Anna's Amazing Adventures

Aftermath of the trip

aamato20 — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:17:00 GMT

Now that I've been home roughly 24 hours, it's finally hitting me that I'm not in Australia anymore. Work was a battle to stay awake today, but was filled with familiar faces asking about my trip and how tan I am (shweeet). I didn't realize how much I missed my friends until I saw them today. I was talking with my parents yesterday and we discussed how I really didn't get home sick, but being away from home makes you appreciate things a little more. Like the hundreds of different food options available in Chicago; I have never been more excited to eat a salami sandwich as I was today. Or how easy my commute is to and from work, how I actually understand all the coins in my wallet, and how nice it is to have free, unlimited wifi at home and data on my phone. Seriously, having good wifi is GLORIOUS. There are some lingering side effects from my trip, such as me saying 'no worries' instead of no problem. Thanks New Zealand. Or how when driving today, I switched lanes and accidentally turned on my windshield wipers...yeap that's still happening. I learned a lot on this trip and I'm sure more things will come to light the more I have time to think about it, but I loved traveling alone, and Australia and New Zealand are both beautiful countries that I would go back to in a heartbeat. I found I can live with myself for a month, and that driving on the other side of the road is not as hard as it looks, and always ALWAYS wash your red jeans separately from everything else. Now it's time to enjoy being home and celebrating the holidays.

Merry Christmas to everyone, Happy Chanukah to the tribe members, don't think I know anyone who celebrated Kwanza, but Happy Kwanza if you do! Until next trip...

Sweet as? Sweet As.

#AnnasAustralianAdventure

Great Barrier Reef

aamato20 — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:00:00 GMT

4 dives in 24 hours is a lot, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. I saw corals, nemos, dories, rays, and a sea turtle. I spent Friday in two areas of the reef diving and hanging out with all the backpackers. The group I hung out with consisted of one British guy, one Scottish girl, two girls from Norway, and two German girls. Everyone was super cool and we agreed to meet up at a bar/hostel called Gilligans later in the evening. Man I'm glad I wasn't staying there, because it becomes a nightclub, open to 5am, everyday and it was loud. I didn't stay out too long because I had another early day, but I stayed out to hang out with the Norwegians (Thea & Eddi) since it was their last night. Robert (my British buddy) and I agreed to go to the casino Saturday night as it was our last night in Cairns. Saturday out on the reef was beautiful, the pictures don't even show all the colors of the water. The visibility wasn't that great, but I did meet Barry the barracuda, who is huge. I also met an ex-pat originally from Maine who moved to Australia to work on scuba boats. She was super friendly, giving me places to dive closer to home and the cheapest places to get certified. I also met a British girl named Vicky, who couldn't dive cause she was diabetic, so we would hang out when the snorkeling happened and I let her take some underwater photos since the ones available to rent were all gone. Man, I'm really glad I bought a waterproof camera, saved me a lot of hassle. Later that night, I met back up with Robert and head over to the casino. It was my second time gambling ever, so he was showing me the ropes. After the electronic games were a bust, we hit the roulette tables. I actually did pretty well and was ahead. Then we went to a game called wheel of money where you place your be on a number and that number is the ratio you get paid out if it hits that number. First number I picked was 5 and boom, made $25. After a while of winning and losing, I was down $40 and decided to stop for the night. While I had stopped, Robert decided he would place one last bet at roulette on black, for $100. It was almost a sure bet, red had been the last 7 colors. So Robert won $100 in 30 seconds, so he was quite pleased with himself. I decided I wanted to try to recoup my losses, so I went back to the wheel and tried to win my money back. Armed with a few chips, I tried, but finally with one chip left, I admitted defeat. As the woman spun the wheel, I threw it on 11:1 odds, figured what the heck, go big or go home. The wheel hits 11 and I made back all the money I lost the entire night. After that we walked away, grabbed some drinks and wanted the Manchester United soccer game on this huge projector upstairs. Once the game ended, it was 130AM and I was pooped, so I said goodbye to Robert and wished him safe travels and went to bed.

My last day in Australia, I was a bum. I woke up at 10 and spent the next 3.5 hours poolside working on my tan and face timing Amy. Then I showered and headed down to the pier and Lagoon to grab lunch and explore. It was so hot and the sun is so strong, SPF 30 applied every hour was the equivalent of tanning lotion, you were getting color where you wanted it or not. The lagoon has a Christmas tree surrounded by Palm trees, which is pretty cool and a man made pool overlooking the ocean. It was filled with little kids trying to cool down, having been in a pool all morning, I opted for the ice cream route. It was so hot, my ice cream was a puddle before I even got a block away from the shop. I spent the rest of the afternoon packing and watching the W-league soccer final, my team won again! My first flight wasn't until 120AM so I didn't need to go to the airport until 11. I wondered back out into the city to grab dinner. Fun fact: Cairns is an incredibly small town. I mean, I ran into 3 different people I had gone on reef dives with while searching for food. Ran into Robert again, who was also killing time before his flight with his friend Theo. We said our goodbyes again and I found a Woolworths (think Mariano's) and got a pizza made, grabbed a drink, and a croissant and watched towards the shore to enjoy the view and the storm rolling in. Pretty sure during all of this, I ran into Lisa DeVanna, who plays soccer for Australia and plays in America as well, which was pretty cool. Then I watched some TV packed my final things and checked out of the hotel. Getting all my flights sorted seemed to be more or less brain surgery for the desk people for United; they didn't understand how I had two reservations. Well that's easy, United gives you shitty flights if you use miles, so I had to buy one of my flights. They were telling me initially I'd have to grab my bags at LAX and go through security again, which I replied I have 90 minutes between flights, and getting backs and re-checking in through security was not going to happen. Besides I already went through customs, immigration, and security in Australia, Guam, and again in Hawaii. Three times was enough. My flights were fairly uneventful, minus Satan's child who kicked and grabbed my seat for 7 hours even though me and his grandma had told him to knock it off multiple times. Luckily none of my flights were delayed and I got home with my luggage in one piece.

