Reid This!

I'm really not that good at goodbyes, so....

2011-12-04T13:45:00.001-06:00

Living in Australia was the best experience of my life, and that may be something cliche to say, but it is so very true. I have never felt so independent, so free, so adventurous, and I have never learned so much about myself and grown as person as I did during the three months that I was Down Under. Thanks to the support and hard work of my family, and blessings of my Heavenly Father, I was able to embark on an adventure that I never thought would be possible.

I feel blessed to have been able to have gone on this trip. I was blessed with a safe home, great job, good friends, wonderful sights and beautiful scenery. I was able to experience another culture in a way that will leave an impression of my for the rest of my life. Sometimes, when I think back, or look at a map, it's still hard to believe that I actually lived thousands of miles away, on a different continent, for three months by myself. It's hard to believe that I was given such a wonderful opportunity, one that I will cherish forever.

Of travel, I've had my share, man. I've been everywhere. (Part 2)

2011-11-25T19:40:00.001-06:00

I'm not gonna lie, before I went to Australia, I was pretty ignorant. I had no idea the size of Australia, I didn't know about its proximity to the Philippines and I had no idea of New Zealand's location compared to Australia. Turns out, its to the southeast of Australia, right smack dab in the middle of "coolest-place-ever-ville". New Zealand is prettier than the movies show and definitely more fun. I didn't see any hobbits, dwarves or Legolas, which was pretty disappointing, but my trip definitely made up for it. So, to continue from my last post...

On Wednesday, April 13th, I woke up in my hostel, packed my things, and then caught my flight to Queenstown, NZ via Christchurch, NZ. I flew Air New Zealand for the first time, and it was actually pretty nice. I got bumped up to business class, so I had a larger seat, movies, and a meal for a four hour flight. It was a pretty sweet set-up. After my VIP flight, I landed in Queenstown, and I was already super excited/super nervous. There's just something about being in a different country that changes the way you look at things. I got into a cab, which was driven by a really nice guy named Spud (not making that up), and then I had a really nice drive into Queenstown.

Views like this tend to make drives pretty fun.

Queenstown is a small resort town on the edge of a huge lake, surrounded by mountains. It is one of the most picturesque places you could ever see and it made my mouth drop every time I walked outside. As far as the town goes, Queenstown was a typical resort town, with a lot of shops and retailers selling outdoor gear, trips/packages and cheap nick-nacks. The town itself wasn't anything special, but the views were extraordinary, and you could do any extreme sport or outdoor activity imaginable out of Queenstown. You could jetboat, skydive, cave dive, tight-rope, ride ATVs, ride horses, canyon swing, hang-glide, para-glide, fish, hike, bla blah blah. It was crazy. I would eventually stay in Queenstown for longer, but I was only there for one night my first time being there.

The next morning, I hopped on a bus with 14 other people and took a curvy, mountain road up to Fox Glacier. My driver was apparently training for NASCAR, because we didn't go slower than 30 mph the entire time and I'm pretty sure he pulled the E-brake and smoked the tires a few times. On top of the fact that I was in the back of a van that was being driven by a man who must have shotgunned five Mountain Dews before we left, it was super cloudy and raining with an intense fog, which is pretty depressing weather. It was even more depressing because I was headed to Fox Glacier, where the only things they have to do are all outside.

Bleh...makes you want to kick something.

So I was carsick, wet, alone and headed to a place where I thought I was going to have the rare luxury of sitting in my room for three days. I wasn't a happy kid.

But it all turned out better than I thought! Even though it was still raining when I made it my hostel, I had booked a single room for two out of the three nights I was there, so I didn't have to worry about sleeping in the same room as anyone else. Also, the hostel had a hot tub! Hot tubs make all of your problems go away. Fact. I spent a lot of time in that hot tub the next few days; is was actually outside, with a tent over the top, so you had great views of the mountains and plains while you were chilling in the hot tub.

Would you believe me if I said I took this picture from the hot tub?

I walked around town and took a lot of pictures. The fog was actually really pretty, flowing through the mountains and making the landscape seem very eerie. Fox Glacier wasn't so bad after all. While I was in Fox Glacier, I had made plans to skydive (you can't imagine how excited I was for skydiving) and trekking on the glacier know as the, wait for it, Fox Glacier. Spoiler alert, my plans didn't turn out this way, but I still had a great time!

The first day, I was supposed to go on the glacier trek, but when I woke up, it was an absolutely gorgeous day! The clouds had completely burned off, so it was a perfect day for skydiving. Knowing that days like this don't come very often, I jumped on the chance, switched my glacier trek to the next day and went out to go find the skydiving guys so I could jump out of a perfectly good airplane 12,000 feet in the air. That was a poor choice, as it turns out the skydive blokes had the day off. So, to sum up, I had postponed my trek in favor of something that I couldn't do. I now had a free day with nothing planned. So what do I do when I have nothing else going on? I take a walk.

Oooh.

Aaah.

Those are pictures of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook. Mt. Cook is pretty much covered by the clouds, but they are two of the tallest mountains in New Zealand, and the Fox Glacier is formed in their crevices and valleys. It was a perfect day for a walk, mid-60s, sunny, with a gentle breeze. I was walking towards Lake Matheson, one of the most photographed spots in New Zealand and, so they claim, the world.

There claims seems to make sense.

If you Google 'Lake Matheson', you'll find gazillions of pictures that are better than mine, but most of them will be of the same general thing; the Lake is very famous for being able to perfectly reflect the mountains behind it. Go check out the other pictures, some of them are incredible.

This picture is also incredible, but mainly because I'm in it.

Lake Matheson was a very quiet, peaceful and (obviously) very still place. After my walk around the lake, I chilled at the tourism center and then walked the four miles back to the town. On the walk back, I was facing the mountains the entire time, which made for an amazing four miles. My first day in Fox Glacier, which I thought would either by rainy or foggy and dismal, turned into a beautiful day with a great walk around a beautiful lake.

My next day was the day of the glacier trek. Not surprisingly, I woke up to absolutely pouring rain, and, not surprisingly, I woke up to not being very happy. Luckily, the tour guides outfitted us with a lot of rainproof gear, and the rain turned to a mere drizzle a few minutes after we left the guide shack. We drove the ten minutes to the foot of the glacier, put on all of our gear, and then headed up the glacier.

Looks cold, don't it?

Part of our gear was crampons. It is a strange feeling, walking with crampons, but itsoon became very natural. They have 1-inch long spikes, so you have to raiseyour feet higher when you walk and place your feet flat on the ground when youstep. But they are amazingly sturdy, it’s like you’re Spiderman; you put your foot wherever you want and you stick to it like glue. The hike was pretty cool. We were able to climb through some tunnels, over the ridges and even down into some pretty deep crevices.

I never actually got out of here. I'm writing this blog from the bottom of this hole.

Being on something that old and that massive is an incredible feeling. It was a long day of hiking and definitely an experience I won't forget. That evening, I packed my things and got ready for the next day's travel back to Queenstown, which would be pretty unforgettable, as well. It was unforgettable, no only because I had the same NASCAR driver as before, but because I got to see Lake Hawea! I didn't get my camera out in time, but if you are ever just happen to be in the area of middle of nowhere southern island New Zealand, be sure to have your camera ready, cause it is going to be worth it. This is the second time I've told you to Google something, but it is definitely worth. Lake Hawea is un.be.lievable.

We finally made it back to Queenstown, where I grabbed some dinner, then crashed at my hostel for the night. The next day, I was scheduled to go skydiving and hang-gliding, so it was going to be a big day. Unfortunately, just like the rest of my trip, the next day didn't exactly go as planned.

I woke up the next morning to beautiful weather, and I was pumped when I was walking to the skydiving office, but when I got there, they said that there were too many clouds in the upper atmosphere for us to be able to skydive safely. So, we had to postpone my flight for later in the morning. To make a long story short, I ended up postponing my flight four more times before the weather was deemed safe enough to dive. It was a very, very long morning and I was pretty anxious the entire time. Skydiving was the one thing that I had really wanted to do, and it kept looking like I wasn't going to be able to do it. But, finally, the weather cleared, and I found myself signing forms and waivers and driving to the landing site.

Skydiving is a very cool thing, regardless of where you do it. But skydiving in New Zealand definitely has its perks.

Look at the size of those peaks, er, perks.

Falling from 15,000 feet with that view was absolutely amazing. I can't describe a bigger rush or thrill or more beautiful experience. Your brain has absolutely no chance at comprehending what is happening to you, so you just let it all happen and then figure out what the heck just happened once you have landed. Definitely one of the best things about my trip. If you have the chance to skydive, totally do it. Do it, do it, do it! Also, do it in a place that takes your breath away. Flying to New Zealand to skydive may seem a bit superfluous and rash, but you'll be okay with it once your falling at 125 mph at those mountains.

It was a day of ups-and-downs (that's a pun for skydiving, ha!). Skydiving was most definitely an up, but then it was time to hang-glide, and suddenly the day started to turn down. The guy that owned the hang-gliding company literally ran the business out of the back of his van. No joke, he had no office or storefront, he ran everything out of his old, beat-up van.

Bad first impression, mate.

So I wasn't overly impressed to start out with. Things started looking up though, because after we drove up the mountain to get to the launch point, I was rewarded with this view.

Oh yeah, the day's getting better.

However, the good feelings died down, after we ended up waiting, strapped into the hang-gliders, for two hours for the wind to pick up. You see, without wind, "hang-gliding" turns into "fall-dying" pretty quickly. So, without wind, we weren't going anymore. Again, a long story short, two hours of standing later, we unbuckled from the gliders and drove back down the mountain. Not exactly the most exhilarating time ever, but the view was good, so there's a silver lining for ya.

