adelaide-melbourne

weeew! what a great few days i had with my cousins! they sure do know how to spoil a person. i got lucky to have cousins who love me (and both have full time jobs and no kids....minus their husky, rogue who might as well be a 2 year old child) heres a rundown:

thurs may 10 - friday may 11- after going to the kangaroo rehabilition centre with pommy, simon (who was a great date, super cool guy i would've liked to go to darwin with him and a bunch of other pommys and some germans) i was almost late for the shuttle to the train station. hopped aboard the ghan into my day/night sleeper which was just a reclining airplane chair. nothing super. but probabley the most uncomfortable ride ive had sofar. the train was cool. there was a lounging car and a dining car but you had to pay for all your food and you wernt allowed in any other part of the train. they kept the cheap people away from everyone else. oh well. it was super boring with minimal things to see...should've splurged on a sleeper cabin but oh well, you live and you learn. got picked up from the train station by melissa and ashley and we went for lunch and went straight to the singapore airlines office. learned that my ticket isnt as flexible as i wanted it to be (my new dates are may 30 brisbane - singapore june 03 singapore - denpasar june 25 denpasar - bangkok and then surface transport to singapore and then aug 01 singapore to LA and then i think i have to overnight in LA and catch the next available flight to edmonton. i was thinking of maybe buying a beater and driving up the coast from LA to edmonton but that would prolly be too expensive) oh well thats life. not every road goes without potholes. after that we just went back to their house (cute little 2 bedroom plus study - tiny little place no basement! no houses in australia have basements aparently) and watched tv until bedtime

sat may 12 - got up and went for a jog - melissa was sure i was going to get lost but i assured her that i would stick to a path or run in circles, whichever was easier. after i got back i showered quickly and then we all went out to the footy! its a crazy game...pretty much no rules. 18 players per team on the field at once (yeah like 36 guys running around...weird!) with no direction at all. but ozzies love their AFL lots of cat calling and smart remarks between rival team supporters. I wanted to pick up a 'port adelaide power' tshirt but no keyosks were open after half time so ash gave me his team scarf. that was nice!

after the game we went back 'home' and changed then they took me to rundle street for dinner at a thai restaurant and then for drinks at an english pub. we caught up and chatted. both of them have very cool jobs - ashley said that if i end up getting stuck here then i could work for the immigraion agency he works for as an undercover agent and find out who has visas and who doesnt at the vineyards. that would be cool. unless the korean mofia come after me...then not so cool.

sunday may 13 - MOTHERS DAY! took a drive out to a smaller town outside of adelaide where ash's parents live. met uncle john (uncle jack's son - wow they could be the same person!) and auntie diane. also met ash's brother and sister in law. had a fantastic lunch of prawns, corn (haha funny story with the corn - but its a long one), chicken and fish and lots of other good stuff! after lunch took of with ashley and melissa to the barossa valley - a wine region of southern australia. this is one of the best thing si have ever seen. ther are hundreds of vineyards in this area and on weekends australians go out to the different ones they want to and sample wine. all day you can get extremely drunk for free this way! but it was all very good. ash and lis bought me a couple bottles of my favorite wines and are going to post them home for me (SPOILED!!). Melissa had to work monday morning so ash and i drove up to a small small town called mannum on the murray river and spent the night at his friends 'shack' which is a cabin...on stilts. they put it on stilts because sometimes the river floods. but it was very nice. we had 2 days of just chilling out and chatting. his friend (also named melissa) took us on a tour of mannum (it was short to say the least) but its very cool. very different from anything in canada. i took a few pictures.

monday 14 may - ashley let me drive part of the way home (COOL!) i did alright. stuck to the correct side of the road but kept flicking on the windshield wipers instead of the right or left clicker when making turns. saw the biggest rocking horse in the world! australians like to make big things....like big prawns and gum boots and echnidas...weird. drove past a town that got flooded and was now a lake. it was pretty neat. you could see the steeple from the church sticking out iright in the middle. once we got home it was pretty dark - went out for dinner with lis and then came home. it started storming at this point. woke up early in the morning to loud crashes and bangs. quite the storm.

tuesday 15 may - and now here i am. caught the plane to melbourne. had to say goodbye to my family. i could feel a few tears prickling in my eyes. not often am i treated so well by people who are practically strangers. just shows how strong our family ties are.

tomorrow i have a tour booked on the great ocean road. just one day NO CAMPING! YAY! and ive got 2 nights booked here so im not really sure whats the plan after that. Melbourne is really nice but i might just head off to noosa right away. i like big cities but theres too much to do. and i also want to catch chris if i can before he leaves on the 23rd.

anyway thats the dealio over here. talked to jenni today it was so nice to hear her voice. i cant wait for our big trip together its going to be a blast. and shes going to bring me a nice birthday present! i owe her huge!

much love for everyone

alia