Sunbathing in Brisbane

aamato20 — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:58:00 GMT

The morning after the siege was gloomy, literally and figuratively. There were police everywhere and a part of the city shut off from cars and foot traffic. So I walked over to Darling Harbor and then up to Circular Quay and grabbed a ferry to Toranga Zoo. I didn't actually go to the zoo, just took the ferries there and back. I don't know what it is about ferries, but they're so calming and I always get some good thinking done on them. Chicago needs more ferries, or rather, I need to go on Chicago ferries more often. Once back in Sydney, I hopped the free bus back to my hotel and was picked up for the airport. My flight to Brisbane (pronounced Brisbinn) was quick and uneventful. Once I landed I took a cab to my hotel and this Hilton wins for best shower and exec lounge. I'll get back to that in a minute, but my friend from college Audrey is currently working in Australia for the next several months, she's staying about 2 hours north of Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast (real name). She came to the hotel, and it was so nice to have a familiar, friendly face. I dropped my stuff and we took a bus to the apartment she was crashing at. The three girls who live there are Kim, Cathy and Mai. Audrey met Kim and her family working her job in Harvey Bay and they became friends. Kim cooked us dinner and we made her partially watch 'A Christmas Story', she was hooked enough to re watch it by herself to actually understand it. Kim loved my accent, and I mean would ask me to repeat words because she got so giddy over it. She completely lost it over the word Fanta...as in the pop brand. I told her that's how it was done in the '00s jingle, wanna Fanta, don't you wanna Fanta? And they pronounce it rhyming with Santa. She was also impressed with my ability to properly pronounce Melbourne. This went on for some time. I now understand how British and Australian people in America must feel. The roommates then took us to Mt. Coot-tha lookout that overseas Brisbane. It's so dark out here I can actually see stars. So I bought an app called skyview, which shows you what constellations you're looking at. Kim and I were fascinated by it, trying to find the southern cross, no such luck. Since it was a work day, they dropped me off at my hotel before heading home. Audrey and I had made plans to go to the Gold Coast to a beach called Surfers Paradise.

We began out two hour journey via train and bus. Once there we laid our stuff down then jumped in the ocean. It is hot, like 95 degrees with humidity that would make someone from the south swear about how hot it was. In the water about 5-10 minutes before I see a loofah floating near me. Not a loofah. It was a jellyfish, to which I promptly screamed at Audrey JELLYFSH and ran for the beach. Turns out these kind don't produce a rash or hurt, but can give you sea lice. I didn't want to test that theory, so I avoided them like the plague. Then I laid out, Audrey hung back in the shade and once we were beached out, we went into town to see the shops and grab some food. We grabbed the train back and agreed to meet back at the Hilton later on to do happy hour and then head out for a bit. Kim was supposed to come as well, but she go caught up with packing for the holidays to see her family, so Audrey and I enjoyed the perks of the exec lounge and it's glorious free bar that comes with it. Then we grabbed some froyo and sat by the town square overlooking the Christmas tree and chatting. She then Headed back to Toowong, the suburb she was staying at, and I headed back to the Hilton. The one thing I wanted to see in Brisbane was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Not necessarily for the koalas, I had seen those several times, but for the Kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, and most importantly, platypi. I saw a momma and Joey kangaroo and one very, hot, and tired Tasmanian devil (join the club buddy), but 90% of my time was spent in the platypus enclosure. There was one platypus, I named him Perry, just swimming ridiculously fast, then cork screwing through the water, he'd hit the bottom sand and then shoot up like a pinball being released. It was awesome. Then I had to catch my bus back into town to catch a cab to the airport. My final domestic flight to Cairns (pronounced Cans) to do the Great Barrier Reef.

A city on lockdown

aamato20 — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 21:29:00 GMT

One choice, one decision, that's all it takes.

My choice? To do my blue mountains tour today instead of yesterday. Why is this one decision, that I made months ago so monumental? Because yesterday, twice I walked past Martin's place, and had I not been running late for kayaking, I had fully intended to stop for coffee. Not saying that I would have stopped at that specific shop, but I passed it and it would have been an option. Those were people getting their morning coffee and it easily could have been me. But I was running late, and I chose to do my tour today, and it made a huge difference. Luckily, I was out in Western Sydney when everything happened and the news broke out. We had it on the radio to see what was going on and how it impacted us. It really didn't hit me until I got off the ferry and what was a busy street yesterday was a ghost town today. It was eery. You spend your life nowadays hearing about all these terrible things that happen in the world. Having it happen a few kilometers from where your staying, and at a place you passed while you wandered the city, that's totally different. That's too close for comfort. And it's still happening right now as I type, and I have no clue if it's an isolated incident and if everyone's okay. I fly out tomorrow and I excited and nervous. I want to get away from this, but what if this person isn't acting alone? What if they have something else planned? Now I get to play the 'what if' game, which is not something you expect to do on your vacation. I have faith in the Australian government and police force will do their job, and I hope this is resolved swiftly and peacefully. Until then I can only hope something like this doesn't happen again and to continue to aware of my surroundings.

Sightseeing in Sydney

aamato20 — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 21:28:00 GMT

If I lived in Australia, I would move to Melbourne, but if I were to visit again, I would come back to Sydney. There's so much to see and do here that it's sometimes overwhelming. I ended up getting into the kayaking group. I had to wake up at 6 and leave by 7 to get there in time for an 8am start. Luckily I left myself the extra time to walk there because I made a few wrong turns in the process. My guides name was Sophie and man she was buff, like Olympic kayaker buff. It was me, 2 couples, and a work outing. I was the best kayaker...which is sad. We had two people fall in the harbor and one case of seasickness. But the views were spectacular, I kayaked right up to the Opera house and bridge, with views unparalleled. Luckily Sophie took some pictures that she'll send to me and I brought along my camera as well.

