ROLLin'THRUoz...

A little bit of OZ countryside here: I took a 9-hour train ride yesterday (Wed) from Sydney to Melly (Melbourne). People thought I was crazy to forgo the 2 hour plan ride, but I really wanted to see a bit of the country side. Honestly, with the little “quiet” time I have been allotted in the hostels in the past week, it was really nice to get a chunk of time to read, write, doze and space out into the wild outdoors of SE-OZ.





I’ve been reading a great book that my cousin Mai gave me for my trip over here: Billy Bryson’s In a sunburned country. If you haven’t read anything by this author, he is a definite riot and a must!!!! He had me rolling in laughter through most of my trainride with his hilarious travel-accounts of OZ. I am pretty certain that most people in the train thought I was off my “rocker”…but he has such a delightful skills with words…and an incredible flair for recounting stories!!






My train ride was filled with beautiful countryside sceneries: herds of sheep, cows and horses scampering away as the train sped past its peaceful pastures at a roaring pace. OZ is certainly full of interesting sounding (aboriginal) names too:








Today is my first day in Melbourne! And what a wonderful city it is already--and I’ve only seen a tiny fraction so far, but I am already “in love”. I can tell. (I felt similar feelings when I first started living in Philadelphia).

First of all, the transit system is AMAZING. You can ride the train, the tram, the bus…all on the “same” ticket—that is true “smart” civil planning or infrastructure, if you ask me.
In Sydney, you had to buy separate tickets for the bus and the subway and every time you got off the train, which I thought was ridiculous! Here, for A$5.90, you can get an all-day pass and you can get on as many rides as you wish to! There simply are no limits to where I can go?!! except perhaps time and energy. <massaged an inflammed L1-L2 disc, snapped me in a couple places--I feel great now!>>




I don’t think I have mentioned so far, that in the past two weeks of having left the US continent, I have had nothing but “dreams” of my friends in the US. Never have I dreamt so much about my friends…but it seems as though my psyche is “working out” something—that though distance has always separated me from my closest friends even on the North-American continent, the fact that everyone is “that much” further away seems to make me feel “alone” for the first time since I arrived to America when I was fifteen.

More to explore!! More to smell, feel, eat, drink and absolutely "adore"!!

This "affair" has only just begun.

By the way, i've been informed that my digits that i gave out the other day were incorrect: dial direct 011-61-4-23-656840 (no "0" in front of the "4"...that's only if you're here which none of you that i know of, are ^_^) CHEEEEEAZ!!!