welll..... im in rainbow beach, with zero cell phone reception and crappy internet. but its BEAUTIFUL! too bad we're gone in the morning. the beach is glorious and I spent some time drawing today, which I haven't done in awhile, other than a short bit in Airlie. Fraser Island was amazing too.... we saw lots of wild dingos, and saw whales and dolphins from the look out.... driving on the beach is like no other experience I've ever had..thankfully I wasn't driving, but bumping around in a 4 x4 was fun anyways! too bad all 3 guys in our van didn't speak english..and were lazy. lol. but it was still incredible.
yesterday in hervey bay we were walking along the beach and saw a man fishing from shore, as they do here, and beside him was standing this talllll, long beaked pelican, which stood about to my elbow. he let us walk right up to him, the fisherman told us he was harmless. we probably got 3 or 4 feet away from him before he started looking anxious. that was really neat too. tomorrow we're off to noosa to a bush camp hostel, which should be cool. we're at pippies right now and its really quaint. and we have our own room again...
after noosa we're going to surfers for a day to meet up with alex again, and then byron bay for 2 nights and 3 days where we'll meet up with some other friends from work.
then its SYDNEY BABAY!!!! and home in 3 weeks...crazy how time flies.

love you all

Hello world, are you listening?

hey all! I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEE! no more stanthorpe, no more toothless allans, no more pruning, or 6am mornings... no more cold weather... no more painkillers. Now I'm in Brisbane, until 9:40 tomorrow night when we hop on another plane up to Cairns again...paradise babayyy!! can't wait. I love that place, and I'm very excited, anticipating our trip down the east coast of australia. We're staying in Cairns until Thursday the 6th now, because 3 or 4 of our friends will be there, so that gives us time to hang out with them, do the reef, laze by the lagoon again, and see harry potter!! haha.. I figure I would write out my bus schedule for all those interested (mostly my family) so you can keep up with me and know where I am at all times :) haha. especially considering many of these beaches and islands do not have proper cell phone reception or accessible internet, so I might be unreachable for a few days this coming month haha. Just remember I'm 14 hours ahead of you Canadians when you're checking what place I'll be in!

Rightio...haha, the man in Stanthorpe who drove us to work and managed the hostel said that basically 500 times a day.
Here's the sched, and the probable hostel names for accomodation at each place. Hope it's helpful!

So like I said, we're in Cairns from the 1st til the 6th at 7:25 am when we take the bus to Mission beach, where we arrive at 9:25am. We're hoping to stay overnight there on that beautiful beach at a place called Scotty's Beach House, which is apparently right on the beach (we've heard that before--cape tribulation, and it lied, so we'll see). Then from there we leave on Friday the 7th at 9:25am for Airlie beach, which is a long ride... we'll arrive in Airlie at 5:25pm on the 7th. We will stay at Magnum's hostel that night, and then in the morning we will depart on the first part of our package deal (other than the Cairns stay) to WHITSUNDAYS!!!!!!! I can't wait for this, it's going to be gorgeous. We're staying on Koala's adventure island (there's a website, google it) until the 11th, when we head back to land at Airlie Beach.
From Airlie on the 11th we depart at 5:25pm and take a bus overnight to Hervey Bay. We arrive there at 5:55am on the 12th (delightful time isn't it?). We will hop on a boat and go to Fraser Island that day, for our 2 night 4 wheel drive safari. When that's done we head back to Hervey Bay where we stay at Koala's (we booked a Koala's package if you can't tell) for two nights there. Then on Sunday August 16th we leave Hervey Bay at 5:55am for Rainbow Beach where we arrive at 7:40 am. There we plan on staying at Pippie's Beachhouse for the night. The following day, monday the 17th, we're heading to Noosa at 7:40 and arriving at 10:10 am. I'm excited about this place because we're staying at Gagaju Bush Camp where you actually stay in the bush, still in dorms, but there are campfires and native traditions and lots of wildlife. It will be a great Australian experience. On August 18th we're taking the bus from Noosa to Brisbane, and switching buses, taking one from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise, where we arrive at 2:25pm. We're staying at Trekker's Backpackers Resort there for one night, and then departing on the 19th at 5:45pm for Byron Bay, where we arrive at 7:30 that night. We're planning on staying in Byron two nights since we get there so late. We'll stay at Cape Byron Lodge for those two days, and get free pancakes for breakfast! :) (a few of the places we're staying offer free breakfast which is nice). After Byron Bay we're heading back to reunite with Bonnie, Amber and the others in Sydney ....that bus is an overnight drive from august 21st to the 22nd, when we will get there at 6:40am.
so thats that! hope youre well xoxo miss you all

My Plans

hi all you devoted readers. I'm sorry I've been slacking... this weeks excuse is that stanthorpe...IS BORING. haha. I know I've used that before... let's see....what's new...