Once that was over, I walked to the opera house and past the quay, onto a place called the Rocks. It's these little laneways and on the weekends there is a market there. As I wandered about the market I found all my presents for my family and a few select friends. From there I went back to the quay and hopped a ferry to Manly Beach. I never get sea sick and I still haven't, but the ride over there was so rocky, and the ferry was really listing, I thought we were going down. Luckily, I made it to solid land with the rest of the masses on the boat. I rushed to the beach were I promptly plopped my butt in the sand and laid out for a few hours watching the surf and people around me. Afterwards, I grabbed a not as shaky ferry back to quay and began the trek back to my hotel in Haymarket (the neighborhood I'm staying in). There's a free bus, but that thing was packed and I wasn't waiting 25 minutes for the next one, so I walked back. FYI the trek from the harbor to my hotel is easily 40 minutes each way, so I was incredibly tired by the time I got back to my room. I threw in a load of laundry to get the sea salt stains out of my clothes while I ate some dinner and watched Catching Fire on tv. I knew it was going to be another early morning since I promised to FaceTime the family before I set out on my day trip.

So, 7am, I face timed the GD family (just for you Amy) and then got picked up by my driver, John. On the trip, we went to a wildlife sanctuary where I saw koalas, kangaroos and dingos (and no, they didn't eat my nonexistent baby). Next was on to the Blue mountains, which get their name from the tree oil omitted from the plants that creates a blue hue. I saw the Three Sisters and Orphan Bridge, it was truly spectacular. We then made our way to the Olympic Park stadiums before hopping a ferry back to Sydney. During our tour, I met a nice couple from Lincoln, Nebraska who had their granddaughter from Cairns. Her name was Sabble (rhymes with table) and she's 12, turning 13 on April 15th, we became bros. There was also a father son duo from England who were Arsenal fans, so he earned a high five from me and I hung out with the son for a bit nce he was the closer to my age range and was a pretty funny guy. Everyone else on the trip got the pre-paid lunch. I decided to try my luck and find somewhere, John recommended The Yellow Deli, so I went. It's run by a strict religious group, pretty sure America classifies the, as a cult, but damn they make great food. I had a gyro type sandwich with chips and a Cinnamon bun, it was the best food I've had in Sydney. I would go back, cult or no cult....maybe that's what their plan was, instead of Kool-aid it was eat the food and join our cult. Either way, it was bomb. So after my tour ended, I headed back to pack up my suitcase since I leave for Brisbane tomorrow, and the fact that most of Sydney's under a lockdown.

Initial thoughts on Sydney

aamato20 — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 21:26:00 GMT

The drive from Sydney was interesting. I got lost. A lot. What should have been a 3 hour drive turned into about. 4.75 hour drive to drop my car off. I was hoping to go to a market before giving my car back, but alas the market gods were not in my favor. And apparently the GPS gods weren't either. Australia and the GPS makers need to sit down and have a chat because they are on two separate planets and this poor American got hopelessly lost. If you were in the wrong lane, you ended up on the other side of the city before you even realized your mistake. Once the car was ditched, I grabbed the train into the CBD and to my hotel. It's a nice studio, with wifi, laundry and a full kitchen. So, after 20 minutes of reading directions, I figured out the washing machine and in the process I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW LIGHTS WORK!!! So if you've missed my tweets or other posts, I've had a rough go of figuring out lights in my hotel rooms, specifically the bathroom. I learned, you put your key card in this slot thing and BOOM! Lights. I mean really guys, this was not clear at all and in my 2nd week, I literally stumbled on it while trying to do laundry....figures. Well, I figured it out now. Currently doing some much needed laundry, watching the semi-finals for the w-league (women's Australian soccer) it's Canberra vs Melbourne and one of my favorite American players is on Canberra and this may be her last ever game, so of course I tuned in. Also, I found the Australian verison of seamless and I love it! I'm doing that tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a day of markets, beaches and possibly kayaking the harbor...depends on what times it is at.

Canberra is very boring.

aamato20 — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 21:23:00 GMT

9 hours driving up the coast of Australia is exhausting. The good news is that I didn't crash, or fall asleep, although a cop did follow me for 10 minutes....Probably because every time I tried to changed lanes, my wipers went off not my blinker...yea still working on that one. I stopped in wine country at a cellar called Chamber Rosewood, and spoke with a woman named Deb, who taught me about winemaking and flavoring of wines. She was a hoot and I bought two bottles! She told me about their crest that has an emu and kangaroo and stated "Forward Australia" These animals were chosen because of their knees and bodies. Their anatomic design make it impossible for them to move backwards, they can only go forward just like Australia. I ate at a Hungry Jacks, which is similar to a McDonald's and Burger King, but not as good. They did have free wifi which I used to catch up on my snapchats. After finally arriving in Canberra, I finally understood why Australians looked at me crazy when I said I was visiting here....there's not a lot going on. There's a super big mall wither grocery stores and shops and a few places to see, but not enough to really fill a whole day, so I'll probably catch up on my reading, or if the weather stays a little nicer, I can read by the pool. I slept in this morning before heading out to see a few places. I went to the top of Mt. ainslie and saw the city from the top. I then tried to go to the mint treasury, but there were military people everywhere and I probably shouldn't have been near there so I ended up on constitution road which has beautiful memorials for all the wars Australia has fought in. My dad would have enjoyed it and from the row of statues, you can see the parliament building one way and Mt. ainslie down the other. By this time I was starving, so I headed back to the mall and got some Nandos! It was pretty solid. Then I spent the afternoon listening to some of the Serial podcast. Which is really good, I highly recommend you listen to it if you enjoy mystery and Law and Order SVU. Went back to Pizza Gusto and got some noms before settling in with The Good Wife and an early night since I was driving to Sydney in the morning.