It was my last day in New Zealand, and it was a great one, even despite the lack of hang-gliding. Skydiving tends to make your days good no matter what else you do. Overall, New Zealand was unforgettable. By far, it was the prettiest place I have ever been. I have been to individual locations that are as pretty or maybe even prettier, but in New Zealand, everywhere you go will take your breath away. I firmly believe that there is not an ugly part of New Zealand, which, unfortunately, can't be said for the USA (looking at you, Iowa.)

Going to New Zealand was definitely one of the best decisions I made while I was on my trip, and if you ever get the chance to travel to New Zealand, jump on it as soon as you can. Unfortunately, I had to leave the great country of New Zealand and fly back to Melbourne, Australia, and then fly back home. It was a great two weeks of traveling around Australia and New Zealand, and it was sad to leave both countries, but I was very excited to get back home. I was already missing living as an Aussie, and I was already planning when I would go back, but there's just no place like home.

Of travel, I've had my share, man. I've been everywhere. (Part 1)

2011-11-22T14:04:00.001-06:00

You know when you say to yourself, "Oh I'll just do that tomorrow." Well, for me, I said that for 217 days. But today's the day that I finally get this blog done! Or at least, today's the day that I finally start getting this blog done. It's a big day, and I don't think you're nearly excited enough about how awesome today is.

To review, my last post was about my family coming down to visit me in Melbourne. We traveled around for about two weeks and then they went back home and I went back to being cool. After they left, I had about three weeks before it was my last day as a Melburnian. During those three weeks, I...

1.) Went to Tasmania to visit my friends.

2.) Fed a Tasmanian devil.

3.) Hiked around Launceston, Tasmania.

4.) Drove a stick shift at 3 a.m., which means I was driving stick on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car in the wee hours of the morning.

5.) Hung out.

6.) Went to see a few acts at the Melbourne Comedy Festival with some mates.

7.) Went to a really fun footy match with Gab, and saw the Western Bulldogs demolish the Brisbane Lions.

8.) Went to Gab's 30th birthday party at his house.

9.) Kept it real. Kept it fresh. And I kept it real fresh.

So that's three weeks boiled down into 9 bullet points, PowerPoint presentation-style. The next two weeks, however, stand no choice at being boiled down. So, we're going to split the next two weeks into two blogs, which is super convenient, because I spent the first week traveling around Australia, and the second week traveling around New Zealand. So without further ado....

My travel plans for Australia included going to see Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta and various other Outback attractions. I flew out of Melbourne on April 8th, via Tiger Airways, which is kind of like shaving your face with a chainsaw. You have to do it, and it gets the job done, but you know you might die at any time. I flew into Alice Springs, which is the central-most town in Australia, and is about 27,000 strong. It is home to many people of Aboriginal decent, and has a lot of museums, tour groups, and historical sites. After landing, I checked into my hostel and then checked out the city.

Check. It. Out.

I did some window shopping, learning and checked in to my tour shop for my tour the following day. I did my tour with The Rock Tour and they did a great job. I grabbed some dinner, walked around some more, then headed back to the hostel to arrange my things for my tour. I met two American girls who were in my tour, so that was pretty cool. One of them even went to kU, which was slightly less cool, but it wasn't too bad. I went to bed fairly early, as we were being picked up at 6 a.m. the next morning to start our tour.

There were 20 other people on my tour, not including the two tour guides, Mark and Charlie. We would spend the next three days with each other, and we would spend about half of that time on the road. Needless to say, getting a good seat on the bus was the most important decision I made during my entire stay in Australia.

I spent more time in this van than I did in class all this semester.

It was a 4 hour drive to get to Uluru, and on the way we stopped at a few smaller rock sites and landmarks. Once we got to Uluru, it was time for my mind to be blown. It’s one of those things where, from driving up from adistance, you go ‘There is no way it’s really that big’, but as you get closer,it keeps getting big and bigger and...

Biggest.

It's seriously large. It is 1,142 ft tall and has a 6-mile circumference. Pretty much the biggest pet rock you could ever find. My tour drove a lap around Uluru, and then we got out of the van and walked around Uluru while our tour guides explained some historical and cultural aspects of Uluru and the surrounding area, and other customs of the local Aboriginal tribes. After our walk, we got back into the vans and drove to a spot to watch the sunset. Uluru 'glows' red at sunset, due to the reflection of the sun's rays. It was a very pretty night, with millions of stars in the sky and a glowing red Uluru. After the sunset, we drove to a local campsite, unrolled our sleeping bags and tents and got to making a campfire. The guys of the group made the fire and drank beer while the girls of the group went to the restrooms and showered. It was a nice night for a campfire, and a nice night for sleeping outdoors. I forgot to mention one thing, though. The travel brochures are pretty straight forward with Uluru (it's a big rock, you can't really mess that up), but one thing they don't tell you about is the flies. I could walk from the parking lot to Uluru without ever touching the ground because I was walking on the flies. If you were short on some protein that day, all you had to do was open your mouth, run forward and boom! you had your daily nutritional content of protein.

All of those specks on their shirts are flies. Literally, there were thousands of them.

The next morning, we woke up and drove back to Uluru to catch the sunrise (prettier than the sunset, in my opinion) and then we drove the 30 minutes to Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta, which means "many heads", is 36 rock domes spread out across 10 square miles. They can range anywhere from being 800 feet tall to being 50 feet tall. We hiked around KT for the whole morning, with Markand Charlie stopping and talking to us about certain Anangu (the local Aboriginal tribe) things. Kata Tjuta was verygreen, so there was great contrast between the massive red domes and thegreenery underneath.

Contrasted. Boom.

Kata Tjuta was prettier than Uluru, but Uluru was much more physically impressive. We hiked around Kata Tjuta for almost four hours, taking in the sights and sounds and the magnitude of the formations. My group was a lot of fun. We had about 3 Americans, a French couple, a British girl, a very pretty Dutch girl, a Brazilian girl and then the rest were either German or German speakers. So, the group was pretty much split into either being German or not German. It was a cool group, and we all got along really well.

It's hard not to get along when you're looking at this view.

After hiking around Kata Tjuta, we drove to a campsite by King's Canyon to stay the night. On the way to the campsite, we stopped on the side of the road to dig for grubs, just like the Aboriginal women used to do. The key was to look for roots of special trees that had huge bumps in them, and that showed that a grub had been present.

Grubs.

After you found that root, you dug up the rest of the tree's roots to find other roots which had grubs living in them. It took us about 30 minutes, but we ended up finding four or five grubs, and we put them to good use.

Real good use.

We built a fire (guys with the fire, girls with the showers), cooked dinner and headed to bed. The night was so much clearer than before, so I could see the Milky Way, Southern Cross and millions of other stars. It was great falling asleep under those Australian stars.

The next day, we woke up early, as usual, and drove to King's Canyon for our last day on tour. The sun came up while we were climbing ‘Heart AttackHill’, a very steep start to the hike. It was a beautiful sunrise over the Canyon, and a great start to the hike. We hiked for about 4 hours, and we got to see a lot of awesome rock formations, canyons, valleys and ponds. The gorge is a low point for the surrounding area, so regardless of the type of weather, there is always a cornucopia of trees, plants and wildlife in the bottom of the gorge.

The wood bridge grew here naturally, as well.

Overlooking the top of the canyon.

It was times like this were I was glad that I did a tour and didn't try to see everything by myself. This canyon would have been cool to experience by myself, but I wouldn't have gotten all of the background knowledge and little stories that Mark and Charlie knew. After hiking through the canyon, we made lunch (with a heavy side of flies), then hopped into the vans and started the long eight hour drive back to Alice Springs. On the way back, we played games to keep us occupied and I took a nap. Driving through the Outback is probably one of the more boring things you could do while in Australia. Think Kansas, but with stubby bushes instead of corn. Not the most exciting drive ever. After we arrived back at Alice Springs, I made my way back to my hostel where I unpacked my things, started my laundry and then took a good long nap. The past three days had been very early mornings, hikes, heat and late nights. It was still a great experience. That night, my tour met up at a local bar and we all celebrated a successful tour. It was pretty fun partying with people from all over the world; dancing is a universal language, so it all worked out well! I went to bed pretty late that night, but was able to sleep in the next morning, so it wasn't too bad.

The next morning, I woke up, packed my things, hopped onto the bus for the airport and caught my flight back to Melbourne. It was great being back in Melbourne. I stopped by work to say hi to my friends. They gave me a few mementos, including a really cool 'Lend Lease' winter vest that will come in handy. I said goodbye to them, then checked into my hostel, grabbed some dinner and called it a night.

This is what a hostel looks like, in case you didn't know.

Overall, it was a great trip out to the Outback. The Outback is definitely something that you can't get anywhere else in the world, and it was one of the best parts of my trip. Uluru, Kata Tjuta and King's Canyon were a lot of fun and definitely unforgettable, especially Uluru and Kata Tjuta. I had a great time out in the middle of nowhere of Australia, but now I was getting excited about heading out to New Zealand to see how the Kiwis lived. The next day, I would fly out to Queenstown, New Zealand, and embark on the next half of my trip.

Admittedly, I may have slacked off a bit...

2011-04-30T18:36:00.000-05:00

Remember me? Maybe you don't, so I'll introduce myself again. My name is Reid The Man Mason, previously known as the kid who was interning in Australia, now known as the kid who's sitting at home watching TV and playing with his dog. Kind of like the Artist Formerly Known as Prince, except I'm a college bum and not very royal.

