Australia entry 1

Sunday 19th July 09

Its very strange waking up at 7 am and thinking you had better chat to your boyfriend before he goes to the pub. Not a totally unrealistic situation for some people I suppose but still not the usual routine of a functional relationship.

Yesterday felt like a mix of a very very bad hangover and a heavy flu. I arrived at 6.30 am just about the time my body was telling me I should be going to bed. I decided not to give into the stupid taxi prices from the airport and got the shuttle bus into town. Was a bit of a false economy as the bus dropped me right at the other end of the long street from where my hostel was so I ended up getting a taxi the rest of the way.

Got settled in the room and had a few min’s total panic about what the hell was I doing here! Phoned Ross and he calmed me down and then went to sleep. Very jealous of Ross’s state of awake-ness I considered just giving into the jet lag and sleeping all day, but I resisted.

Decided to be practical and start looking for flats. So after a free pancake breakfast from the Hostel, I got to work on the internet looking at some places near the uni. Fired off a few emails and decided to go to a viewing at 2....(hoping that I would still be awake then!)

I tried walking into town following the crappy map in the guide book, but the problem I found as the day went on, is if you want to walk about a town the maps are useless. The only roads that are named are the massive, loud, dual carriage way type roads, so its an incredibly un scenic route that you take.

After a noisy walk found myself in China town and in Paddy’s market. Massive indoor market where they sell everything from bananas to stolen phone parts. I made the most of this and brought a dodgy charger for my mobile. Decided then that as it had taken me at least twice as long to get to town as I had thought, I should leave tonnes of time to get to Rozelle for the flat viewing,

This was good thinking as I got on the wrong bus which went all round to world to get there. The flat was ok but the guy was a bit odd and it smelt of fish, so we are striking that one off the list.

After that I wandered down to the art school to have a look around and see if there were any notice boards up with ads for flats. I spoke to a guy working in the gallery there who’s a printmaking student and he told me where the notice boards were etc.

After not really finding any notices, I decided to walk back to the hostel in Glebe. Again, the same problem on walking on massive roads. I am going to buy an A to Z today!

Right, I need some breakfast so I will check in again soon. Going to see 2 flats today and then go right into town and up to the opera house etc.

Lots of Love Amy xxxxx