Roundabouts are Satan's mistress

aamato20 — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:43:00 GMT

I love Melbourne, but they have to make a more efficient way to and from their airport. I had to walk 10 minutes, catch a tram, get off and walk 5 minutes, get on the sky bus for 18$ and sit on that for 30 minutes. All in all it took 65 minutes to get to their airport. There I grabbed my car and commenced the worst commute ever. Melbourne's CBD traffic makes LA's 405 highway look like a joke. It took 80 minutes to get to the city and find parking for the one store I needed to go to before I left Melbourne. $23 later for parking, I finally arrived at Lightning Ridge Opal store. I met with the owner, who happens to be a miner of opals as well and he took me through the process of mining opals and what makes an opal valuable. He also had what you could call a petting zoo....of some of Australia's deadliest animals. They are all the animals you run into while out in Alice Springs mining. The spiders, thank god, where behind glass, but the lizards and snakes were in their cages. I allowed the lizards to come within a foot of me, they were actually pretty cool. When he took one step towards the snakes to take them out, I took 5 steps back and screamed NOPENOPENOPE. He chuckled and left the snake in the cage. He then let me take 3 sets of earrings on the street and see them in the natural light, which was pretty trusting, but showed the true beauty of the stones. Why I needed to go so badly was my mom wants an opal necklace from Australia. My god, trying to find the perfect opal was gd impossible, but I think I came close. So gold is actually terribly expensive in Australia, so all the set pieces were hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. So the owner recommended I get the opals and have them set myself, which is exactly what I did....kinda. I found two beautiful stones that are about half a penny in size each and I'll let my mom pick which one she wants and I'll get it set for her. I bought myself a pair of earrings and I bought something else for my mom that seemed like something she would like, but I can't say, cause she reads this, and it's the surprise part of her Christmas present. So after I completed my Opal quest, I got a recommendation from a store clerk, who was from Montreal, about a laneway not too far from the store to grab some lunch. Melbourne is known for their laneways because they are these secret roads full of food, stores, and street art. They are absolutely beautiful. Once fed, my next mission was the Twelve Apostles. Fun fact that crap is 4+ hours from Melbourne. Hell no. I'm driving 9 hours the following day, not driving 7 hours today. So I decided to just go see the great ocean road. The great ocean road is a highway and literally does not hit the ocean until you've been on it for 2 hours. It was cold, so I snapped a picture of the stupid ocean and got back on the road in time to hit rush hour traffic in Melbourne. I had a quiet evening in, packed my bags, and got ready for my 6am alarm so I could get on the road as early as possible.

The running of the Penguins

aamato20 — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:41:00 GMT

So the Italian place I went to was called Pelliginis and it was bomb. They served pasta and desserts, that's it. It's not a sit down per se, but more sit at a counter and order from a gentleman who spews out the menu at you. I got the days special, which was lasagna. I ended up chatting with the head waiter and owner who were telling me about Melbourne and chatting in Italian with me. My mad language skills got me dessert and coffee on the house. I had looked down and there was Italian ice, then the owner gave me a slice of panna cotta and then a scoop of spumoni. There was a sign on the door that says latte means milk, you want a caffe latte. So I ordered a caffe con latte e zucchero. The owner was impressed and chuckled that the American spoke another language. +1 to 'Merica! While this was happening, two women walked in and I happened to be sitting I the middle of three seats, so I scooted over so they could sit. Their names were Beth and Kate originally from Canberra, now living in the suburbs of Melbourne. Beth was around 40 and Kate was maybe mid 50s. As we chatted about things to do in Canberra and local spots to see around town, they invited me to see a comedy club with them. So we finished up dinner and went across the street to Spleen Central. Yes that was the real name of the club. Beth bought us a round while we watched a half dozen comedians perform. They were pretty funny, but the host Reece had me in stitches. Although the guy who referred to his sons as Satan and Voldemort was pretty funny too. As the night went on, we decided it was time to go. Beth pointed Kate to her train station and told me to take care and enjoy my holiday. Who knew going to a random place would lead me to meet two lovely women and a good, fun night out. I got a late start today and only got to go to the Queen Victoria Market for about 20 minutes before I had to catch the tram back to my hotel and get on the bus to go to Philip Island.

I went with greyhound and I kid you not, out of the 63 people on the bus, I was one of 8 English speakers. It wasn't really the environment I wanted to see the island, but gotta work with what I got. The penguin parade doesn't even happen until 8:45pm, so we went to a farm and a koala sanctuary prior to going to the beach. They were neat, but had a known how long of a day it would be, I would have just done the Penguins. So the Penguins are little penguins and at adulthood are roughly 10-12inches tall, so obviously they are the most precious things ever! They wait until the cover of darkness and slowly come onto the beach and work their way up the cliffs to their burrows which can be 2-3 kilometers away from the shore. They create these little groups, called a waddle of penguins, and go up the beach together. If one penguin is uncomfortable and turns back, the entire group will follow. So the first group out of the water came onto the beach 3 times before they actually got up on the beach. Then if they hear a noise, they panic and scatter, which turns into a little penguin stampede, which is absolutely adorable. Sadly they don't allow pictures because idiots leave their flashes on which frightens the penguins. They are wild after all. I got back around 1230 in the morning, dreaming of mini waddling penguins.

Adios New Zealand. G'day Australia

aamato20 — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:40:00 GMT

So...the U.S. Needs to step up their airplane game. My flight was 4 hours and I got beer/wine, copious amounts of beverages, a dinner, an ICE CREAM BAR, and a nice piece of chocolate. Seriously, I'm lucky if I get trail mix on my 4 hour flights. So I made it to Melbourne intact and well fed and got to my Hilton. I must say, I love having status. I got upgraded to a corner room suite that has a separate sitting lounge, a king size bed, two sinks, a stand alone spa tub and one of the best exec lounges I've been to. While the Internet is a little shaky, I can't complain about my digs. And it's got a bitchin' view of the skyline and downtown.