However, I am officially back home! I flew into Kansas City over a week ago, last Wednesday night, April 20th. It was a long trip but good trip home. This week I've been catching up on sleep, getting over jet lag and generally being lazy.

But that's not important. What is important is the question "Reid, what did you do for the past month? You fell off the face of the planet, what happened?" First off, thank you for being so concerned with my well-being; that's very sweet. Second, I was actually really busy! I'm family came and visited me for a week, then I went on a few travels, then before I knew it, it was my last week in Melbourne. Time flew by for the last month or so, as I was really busy at work, thankfully, and doing a lot of things outside of work. But now that I'm home, there's never been a better time to tell you what I did for the past month.

One of the biggest things that happened was my family coming to visit me! They were in Australia for ten days and we made those ten days count. We saw Melbourne, drove the Great Ocean Road, drove back to Melbourne, drove to Phillip Island and saw the penguins, drove to Canberra and then finally made it all the way to Sydney. It was a lot of driving, but we saw a lot and had a lot of fun.

Hey Family!

In our first go around in Melbourne, we checked out my house, the Royal Botanic Gardens (see above picture) and a lot of the other sights that Melbourne has to offer. It was great being able to show my family where I had lived for the last 3 months. I felt like such a tour guide, it was great. After our a few days in Melbourne, we drove the Great Ocean Road, which is renowned as one of the greatest stretches of road in the world.

Oooooh. That makes sense.

Where was this taken? Kansas City or Australia?

It was a very pretty drive, even though about half of it was through a national forest. Great Ocean Road going through forests? Yeah, it confused us, too, but the road was a lot of fun regardless of the tree filled middle. A huge highlight on the drive was seeing wild koalas!

It didn't move a lot, so it could have been a prank by some bored teens...who knows.

We took about 45 pictures of this koala, then we figured out that there were four more koalas in the area. We had run into a koala posse! Which, honestly, is probably the least frightening posse in existence. We kept on driving until we came to the Twelve Apostles, which are 12 towers that have become separated from the coast. There are only eight still intact, but those eight are still impressive. We checked out the Apostles, then drove to a nearby beach and had ourselves a little frolic.

Beaches make everything fun.

After some good times playing in the waves and getting everything went, including a close miss of the camera, we kept on driving until we reached Port Campbell, our home for the night. We stayed in a sweet log cabin, and Joy and I were actually able to drive our van around town! Driving on the left feels wrong, because the right is right. We woke up the next morning and drove back to Melbourne, where we stayed for a day and checked out my work. On the way, we saw wild kangaroos! It was awesome seeing the animal in the wild. Once in Melbourne, my family met my manager and foreman and Joy said "They're pretty much exactly what American girls picture when they think of hot Australians." Yep, that pretty much sums it up, I guess. After we tore Joy away from my co-workers, we kept on driving on, headed towards Phillip Island and the famous Penguin Crossing.

We made it to Phillips Island, which is about a two hour drive from Melbourne. The island itself is fairly large with a lot of things to do. We went to the Nobbies, which is a series of rocks and small islands on the edge of the island. It's a breeding ground for many types of birds and sea lions and penguins.

He wasn't thrilled that I was taking a picture of him.

The Nobbies. Rough name, but pretty view.

That evening, we went to the Phillips Island Penguin Crossing, which unfortunately, has a strict policy on prohibiting cameras. But envision in your mind if you can: a 100 foot long beach, with two concrete bleachers built into the hill side, so the water is 20 feet from the front row. The penguins cross on either side of the two bleachers, heading from the surf into their burros in the hills on shore. We saw probably 40 Little Blue Penguins cross that evening; the Rangers said that they could see an upwards of 300 penguins cross on some nights. It was cool seeing them come in from the ocean, and as we walked back to our car, you could see and hear them call to their partners, locating their burrows and generally making quite the racket.

The next morning, we stopped at a Koala reserve before leaving Phillip Island and headed on our way to Sydney. We stopped about halfway between Melbourne and Sydney in a town called Bairnsdale, and we actually stayed at a hotel called....

You couldn't make this stuff up.

At one time, the motel was owned by the Kansas family, who thought it would be fun to have a city named after them, apparently. Pretty fun coincidence, and it was a pretty good hotel, too. We walked around Bairnsdale in the evening, and checked out the local river walk.

Hey look, it's a river. Let's walk!

We left Bairnsdale the next morning, after a good breakfast at McDonald's, and kept on headed towards Sydney. A few hours into the drive, we saw more wild kangaroos!

Proof that they really do exist.

We saw about 20 kangaroos in total throughout our drive, most of the time in groups of four or five. We stopped in Canberra, Australia's national capital, and checked out the parliament. We did a little learning too, as we learned about the Prime Minister and the Governor-General, whom I had never heard of.

The Mason family about ready to undertake an unsuccessful coup d'etat

The Parliament was pretty neat, but we were on a schedule, so we high-tailed it to Sydney. Sydney is a seriously big city. I don't know what you picture when you think of Sydney, but whatever it is, triple it. Sydney feels a lot like Chicago, except filled with Australians. We spent two days in Sydney, and had a very full two days. We went to the zoo, Bondi Beach, the CBD, Olympic Park and the Sydney Opera House. Sydney was a lot fun, but a very busy city, and it took awhile to get around. On the first day, we went to the zoo, which was also pretty busy, but even in spite of the crowds, the zoo was a lot of fun, and we saw a lot of cool animals.

Seriously impressive. He's the size of a Toyota Prius.

The zoo is set up really well for viewing the animals, with medium sized enclosures with good viewing areas. It ended up being a perfect day for the zoo and the animals were all active. The chimps were one of the highlights; there were two 1 yr old chimp brothers that were swinging around the enclosure and causing general mischief. They kept playing with each other and having a great time. The zoo was a pretty full day, but we wanted to go to Bondi Beach, so we powered through and drove to the beach. It wasn't exactly a perfect day for beach-going; it was about 65 degrees and windy. But we were only at Bondi Beach once, so we went for it.

And by 'we', I mean everyone but my mom. She has a serious hatred of cold water.

We played in the surf and body surfed for a while, easily over an hour. The water was pretty warm once you got used to it, and there were still about 30 people surfing, even despite the poor conditions. Bondi Beach was a lot fun, but definitely tired us out, so we drove back to our hotel and crashed for the night. The next day, we woke up, had a nice breakfast, then headed to the Olympic Park.

Home of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The Olympic Park was gigantic, with a ton of stadiums and grounds and parks. They now hold concerts and a variety of athletic events on the complex. It was cool being able to see where all that history had been made. We left the park around lunch time, then headed into the city and the Opera House, as we were scheduled to watch the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House that evening.

As pretty as you imagine it, and even more impressive.

We got to the city a little early, so we walked around the Opera House, and the Botanic Gardens. The Opera House is actually three separate buildings, so it's more like a complex than one singular house. There are two gigantic halls for the opera and other concerts, and then a smaller room for more personal performances.

Left: Personal performances, Middle: Concert Hall, Right: Opera Hall

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra was a lot of fun. Artists from around the world recorded themselves playing their respective instruments, and then submitted them to YouTube to grade and make their selections. The Orchestra contained artists from something like 33 different countries, which was really cool. The show lasted about three hours and was generally really entertaining. Also, the inside of the hall takes your breath away.

Taking a picture with a flash was permitted, so sorry about that.

It's pretty much the biggest room ever. After the orchestra, we headed out and had dinner at this really good pizzeria. Unfortunately, we picked possibly the worst time ever to go, because we sat in the same room as the world's biggest bachelorette party. With no exaggeration, there were 30 women at one party, all in white dresses and all rather tipsy. The food was good, and the party provided some entertainment.After dinner, we walked around Sydney and did some shopping, then headed home for our last night in Sydney.

The next morning, we woke up, packed up our things and then headed to the Sydney Airport. My family was headed back home and I was headed back to Melbourne. It was pretty strange flying to a different place than them, but I knew I'd be home in a month or so, so it wouldn't be too long until we saw each other again. It was a great 10 days in Australia and I was really happy that they were able to come down and see the great Down Under!

The Great Getaway

2011-03-20T04:36:00.000-05:00

What exactly is a promontory? It is a good question, and before I visited Wilson Promontory, I had absolutely no idea. It turns out a promontory is a mass of land that overlooks lower land or a body of water. That definition seems oddly general to me, as there are many places that overlook lower land or a body of water, but we'll work with what we got.

And what we got is Wilsons Promontory (a.k.a. The Prom) (So yeah, I went to The Prom last weekend, which makes it sound like I was a huge creep and went to a high school dance. I didn't, I went hiking.). Whenever I would talk to the locals about my travel plans and sightseeing adventures, they frequently brought up The Prom. "It's Victoria's landmark national park." "Oh mate, it's awesome, you'd love it there." "I have no idea what a promontory is, but it's unbelievable." So, I decided to do a little research and see what the fuss was all about. I began researching the possibility of a trip on Wednesday, and that following Friday, I was sitting on a bus headed for The Prom. In between that I bought a tent, hiking boots, food and packed my bag for the weekend.

My bag for the weekend.

It was a 2.5 hr bus ride to Fish Creek, a tiny rural town, then an hour bus ride into the park. I'd love to tell you that the Australian countryside is incredibly scenic and all, but I was asleep for about 2 hrs of the 2.5 hr bus ride, so I didn't get to see much. Once I got into the park, around 5:30 p.m., I found my campsite and set up my tent.

Home sweet home.