I've been working for 4 weeks, can you believe it? I sure can't. This past week has been the worst one yet, and I almost quit about 3 times. I cried twice at work, I was that frustrated and angry. Also they were pushing us like crazy to work faster, and I'm sorry, I know I'm tall and can reach high on the trees, but I'm weak... I can't carry a metal ladder while running. I can only move so fast. I snapped at one of the men who works there because he treats every backpacker with ZERO respect, and like he's king of pruning the trees...what an accomplishment. he's been here for like 8 years or something ridiculous.... i've been here for 4 weeks.... obviously I'm not going to be as good... plus he walks around doing nothing and taking his sweet old time. The only thing I've learned at this job is new ways to swear at trees when they poke you in your eyes, scratch up your arms, or hit you in the head.

BUT GOOD NEWS! My last day at work will be this coming Wednesday...then we're going to Brisbane til Saturday when we fly back up to the paradise which is Cairns for 4 days, and do our reef dive/snorkel on the great barrier reef. Then we will head down the east coast to the Whitsundays, Fraser Island and Hervey Bay. I think we're staying in Airlie Beach, possibly Rainbow Beach, Noosa, Byron Bay, and Surfers Paradise, before heading back to Sydney for our last few weeks in Australia to stay with our girls bonnie and amber again (miss them so much!)

so my spirits will be lifted, I"ll have the money I need to travel and hopefully all my scratches and bruises will heal, and I can work on darkening my tan again. I'm going out karaoking with the Stanthorpians one last time tonight.....can't wait to leave.

love you all.

Journal from a working girl...

So Stanthorne is a really small town, with like one main road. Everything closes by 5:30 except for the Woolworth's supermarket...which is the highlight of all the working backpackers' days. Pruning trees really isn't all that bad, we have air powered snippers which makes it easier to cut the branches. The really thick branches are harder to cut, but normally my muscles don't hurt too badly. Friday I had to go to the factory and pack apples for 8 and a half hours instead of pruning, and my back kills and my hand is enflamed and sore. I'm going to try to get out of that duty this coming week and onwards because it's too painful for me. I'd rather be pruning. Let me tell you about the silly workforce in Australia farms. Workers smoke DURING work...right beside the trees...which by the way, if you've seen any news coverage, ARE capable of catching on fire, nimrod....as well as in the factory by CARDBOARD trays....also flammable. They also frequently use the F word in common sentences and are therefore allowed to swear at the trees and pruners all they want, and no one turns a head. One man in particular, we call toothless Alan, for obvious reasons...he has about 3 visible teeth in his mouth...possibly some hidden molars. He is an all-round hick.. he's had 2 live in commonlaw wives in his life. He was telling Trish and I that he has 3 kids from the first, and they are all in foster care, and a baby from the second, who is with the mom. When they were living together they ended up having to live in separate housing just to keep the kid...that was a bit shady...he said he's not allowed to leave the country either. So I'm thinking he's a felon. I've got a great imagination, so I think he's probably a fugitive. haha. Anyways, he's the nimrod to whom I was referring earlier. He also likes to take 30 breaks during the work day. Another thing about pruning trees is there's no bathroom...so you pee behind whatever rock or bush you can find. Lovely. I'm going to learn to appreciate life more when I go back to Canada. After months of living out of a bag, travelling from bed to bed, sometimes with horrible pillows (pillows need to be just right for me or I won't sleep properly), and no toilet at work....I love my mom and my home. haha.
SO....As long as the weather is nice we prune 4 or 5 days a week. I made $510 in four days, and technically I made more than that because the taxes were taken away. That made it all seem worth it, but honestly I would rather it be a bit warmer. I'm going to lose the wonderful tan I started in Cairns. I miss Cairns...mostly the weather, and the people. I miss Bon Bon and Amber, and my 3 boys. The fab 5. But we're all writing our own adventures. I just hope the paths cross again. They are all currently looking for work so I suppose I should be thankful that I have a job. It's just not a wonderful place to be when I know all about the other beautiful spots in Australia which are warmer and more glorious. But this job is a means to an ends -- money for travelling, so it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. And to be honest, I have met some of the best people through this experience. Being separated from Ashley for 5 days was really difficult, but I learned a lot about myself and about this journey because of it, so I know it happened for a reason, just like everything does. I'm learning a lot of life lessons, finally. That's what this trip was all about for me. It sounds cliche to say "soul searching", but I guess thats sort of what I'm doing. I'm learning to have faith in humanity again. Some people do a really great job at being wonderful, loving people. So it's opened my eyes because while my truth is right for me, I have to accept that not everyone else out in the world are messed up, not all of them have bad intentions (I did know that on a small scale because I have some amazing friends), and not everyone treats other people like crap. Within the backpacker world there is a lot of helping others going on, even strangers who I've never met before will offer a helping hand. In backpackers world we look out for our own. It's like a family. But it's my third family. I have my family (&friends included) at home, and then my second family is my 6 - Ashley gets to be in two categories here....Ash, Dean, Nic, Glen, BonBon, and Amber are my second family, and then finally my third, backpackers in general. Everywhere you go, you meet new people, most with similar stories to yours. I love it.
Well that's enough for this chapter.... bis spater (see ya later, in german.)

