Oz

Panic on the Streets of JoBurg
Let me tell you what, our trip to Australia was the most stressful travel experience of my life. First, our car was half an hour late to pick us up. We had given ourselves a pretty big cushion, though, so we didn't think we'd have any problems with getting to our gate with plenty of time to spare. Not so my friends, not so. Things started heading south when Jill tried to check in and the computer system couldn't find her reservation. We had to scuttle over to Lufthansa's queue to get it all sorted out. It took probably an hour in total. Then, we head back to Qantas airways and proceed to check in. Jill gets in no problem. They ask for my passport. The machine makes bleep noises. I start to sweat. The man hands me back my passport and asks if I have a visa for Australia. I reply that I do but I didn't print my email confirmation because it's supposed to be electronic. He tells me to bust ass down to the internet cafe and print out my confirmation email because the machine is just not recognizing my visa. This was 45 minutes before we had to be at our gate. So, Jill and I run through the airport, find the internet cafe and promptly discover the internet has been down all day. I'm trying not to cry and Jill's trying to log on to her phone to access wi-fi. I decide to run back up to the gate and hope I can sweet talk my way into getting into Australia. Then, like a flash of lightning, Jill comes running up in her New York City giraffe t-shirt and says she has access to wi fi on her phone. The heavens parted, gold rained from the sky and I pulled up my confirmation. And BAM! Now I'm in Australia.

Sydney
Sydney is amazing. The people are friendly and the city is really pretty. Jill and I spent a lot of time in the park by the harbor. It was lovely. I also bought a pretty ridiculous 1970s jumpsuit. I'm not going to lie, I look beyond awesome in it.

We did find ourselves in another awkward social situation, though, when we decided to go out with a group of people from the hostel. Nobody really talked to us and we went to some ridiculous club. They played Bob Dylan's Hurricane in its entirety - all eight minutes. It's one of my favorite songs, so I didn't complain, but that is a bizarre choice for a club.

Darwin
SUCKS. This city is filled with drunk kids being loud and trashy. I feel like I'm in Jersey. We did spend the day on the beach today, though, which was really nice and relaxing. I love the ocean.

Tomorrow, we head to Kakadu National Park. We have very high hopes. We have some hiking planned, including a trail to some shallow swimming pools.

Driving
I feel pretty comfortable driving on the other side of the road now. I still struggle with the turn signal, though, because it's on the other side of the steering wheel. I imagine I'll figure that out just in time to go back to the states.

Sorry for the brief update but I have some New Zealand trip planning to attend to.