As you may notice, my tent isn't exactly spacious. I bought a small, two-person tent, which turned out to be a very small, two-middle school persons tent. I had to lay corner-to-corner in order to be able to fully stretch out. But since I was the only person in the tent, it actually worked perfectly.

After setting up my tent, I grabbed some dinner (a candy bar and Vitamin water), and then headed out to check out the campsite. I knew there were some scenic locations closeby, so I decided to venture out and see what I could find. On my way, I found a wombat!

The head is on the left, the tail is on the right. Just in case you're confused.

The Prom is known for having a large wombat population, and the wombats are very used to humans, and so they freuently come into the campsite to look for food. It is very common to wake up in the morning and find that a wombat has ripped a hole in your tent or kncoked over tables looking for food. Luckily, that didn't happen to me. My only experience with the wombat was touching him and taking this picture. Still, it was pretty cool to be able to see Australian wildlife.

Seeing a wombat was pretty cool, but it ranks pretty low on the list of things I saw over the weekend.

This is high on the list. No explanation needed.

I probably stood at this point for ten minutes, just taking it all in. The beach in the background is Squeaky Beach, which is named after the fact that the sand squeakes when you walk on the beach.

This is caused by the characteristics of the white quartz sand, which is so fine that there is an incredible amount of friction between the sand particles, causing it to emit a squeak whenever you step into the sand. All in all, it makes for an interesting experience walking across the beach.

A quick side note: I took over one hundred pictures over the weekend, so I want you to know how much of a struggle it was for me to select only a few for this blog.

The next morning, Saturday morning, I packed up my gear, caught a shuttle to the base camp, and headed off for my two-day hike.

I was going to Refuge Cove, via Sealers Cove.

The weather was perfect for hiking. It ranged from high 50s at night to high 70s during the day, with little rain and partly cloudy. You worked up a sweat when you were hiking, but then were able to cool off whenever you were taking a rest. It was perfect 'jeans and a t-shirt' type of weather.

Pictured: Jeans, accompanied by a t-shirt.

The hike was gorgeous. Lush, rich forests with thick underbrush. As you would expect, it was an amazingly calming and peaceful place. I was truly able to get away from it all and get into nature. 'Nature' includes the trees, rocks, ferns and....wallabies!

Smile! You're on Candid Camera.

The wallaby and I did the whole "stop and stare at each other" thing, then he decided I wasn't a threat and went back to eating. Of course, that all changed when I decided to try and get closer, and he bounded off into the woods. This was about an hour into my trip, and it was a fantastic way to start the hike.

Initially, the trail was very open and very well marked. But as I got further and further into my hike, I started to hit the less traveled parts of the trail. The trail would change from rocks, to mud and then it would disappear into the ferns, leaving you guessing where it went.

It's there, you just can't see your feet when you're walking through it.

Walking to a remote campsite on a remote trail was one of the most fun things I've done. It feels great to be able to stop, pause and listen for sounds, and all you hear are the birds and the wind. No planes or car horns or people talking. Listening to nothing was an awesome experience. But the listening had nothing on the looking, and I was able to look at some pretty awesome views.

Sealers Cove, in all of its majesty.

You know in the movies when someone washes up on a deserted island and you think "I wonder if those places really exist?" Well, they do. Now, I wasn't on a deserted island, but it was pretty awesome being able to stand on a beach and know that the nearest restaurant or traffic light or even electricity source was three hours away. This was nature in all of its original glory.

It took a little over three hours to get to Sealers Cove. I stopped there, had lunch, took a nap and then went on my way. Refuge Cove, my ultimate destination, was another 6.2 km away, or about 2 hours.

10.2 down, 6.2 to go.

The hike from Tidal River (the base camp) to Sealers Cove was entirely in the forests. However, the hike from Sealers Cove to Refuge Cove followed the shoreline of the park, which made for some stunning views. About an hour into the hike, I reached the summit of one of the bluffs on the shoreline, and was in awe of the beauty.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I stood here and admired the beauty and took pictures for probably ten minutes. Most of the pictures turned out great, although not all of them were winners.

Best picture of the weekend.

I'm cool.

Despite the injury to my pride, I was able to shrug off the photography mishap and keep on hiking. An hour later, I finally made it into Refuge Cove, my home for the night.

You could do worse than having a home here.

I arrived at Refuge Cove around 5:30 p.m., unpacked my gear, pitched my tent and then took a nap. Naps in the wilderness are awesome. During the three days I was gone, I took around 7 naps.

After I awoke from my glorious rest, I decided to hike up to Kersop's Peak. It was an hour one-way hike and during the hike, I saw another wallaby! This guy wasn't messing around though; the second he saw me, he gave me a quick glare and then bounded away. No photos for this guy. Still, the mini-hike was a lot of fun, mostly because I didn't have my pack on, but also because of the scenery.

You don't get this in Missouri.

I made it to the top of Kersop's Peak at about 7:30, when the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. It made for some awesome pictures.

I stayed at the peak for about half an hour, then hiked back down to the camp, and went to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the beach.

The next day, I did the exact same hike as the day before, just backwards. I didn't take many pictures on the return journey, mostly because I had already taken pictures of everything on the way there, but also because I was dead set on getting home and I didn't want to stop and waste time. I made surprisingly good time on the way back, and was on track to make it back to the base camp three hours before I was supposed to catch the bus to head back to Melbourne. So, since I had all of that extra time, I took another nap.

It was high 70s, sunny and breezy. Pristine napping conditions.

I took a nap at the Windy Saddle, pictured above. An hour later, I woke up, thought about going back to sleep, decided against it, and headed back onto the trail. Another hour later, I was back at the base camp, tired and sore, but feeling great.

Check, check, and check. Did all three. Booyah.

It was a great weekend at a great national park, and I would definitely go back. The weather was perfect and the views were stunning. If you're ever in the area of Fish Creek or Foster and you feel like getting out and working up a good sweat, I totally recommend Wilsons Promontory, even if I have no idea what it means.

Muffins, Monkeys and Missed Flights

2011-03-07T19:25:00.000-06:00

I tried to order muffins for my job site to help us celebrate International Women's Day, and when I entered my information into the online order form and clicked 'submit', it came back with an error message that read: "We're sorry, but 'Reid' is not a valid first name. Please enter another name, and try again." Mom, Dad...how dare you. This pretty much sums up my experience in Australia. I never know what is going to happen next. One minute, I'm calmly working on my cost control paperwork, and the next minute, I'm ordering dainty muffins for 20 burly construction workers, and I learn that Australia does not recognize 'Reid' as a first name. You gotta love this country.

While I apparently need to change my name, or maybe just make it official and go solely by "The Man", everything else about Australia is going great! I'm making more and more friends (you can only go up from zero!) and getting more involved in the community. Last week, I went to a jazz cafe Tuesday night, bible study Wednesday night, and then played basketball with guys from my church Thursday night! It was a pretty good week.

The week before that, I went to a concert by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Melbourne has a series of free concerts during the summer, and the last one was centered around Australian made, directed and produced music. When I was invited to the concert, I expected a few older people in lawn chairs, a few families on picnics, and some artistic-loving musicians. I was wrong.

This is about 1/8th of the people at the concert.

There were so many people there, it could have been registered as the second largest town in Wyoming. (Which isn't saying much. The local Wal-Mart is the fifth largest city in Wyoming.) It was a gorgeous day for a concert, which started around 7 o'clock, and went until around 10 o'clock.

7 o'clock.

10 o'clock.

The concert was surprisingly entertaining. The second half of the concert was a little slow and boring, but the first half was very exciting, up-tempo and erratic music. I felt very cultured, since I was taking in a cultural event in an entirely different culture. It was a double-shot of culture like none other.

That same week, I made a big move into settling down in my home, and I bought a bike!

It's the same model that Lance used to win his 4th Tour de France.

It may be a tad rough on the eyes, but the little devil is a lot of fun. Well, it was a lot of fun...it has a flat rear tire now. But hey, it still looks goo...well it doesn't look good either. So, basically, I own an ugly bike that doesn't work. I'm living the dream! But before my bike got the flat tire, I had a lot of fun riding around town, checking out the sights and pretending I was Tony Hawk or Shaun White.

During one of my rides around town, I rode down to the Queen Victoria Market and unexpectedly found the Wednesday Night Market. For those of you who don't remember, the Queen Vic Market is a big indoor-outdoor market/farmers market. The Wednesday Night Market is almost exclusively a foreign foods festival, with live music and hundreds of food booths set up around the marketplace. Oh, and it's absolutley packed.

Pictured: 4th largest city in Wyoming.

I had a nice Seafood Paella from the Spanish booth, and then fought my way through the masses so I could watch the Victorian Police Band. They captivate you with their sound, and then arrest you with their cuffs. (That was stupid, I'm sorry I said that.) I was having a pretty good time at the market, and then it got better, when around 50 bikers riding Harley Davidsons rolled in. I felt like pumping my fist and yelling "U-S-A! U-S-A!", because what's more American than a good ol' Harley. The Harleys were like 50 little bits of America rolling down the road.

Get ready for this sweet segway. Harley Davidsons are from Milwaukee, I have a friend from Milwaukee, and she and another friend came to visit me. Boom, segwayed. Justine (from Milwaukee) and Caitlin (from Provo) came up from Tasmania to visit Melbourne over the weekend a few weekends ago. I wanted to show them a good Melburnian time, and so we decided to go to the beach. We got our swim suits, sandwiches and towels and headed to the beautiful St. Kilda beach. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was in the low-70s and very cloudy. Not exactly perfect beach going weather.

Only real beach lovers go to the beach when everyone else is wearing jeans and hoodies.

