Back in Oz!

Hey everyone,

Well, I finally made it back to sunny Australia after the long haul trip! It feels to nice to have escaped winter weather in Montreal and landed in sunny 25C Sydney!

Making the trip over this time wasn't quite as smooth as before. Usually I'm a pretty good traveller, and don't mind long flights, however this time I had a bit of bad luck when I ate some bad food in Toronto :(. I left from Montreal to Toronto on Jan 2, and had about a 3hr layover in Toronto before boarding my plane that would take me to Vancouver, have a quick stopover, and then continue on to Sydney. I decided to have dinner while in Toronto; salmon. I think I learned a lesson later that you should only eat plain, simple, food while in transit.

Suffice to say, by the time I landed in Vancouver, I wasn't feeling good. I only had one hour to kill in Vancouver, and ended up spending most of it in the bathroom lol. Luckily by the time it came to reboarding the plane, I felt a bit better, and thought I got it all out of my system. I did inform the flight attendants just in case, and also my seat mates. My seat mates were pretty gracious and understanding of my predicament, and I'm glad they were, as 30mins after taking off for Sydney, I ended up using a barf bag for the first time on a plane lol. Luckily the bathroom was close, and after a few minutes of recomposing myself, I finally felt a bit better. I ended up spending the next 15hrs just resting, and trying to sleep, afraid I would overdo it and start making myself feel nauseous again.


Long story short, I finaaally made it to Sydney, after what really did feel like forever lol. By the time I landed I had also started to regain my appetite, despite looking rather pale. So, next time I travel, no fish!!

Since being in Australia for a couple days, I've been slowly adjusting to the time difference and just enjoying the scenery. I'm staying in Maroubra, a suburb part of Sydney just north of Botany Bay along the coast. Compared to my last visit, when I stayed downtown, along the Sydney harbour, this is a nice change, getting a feel for the beach-life here in Australia. Maroubra beach is just a 5 minute walk away from where I'm staying, and all day, all you hear is the sound of crashing waves, and parrots cawing away outside... I could definitely get used to this!

For now my plan is to just enjoy the local area, get in some beach time, and some more sightseeing around Sydney. Later in the month, once plans get set in motion, I hope to take a couple more little trips to see some of the other major cities in Australia, and in Feburary, the big trip, going to Japan! I should be booking my flight to Tokyo soon, and in the mean time, am continuing to get more information on getting together with my former Japanese exchange students from about 15 years ago or so! Very exciting!

ttyl~