Here goes nothing

At long last, the moment you have been waiting for: my blog is officially up and running!

OK, so perhaps you haven't been waiting that long for this moment after all. But I sure have.

It's been a little over 48 hours since I got to Sydney, Australia, and more than four days since I left home. In some ways it feels like it's been weeks, such are the joys of jetlag. I feel like I've done so much since I got here. Every little outing is a wee bit of an adventure, from buying bread at the store (which damn coin is which?) to finding a payphone to call home (how do these things work?)

The first day was the hardest in terms of dealing with jet lag. By the time I got to Sydney it was 1 p.m. local time. That's 8 p.m. the previous day in Saskatchewan. I was ready for bed.

Instead, I was thrown into a tiny airport shuttle "bus" (it was actually a van) and driven into the city. The driver drove very quickly down the "wrong" side of the road and there was so much traffic. Around the time that he swung out behind a stopped bus and into the parking lane, cutting back into traffic just a few feet from the rear bumper of a truck, I decided it might be best to put a seatbelt on.

Ha! There were no seatbelts.

Just a few minutes later I was at my youth hostel in Kings Cross. The hostel is on an amazingly pretty sidestreet lined with trees, Victorian-style buildings, coffee shops, restaurants and, of course, about 8 other hostels. Checking in was a breeze and I felt once-again blessed to have gotten a private room for the first couple of nights. No snoring strangers to contend with. The room is out back and even offers views of Sydney's Central Business District (that's the "downtown" as we say in North America).

By 5 p.m. I felt dizzy with jetlag, dehydration and hunger. I tried a bit of food and juice but that only holds for a short while. By 6:30 I passed out on my bed, totally unable to stay awake any longer (remember that I started the day at an airport in Fiji at 5 a.m.) Three hours later I woke up, slightly refreshed. Not having a cellphone or Internet connection really does me over in terms of keeping track of time. I ventured outdoors after watching some TV for a bit longer. It was already midnight somehow!

I ambled down the streets of Kings Cross for awhile. There were some bars and clubs open as well as a surprisingly high number of strip clubs (this is historically Sydney's red light district after all. Thank you Lonely Planet for filling me in.) I bought a popsicle as the night air still felt warm on my Canadian skin. Lucky me, there was an Internet cafe open until 1 a.m.

By 1 a.m. I was more than ready to crawl back into bed. I popped a couple of melatonin pills and pray for a good night's sleep. Those pills really do work, in case you were wondering.

Eight hours later I woke to a bright and sunny day. As I poked my head out the door and looked down the street I saw schoolgirls in their funny (to me) uniforms hurrying down the street to get to class.

Yup, I am really in Oz now.

More to post soon. . . .