Melbourne does public transport and tourism right. They have a free tram that makes a big loop around the city and you can hop on and off whenever you want. This tram was a life saver. I first took it to the Melbourne Star, which is identical to the London Eye. I met a gentleman with a Toronto maple leafs watch, who was also a fan of the Blackhawks. He gave me some good recommendations of things to see and do while I was in town. Then the guy putting me in the pod was a Chicago Bulls fan and wanted to visit America and see a game. I told him come early in the season; everyone's still healthy and the weather isn't crap yet. It was a pretty view of the city and moved at the whopping pace of 1km/hour. When I approached it, I thought it wasn't even moving. Then I went down a lane way of shops and found one that had soccer stuff! I almost got a Soccerroo jersey, but not really my colors. So I found and Arsenal scarf and an AFL Northern Melbourne beanie. It's blue and says kangaroo on it, so I bought it, new Snowboarding hat! Hopped back on the tram and took it all the way around the city back to the Flinder's train station and walked over to the Melbourne Aquarium. A lot smaller than Shedd and took me about an hour to go through, but they had underwater tunnels and a manta ray that was easily 4 feet wide and 10 feet long. If I saw that while in the water and it was a wild animal, I would wet myself and probably scream. But behind several inches of glass and it being totally domesticated, I loved it. After I left the aquarium, I got lost. Like wandering around for 45 minutes trying to find one stupid street lost. On the way, I did find an ATM, an overpriced opal store, a piece of pizza, santa's village and some very weird Aussies. I suspect they might have been Bogans. I never did find the national opal collection, so I gave up and headed over to federation square. During the day there's a lot of performers and people in the square, so I grabbed an ice cream and plopped into one of the free chairs strewn about and peopled watched for a bit. Unfortunately, black skinny jeans in direct sun will only last so long before you overheat. So I hopped back on the tram to my stop and then walked through the Filtzory gardens back to my hotel. I found a need looking Italian place for dinner that is hopefully good. Today on the tram, I learned Melbourne has the largest population of Italians outside of Italy...the tram also spewed out facts along the drive. Tomorrow I've booked a tour to go to Philip Island and see the Penguins!!! Then Wednesday when I get my car I'm going to head out to the Great Ocean Road and see the Twelve Apostles, which is a rock formation in the ocean.

World Cups and Wind in Wellington

aamato20 — Sun, 7 Dec 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Today's my last day in New Zealand and it's raining...oh well 7/8 good days is enough for me. Wellington is a lot smaller than I thought it would be, being the capital and all, but most of the fun stuff can be done in a day. Yesterday I went to the Wellington underground market which had a bunch of jewelry shops, clothes shops, and food carts. I got myself a ring, my mom earrings, and a necklace for Amy. After walking around the coast, I grabbed takeaway from a little shop; I got an American hotdog. There was nothing American about it. It was on a roll, and was more of a sausage than a hotdog, still good, but nothing like home. In my info on Wellington, I kept seeing things about Te Papa museum, so I went. It shows the creation of New Zealand and what it looked like before inhabitants, then when the Maori came, and finally when the European settlers came. It gave an overview of items and rituals that the Maori hold sacred and how they built their boats and shelters, it was really interesting. I happened to go on a day that the New Zealand orchestra was there so I listened to them as I got lost in the museum, it was lovely. Two fun facts I learned while I was there: the meaning behind the ferns and one design I keep seeing everywhere...which is also related to ferns. So the silver fern, which is a symbol of New Zealand, was chosen because in the night, the Maori would lay them down their path as they went into battle. The moon would hit the silver ferns and illuminate them, showing the warriors the way home from war. And yes the ferns are actually silver, I saw them zip lining. The other has to do with how new fern branches grow. The buds start out coiled up and as they grow they begin to unravel. Think of a spiral, or a nautilus shell design, very similar to that. The spiral of the fern symbolizes new live/new beginnings, which is pretty cool. I got a necklace with the design and one of the ornaments I bought is the spiral. They also have hooks and other designs that have meanings, but for some reason I really like the spiral the best, probably because it looks and reminds me a lot of kappa delta's nautilius shell and meaning. Once I left the museum, I went over to Cuba street which is where all the shops are. I got two tank tops, so semi replace the two I accidentally dyed red when doing my laundry. Betty will work her magic and help me take the red tint out of my clothes once I'm back home, but now I have enough clothes to get through the week again...stupid red jeans. I returned home and kinda hung out, Wellington is incredibly windy and I wasn't in the mood to battle the elements. I took a recommendation for dinner and went to Monsoon Poon...don't worry I took a picture of it because I couldn't stop laughing like the 5 year old that I am. It was so good! Pretty sure I ate my body weight in naan and wasn't even mad about it. Then I settled in watching American Dad and South Park since I had to be up early the next morning.

I woke up at 5:45am today, voluntarily. You see, today was the World Cup (women's) draw to see what cities and opponents the US plays. So I skyped in with Maggie in Ohio and the other L134 girls in Chicago at AJ Hudsons and watched the U.S. get placed in Winnepig. For those of you who have seen 'A Very Potter Musical', all I could think about was 'cute like a Guinea pig, wanna take you up to Winnepig, THATS IN CANADA!' And then googled how close it was. 13 hours is a totally doable road trip for a few games, especially since I bought my flights to Vancouver for the quarterfinal and final games already. So pumped, but anyways back to New Zealand. I went back to bed for a little bit then began packing up my stuff and checked out. Face timed with Betty for a hot second to once again show her I was alive and well, with all limbs still intact. She informed me that she got my root beer beer, which THANK YOU BOOZY GODS! Only look 6 months of searching to finally snag some. Ate breakfast at Momma Browns, which I recommend if you ever find yourself here. After breakfast I went to Weta Caves, but missed the tour by 2 minutes and the fact that I know about 2 things regarding Lord of the Rings, I searched elsewhere to kill the time. Tried to go to the zoo, only to end up at a park with a track meet....uhhh this is not a zoo. strike two. finally decided that a beautiful walk in the rain in the botanical gardens was the next destination. It was beautiful, minus the rain and parking situation. There was a street fair next to it. So I looked around, grabbed a snack and found a nice gift for Christine and then brought my car to the Rental agency. Fact security down here is so much more lax, I got to keep my shoes, belt, jewelry and jacket on. I could have even brought liquids through. Customs was also very easy and the whole ordeal took a whooping 7 minutes. I wish O'Hare was this speedy. Now I wait for my flight which is an easy 4 hour flight to Melbourne and begin my time in warm, sunny, Australia.

