IAughtNaut's Australian Adventure

Hey guys, starting this thread to chronicle my visit to the land down under. I left a ton of snow at home yesterday morning, (or two mornings ago, I'm in a time vortex right now) so I figure I'll give those of you buried in winter something to follow.

First thing- I am an ignorant American. That has been made clear to me several times and I have been here less than 12 hours. I know most of you know that I'm an idiot, I'm just sharing that knowledge with another culture now.

Flight was long. Scheduled Sunday at 4:30pm to Chicago, then to LA, then to Brisbane. Tried to check in Saturday and the Chicago flight was canceled so I got re-routed through Houston. Added about 6 total hours to the layover in LAX, but I knew I had a better chance of not getting snowed into Houston. After seeing how many flights got canceled on Sunday I'm glad I did. I left Cleveland at 11am Sunday and landed in Brisbane and 7am Tuesday. Monday? Gone. Never existed.

I've never been outside the country before so I had no idea how awesome international flights are. I was in the premium economy cabin because this wasn't a real full flight, and it was basically the same thing as first class on a domestic flight. They must get happy endings up in in international first, because that was all that was missing from my ticket.

The girl who checked me in told me that I made her day because she spent the entire interaction laughing at what an idiot I am (that hasn't stopped since I got here, by the way). I had a lot of what I thought were very reasonable questions and she gave me what I have now come to recognize as the "another dumb american" face.

Its 81 degrees here right now, and you know who loves nice weather? Hot chicks. They're everywhere. Apparently big cities near the beach have some sort of appeal...who knew. I had to go back to my hotel room at one point during the day to get my sunglasses so that each new hottie that I walked by couldn't see me ogling her. Its gonna be a good trip.

You know what they don't have here? Bacon. I've eaten twice today, twice thought I knew what I was ordering, and zero times gotten what I expected. I ordered a bacon and egg burger at this dirty little shack outside the airport (which I am very disappointed I didn't take a picture of). I got a flaky roll with fried ham and an egg on it. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but no burger. Then we sat down at this English pub place in the outdoor mall (which is awesome too), and I ordered a BLT club with chunky chips. Ham and turkey sandwich on three pieces of bread with bacon and pub chips, right? Nope, fried ham, lettuce, & tomato hoagie with steak fries. Then, in another boldly American move, I asked the girl for ketchup...she and the guy behind the bar started laughing because as I walked up he had said to her, watch, he's going to ask for tomato sauce. Which I did. For my chips, that I had no idea I was getting.

I'm not even going to recap what I put the poor girl at the cell phone store through, but I will say, it was startlingly easy to get a sim card and an Australian number for my existing cell phone. I just had to give them 40 of their funny looking dollars with their weird plastic windows in the bills.



Plus all the bills are different sizes, and they have all manner of different coins that I will never understand, but the $1 coin is the smallest and seemingly easiest to lose.

And I am some kind of terrible at driving on the left side of the road. I will cause an accident before I leave, guaranteed. It took me 10 minutes to make the cruise work, because apparently this car thinks cruise control means tell it how fast you want to go and once you get there pushing the accelerator will not make it go faster. And I can't find the mirrors. And the turn signal is on the other side so I've turned on the wipers 642 times to let someone know I'm about to cut them off in traffic.

But...this is the view from my apartment







So far this city seems pretty amazing, there's a river running right through the center of it, and I'm less than an hour from two cities named The Gold Coast and The Sunshine Coast. Neither sound horrible.

More to come, including a ski weekend with everyone's favorite Aussie.

Adam the $2 coin is smaller than the $1 coin but the 50 cent is huge. Much better than those pesky dollar bills in the US and the smallest coin is 5 cents we got rid of those ridiculous 1 cent coins years ago

Yep 240 Volts in Australia just make sure your chargers can handle 120-240 AC most of the recent phone and laptop power supplies can handle either voltage. Just check the specifications on each power supply.

We do have normal bacon you probably went to some trendy cafe.

Forecast for this weekend in Tamworth is both days in the 90's and Sunny.

