Day 1 Down Under

March 1st: I was so sad to leave San Francisco behind, and as usual I was running late to the airport for my flight.  I made it though and was on my way to New Zealand (Auckland to be exact) for a quick layover before heading to Melbourne for my first week in Australia.  


For those of you who are thinking of coming to visit, I flew Air New Zealand and I definitely recommend it.  They served 2 meals, countless rounds of wine and champagne, and had an endless supply of movies and music to keep me entertained.  I had a window seat, and no one was sitting in the middle, so I was able to stretch out a little.  I regret not taking the Ambien I was offered for the flight...that is something I will have to remember for next time.  The guy sitting in the aisle seat was very friendly.  He was from Canada (Ottawa) and had stopped in Vancouver for the Olympics before flying out with a group of his friends for New Zealand.  I regret that I didn't really talk much with him, because I slept (although I woke up every few hours) almost the entire flight.  I did get a little nervous as we flew over Fiji and had some crazy turbulence (in case you didn't catch it, that was a shout-out to the Lost fans out there).  But in the end we made it, phew!


March 3rd: After landing in New Zealand, I figured out the time difference while waiting at the airport.  We had crossed the international date line and completely lost March 2nd, so it was now March 3rd and very early in the morning.  From Australia, we are 18 hours ahead of Arizona, 19 hours ahead of California, and 16 hours ahead of the East Coast.  This means that for the people in CA, I am an entire day ahead of you, but 5 hours behind.  So when it is 2PM here on March 3rd, it is 7PM in CA on March 2nd.  Make sense?


From Auckland, I flew to Melbourne which was slightly less than a 4-hour flight.  My mom's friend's family had offered to pick me up from the airport, but I had never met them before.  I just knew that as I exited customs I was supposed to look for a woman in a black and white jacket.  I had a small scare getting through customs, when the girl working there called over her manager, but it turned out that they had not put my middle name on my visa...no big deal!  


As I exited customs, there was a lot of clapping and cheering which I thought was a great way to welcome all of the people getting off the plane.  That is when I realized that one of the Australian gold medal winners from the Olympics was on my flight, and there were her family, friends and media surrounding her.  Wasn't a friendly Australian welcome after all.


I had no problem spotting my family away from home, and I was excited to finally be in Melbourne.  I had decided that I would stay at their house for the first couple of days while I got over my jetlag, so I will be in the suburbs of Melbourne until Friday when I relocate to the city.  They turned out to be the cutest Australian (well really they are both British and Australian since they have passports for both countries) couple, and I have really enjoyed spending today with them.  The husband ends every sentence directed at me with "my love" as in "Would you like some more tea, my love?"  They have a cute, red brick house where I not only have 1, but 2 bedrooms and a bathroom for my use, and they are also letting me leave some of my luggage with them while I travel.  

I was already impressed with the Australian hospitality when they informed me that we were going to "have a barbie" for dinner which basically means we were going to eat delicious chicken and pineapple skewers, burgers, and steaks cooked on the grill.  I had heard I wasn't going to like the food in Australia, but I was a big fan of everything I ate today.  


Other than "the barbie," my other Australian experience today was "drinking a spider."  Sounds weird I know, and when I asked, my host did not know why they call it a spider, but basically it is the same concept as a root beer float (except the root beer is replaced with other flavored sodas such as raspberry or Sprite).  They put a scoop of ice cream on top and they are served in most coffee shops.  


I also got an Australian cell phone today, so be on the lookout because I will post my number soon in case anyone wants to reach me.  I have no idea how much it will cost, so check your plans before doing it...  Still, the best way to reach me is either by commenting on my blog (I fixed it so you should be able to now), email, or Facebook.


At the suggestion of someone (ok, Brandon - my lil - I will give you credit), I am going to start posting pictures as often as I can.  It was suggested that I should do a picture a day, but I do not want to over-promise, but I will have some for you soon!