Final thoughts on New Zealand: love it, didn't overthrow Helsinki as my non-US home destination, but I would come back in a heartbeat. Auckland was cool, Piahia was beautiful, I wish I had more time in Rotorua, had gone to the glow worm caves, and spent a day at Lake Taupo, but that's what next time is for. That and the South Island of course! I didn't kill anyone driving and I haven't driven myself mad yet, so I'd say week 1 of Anna's Australian Adventure was a success.

Also, what they say about Wellington coffee being really good is true. I just had the best cup of the trip (I took a picture since it was pretty as well as delicious)

P.P.S. Typing all of this on an iPad is incredibly difficult, I keep getting finger cramps -__-

Until next time,

#AnnasAustralianAdventure

Rocking in Rotorua

aamato20 — Fri, 5 Dec 2014 19:57:00 GMT

My time in Rotorua is brief, but I'm trying to make the most of it. The city is about middle of the north island and a little right of center. It's known for its adventure activities and geothermal spas. If you've ever been around a city like this, you know what I mean when I say it reeks. Like sulfur and rotten eggs. I didn't smell it until I went out to dinner. It's only bad when the wind picks up. After I got into the hotel, which is lovely and the owners are wonderful, I quickly changed for my zip lining tour. I'm terrified of heights, but this tour had a great rating on trip advisor and was a neat way to see the rain forests native to this area. My group included 4 Norwegians and 1 Swede, which was nice to talk to them about their homes and how they ended up in New Zealand. The first line we went down, I was terrified. But the more we went down, the better I got. One line I went down doing the Carlton, one I went down making t-Rex arms and noises and the longest zip at a whomping 220 meters, I video taped!p it! Our guides Joe and Richard were hilarious and had great senses of humor. They loved Dino's, hence the t-Rex zip, and made everybody do a 'dad dance' but I did the Carlton instead. They also thought it would be funny to throw a rock and scream RAT! To which I screamed and jumped....everyone laughed. I laughed. It was funny. Not only was this trip a zip tour it also uses our fee to help with the conservation efforts of rebuilding the forests and the animal populations of the area. Fun fact: the three main predators of the kiwi and birds of New Zealand are possums, slots (ferrets), and rats. They actually have traps in the forest to catch these menaces and since they began trapping, the bird population has increased tenfold. It was pretty neat to see what they were doing and how our money helped their cause.

Before heading to Wellington, I went zorbing...which is the human hamster ball looking things. If you ever get the option to do it, do the wet ones, they have better options. Unfortunately I had just straightened my hair and was not about to get this luscious mane wet, so I did the dry run. It was weird and fast, but fun. Afterwards, I went to skyline luge. This was recommended to me by the sole New Zealander soccer player on the Red Stars. She was adamant that I do it. And boy I'm glad I did. It was like real life Mario kart. There were crashes, bumping and a few spin outs, which was hysterical to watch, and mildly traumatizing when involved. I actually ran into my Contiki group there as well! After having lunch with them, I hit the road to Wellington. Minus not being able to find the gas pump opener and the attendant taking pity on you, it was an uneventful 6 hour drive. Although the views were to die for, especially Lake Taupo. If I had more time I would have hiked around the lake, but I was on a deadline, so I settled for a few pictures. Everything down here is so green, it makes the Pacific Northwest look pathetic. And the hills....well they got worse, but I'm getting better at navigating them. Still haven't hit or maimed anyone driving yet, so bonus! Currently doing some much needed laundry and catching up on my internet browsing with my glorious, unlimited, wifi!

New Zealand slang and pronunciations:

KiaOra- key-aura, means hello/welcome

Sweet As- sweetiz, means alright? Can be a question and an answer.

Tomato Sauce= ketchup

Wha= and F sound

Maori- morry/Maury, these are the native people of New Zealand who came to the islands about 800 years ago, roughly 1350.

I didn't cause an accident driving!

aamato20 — Fri, 5 Dec 2014 19:55:00 GMT

Today was harder than I thought it would be. I officially said goodbye to my Contiki group and am on my own for the rest of my trip. It's amazing the bonds and friendships you can make in a few short days. I already made plans to meet up with Kristin once I am back in Chicago and will probably start looking at flights to London to visit Laura.

Backtrack to yesterday. We left Paihia and began our drive back to Auckland, where most of the group went to the Sky Tower. However, Annalieke (Holland), Bruno, and myself set to the docks to sail an Americas Cup sailboat. It was pretty friggin awesome. The mast of this sailboat was 134 feet and we helped raise and lower it with the crew members. We even got to go below deck and pull in the giant sail, which was neat and mildly claustrophobic. Afterwards the three of us got ice cream and met up with people for happy hour. The bar in our hotel has a stunning view of the harbor; don't worry I took a picture for everyone. Then after dinner we hit a bar called Dany Doolans which had live music and was incredibly lively for a Wednesday night. Jasmine, Kimbo, Laura, & Kristin had gone to the wineries so I didn't see them out, which stunk because Kimbo and Jasmine left early this morning, so I didn't get to say goodbye. Jasmine left me a note and I know we'll keep in touch and maybe see each other when I'm in SoCal for work. I ate breakfast this morning one last time with everyone and then went down to the lobby with the other people finishing their tours to say goodbye and wave off the bus. I then went to the Sky Tower which is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and the views were breathtaking. You can see across the bays to all the islands and volcanoes.

Shortly after I left and got my luggage and grabbed my car. It's a little Toyota Yaris and I drove about 20 seconds before I realized the guy at Apex had put on the parking break....awesome, I'm already breaking crap. My drive today was about 3.5 hours due to some construction and a few accidental detours. Good news was I caused no accidents and only got honked at once! Learning where the left side of you car is incredibly difficult, my depth perception of the car is all wonky. New Zealand doesn't have expressways or tollways like we do back home so every town you go through has a speed reduction, but that wasn't the worst park of driving. No, that honors goes to the hills. These hills and switchbacks make the blue ridge highway in North Carolina like child's play. I don't get car sick-ever- but I got a little woozy after a while. I was so happy to finally make it to Rotorua.