The next day, we unthawed our toes, shook the frozen sand from our towels, and headed to the Melbourne Zoo. This may sound like deja vu, and you may be thinking, "Wait, wasn't your last post all about going to the zoo?" Yes, you are correct, but my friends are both zoo keepers, and they really wanted to go to the zoo, and I enjoyed it so much that I didn't mind going back!

Reason #1 why I didn't mind going back. Big kitty.

We had a gorgeous day for the zoo, and it was a lot of fun. You know how when you see a movie for the second time, you notice things that you hadn't seen the first go around? That's exactly what it was like the second time I went to the zoo.

It was also nice going to a zoo with two zookeepers, because they got excited about almost every animal. Of course, it's hard not to get excited when you get to see these guys:

The animal version of your typical college male. Sup bro? Just chillin'.

Monkeys. Are. Awesome. One minute, they look like they haven't a care in the world, then the next minute they're playing the most intense game of tag you've ever seen. And it's all so easy for them, too. If I could have a prehensile tail, I would do it in a heart-beat. I also learned that a monkey's wrists are a ball-and-socket joint, so their hands can actually twist around with no problems. Cool, huh! You know else is cool? Staring contests.

Don't blink!

This guy could not get enough of looking at the visitors. He and his friend would swing around the enclosure, then come right back to the glass and give us a good looking at. It made for some very entertaining video and some really funny pictures.

Left: Caitlin. Middle: Justine. Right: What every young boy wants to be.

Can we keep him, Mom? Please?

The zoo was a lot of fun, but it was a long day, so we afterwards we went back to my house and watched 'Scrubs' on TV. And that's where it all went wrong. By coming to Australia, I have been able to check a lot of things off of my bucket list. I've touched a sea turtle, lived in another country and gone scuba diving. And now, I can also scratch off "make someone miss their flight."

Now, it wasn't entirely my fault. A lot of the blame can be placed on the fact that we watched 'Scrubs' for too long. Here's how it went down. Their flight was to leave at 7:20 p.m. We watched 'Scrubs' until about 6 (oops), walked to a tram spot, waited for the tram, took two trams to the bus station, waited for a bus, took a bus to the airport, and then walked to the terminal. Now that I type it all out, I realize that we had almost no shot at making it on time. Nevertheless, we did our best! Unfortunately, our best was five minutes too late. So, $60 later, the girls had changed their flights to the next morning. I tried to win them over by buying them coffee and ice cream, and I think it helped, but they're still not talking to me, so I'm not sure. (Just kidding, they actually handled it really well.) Apart from the initial phsical abuse (girls punch funny), they took it in stride and chalked it up to "a life experience". We managed to get them on their flight the next morning (at 7:50 a.m.) and they got home safely.

This last weekend, I went on a little bit of a trip myself. I went to Wilsons Promontory, which is a huge national park 2.5 hrs east of Melbourne. I'm going to dedicate my next blog entirely to this trip, but for now, I'll leave you with a picture, as sort of a sneak peek.

It was an awesome trip.

I hope everything is going great for you back home. I'd love to hear from you! Cheers!

The Melbourne (M-I-Z) Z-O-U

2011-02-24T03:48:00.000-06:00

Australians don't say "bless you" after you sneeze, there is no left turn on red (our version of right on red) and you are required by law to wear a helmet when riding a bike, no matter what. Also, there is no right to bear arms (you must have an extremely exclusive permit to buy a gun), taxes are rolled up into the store prices (so if the sign says $9.90, you pay $9.90), and there's no tipping.

I couldn't think of a good way to start this post, so I'd figure I would lead with that.

Of the things mentioned above, I agree with exactly....one of them. Saying "bless you" is courteous and shows caring, what's wrong with that? Not being able to turn on a red light stalls traffic and makes driving a pain. A bike is a toy...what type of toy comes with safety equipment required by law? ("Here you gonna Johnny, here's your G.I. Joe action figure and Xbox. And here's accessory that will keep you from swallowing the Joe, and special darkened glasses to keep the xbox from burning your eyes out.") Outlawing firearms is boring; what would Southerns do on the weekends if we didn't have firearms? And no tipping is just lazy. Do the mental math and be a giver, it's not hard. The only thing I like from that list is the fact that taxes are rolled up into the prices. It's unimaginably convenient, one of the best things about Australia by far.

Another 'best thing about Australia by far' is the Melbourne Zoo! Last Saturday, I took a spontaneous trip to the Melbourne Zoo. (It wasn't too spontaneous or even that difficult. It's 5 minutes from my house.) I flashed my Student ID, paid the reduced fee and began my tour of Melbourne's finest zoo.

Let's begin with my overall impression of the zoo.

Very. Cool.

As zoos goes, the Melbourne Zoo was definitely enjoyable. I had never been to a zoo by myself before, so it was nice being able to go at my own pace and do my own thing. It was also nice because most of the zoo looked like this:

There could easily be a Puma that escaped from its cage and is waiting to ambush you, and you'd never know it.

The entire zoo was as tropical as it could be; it made for a nice escape from the concrete jungle of the CBD. It took me over three hours to get through the zoo, but it was a great way to spend three hours. It was a gorgeous day, highs in the mid-70s with a light breeze. Everybody at the zoo was enjoying the perfect weather, including this guy.

He sunbathes better than you, and if you think otherwise, I wouldn't tell him to his face.

The lion exhibit was one of my top five favorite exhibits in the zoo. The zoo has four male lions, all brothers. I went by the exhibit twice, once in the late morning and once in the early afternoon. In the morning, the lions were resting (they sleep 20 hours a day) and I took the above picture. In the afternoon, after my camera battery had run out (stupid stupid stupid), I went back to the exhibit to find that it was feeding time. Feeding time makes the lions excited. And excited lions roar. All four of them. Imagine the deepest bass you've heard on a song or in concert. You know, that full, deep, rich sound. Think of that, make it surround sound, crank it up to 100 and multiply by 3. That's the sound coming from one lion when it roars. It's the type of sound that makes your brain go "Well that just can't possibly be coming from that lion, there's just no way." The roar has so much depth and power to it, it makes you wonder how the gazelle don't keel over just from the fear of the roar itself. Lions = impressive.

A lot of the animals at the zoo were impressive, just in a different way than the lion. For example, the Great Tortoise was one of my favorite animals at the zoo. You were able to get pretty close to the Tortoise, and the keeper was there answering questions and keeping the Tortoises lively and active. The Great Tortoise can live to be over 250 years old, and an average sized male weighs about 550 lbs. For all of you thinking what I'm thinking, yes, that is larger than most Australian cars.

You think I'm joking. You have to get a special driver's license to keep one as a pet.

The keeper (seen above, as for a size comparison to the Tortoise) was very helpful with questions, and enticed the Tortoise into actually moving (!) with some carrots. Thanks to her, we were able to see the Tortoise gracefully, skillfully and harmoniously navigate its exhibit.

Just kidding. He may be a looker, but he was definitely not graceful.

There is absolutely no way that a Hare lost to a Tortoise. We need to launch an investigation into the outcome of this event. There had to be insider gambling or steroid usage or something. I'll contact the FBI and get back to you guys on this one.

Moving on, I went by the giraffe exhibit. Little did I know, it was actually a three-for-one special! They kept emus, zebras and giraffes all in the same enclosure. Now, I have known about giraffes since preschool, and I've seen giraffes on multiple occasions at other zoos, but no matter how many times I see them, they are still shockingly tall. And for the first time, I noticed that they are shockingly stout, too. Yes, they have legs that are most likely made out of balsa wood and all you would have to do to escape a giraffe is climb under a desk, but they are surprisingly think through the chest and neck. Oh, and they're tall, too.

It's a "which neck is longer" contest.

Being tall can be very advantageous at times. It helps them reach the tops of trees to feed, and they don't have to worry about not being able to see the screen at the movies. Also, it helps them really connect with their neighbors.

Sup man?

Giraffes are kind of goofy animals, but that's what makes them fun. I also couldn't help but think of Melman from Madagascar, so that made them a lot more interesting, too.

How many animals are in this picture?

I left the giraffes and went to the bird section of the zoo. The zoo had all shapes and sizes of birds, most of which I couldn't care less about, but some were pretty interesting. And before you ask the question, yes I did see a Kookaburra, just not in a gumtree. The zoo had what they called the aviary cage, which at first seemed only halfway cool, but then I realized that I had been walking for about 10 minutes and still was not at the end of the cage.

The aviary cage single-handedly made birds cool.

I finally made it out of the aviary cage, ditched the blue-headed finches that were trying to build a nest in my hair, and went on to the jungle section of the zoo. I tried to take pictures of the walkways, but the walkway was so dark from the extensive tree cover, the pictures kept coming out blurry from lack of light. The jungle walkways really made it feel like you had stepped into the Brazilian rain forest. I kept walking along the dark, cool paths, and then I turned the corner and saw the best animal ever.

Can I get a M - I - Z!! Z - O - U!!

You see how the light shines down on the Tiger, the only light in the entire exhibit? That's because the tiger is God's chosen animal, his supreme animal for all his colleges, er creation.

You can't look at that face and say you wouldn't want to take him home.

After taking these pictures, the tigers woke up, noticed me, came over and wished me good luck in my travels. They told me to wish the football team good luck as well, gave me a quick chest bump, and then went back to sleep.

Remember when I said that the lions were one of my top five favorite exhibits, and so were the tortoises? Well the tigers are on that list, also. Another animal on that list is the....

Human. Just kidding, it's the elephant.