Yes Adam, interesting stuff, keep us posted! Be careful! How long are you scheduled to be there?
OH! Most important Question!!?? When you flush the toilet, does it spin backwards??

too funny. keep the posts and pics coming. Australia is definitely on the list of places wifey and I want to go.

Smithfamily wrote: Yes Adam, interesting stuff, keep us posted! Be careful! How long are you scheduled to be there? OH! Most important Question!!?? When you flush the toilet, does it spin backwards??

]

Remember we need a picture or it didn't happen!

Have a blast. It is on my list of destinations. If you see one of those funky Ausie ski boats running around let us know how they are.

Blah blah blah,
1. Hot chicks.
2. Bacon.
You have my undivided attention. If only somehow you could combine the two.

seacamper wrote: Blah blah blah, 1. Hot chicks. 2. Bacon. You have my undivided attention. If only somehow you could combine the two.

Inset wings for bacon and that's how hooters got started.

Of course there's always makin bacon!

Wow you made to the south hemisphere! welcome, need a bungee to hold your cap, or it will fall from your head to the sky!

lol

Next time better come my way!
lol
So is it a pleasure or work trip?

I guess you will be hosted by Mark.

Keep the pictures coming pleaseeeee.

IAughtNaut wrote: Smithfamily wrote: Yes Adam, interesting stuff, keep us posted! Be careful! How long are you scheduled to be there? OH! Most important Question!!?? When you flush the toilet, does it spin backwards?? 3 weeks this trip. I haven't checked the direction of the flush, I'm still dumbfounded by the fact that the toilet in the apartment has 2 flush buttons, one for a half flush and one for a full

Yellow is mellow brown goes down.

I am enjoying the travel log; I can't wait to read more. I would love to visit sometime. Have fun.

Sorry my original post was flushed.
You should have checked direction upon arrival? Instead you are busy amusing the baconless native broads. Be careful. I don't trust them.

Signing up for this. We really should start a reality show based on interactions with people you've yet to enlighten. If only we had your first meeting with Zoe recorded.

storm34 wrote: Signing up for this. We really should start a reality show based on interactions with people you've yet to enlighten. If only we had your first meeting with Zoe recorded.

me too...laughted all the way thru the 1st post. this is gonna be way better than the usual winter time threads .....

and to quote quinner; 'pics or it didn't happen'



john

Discovered the boardwalk today. This river runs through the heart of the city, and on each side its either paved or a giant deck with restaurants, bars, and free ferries that will take passengers across the river. There's also several pedestrian bridges to go across. I know now why there are so many fit looking women in this city, because at 5:00pm they're all down there running or biking on the boardwalk. I know, I know, pics or it didn't happen, but I couldn't think of a way to not get arrested for being a creep for taking pictures with my phone while running. Also passed by several museums and a giant ferris wheel. This city is super cool.



And this is the view from it at night.



Saw this little guy creeping around the hospital today, apparently its a blue-tongued skink? One of the girls we were with tried to catch it but it didn't like that and scampered away.





Speaking of the hospital, I'll have to take some pictures inside of it tomorrow because its pretty amazing...its been there over a hundred years and the original building has beautiful stained glass and wooden fixtures throughout, its a real time capsule.

Not much else to report today, but I did crash a 21st birthday party at the boardwalk bar/restaurant we had dinner at. Apparently somewhere in Australian facebook there are a bunch of pictures of me acting like a ***************, but I don't even have American facebook so I'll never know. I guess the drinking age here is 18 which spells trouble for me once my mid winter party break ends...

kapla wrote: Wow you made to the south hemisphere! welcome, need a bungee to hold your cap, or it will fall from your head to the sky! lol Next time better come my way! lol So is it a pleasure or work trip? I guess you will be hosted by Mark. Keep the pictures coming pleaseeeee.

Yes made it ok, here for work. Some of you know I work with software in hospitals, so we are putting a system in a pretty large hospital in and around Brisbane. This trip is for 3 weeks, I will probably have 4-5 more throughout the year so I'll get to experience as much as this area has to offer. And yes, that includes a trip to Lewy's next weekend, and hopefully a couple more during subsequent trips.