xoxo Michelle
-----------------------------

Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia

Hey,
so I'm terrible at updating, but i have a good excuse-- I dont have my laptop plug so I can't use it. Ashley has it...and we've been split up. heres the short version. we both had jobs pruning on a farm in stanthorpe, then ashleys farm closed over a family dispute-- retarded really- so she didnt have a job... but we need the money, and its the only job I could find so I still took it...because she told me to.. and she went to bundaberg where she was told she'd get work...but still hasn't. So we're desperately trying to get her in to my working hostel but she has to wait until a girl quits so she can take her spot. likely that wont happen for another week or so...which is frustrating, so she's looking into this other farm where you work for food and accomodation only, but its in the same little town that i'm in... so we're trying....

Stanthorpe is in the middle of nowhere, 3 hours from Brisbane, and is the only place that it SNOWS sometimse in the winter.. OF COURSE!!!!! so the first day it was absolutrely freezing and I wasn't impressed in the least bit... I had like 3 layers of clothing on. but it's warmed up since, I got a sunburn on my face despite wearing lotion 3 times a day. Work is 8 hours long, pruning trees, and you have to carry around a heavy ladder.. so my back aches and my fingers cramp up halfway through the day, but its not terrible....and I get about $600 a week that way...guaranteed 39 hours a week unless it rains or snows. So that's nice... I'm going to try to keep this job as long as I can .... but I'm already wishing I was anywhere but here. it would be better if ashley was here...dean's trying to get in as well because he really needs the work...but i dont know how lucky they'll be.

I miss home because I'm alone. the people here are REALLY nice and most are travelling alone anyways, so you make friends easily, but its not the same...

Anyways....that's what I'm up to... sorry for the lack of communication. love you all.

hiya,
i know i'm terrible at updating. i'm sorry. it's just that the internet is impossibly slow or EXPENSIVE. ashley just updated, but here's my short spin on things.
we're in cairns, we've been here for a week and a day, and are staying until thursday at least. We've been trying to find work for a week and it's proven quite difficult and rather frustrating. We have an interview tomorrow with some sales company, which involves person to person sales of some product. I'm probably going to hate it. we're also calling working hostels in queensland region because you can stay in them and they transport you to a farm where you pick fruit or veggies...but it's only part time work. then once we've got enough money we will work down the coast.. we really want to see whitsundays and frasier island.... look it up, google it. it's gorgeous, with the whitest sand in the world, and the best beaches in all of Australia.
Bonnie and Amber have gone back to Sydney to try and find work and the boys haven't decided what they are doing, they have paid for their adventures down the coast already so they'll probably move on to the whitsundays soon...except I know they wouldn't mind some work eventually too.... we'll probably just meet up with them in sydney again in a few weeks or a month if they do their travels before their work.

That's all so far.... jungle surfing was a lot of fun.... the better pictures of me are on the other people's cameras so hopefully they're posted soon too. Hope all is well. miss you love you all.

ps. We're in a room filled with germans right now, it's kinda funny. I yelled at one in german last night...haha.