The zoo had an extremely well done elephant exhibit. They have one male elephant and four female elephants, and even two baby elephants! I think the term 'baby elephant' is a bit of a misnomer, because that's kind of like saying 'a small aircraft carrier'. A baby elephant is still a huge animal! The male elephant, above, was in the barn getting his daily bath. The keeper uses those two orange poles to direct the elephant into standing in certain positions, and doing certain actions, such as lifting his trunk, raising a foot, or lying down. It may sound mediocre, but seeing an animal of this size is awe-inspiring, and then seeing an animal of this size lay down, stay on its hind legs, and do other maneuvers is a whole other matter. The elephant exhibit was my favorite exhibit at the zoo.

I dare you to play Sharks and Minnows with him.

The elephant was definitely my favorite exhibit, and I stayed there for the longest, but it wasn't the only cool animal in the zoo. There were a lot of cool animals, but not many can chill in style as well as...the monkey.

The zenith of chilling. It's an art form for him.

The zoo had a series of exhibits for all of the marsupials, and each exhibit was just as awesome as the next. There's something about monkeys that just make you happy. They just look like they're constantly having fun! I mean seriously, if you could be any animal, the majority of us would choose the monkey. I can almost personally guarantee 75% of males under the age of 12 would choose monkey, and I speak from experience.

Overall, the zoo was an awesome experience. So awesome in fact, that I'm going to do it again! I have friends coming in town this weekend who are working as zoo keepers in Tasmania and they want to go to the zoo, so I'm going back again.

As for the rest of Melbourne, my stay here is going great. Work is really starting to pick up, and the construction is starting to get under way. I'm really enjoying working with my manager and foreman, and I'm learning a lot about project management and how much paperwork depresses people.

Thanks for reading my blog, and I'd love to hear from you! Let me know if you have any questions or anything else. Cheers, mate!

I come from a land down under!

2011-02-15T23:14:00.002-06:00

I'm currently in my third week of being in Australia, and second week of being in Melbourne. At this point, I'm starting to get the hang of things and I generally know what to expect from everything.

For instance, I know that when people ask where in America I'm from, and I tell them Missouri, nine out of ten people will give me a "...oh..uh yeah...alright", trying to pretend they've heard of The Show Me state. Normally, I'll then ask "Have you ever heard of Missouri?" and again, nine out of ten people will say "Nope. But I have heard of LA and New York and Chicago." I tell them that Missouri is in the very middle of the country, and Mizzou is in the very middle of Missouri and KU is the entrance to hell.

However, as you may guess, there is no way for me to be prepared for everything, or know what to expect from everything. My next story is a perfect description of the lifestyle here in Australia, and how it was completely unexpected.

My 21st birthday was on the Thursday of last week, February 10th. My manager and foreman wished me a happy birthday, asked me what I was going to do for it, and then we talked about the differences between birthdays in AU and in America. It was all pretty average stuff. The next morning, I was sitting at my desk when my manager got up and left the office. I thought nothing of it, since we're at a construction site and he has to go check on a lot of things. Fifteen minutes later, we walks back into the office and (see picture below) drops this on my desk.

No, your eyes aren't failing you. That's a 6-pack of beer.

My boss gave me a 6-pack of James Squire Golden Ale for my birthday. While we were at work. In the middle of the day. He acted like he was dropping off a box of pens or something, while I acted like he set down a cage of rabid monkeys. Cultural differences, anyone? I laughed and thanked him for it, and we when on with our day.

(P.S. I don't drink alcohol! It's like giving a prime steak to a vegetarian, or an F-350 truck to a tree hugger, or a good outfielder with a strong arm to the Kansas City Royals. They just don't belong together!)

Regardless of the irony of the gift, it was still a pretty good birthday. I walked around downtown, watched a local cricket match, and then went home. That night, I Skyped with my family to celebrate my birthday! It was early in the morning their time, and so they weren't exactly the most lively folk, but it was great seeing/hearing them on my birthday. They had sent me a package, but I wasn't able to pick it up until the next day. So, the next day, we skyped again, and I opened up my birthday package and guess what I found...Tabasco sauce, Purell hand sanitizer and Welch's grape jelly!

Be jealous.

While those may not seem like great birthday presents, let me explain why there are perfect birthday presents. Tabasco Sauce: I have an addiction to tabasco sauce. Unfortunately, there's no 7-step recovery plan, so I think I'm headed for rock bottom as fast as that tasty topping can take me. Purell: I'm going to be travelling a lot, and there are no guarantees that I'll be able to shower or maintain basic hygiene. Purell fixes that problem. Grape jelly: This is a two parter. First, Australia has jam, not jelly, so thanks to my family, I'm now the only person in Australia with jelly. (ha ha ha). Second, Australia doesn't have grape jam, either. So, not only is there no jelly, but there's no grape substitute for grape jelly. But now I have it. Beer:....I got nothing. I guess it looks kind of cool?

Speaking of things that look cool...(and no, there won't be another picture of me flexing, although I was tempted.)...I was out walking around downtown and I wandered into a music shop, turned the corner down an aisle and found myself staring straight an angel.

So what, it's not an angel. It's white, majestic and heavenly. Big deal.

That's a picture of a Gretsch White Falcon, which is one of the most iconic guitars ever. Trent Raines, a fraternity brother of mine, almost had a heart attack when he saw this picture. I can't confirm what he said when he saw this picture, but I'm pretty sure it was something like "ooooooohhhh mmmmyyyyy....no way! what?!". In person, it is so much prettier than in the picture. It was almost glowing, it looked alive. Oh, and it costs $6,000. That's a pretty Australian penny. (Wait, they don't have pennies. So it's a pretty Australian $1 coin. That doesn't sound nearly as nice.) Speaking of money...

If you have read my previous blogs, you know that I have complained about the prices in Australia. Food, clothes, drinks, almost everything is more expensive than in the USA. However, there is one place where the prices are a little bit more friendly for a penny (or Australian $1 coin) pincher like myself. The Queen Victoria Market!

Think of an outdoor Wal-Mart Supercenter. Then double it.

The Queen Victoria Market has everything you could ever want, and then a bunch of stuff that no one would ever want. There are restaurants, botiques, stores, cafes, variety shops. And then, when you step out into the outdoor part of the Market, you can shop for groceries, fresh produce, clothes, accessories, shoes, towels, belts, jackets, luggage. And the best of it all is that it's all fairly reasonably priced. It's just a short tram ride from my house, open weekdays and Saturdays and Sundays. Definitely the place to be if you're looking for deals.

Last saturday was a great day for me. I spend the morning at the Queen Victoria Market, and wandered the aisles until I felt like I had walked all the way to Sydney, then I hopped on a tram and travelled to the National Sports Museum.

This picture is pretty self-explanatory. National Sports Musuem.

The National Sports Museum is housed inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, or MCG, or just G (if you're a hip Australian). The MCG is a gigantic stadium with a capacity of 100,00 people. It was the center piece for the Olympics when Melbourne hosted the Olympics in 1956. It was built in 1854, although not on this grand of scale. It also holds the record for tallest light towers in the world, which is oddly random, but still kind of neat.

Look at the size of those towers!

The mini version. They occassionally have ants play full length cricket matches here.

The National Sports Museum (NSM) is a museum to everything sport in Australia. There are sections for the Olympics, cricket, motorsport, Australian Rules Football, soccer, basketball and many other sports. The museum is dominated by the big three: the Olympics, cricket and Aussie Football. Since I'm an ignorant American, I'm still learning all of the details of both sports and the history behind both games. It was cool to be able to look at the significance of their sports, and begin to learn each sport's history and rules and effect on daily life. The museum was very well done, and gave me a lot of insight to the culture of Australian sport. For instance, I learned a lot about the Australia vs. England rivalry.

Talking smack is nothing new, although this smack is exceptionally grammatically correct.

One of the biggest rivalry matches between Australia and England is a cricket match called The Ashes. It's a series of 7 One Day Test Cricket matches between Australia and England, and the winner takes home an urn of "ashes". As far as I could tell, the name of the match was taken from the above obituary, which was placed in an English newspaper. That may or may not be true, but it's a pretty sweet story. Australia and England really don't like each other (maybe it's the whole 'colony vs kingdom' thing?), and that is evidenced throughout Australian culture and society.

It's all pretty simple. We don't like you and you don't like us.

Overall, my third week of being an Aussie is going great. I finally found a church that I like, and I can really see myself calling it my church home. I have a friend coming to visit in two weeks and am eagerly looking forward to that. But as of now, I'm enjoying getting to know the city and everyone I meet. I'm enjoying walking around downtown, hanging with my Australian housemates, and taking long naps on the beach. (That last one may sound like I'm joking, but I'm not. Hour long naps on the beach are the best. thing. ever.) Australian is treating me well! I hope everything is good with you back home, and I'd love to hear from you Cheers!

This is your birthday song, it isn't very long. Hey!

2011-02-09T23:53:00.001-06:00

Today is my birthday, February 10th, 2011, and I turn 21 years old.

One of my housemates asked me last night, "So have you got anything special planned for the big day?", and I told her, "I'm in Australia, how much more special can it be?" On the 'How cool is the birthday gift?' scale, being in Australia ranks just below going to the moon, but just above hitting a home run in the bottom of the 9th inning in Game 7 of the World Series for the Kansas City Royals and beating the New York Yankees.

This is my second week in Melbourne, and it's going just as well if not better than the first. I've had a definite attitude change, though, which has been relieving and very helpful. Last week, I was focused on the fact that I had no friends here, no community and nothing to do, and that was hard to face. But this week, I had the realization that I had nothing to do! That may seem like the same thing that I just said brought me down, but I looked at it in a different light. I had no commitments, no schedule and nowhere to be. I am a free man, with an unusual amount of free time. While that may be a bit lonely at times, and while all that free time may be a bit daunting, it's a pretty good problem to have.

