Land Down Under

Well, well, well, long time no update.   It's been almost one whole week since I've been here in Brisbane, and let's suffice it to say that things have been amazing.  Upon arriving last Thursday, my friend picked me up from the airport.  I'm staying with him and 2 other Americans in a friends house of theirs, located about 15 mins. from downtown Brisbane.  My current situation is going to spoil me for the rest of my trip.  In the house, I have my own room and all the other amenities you could ask for.  For the time being, I'm hanging out here at the house while my friend works one more week at his construction job to earn a little extra cash.  By the beginning of next week, we will be taking off for some other area of Australia and eventually New Zealand.  Right on.  I apologize for my lack of communication, especially when I have the means here at this house.  I suppose this is a good test for those who might worry (Mom).  I'm not always going to be next to a computer so this is quite a luxury.  Enough jibber jabber though, let's get to some of the highlights of what I've done so far.

My first weekend here, my friend and I travelled up the coast to the town of Noosa.  Although a bit cloudy the first day, the weather and temperature for the majority of the weekend was incredible.  We stayed at a friends beach house (for free; cha-ching!) and had an incredible time.  I attempted to surf, saw a koala, and soaked up lots of shade to prevent myself from getting skin cancer early on in this trip.  On our way back we stopped by a friends place (friends of my friends) and had an Australian BBQ.  T-bone steak, hamburger, sausage, bacon.  Holy smokes, it was incredible - especially since I'd hardly eaten anything all day.  After the weekend trip, as I kind of alluded to, I've been chilling at the house while my friend goes to work.  I've walked around and seen some cool birds (look up "galah") and even some neat insects.  I've quickly learned that there are a million and one Aussie slang words.  Kim, it turns out it's stubby cooler, not stumpy cooler, which is a coosie.  A  "Doona" is a blanket and "rooding" someone is having sex with them.  Since I mention that, I'm reminded that my mother requested I keep this blog PG as I have some, how shall I say?, more mature readers, who might be offended or put off by certain things I type.   Certainly I don't want to reflect poorly on myself nor do I wish to offend any of you.  That being said, I'll do my best to keep this fairly PG, but let's be honest with ourselves here, sometimes the PG-13 stuff is the more amusing stuff in life, and sometimes it's the truth.  I'm sure most of you will be ok with everything and I'm sure we can all get a nice chuckle out of the things I write, but if you ever have a problem with something, please don't hesitate to let me know. 

   Well that was a bit of a tangent.  I'll wrap it up by saying that my time here in Brisbane is going incredibly well.  I would write more, but I don't want to bore you to death and I should probably get going on my day.   Oh, and for the record, I recently got a skype account.... j.meyer72   I'm not sure how much I'll use it, but if proper arrangements are made, I can probably make a skype date with you... if you're lucky :)  Keep in mind, I'm a day ahead of you.  If you are on the west coast, subtract 7 hours from your current time, then add an entire day.  That's where I'll be.  Until next time!