Yesterday I went in the Sea....they call it the sea here, never the Ocean. I don't know if we're technically in the Tasman Sea or not..someone has tried explaining this to me but I can't keep it straight in my mind. It was a bit chilly, like going in the lakes during May I'd say... but the waves knock you about and make you swim enough that you stay warm. I kept my shorts on because the waves were so strong I would have lost my bikini bottoms. It was a lot of fun though. I did swallow some water which of course tastes like salt. First Nic and Glen went in and then I went back in with Glen after because no one else wanted to swim. Well Amber wanted to but she didn't have her bathing suit on and couldn't be bothered to walk across the road to change... I don't blame her. I can't wait to get up to Cairns where the weather is more like 28-30 and the water will be warm! It's going to be glorious. I don't know what we're going to do today....I want to go for a walk so maybe I'll do that. I also am about 5 days behind in my written journal because it's just so impossible to find enough time to update it all...especially with last week being so busy. I want to go on the coastal walk from Coogee beach to Bondi but everyone says its too cold. I'll see who I can persuade to come..Bonnie seems into it. Then tonight I think we're going to find the Imax theatre to watch the Terminator Movie...well Ashley and Bonnie will see something else because they're not interested in it, but Amber, Nic, Glen, Dean and I will see it.
We also have to book our stay at a hostel in Cairns- which apparently has a pool and bigger, nicer rooms and lots of extras, for the same price as what we get here in Sydney.
Alright, we're off... don't think we'll make it all the way to Bondi - 1.5 hour walk- but we'll go somewhere

xo

Thursday:
We had the choice of going to the zoo or going to Bondi beach and snorkeling, but after a long day at the beach
surfing most of us wanted to go to the zoo, especially since we can go to Bondi beach for free anyday, but we'd have to
pay for the zoo. So that's what we did, and it's a good thing too because it rained a bit in the afternoon.
Ashley was really excited about the zoo but I think both of us were somewhat disappointed. It was cool because we saw
some animals native to the area, that we wouldn't otherwise see, but other than that it was all the same as the zoos everywhere
else in the world. There were giraffes and hippos and elephants and bears....woohoo... but it was neat that we got to pet
kangaroos if they came on the path we were walking on, which one kinda did and the other stopped right beside it so Ashley got to
pet it really well, I just touched its back before it jumped away. They are quite cute. The koalas were adorable too but they were
sleeping so I didn't get any good photos.. in fact most of the animals were sleeping. We watched a bird show and a seal show which
I enjoyed because they both had species native to the area and were very well done. In the bird show, the birds flew low over our heads
to the zoo keeper person. To get to the zoo we took the ferry and then a cable car or gondola type thing hanging from a wire. That was pretty
much the most excitement we had for the day.
Later in the evening we had a travel and work talk with Trent, the group leader, and after that we went out for dinner to Sauce, a restaurant right
by the hostel, because it was Fay's 25th birthday. Unfortunately it was ridiculously priced so I had a small chicken caesar salad and wasn't exactly
impressed with it. But that's alright.

Friday:
This was probably the best day I've had all week, other than the bit of time on Tuesday in the Aquarium that I enjoyed a lot... We went on a trip to the
blue mountains, and it was done by a guided tour, separate from Ozintro, so the person leading it was really informed
with the history of the place and plants and mountains we came across.It was a gorgeous day. Unfortunately we had to leave at 7 am, so I was up around 6am,
and then on a bus for close to 2 hours, but it was well worth it. On the way there our trip was broken down anyways, it wasn't 2 hours straight. First we stopped
at a national park because you're supposed to be able to see kangaroos in the wild. After 15 minutes or so of driving around, our guide found 3 kangaroos in a gully
off the path so we stopped to get out and see them. Then we stopped in a nearby little town for "morning tea" which is like what you eat after breakfast before your lunch,
or instead of breakfast...I don't really understand, but I was hungry and the bakery/coffeeshop had cinnamon toast and a hot mocha, so I was pleased with
that.
Once we finally got to the blue mountains it required a LOT of walking. The best bit didn't come until the very last section of our trip, but the first was just as
pretty. It took us down a path to the cliffside of the mountains, past a few waterfalls and breathtaking views. I spent an hour today trying to upload these photos to facebook
but it failed because the internet cut out...so I'll try to do that as soon as I can. Anyways, after we had walked to the cliffside - called suicide cliff or something like that,
where you were seriously on a path about 3 feet wide between the hard rocks of the mountain and the cliffs edge, where you would plummet over 400 feet to your death.....at least
I think it was feet, maybe it was metres, but that doesn't seem as far a fall. I felt like I was about to fall over the whole time we were out there so I was
clinging to the mountainside, and holding on tight to the one iron railing separating me from my deathfall.
When that was done they fed us sandwiches and pasta salad for lunch, in a picnik style, and then drove another half an hour to scenic park.This is what I was waiting for the
whole day because it had the steepest train ride in the world that we were going to take back up the mountain -- I was excited up until the moment I saw it
then I didn't want to take it anymore. haha. But I did and I survived. At one point we were pretty much standing up because it was so steep...and it went backwards so you're looking
down the mountain instead of towards the top where you're headed. I was afraid about losing my shoes since I'd already broken those other sandals haha.
I squished myself between glen and dean in the middle, and ashley took the other side of dean where its enclosed, because glen's side only had a rope ...the doorway was open.
Oh and we had no seat belts or lapbars. so I clung on for my life. hahah. It was quite entertaining.
Anyways...best day yet by far.