Pie-here!?

aamato20 — Tue, 2 Dec 2014 10:54:00 GMT

I've officially begun my Contiki tour group and we are quite the crowd. My roommate, Jasmine, is from Orange County, CA and a forensic accountant for Deloitte, so immediately we bonded over it. We went downstairs to meet the rest of the group, which included three different tours. Jasmine and I are the only people doing the 4 day tour, everyone else is doing a 19 day all inclusive tour of New Zealand or just finishing up said tour. So far I've met a dozen Aussies, 1 Swiss woman, 3 Londoners, 1 Holland woman, and 1 Brazilian man named Bruno. I'll explain Bruno in a moment. There is one other American who happens to be from Chicago. Her name is Kristin and she lives in Southport Corridor, steps away from my favorite bars. Literally across the world and meet someone who lives 3 blocks from my sister...of course. We chatted about home and high schools, it'll be nice to have someone in Chicago who has shared this experience with me. After our meet up, a group of us grabbed dinner and learned about each other. My Australian counterparts were telling me about all the places I needed to visit when I went to their respective home towns, which is awesome for me because local recommendations are the best recommendations. Afterwards we met up with more people group the group and went to a bar. We chatted and that's where we met Bruno. The 24 year old from Rio who loves photography, giving back massages, and is a total goofball....so obviously we're now best friends. After calling it an early night Jasmine and I went home and got ready to leave for our trip.

Our next stop was Paihia pronounced pie-here, and no I'm not joking and sadly I have yet to see any pie. We made a few stops between Auckland and Paihia which included a trip to a grocery store for snacks, eating my first meat pie, and being shamelessly mocked for calling 'tomato paste' ketchup. Sorry but that's not tomato paste and I refuse to call it as such. We also picked the activities to do while we are here. Sadly the parasailing got cancelled due to the wind, but I am to go dolphin searching and swimming tomorrow morning and then an afternoon of kayaking. Pretty excited about both. Today instead of the parasailing, Jasmine and I went to Russell island which involved another ferry! We climbed around looking for the mysterious flagpole battle, but apparently headed in the complete wrong direction. My sense of direction has actually gotten worse on this trip.

We had a traditional dinner of fish and chips at a supper club before heading out to the bars. The group I've been hanging out with decided we were going to make our own holiday sorority. We are the Chi Omega Nus, NZ chapter. Our 'secret' handshake is motorboating because Laura from London had never heard of such a thing. She is now affectionally nicknamed Motorboat Laura. The other members are Chicago Kristin, Jasmine, and Kimbo who is from San Fransisco and was a KKG member....clearly we did the All I Wanna Be is A KKG rap. At the bar I met a few lovely people who were from Canada and we discussed the weather back home and my love of all things Canadian. This resulted in new friendships and shots of Jäger and cheersing to Chicago! I wish I could have captured the moment. We then went home since we had to get up at 7 to go dolphin searching.

Derrick Rose eat your heart out

aamato20 — Tue, 2 Dec 2014 10:53:00 GMT

People in New Zealand LOVE the Chicago Bulls. I am not joking, every time a Kiwi hears I'm from Chicago, their immediate response is ARE YOU A BULLS FAN?! Then we chat about Derrick Rose's robotic knees. It's pretty funny that of all things Chicago, New Zealand is fixated on the Bulls. After finally arriving in downtown Auckland and dropping my bags off, I found that my hotel is right next to the water and ferry terminal. So of course, I bought a ticket to Devonport so I could ride one of the ferries. I can't help it, if there's a ferry, I'm going to ride it....I blame Grey's Anatomy for my love of ferry boats. Devonport according to the brochure is a lovely Auckland suburb with various cafes and an active volcano you can climb. My mother can attest that I am very skeptical of climbing an active volcano. Volcanoes aren't messing around, they can go anytime and POOF you're covered in molten lava....yea no I'm going to take a hard pass on that.

Also right outside my window of the hotel is a Parade for Santa which thus far has included 4 different bagpipe groups and a float dedicated to Taylor Swift's Shake It Off music video, including kids dressed up as the dancers in the video. It's kind of awesome. And of course Olaf made an appearance. So now that I've been wandering around Auckland all afternoon, I'm going to sit in the window sill and watch this parade and read a little bit before I met up with Contiki later tonight. I met the group leader Laura and she's pretty cool, just waiting to meet this mysterious roommate of mine. Oh and there's zombies and Halloween floats playing thriller in this Christmas parade...and 6 bagpipe groups.