"So Reid, what do you do with all of that free time?" you ask?

I walk.

"Really? You just walk?"

Yep. I walk, and I sleep.

Source: The little squirrel that snuggled up next to me.

But in all seriousness, I do walk a lot. If you plan on travelling abroad, unless you're going to rent a car (and absolutely no student should have that sort of spare cash lying around), then you best get yourself in walking shape before you leave home. The other day, I walked for two straight hours and covered seven miles. All that walking makes you tired, which is why I sleep a lot. Just this week, I have taken a nap in two parks and one on the beach. The picture below was taken about an hour and a half into my two hour walk. You know the song "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers where they sing "And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more...". Yeah, I'm calling your bluff on that one.

I proclaim that 7 miles is enough for me, thank you very much.

However, by walking around so much, you do get to see a lot of the city. In my previous blog, I mentioned that the Royal Botanical Garden is one of my favorite places to go. And how did I find the Botanical Garden? By walking there. Boom.

This kind of view is worth the walk. Except for the guy in the middle there. Get out of my shot, mate!

The Botanical Garden is not only one of the most peaceful places I have ever been, but it is one of the coolest places, as well. Now, some of you might say "Bro, it's a garden. Just go to your backyard and you'll see the same thing."

Oh yeah? Really? You have this in your backyard?

What about this? You got this one, too?

Ladies and Gentleman, I present you with the coolest tree ever, and the coolest gate ever. Or maybe, technically, it's the coolest group of trees ever. Maybe it's a Transformer. I don't know, but it was worth the picture, and once again, worth the walk.

Also worth the walk, but for different reasons.

While seeing this plaque was a bit of a somber moment, it is always good to remember the events of September 11th, 2001 and give a prayer to those affected by it.

Unfortunately, I am can't come up with a suitable segway from the topic of 9/11, so we're just going to blaze on through. Australia and the U.S.A. are fairly similar in many ways. For instance, the man-to-man head nod still applies here (sup dude?), everyone complains about their jobs, and sports are a vital part of society. However, unsurprisingly, there are many things that are different.

This either an Australian's car, or the hubcap of a Hummer. Not sure which.

Cars: Australians are very similar to the Europeans in their views on cars, and the type of cars that they drive. Consider the picture above. If one of my friends bought this car, I would tell him "Dude, you'd better take that back to the dealership right away. They only gave you half the car!", while an Australian would say to his mate, "Sweet as, you bought the full-size sedan!". Another point of difference is in their trucks. The majority of the time, you will see what they call a "Ute".

A Ute. Small name for a small thing.

A Ute is considered a mid-size truck. In America, a Ute could most likely park in the spots reserved for compact cars and coupes. I'm not hating on small trucks, since I myself drive one. I'm merely pointing out the differences in our cultures, and emphasising that America got it right. U S A! U S A!

While we're on the subject of cars, I thought I'd give you a picture of this little gem that is parked down the street from me.

Shipped straight from Woodstock. This look familiar, all of you 40+ readers?

My neighborhood rocks. And rolls.

You know what else rocks? My job. I am pleased to say that I really do enjoy my job and the two blokes on my job. I am learning a lot about how to run a project, and about how much work it takes to keep the job organized and on time. I have also learned that the coffee shop upstairs makes the best hot chocolate ever. Yum! I am really getting involved with my project; I have been put in charge of creating, organizing and delivering all of the contracts for the subcontractors for my project, as well as track the changes in work, prices and personal that may occur during the project. I have a lot to learn, but my manager and the foreman have been very helpful and have no problem with explaining things to me. We are really starting to get along, which makes work all that much better!

I mean, who wouldn't want to get along with a guy like this?

Looking good, champ!

Overall, I am doing very well here in Melbourne. I'm beginning to make plans for my travels while I'm here in Melbourne, and for my travels for after I'm done working. Also, my family comes to visit in a month, so I'm super excited about that! There's a lot to see, but remember, I have absolutely nothing to do! I hope everything is going well with you back in the States. Feel free to comment on my blog or e-mail me at rmmr2f@mail.missouri.edu, I would love to hear from you. God bless, and safe travels!

P.S. On a side note, this is a sign that I saw in the Royal Botanical Garden. Just a little something to leave you with.

It's a gateway crime. Pretty soon, you'll be holding up the Garden Center at Lowe's trying to score a maple tree.

We both speak English, but they don't speak American.

2011-02-02T23:31:00.000-06:00

The other day, I was asked what kind of accent I had, and it felt awesome! I thought about telling the gentleman "What accent?", but I knew that I had to make a good first impression, so I told him "The accent from the best and most powerful country in the world, ya bloke."

Just kidding, I told him I was American, and he kindly wished me luck in my endevours.

So far, my endevours have ranged from the totally wickedly awesome to the fairly typical. Although since I'm in Australia, even the fairly typical is decently wickedly awesome. To prove my point: on Friday the 28th, I went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef and touched a sea turtle. Three days later, on Monday the 1st, I went grocery shopping. Boom.

Australian supermarket, inside a mall. Pretty much like an American supermarket, just double the price on everything.

Grocery shopping was pretty normal, aside from the fact that my checkout girl spoke Australian, and I had to carry my groceries half a mile to my house. For those of you that haven't been shopping with me, I a bit of a thrifty fellow (read, cheapskate.), so spending money on groceries was a little hard for me, considering absolutely everything in the store is more expensive than it is in the states. So, I bought the least amount of groceries possible for me to survive. Shockingly, the next day, I realized that I was dying and needed more food. So, I'm going to go out tonight and buy some more food for my tired, weak, starving stomach. (Just a tid bit of info, you know how KMarts don't exist anymore in the States? Yeah, that's cause they all are on holiday in Australia. KMart is the second biggest department store Down Under. Blew my mind.)

My house, at 81 Union Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056, is about half a mile from the nearest major road, which is Sydney Road. Sydney Road is a decent sized road, lined with shops and restaurants and homes and my grocery store. Also on Sydney Road are trams!

Tram. My personal mode of transportation. And by personal, I mean me and 2 million other people.

Trams are my livelihood. I take them to work, to all attractions, to downtown and everywhere in between. Melbourne sports the worlds largest tram network (source, Wikipedia.). Even though Wikipedia isn't a Noble Prize winning source, I believe it. The tram network stretches far into the nearby suburbs, and covers an extensive part of downtown (what they call the CBD, Central Business District.) It is fairly reliable and relaxing. Although, during my 25 minute commute to work this morning, a car ran into my tram! You see, trams have special traffic laws. They always have the right of way, and some stoplights don't apply to them, while others always do. It sounds complicated, but the Melburnians seem to have it down pretty well. That is, everyone except for this one lady. We went through an intersection, and all of the other 20 cars stopped for the tram, but she kept going and clipped the side of the tram! It made for quite an exciting start to my day.

Also, if you look at the above picture, you may notice the placement of the tram stops. That's right, you have to jaywalk just to get to the tram! Cars are very reasonable, and will generally let you cross to get to a stop, or you can wait for the traffic light to switch and walk with traffic, but still, it makes waiting for your tram fairly adrenaline filled. Cars rush by two feet behind you, and multi-ton trams blur by two feet in front of you.

Walking, bikes, motorcycles, small cars and trams = confusing rush hour traffic.

Above is a very typical picture of the CBD's traffic. Biking is very, very popular in Melbourne, not only as a tool to commute but as a sport, too. Motorcycles and scooters are popular, since they often have special parking spots. And just like in Europe, it's hard to find a car that's bigger than a twin-sized bed. In the States, we have trucks the size of the trams! Rock on, USA.

While I love the USA (I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free!), I must admit that Australia may have us beat in the department of city parks. Melbourne has so many extravagant and lush parks, it makes for a cross country runner's dream. I went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were pretty cool. I don't know how many acres it is, but you could easily get very lost in the gardens. I took a video of a brief bit of my walk through the gardens.

The Gardens had plants from all around the world, and everything was in prestine condition. It was one of the most peaceful, calming places I've seen. There was an asphalt track for running or walking, but there were also many dirt paths that took you deeper into the gardens and into the thick of the plants. If you've been looking for a place to have a picnic, look no further. Go ahead and buy the $2,000 plane ticket, take the 3 flights, fly across the Pacific Ocean for 13 hours, and then tram it to the Royal Botanical Gardens, cause it'll be the best picnic of your life.

Totally worth it.

There were a lot of cool plants, with even cooler names. I found a tree called a "Queensland Jack-In-A-Box". I also found a real strange animal, and I was wondering if anyone who reads this could help me out with identifying it. It wasn't in the provided literature, and there were no signs talking about. I took a picture of it, so please look below.

Just kidding. It's me.

Now that's one handsome creature. Although not everything in Australia is handsome. See below, which is a picture of my office.

Luxury.

To be fair, I work at a construction site, so you can't expect much. And while this may look a bit junky, it as actually quite homy (Homey, homie? I don't mean homie like my gangsta brotha, I mean homie like it's comfortable. Whatever.) I work with two other guys, both in their late 20s. My desk is immediately in the foreground, and then next desk, with the laptop, is the desk of the foreman Paul Jacobs, and the last desk with the monitor on top is of the project engineer and my boss Gabriel Faris. Both guys are great and very helpful and totally committed to helping me learn about Australia and learn about engineering/construction. My project is the refurbishment of a 26 story office building. And while my office may not be too glamorous, it only takes me a short walk from my job site to have some pretty dang nice views.

Pretty nice, yea? And that's only half of the CBD!