love Michelle

summary for the last 3 days

sorry i haven't been posting, it's nearly impossible to get a steady internet connection here, and if i use a PC then i have to pay for the time, and it's so slow i don't even get done a post in time!! haha.
anyways I wanted to write in more detail but that will have to come later.... right now here's a short version of what I've been doing the last 3 days.

Day 1 of OZintro: our group arrived early in the morning and we met up with them around 10 or 11 and then at 1230 the group leader picked us up and we went downtown sydney and saw the opera house and bridge and all that. then we went on a jetboat around the sydney harbour for what was probably about an hour. it was soo much fun... really fast and exciting....but then i broke my own pair of sandals (not the pink ones for mom and gramma wondering) so that was annoying.

Day 2: We went to the Darling Harbour- which is where Brooke had taken Ash and I Sunday night .... and to the Sydney Aquarium, we had to take a boat to get there and that's where most of my pretty pictures are from. It was finally a beautiful day then, with sunshine instead of rain. We also sorted our bank cards and the people from the UK got their medicare. Then we went out at night dancing at a local bar, which was a lot of fun.

Day 3: Yesterday we went surfing!! It was exhausting but so much fun. I didn't try standing up on it in the water because by then I was so tired I figured I'd probably just fall off even on solid ground. We had to learn on the sand first. But it was fun and we wore wetsuits so that was also kind of hilarious. Then they did a BBQ on the beach....this beach was 2 hours north of Sydney because its winter and that's where you have to go to surf in the winter.... so it was a lot of driving yesterday and we had to get up quite early. When we got back most of us were still very drained from the day so we just spent time hanging out in rooms and trying to put up pictures from our trip on facebook....nearly impossible....


So that's that. today were either going to the zoo or snorkeling at a different beach, depending on the weather and people's choice....I'll update as soon as I possible can, please be patient with me.


love ~M~

quick update

hey all
sorry for the lack of posting the last two days... my laptop won't charge, i need a voltage converter on top of the plug adaptor..might be awhile.. so its a bit strange to write a blog in the public internet area, so i'll make this short and sweet!!
first things first, newest news: about ten minutes ago I just had two parrot like birds perching on my hand eating sugar out of my palm.

ozintro starts tomorrow.... so i meet my group!
and im heading to hillsong with brooke in an hour...ashley too :)

the people here are awesome, so much fun and we are really enjoying uorselves. sorry out of time for net. love u all

Drama, drama, drama!

Okay, so you're thinking "how does Michelle get internet way up in the sky like that" right? Well.... I'm not ON my way to Sydney, on the death of a 14 hr flight, like I'm supposed to be. No, no. It couldn't be that easy. No one is allowed to just grab 3 flights which all connect and make it to Sydney, the other side of the world, in one peice. For some unknown reason there's this rule I didn't know about which promises to start an adventure like mine off with a BANG!