Airport Adventures

aamato20 — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 06:36:00 GMT

I'm in my third airport in 24 hours and will shortly begin my journey to number four. I've been on vacation a little over a day now and all I've seen are airports; although the Sydney airport is quite nice and has free wifi, score! It hasn't been the easiest journey here, but i think I'm in good shape right now. My flight to San Fran was delayed an hour, which resulted in my running to my international terminal to catch my next lag. As I trotted through SFO I noticed a redhead to my right who asked if I was catching the flight to Sydney as well...oh thank god I'm not the only idiot racing through the airport. As we walked to our gate, we began to talk about our journeys. Her husband lives in Canberra and she was going to visit him for a week. She gave me some ideas as to what I could do when I went to visit. She also gave me some tips about driving on the other side of the road. Fun Fact: she said learning where the left side of you car is was the most difficult because sitting on the right throws off your depth perception of the car....I did not think of that. As we parted ways at the gate, I thanked her for her suggestions and reassurance that I wasn't going to totally mess up driving overseas. I went to board the plane and guess who my seat mate was? You guessed it, the same redheaded lady; which I was stoked about because I was worried I'd get the 500+ lbs. smelly dude next to me. No one sat in the middle seat between us and we rejoiced and divided up our new found space. Cut to 15 hours later, 3 movies, and 2 meals, I made it to Sydney. As I turned to head toward the international gates, I bid my new American friend goodbye...never did get her name, whoops! Then the boarding pass fiasco began. We had to go through security again which resulted in me chugging 2 full water bottles and then get randomly spot checked and patted down for bombs...because apparently my Midwest is Best and red pants screamed LOOK AT ME, I'M TOTALLY SHADY. -___- Once through security I had to go to the international transfer desk, 3 times. The first time the woman said we were fine to go straight to our gate. Got up to the gate and said no, you need to have your passports checked in, go back. Throughout all of this I had befriended 2 couples from Denver getting the same runaround as me. They were headed to the South Island for a bike trip, and were pretty funny about the whole situation. Once I got to the desk, the woman informed me that since my flight out of New Zealand was on a different airline and a one way ticket, I needed to prove that I was actually going to leave New Zealand. Cue heading back up stairs to use the free wifi and pull up my Qantas tickets to show I wasn't smuggling myself into New Zealand. Headed back down and got it all settled. Once everything was good, I grabbed a coffee and pastry because the airplane food was TERRIBLE. I mean, highly suspect, now I know to bring my own food. As I peopled watched, I spotted a store with some boomerrangs and diggeridoos which made me think of Amy and I chuckled. They did have some smaller ones, but I don't know if they'll fit. While waiting at my gate for the final leg of my trip, a woman next to me with an iPhone asked how I had connected to the internet as she was having trouble. Honestly pure luck, I told her as it works when it wants. Turns out she and her husband were returning home...to St. Louis, so we chatted about our midwestern roots while we waited for the plane to board. They had done a very similar trip to mine and had given me a few pointers about places to see, where you can actually hold a koala (Cairns, but not Melbourne) and that people just don't tip. Shortly after this conversation happened, our plane began boarding, and on that note, it's time to sign off and get on my final flight today! I cannot wait to get to my hotel so I can take a much needed shower, I look and feel quite ratchet.

Edit: made it to New Zealand, and first thing I saw leaving the airport was a kiwi fruit sitting on the bench...go figure!

#AnnasAustralianAdventure

2 week notice

aamato20 — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 13:38:00 GMT

Since roughly day 35, I've been keeping a countdown of days until the big trip. Today, I hit a big number and then straight up panicked while at work. 14 days. That's two weeks. That's 336 hours until I'll be on a plane heading towards the west coast and then across the Pacific. I can't believe I've hit the two week mark and it seems a lot closer than 14 days. I'm going out of town this weekend for Betty's birthday, so next weekend is going to be a cluster**** of organizing, packing, and trying to remember if I bought everything I needed. Thank god for Amazon Prime and 2-day shipping; it's been a lifesaver. I started making a list of all the things I want to bring, researching wineries in NZ and Australia and I finally booked my scuba & zip lining trips....yay adventures! I've still got a few more tours to scope out and book, but I'm pretty dang close to being done. I think that this point, I need to step back and let the chips fall as they may. I've planned an incredible trip, now it's time to pack, fly there and enjoy it. I'm excited to see 2 years worth of planning come to fruition. Until then, I'm going to watch some TV, working on packing list, and think about all the stuffing and pecan pie I'm going to eat before I spend 24+ hours in airports and planes.

#AnnasAustralianAdventure

And the Countdown begins!

aamato20 — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 01:08:00 GMT

As I lounge in my bed, looking at my half packed luggage for my latest business trip, I decided I wanted to blog about my upcoming trip. So, here I am blogging, hopefully I'm doing this right...probably not, oh well! I figured it would be a good way to keep my friends and family in the loop as I trek across the land down under. My trip doesn't start for another 2 months, but I've been planning this trip for roughly 2 years, so you can imagine my excitement. This is my first solo traveling trip and I'll be spending about 4 weeks in Australia and New Zealand. Now as the time begins to dwindle, I'm constantly asking myself did I book everything I need? What am I going to bring? When am I going to get all my appointments in? Am I going to accidentally melt another flat iron? (probably) Do I need to get anymore shots before I go? Am I going to over pack? Yes, because I am a chronic over-packer. I've officially booked and reserved everything I'll be needing, so now it's time to wait.

Waiting is the worst.

For those of you who aren't aware here's a quick rundown of my path:

Thanksgiving day I'll begin my flights to Auckland, New Zealand. Once I land, I'll be meeting up with a Contiki group for a few days to tour Auckland & Paihia. (Side note: Contiki is a 18-35 backpacking group) Once I'm back in Auckland, I'll be grabbing a car and driving to Rotorua and Wellington. I didn't have enough time to see the south island, so from Wellington I'll be flying over to Melbourne (pronounced Mel-binn, gotta start working on my pronunciation of cities). Once in Melbourne, I will spend my time searching for a platypus. How much do I love platypi? The limit does not exist (sorry, but you had to know I'd throw at least one Mean Girls reference in here). Then comes the longest trek of the journey, the 10 hour drive up the coast from Melbourne to Canberra (lord give me strength). Then it's on to Sydney where I'll ditch the car and take flights to my last two cities: Brisbane & Cairns. I get back to Chicago the Monday before Christmas & I already know this jetlag is going to be a bitch.

So far the reactions to telling people that I'm taking a month off of work to road trip Australia by myself has been mixed. 100% of the people I have talked to are excited and jealous of the trip, because it truly is the trip of a lifetime. But there is a small amount (re: family) that is nervous and not too happy I'm taking on this trip alone. I get it, I'm a young woman backpacking Australia alone, but that's not going to stop me. Aren't you nervous? Are you really that safe? Why don't you wait to have someone who can come along with you? How the hell are you going to drive on the other side of the road? Well of course I'm nervous, I'm terrified, but isn't that the point? I want to see what I'm made of, if I can truly be alone with myself for a month. I'm taking this opportunity to do a little soul searching and see if I'm as strong as I believe myself to be. I'd like to think I'll be safe there, but that's not something you know in advance, so I'll hope for the best and plan for the worst. As for the driving....well we'll see how that one works out when I get there (god bless zero dollar deductibles!). This trip is a big deal and I can't wait to see what it has in store for me.

#AnnasAustralianAdventure