I took that picture from the bank of the Yarra River, which runs right down the middle of Melbourne. The river walk is a lot fun, with restuarants and shops lining the river, and further down the river, there was about 12 rowing teams! this made me excited, since Joy was on a rowing team when she was in Oxford. I walked along the river for over an hour, and then decided to sit down and enjoy the sunshine for a bit.

Chilling.

I've been in Melbourne for five days now, and it's been going great. I love the sun, and the walks, and all of the sights. God has been good to me and I'm enjoying every minute of His goodness.

I was going, going, going, gone.

2011-02-01T04:06:00.004-06:00

Baseball is like free stuff in Australia. It just doesn't exist here.

But I exit in Australia, and that's all that matters!

I left Kansas City at 2:15 p.m. on the 24th of January, and arrived in Brisbane, Australia at 12:15 p.m. on the 26th of January. January 25th didn't exist for me, it just went poof somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I flew via KC to Dallas to Los Angeles to Brisbane. Just some funny anecdotes from my trip to the great Down Under..

From Dallas to Los Angeles, I sat next to a girl who was a tv personality, model, host and actress trying to make it big in Hollywood...her future doesn't seem to bright though, because when she asked me where I was going and I said "Australia", she responded with "Wait, is Australia or Austria next to New Zealand? Cause those are both countries, right?" It was just one of those flights. Also, American Airline napkins smell funny, and the stewardess dropped ice on me twice.

In the Los Angeles airport, I had to use the restroom, and so I went to the stall. While in the stall, a guy entered the stall next to me and began to absolutely blast some spanish rap. I mean, this rap was so loud you could hear it in San Diego. So I guess that's how they roll in Cali; they drop a beat while they drop a deuce.

On the flight from LA to Brisbane, we Americans were outnumbered 10-1, easily. Two of the Australians near me looked about my age, and they were doing some serious debating about the NBA. They made some American NBA fans look like ignorant 4 yr olds with the depth of their discussions. They talked about the dunk contest, who would win the championship, the greatness of Rajon Rondo and how Gary Payton is on the Celtics. For you non-NBA fans out there, Gary Payton is not on the Celtics. But still, for not being from America, three out of four ain't too shabby.

In my group, we had around 15 kids from all over the USA, and even one from Canada. We were going to be working throughout Australia (which, by the way, is pronounced by Aussies as Uhstralia. The 'A' sounds like the a in again.), with some in Brisbane, Cairns (Canes), Canberra (Canbra), Melbourne (Melboune), Tasmania and Sydney, among others. The group was really awesome, for many reasons. First, everyone was fun and open and willing to have a good time. Second, out of the 15 people, there was only one other dude, so that's a pretty good ratio. We had a two-day orientation in Cairns , a northern Australian city. It is fairly tropical there, and it sports the best access to the Great Barrier Reef. Below is a picture of my hotel.

This is part of my walk to my room. Just slightly different from your local Motel 8.

(P.S. I want to put more pictures, but that picture took 4 minutes to upload, and I'm paying for my internet by the minute. We'll try for more pics later.)

The pool at my hotel. Pretty. Dang. Awesome.

While in Cairns, during our first day (Thursday January 27th), we went to a rainforest zoo and I petted a kangaroo and held a koala and saw a 17 foot crocodile! Again, I have pictures, but they take foooooooooooorever to upload. Also at this zoo, we were taught how to throw a boomerang, play a didgeridoo and throw a spear by Aboriginees! I'm pretty much a lethal weapon now, to be honest. Just give me a stick and I can either fashion it into a boomerang and knock you out with it, or sharpen it into a spear and stab you with it. Your choice!

Me and a Kangaroo! There was about 12 of them in the zoo.

Kangaroo.

You see those three poles in the background? He doubled that distance with his throw.

For out second day in Cairns (Friday January 28th), we went to the Great Barrier Reef! You absolutely have to go do this, it is remarkably remarkable. I snorkeled twice and even scuba dove for 30 minutes! On the trip out to the Reef, it's pretty fair to say that I wasn't in the best of health. I didn't throw up, but I had to concentrate like a Jedi to keep my stomach from flying out of my mouth. But once we got to the Reef, I felt like a million Australian dollars, which is like 1.003 million American dollars. Seeing the Reef for the first time was a feeling I'll never forget. We snorkeled for 45 minutes, and then it was my turn to scuba dive! It was just me, another girl and our instructor. We put on the gear, did some tests, jumped in the water, did some more tests, and then off we went! I'm fairy certain I would still be down there if my instructor hadn't grabbed me and made me come back to the boat. It was absolutely unbelievable; the colors, the fish, the experience of being 15 ft underwater and seeing such vibrant life.

Me with five of the girls in my group. Check out those blue suits!

Needless to say, I'd definitely go back, if I could. After scuba diving, we had lunch, then boated over to another snorkeling site. There, the reef was a little closer to the surface, and I was able to snorkel with 5 or 6 of my friends. During this snorkel trip, the coolest thing ever happened...I touched a real life sea turtle. Now, the magnitude of this may not hit you. I touched a genuine, wild, real sea turtle, in the Great Barrier Reef, which is the ocean, which is in the wild. It was a one-on-one encounted with nature and it was mind-blowing. I could have followed that sea turtle for hours, but it swam so deep that I couldn't see it anymore. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

It's the kind of blue that you dream about.

Oh, I almost forgot. The best part of the day was scuba diving, and the second best part was touching a wild sea turtle, but a close third were the workers of the boat. It's so true, Australian girls are attractive. Enough said.

The next day, (Saturday January 29th), my group flew out of Cairns and to our respective assignments. Just a quick note, but Australia has domestic flight nearly perfected. And by nearly perfected, I mean quick, easy and kind of unsecure. So it's pretty much the opposite of American domestic travel.

So to sum up: Sea turtles rock, Australian female scuba divers are attractive, Cairns is fun and California guys listen to music while the poo. It was a great start to a great trip!

Editorial Note: I'm like almost a week behind in blogging. My internet situation here is a little messy, so I'm way behind. But I'll try and catch up as soon as I can!

Our God Is An Awesome God

2011-01-23T21:34:00.000-06:00

"Where you go, I'll go.
Where you stay, I'll stay.
When you move, I'll move.
I will follow..."

The lyrics to Chris Tomlin's song "I Will Follow" take on a whole new meaning on the eve of my departure. But God is good, all of the time, and all of the time, God is good, so there are no worries or anxieties about this trip.

Oh who am I kidding, my mother is worried sick, but at least she can take those worries to God, and give them up to Him. He's pretty good at taking our worries.

As for me right now, I'm all packed and ready to go. I fly out of KC at 2:15 p.m. Monday afternoon. I fly into Dallas, then from Dallas to Los Angeles, then from LA to Australia.

The next time I post I will most likely be in Australia!

"For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen." - Romans 11:36

Your background confuses me...

2011-01-15T13:00:00.000-06:00

During my stay in Australia, I plan on updating the background of my blog with pictures that I've taken while in Australia.

However, since I don't have any pictures of Australia right now, I decided to use a picture taken from another travel adventure of mine.

This is a picture taken by my sister, Joy, when we were in Granada, Spain. Fifteen minutes before this picture was taken, we had just hiked up one of the largest hills I had ever seen in order to get inside this castle. However, when we got to the top, all of the tickets to the castle were sold out. So, we walked back down the hill, but instead through a nice sloping pedestrian walkway, in the middle of some trees. We were walking, and BAM! I looked to my left and there was this huge door, just sitting in the middle of the trees. So, we decided to take a picture, and that's the story behind this picture.

Location, Location, Location

2011-01-14T09:27:00.000-06:00

Location #1: I'm living in an apartment complex at 238 Flinders St, Melbourne 3000. I'll most likely have a couple of roommates, but I'll have my own room, which will be nice. My roommates should be other students that are traveling, like myself, or someone who is part of another study abroad program.

Location #2: I'm working at Bovis Lend Lease, which is at 825 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000. This is what they call the "head office", but I will most likely be spending the majority of my time at the construction site.

Location #3: The construction site is at 100 Queen Street, Melbourne 3000. I'll be working on a $60 million refurbishment of a bank.

Now for the great news....I can walk to both the head office and the construction site! It'll take me 30 minutes to walk to the head office, but only 10 minutes to walk to the construction site. How about that for location, location, location.

Bucket of Fun List

2011-01-07T21:27:00.000-06:00

Things I want to do in Australia:

1. See a wild Kangaroo
2. Hear someone say "put a shrimp on the barbie"
3. Flirt with an Australian
3a. To clarify, that would be with a girl.
4. Snuggle with a Koala
5. Hike in New Zealand
6. Tell someone "I have no idea what you just said."
7. Have someone tell me "I have no idea what you just said."
8. Pretend I personally know President Obama
9. Pretend to be Scottish
10. See the Sydney Harbor and Sydney Opera House
11. Find someone who has actually heard of Missouri
12. Walk through a wildlife reservation
13. Fight a tasmanian devil in said wildlife reservation
14. Learn 25 new slang words
15. Go to an Australian church
16. Get Australians to talk to my friends back home
16a. Get Australian girls to talk to my guy friends back home
17. Spend a week with my family
19. Take a gazillion thousand million pictures, and keep all of them
20. Remember to maintain this blog.
21. I skipped #18.
22. Buy some lame postcards, and then immediately lose them
23. Survive being halfway around the world in a foreign country for 13 weeks by myself

Mic Check, Mic Check. La la la la la. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3

2011-01-01T21:18:00.000-06:00

Test post.

Badda

Bing

Badda

Boom.