you can walk outside without freezing all year round- not a bad deal I think. She was also super nice and hopefully I'll see them both again before I leave.

As for today- Today was my day to explore Fremantle or "Freo", a little "city" to the south of Perth. It was not a very exciting place, but I did buy myself a bowl (very impractically since now I have to ship it home) and I also took a tour of the historic prison, given by a dirty-old-man former prison guard. He kept asking young women to volunteer for demonstrations, like being searched and being whipped, which I guess was supposed to be funny, but I thought was borderline creepy.

I was dropped off in Freo by Michael, my host, but I was really hoping to figure out how to get back by myself. I wanted to conquer to public transit of this tiny city, but sadly I did not succeed. The first problem was that the bus I wanted to take didn't run on the weekend. Then I decided to take the train to Perth and catch a different bus. Well, I got to Perth and then couldn't find the bus station, and then I found the bus station and realized that I was going to have to change buses in some random suburb before getting on the right bus to my suburb, at which point I looked around and decided that I didn't want to wait in the sketchy bus station anyway or wait at a possibly sketchy bus stop for a transfer, and so I got in a cab. I think bus stations must be universally sketchy. Has anyone ever been to a non-sketchy bus station?

I got home fine in the cab and Fiona made us paella which was very good and we talked and watched some tennis and now I need to go before she realizes that I am an addict. Tomorrow I'm going back to King's Park for some more exploring while the Willoughby's play tennis. I might also have lunch with them and their son at the tennis club. Will I survive the encounter with posh country club people? Tune in next time and find out!

Love,
Emma

The Granny Flat

Although I planned to be writing from the Witch's Hat hostel in Perth, another change of plans has brought me to the home of Fiona and Michael Willoughby- skiing friends of my parents, and also retired doctors. They offered to host me for a few days after finding out that I was sick, and it looks like I might be here till Wednesday when their son comes to visit. I'm staying in what they call a "granny flat", despite the fact that they are both grandparent's themselves. I have my own bathroom and kitchen, sliding glass doors looking out onto their garden, and I'm a 15 minute walk from the beach. The only problem is the spiders- there are more than I'd like and supposedly some are poisonous, although not lethal unless you are very young or very old. Since there are dangerous spiders, the attitude seems to be that the larger non-dangerous spiders should be allowed to live and flourish so that they will eat the dangerous ones. I guess it makes sense, but it is a little hard to get used to.

Speaking of dangerous creatures, I'm planning to walk down to the beach shortly and I've also been warned to watch out for snakes in the dunes. Yikes. If only Fire Island had poisonous snakes in the dunes, then my dad would have a much easier time keeping people from walking on them. Although, everyone seems very relaxed about the snakes and the spiders, probably because it is just normal to live with them and deal with them. Maybe I'll get used to it too.

So, there's not much else to report. I'm safe in Perth, feeling healthy except that I don't feel like eating much. I got a tour around the city yesterday by Michael- it's a pretty small city. The hostel I was going to stay in looked very nice, but it was kinda separated from the city center and the neighborhood it was in seemed very suburban- technically part of the city, but not even as much of a city as Cambridge. So, when I leave here I might go stay at a hostel on the beach. C.J. said I must really be sick not to be automatically jumping at the chance to be on the beach- I guess he has a point.

Tonight I'm meeting up with Andrew's daughter Nicky and I'm going to ask her advice also. She recommended the beach hostel to me, so hopefully she'll just cement my decision. In any case, I'll keep you posted!

Love,
Emma

Sick Again!?!?

It seems that a higher power is conspiring to keep me from seeing the sites of Sydney- and by higher power I mean my stomach. Yes, I was sick again last night but hopefully it was just a minor setback due to my being resistant to one antibiotic. Now I'm on another antibiotic and I feel basically fine except for having no appetite and being kinda nervous about eating anything at all. Who knew that half my posts would be health updates?

In any case, I didn't get to the zoo and so I still haven't seen a kangaroo. I did find a yarn shop, which was bizarrely in the same building as the clinic I had to go to for the antibiotics this morning. I must be fated to knit. I also was feeling well enough to go to the show I wrote about before- Small Metal Objects. It was interesting, but the most interesting thing about it was not the actual show but watching the crowd watch us. Some people took photos of us, some tried to get us to do things like wave or make peace signs- and one guy, not realizing that we were watching a show, decided to entertain us himself by going into a breakdancing routine at the foot of the stands. He must've thought the audience was put there just waiting to be entertained. It was a very interesting experience.

Not much else has happened. Tomorrow I leave for Perth, so let's hope that this whole being sick thing stops and that I have lots of exciting things to write from there. I also appreciate comments- I'm not sure if anyone is reading this besides my parents, grandparents, and C.J.

Love,
Emma

Rocks and More

Although I had planned to go to the Aquarium today, since it is right around the corner from my hotel and it seemed like a good way to resume activity without going overboard, I decided to scrap that plan after going out and realizing that I felt well enough to really explore Sydney some more.

I started the day by going to the Powerhouse Museum, which was recommended in my guidebooks. It is one of those hands on kind of sciencey museums, but I didn't really like it because it was overrun with little kids and I didn't feel like being inside and reading about light waves or whatever. I did happen to wander into an acrobatics show taking place at the museum though, and watched it for free from the sidelines. It was a bunch of pretty young people- turned out to be high school students- doing things like twirling 20 hula hoops and standing on their hands on top of 10 stacked chairs and benches. So that was neat, but it made me not to excited to wander around another child heavy enclosed space like the Aquarium.