I'm sure you're all a bunch of question marks about now, and considering its 4:40am Canada time, this blog is probably going to ramble on more than it should. I will get to the point.
Our flight in Buffalo was supposed to take off at 2:30pm. We were delayed/"grounded" until 4:15 when we were finally cleared by Air Traffic Control or whatever... Apparently weather in Washington, our first stop, was terrible and no flights were coming in or out of Washington Dulles...which is why we weren't out of our first airport yet, and were almost 2 hours behind schedule. Of course at this point I had already had a mini freak out because our flight from Washington to L.A took OFF at 4:17 and we were still sitting in Buffalo airport at 4:15. Call me skeptical, but I didn't think the flight would take 2 minutes. But I'd already harassed one of the airport attendants about getting the next possible flight to LA once we were in Washington. He assured me that flights to LA take off every 1.5 hours and we'd have no problems making our connection to Sydney in LA for 9:30pm (despite it being at least 4 hours to fly from Washington to LA... I didn't try to do the math). Part one of our horror story. We get on the plane in Buffalo and they've downsized. I don't know my airplane lingo but it's now a 2 seat by 2 seat aircraft....dinky little thing. Seats were tiny too....and there was NOTHING to do. It only took 45 minutes, but it was the least comfortable airplane I've been on, and I've been to Bolivia, so that's impressive.
So anyways....we get off the plane in Washington and are told to go to Customer Service right away....well silly me, I didn't realize that meant walk for fifteen minutes, hop on a shuttle, transfer to a different terminal, walk five more minutes and stand in line for 2 hours....so instead we stood in the customer service A terminal line for an hour only to be told we needed to go to terminal C because we were looking for an international flight. The lady was kind enough to speak to us as if we were little children who didn't know how to read and had never been out in the real world before. Naturally, we should have known to go to C terminal, even though it said no such thing ANYWHERE on our itinerary or ticket, and we weren't informed by the announcement in the aircraft. But duh, of course I should have known.
So after those next two hours in line at Customer Service Terminal C: International flights...we're told no matter what flight they put us on to LA tonight we won't catch our Sydney flight. So we finally came to terms with the fact that we'd be staying in LA overnight and leaving in the morning. Then we were corrected. No...there are no flights to Sydney from LA in the morning. All airlines fly to Sydney at 10pm at night in order to arrive in Sydney in the morning instead of the middle of their night. So. Needless to say we compromised again and accepted a 9:35 pm flight from Washington to LA.... a flight which I might add had NO movies because the TV system was broken, and for some reason took 5 hours instead of 4. The ONLY 2 nice things about today are a) the airlines took care of transferring our luggage and we don't even need to lug it around LA as we sight see tomorrow, because its in the hanger for the Sydney flight already (I hope---what else could go wrong?) and b) we get either a $100 voucher off for United Airlines any flight around the states until 2010 OR 10% international economy ticket (incl. England or Australia I might add) just because our tvs were broken...hahaha!!!

Of course during this tramatic experience of ours Ashley and I managed to laugh at the little things and find comic relief in reallllllllllllly ridiculous situations and personalities we came in contact with along the way. For the funny sidestories, visit her blog (which is located on the right under "other blogs") because I don't want to repeat everything she said

:) Good Morning Canadians....Good evening Australians.....Good Night LA.
~M~

Introductions

Hey all...
This is going to be my personal blog for my trip to Australia this summer. I will try to update it as frequently I can with stories from my and Ashley's travels. We leave on May 27th, from Buffalo Intl Airport at 2pm, and arrive in Australia on May 29th at 6:10 am Australia time. This will be around 4:10pm May 28th Canadian time. Once we arrive we're being picked up at the airport by Ozintro staff -- that's our work travel program, and brought to Surfside Backpackers Hostel for the next 3 nights before the rest of our group gets there. On the 29th we'll have one other group member there in the hostel with us, plus the ozintro group from the previous week will still be there, and I've been speaking to one of the guys in that group. Then on the 30th, two other girls in my and Ashleys group will be arriving from New Zealand. They've been on an around the world trip since the end of April, with their last stop in Australia. They are from England, and travelled to New York City, Florida, Hawaii, Fiji, and New Zealand. Then the other 10 people in our ozintro group will arrive at 6am on Monday the 1st, and we'll begin our "orientation week".
All the information on what we'll be doing is described on their website, for those of you interested in taking a trip sometime, or just understanding what we're up to. http://www.Ozintro.com
Basically, we're going on a jet boat across the Sydney Harbor to see the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House, as well as the breathtaking view of the city of Sydney on the first day. I'm sure we'll do some get to know your group type deal, and get acquainted with the city. Then the rest of the week, I'm not 100% sure of the order of events but we're going to the Taronga Zoo, the Sydney Aquarium, on a beach day trip, probably to Bondi beach since we are staying across the road from Coogee beach, up the blue mountains on a really steep, open yet caged in, "train" ride, on a pub night, where we get to go dancing at a bunch of different places in one night (party bus takes us), and then up the Sydney Tower for a farewell dinner. In between all this fun stuff we get our cell phone SIM card, our tax file number, numerous job listing information, help with resumes if we need it, information on apartments for rent and travelling help, and alot of other useful stuff.

So that's that. Welcome to my blog. Feel free to live vicariously through me :P
Australia here we come!
~M~