Saturday exploration

Saturday I decided to explore downtown Bendigo. Bendigo is lovely place, with lots of restaurants and shops and beautiful parks. Bendigo is a gold rush town, and has a long history around gold mining. Gold was discovered in Bendigo by two women. The secret got out when they went shopping with their gold (of course), then the gold rush was on. So in keeping with the history of the town, I went on a tour of the Bendigo gold mine. For $24 I went down into a gold mine, down 20 stories, which is level 2 of 17. Oh my gosh. I can't imagine going down to level 17! Level 2 was bad enough. I'm glad I can say I've been into a gold mine. But I have no desire to go ever go into a gold mine again. It's really dark and dirty and scary down there. Some of the folks on the tour thought the process was fascinating, but I felt more like the three year that starting screaming when they turned out the lights to show us how dark dark really is! The three year old was carried out of the mine, but I stuck it out. I'm so mature.

Between rain storms, I also explored the park downtown and some of the shops. First I went to the Bendigo Visitor Centre, which was very helpful and had an interesting interactive display on the history of the town. Then I went to the park downtown, which was really beautiful. But then the rain came, so no more exploring on Saturday.

Sunday adventure

Today I went in search of a kangaroo. How can I convince my friends at home that I went to Australia if I don't have a picture of a kangaroo? They folks at work tell me that the kangaroos come out at dusk, and usually show up in the grassy area around work but I haven't seen any there yet. So I went to the White Hills Botanical Gardens where they have some in a little 'zoo' area. I saw some wallabees, which are smaller and darker than kangaroos, and are active during the day. They posed for some nice shots. The kangaroos on the other hand, were asleep and didn't photograph well (they look dead). So the search for kangaroos continues.




I also took some pictures of the flowers and trees at the Botanical Gardens. It's early spring here so the daffodils are blooming. And weather feels just like early spring at home, like March. It's cold and windy and rainy. I'll be glad to get back to Huntsville and experience the September weather I'm accustomed to - warm and windy.

On a positive note, my driving is getting much better. I'm feeling more comfortable with driving on the left, although I still go to the passenger side of the car to get in. But today I successfully navigated several parking lots, roundabouts, and right hand turns. Success is measured by the number horns honking, angry hand signals, or screeching brakes. Today I had none of those. However, I have to say that on the whole, the Australia drivers are very polite and patient. I haven't seen many angry drivers even when I screw up. Yesterday I turned into the hotel parking lot in the wrong land and older couple on the sidewalk put their hands to their cheeks like "OH NO!" . But they weren't angry. Of course, they weren't drivers either.

Time to Go!

I was so nervous and scared about traveling half way around the world by myself. International travel. For the first time, all alone. To a place far away where I don't know anyone. But, it was sure to be an adventure (even if it was a work trip), and let's be realistic, it's not like I was the first one to ever go there. I also got some good tips and information from some folks at work that had lived in Brisbane for a couple of years working on the Vigilaire contract. And Australia is pretty easy because they speak the same language (but slightly differently) and the currency is the same denominations, and many things are kinda the same, except that they drive on the left. So off I go, leaving Huntsville at 5:oopm on Tuesday, flying to Atlanta, then to LAX, then boarding a Qantas flight to Melbourne. The flight left LAX around 11:oopm on Tuesday, and arrived in Melbourne around 8am on Thursday. Wednesday got lost, literally, never to be seen again!

The trip was a long, a lot of time sitting in airplanes, but overall not too bad. The Qantas trans-Pacific flight was really very nice. I flew Business class in a Boeing 747, which was awesome. The seat was so comfortable, fully reclining with lots of adjustments to the foot rest, knee height, the recline of the back and the seat angle. The seat in front of me had a nice big screen for TV, flight information, or movies. The flight attendants were very nice and helpful. My friends told me to try and stay awake as long as possible, then sleep as much as possible, with the goal of waking up in the morning in Australia time to ease the effects of jet lag. So I watched a movie, and managed to stay up until after 3am, which is a miracle for me! Then I slept and slept very comfortably. The flight attendant told me the next day I got the award for best sleeper! I thought, yes it's one of my best things, actually.

Going to Australia?!?

Got an email on a Friday morning: "You need to be in Australia next week for a proposal, for two or three weeks. When can you leave." Or something heart-stopping like that. My first reaction was No way, I don't know anything about that proposal and I don't want to travel all that way to walk in cold to a new assignment. However, after I learned the details of the task (which I can't divulge) I realized it was a perfect assignment for me and my attitude changed to YES Way! I'm going to Australia! Then all I had to do was .. well, I had to do a shitload of stuff to get ready in three days for a two or three week stay in AUSTRALIA, where its still WINTER!!!