Instead, I decided to take the advice of Andrew (my dad's fellow philosopher friend and my #1 contact in Australia) and wander around The Rocks. That's the "historic" district of Sydney, although I don't think it is even as old as Boston, which is kinda sad. There actually is a country with less "history" than the U.S (excluding native histories of course!). It was a nice walk though- I had to go through the city center to get there, which kinda like Midtown I guess, but with more shopping center/mall types of places. So I went to The Rocks and wandered and actually ate a meal! Well, it was a turkey sandwich, but I think that should count as a meal. I also just sat and read for a long time in the cafe, which was a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

Now I am back at Darling Harbour. It is a stange area, which reminds me of a Disney World version of a city, mainly because there is a monorail running through it, which took me to the city center this morning, but doesn't go far enough to connect you to the Opera House or the Botanic Gardens or Sydney Harbour, or any useful places like that. It just loops around the main attractions of Darling Harbour, which are an awful mall, an IMAX, a string of restaurants, the Aquarium, a convention center, and the Powerhouse museum- and then of course it does dip into the city center briefly.

Tomorrow I'm planning to go to the zoo, which also requires taking a ferry and seeing the Harbour which will be fun. C.J. has advised me to end my posts with cliffhangers "like in the Da Vinci Code". Well, I'm no Dan Brown, but I guess I have to try to make him happy. So... next time on Emma's blog... will I successfully eat dinner? which are cuter kangaroos or koalas? and will I find somewhere in Sydney that sells yarn? The answers may surprise you!

Love,
Emma

Unexpected Adventure

Whew... a lot has happened since the last post. As some of you know, I got really sick Saturday night and ended up taking an unexpected adventure to through the Australian health care system (translation: I had to go to the hospital and get an IV because I was dehydrated from constant vomiting. Yummy). It was pretty terrifying, being sick and all alone, but my parents and CJ walked me through it and I'm now recovering in a very nice hotel where I can call room service and the hotel doctor and sit in bed watching TV. I'm feeling weak, but a lot better, as you can see from the fact that I am posting.

Before I got sick I did a few other exciting things. I went on the subway, which has double-decker trains and some seats that pivot so that they can either face forward or backward (craziness!). On my way down to the subway I discovered that not only to Australians drive on the wrong side of the road, but that you are also expected to stand to your left on the escalator if you don't want to walk and leave your right side open for people who are in a rush to run down the escalator. Maybe this is not that exciting to all of you, but I thought it was interesting. On the track there is also a monitor that tells you exactly how long till the next train comes, and which stops the train will be making. Unfortunately, by 5pm on Saturday, the trains only come every 15 minutes, which is really absurd. Anyway, enough about the subway.

I took to subway to the Opera House where I was going to see Marriage of Figaro. It was a lot of fun- kinda campy I think, although I haven't seen many other productions to compare to. There were fireworks on the stage at the very end, which seemed like a fire hazard to me, but it was cool. I also got to walk around and see the view of the harbour, which is really nice. After the show, I walked around a bit more. I watched this street performer who hardly did any tricks and mostly stalled doing tricks by making fun of the people walking by. I also noticed this bizarre sight- It was a bunch of bleachers set up and filled with an audience of people wearing headphones and they were watching people walk by, going into the subway station and shopping and everything in this busy square. And I was thinking, what are they watching, this looks really interesting. I thought maybe the headphones were playing something that was commenting on the crowd- then I realized that there were actors in the crowd with microphones in their ear, so you could hardly tell they were actors and not just regular people in the crowd talking to each other. They really blended in amazingly well- I mean, people just walked right between the actors and the audience without realizing what they were doing. I found a booth that I thought might be selling tickets and they told me that the show was called "Small Metal Objects", that it was part of the Sydney Festival going on now, and that I could buy tickets over the phone. So I bought tickets for Wednesday evening and hopefully I'll be well enough to go by then.

Anyway, after that I went back to the hostel and started to feel sick. I tried to eat something, but it didn't work that well. But I did play poker with 4 Germans and I made it to the last three people. We weren't playing with money fortunately.

So that's about it. At least I'm pretty sure that things can't get any worse than they were Saturday night/Sunday morning. I feel like I can probaby handle anything after being so sick and scared. I should also mention that everyone at the hostel, hospital, hotel, etc has been incredibly nice and helpful. It really does seem like people are extra friendly here.

Love,
Emma

Arrival

I have arrived safely in Sydney. I don't want to write a lot because I have to go check into my hostel (they made me wait 3 hours for the guy to take a lunch break, which made me a little freaked out). What I have done so far is take a shower, talk to some people (already! go me!), and find the internet cafe/phone store. With any luck I will have a working cell phone and a calling card to call home within the hour. Then I will feel a lot better.

But yeah, I am alive and on the other side of the world. Ah!

Love,
Emma

Leaving Today

I'm trying not to freak out, but in a few hours I will be leaving my house and not coming back for 4 months. This wouldn't be so frightening except for the fact that I don't have a plan of what I'm doing or where I'm staying beyond the first two weeks. But I'm trying to suppress my planning instincts and go with the flow. It's not easy for me!

My flight takes off at 6:40 tonight (Wednesday) and I arrive in Sydney at 9:15 Friday morning. I'm staying in a hostel called The Pink House which is in the King's Cross area of Sydney- filled with backpackers and "ladies of the night" from what my guidebooks say. The weather will be in the 70's, so I plan to see the beaches, explore the city, maybe go see something at the Opera House, and definitely take a trip to the zoo.

I guess I'll write more after having actually completed these activities. Not much else to say besides listing the things I need to pack (toilettries, headphones, important documents), and mentioning the things I've decided to leave behind (books, computer, extra towel). And that's not very exciting.

C.J. called me an hour ago to tell me that it was snowing in NYC. I guess I'm getting out just in time.

Next post from Syndey!

Love,
Emma

Welcome!

Welcome to my very first blog post. Thanks to C.J. for helping me set it up and thanks to you for actually reading it. I hope it works.

Love,
Emma