And then it was Summer

Howyagoin mates?

That's how they speak here on this crazy continent. Well so far so good. I made here to Perth alive and well, and am starting to settle in. As you can imgaine the flight was long but not too bad. I had a good seat mate from Vancouver through Hawaii and then to Sydney.

US customs was interesting (that's right, to touch down in Hawaii for an hour you have to go through US customs) but not nearly as intense as Australian imigration. First on the plane we were preparde for the ordeal by a short video staring none other than the infinitly excited Steve Irwin (and yes he did wrestle a Crock in the video). Then the entire plane was sprayed with wht I think was "Agent Orange" while the passangers stayed seated. Then once in Sydney international I waited in the longest and hottest line for about an eon or so. Once at the front of the que I had my bag ravaged through and my cleats temporarly confiscated. Apparantly the dirt on the shoes could contain seeds that could destroy Australia's fragile ecosystem. I had them cleaned and returned.

Once I was succesfuly on Australian soil I got a ticket to Perth and flew over. On one hand my ticket accross Australia was expensive but on the other I got all the free bree and wine I could consume and the diner that rivaled some of Canada's best cuisine.

I realize I'm getting a little long winded here so I 'm just going to list a few things I've learned so far down under and maybe I can tell you the coresponding stories another time.

1. Canadian beer is 3 to 5 times better than Australian beer.
2. Drinking "goon" (dirt cheap boxed wine) is not only socially accpetable in college (what we call residence back home) but compulsory.
3. In general Australian guys are super skinny and Australian girls are quite a bit larger.
4. Sweedish women are infact the most beautiful in the world. Though their english is pretty poor and my Sweedish is quite rusty.
5. Internet usage here is very limited and quite expensive.
6. South Africans know how to party.
7. Sun burns suck ( though I knew that before I came I was painfuly reminded)
8. You put yogurt in your cereal no milk.
9. Hawaiian water is the best.
10. If you think Native americans are disliked and have it rough it pales in comparison to Australian aboriginals.
11. Vegimite may be a bottled vegitarion vomit.

Well that's it for now mates. I'll post again soon and hopefuly with pictures.

- The Yank

I'm going to Australia ?

I decided to pack only the essentials

Well it’s finally D-Day (Drew Day!?). Tommorow morning I`m driving off to Pearson and then spending the next 24 hours hurtling through the sky in a tiny seat at tremendous speed.


I hope my seat mate is an Australian model coming back from North America and has a thing for rocks… Ok, Ok, at the very least I hope I don’t get stuck next to any of the following:

1. A Disgustingly obese Elderly man with SARS who likes to recount endless stories about `how things used to be so much better at the turn of the century` and is only interrupted when he needs to get up and change his depends.
2. A teething child and her mother, who, insists on breast feeding her special `little guy` regularly throughout the flight.
3. Any of the cast members from Lost (that could be a little ominous)

However if I somehow manage to evade these potential turbulent partners I have a wonderful day ahead of me. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be a brisk -18C. I take off at 2:15 pm (baring icing over on the wings and gale force winds grounding the plane) and stop over briefly in Vancouver. Then a quick jaunt across half the Pacific to sunny Honolulu. There I’ll be taking in the beautiful Hawaiian climate for all of and hour and half. Then it’s back on the plane for a grueling flight to Sydney where I need to procure same day travel arrangements to Perth (should be fun). I can only hope that the in-flight movie is Corvette Summer and not Cannonball Run, sorry Burt but Mark's got you beat this time.

In all seriousness I`m going to miss all you guys. Please email me your mailing addresses for the summer so I can mail you. Well good bye for now and next time I see you I may have a wicked tan and a funny accent.