The One With Natasha and Liesl...

I had been in Australia for roughly 35 minutes when I began crying uncontrollably.

Let me explain.

My jumbo-jet experience from Tokyo to Sydney was not quiet as wonderful as the first leg of my trip. I was being kicked constantly by the little bugger sitting behind me, and for some reason, I got incredibly nauseous about halfway through the flight. I then spent the remainder of the flight sleeplessly debating whether or not to wake the two young men next to me so I could go upchuck in those tiny little airplane bathrooms. I burped a lot and got over it.

On the upside, I experienced the most extraordinary sunrise i've ever seen in my life. While flying 30,000 feet in the air, I watched the sky turn from a starry blue with a low sliver of red brushing the horizon into the most gorgeous array of reds, oranges, yellows, blues and violets. The stars were just beginning to fade into daylight when we descended into Sydney. The whole experience was breathtaking.

Once I arrived at the airport I breezed through customs and purchased a ticket to take a $15 shuttle into the center of the city. I got switched from one shuttle van to another several times before finally settling into a seat. Once everyone was situated, the driver demanded that I give him my ticket, despite the fact that I had already given my ticket to the initial shuttle I was supposed to take. A string of curses flew from his mouth as I tried to explain the situation to him. He then thrust his iPhone at me where I got belittled by the original driver who called me a "feckin' liar" and then hung up. On the verge of tears I was rudely escorted out of the van while watching my baggage being thrown onto the sidewalk.

I held it together for a good 5 minutes until I returned to the ticket window to explain how my ticket had been misplaced and began bawling at the poor ticket woman. I was exhausted, hungry, still nauseous, embarrassed, and hugely disappointed with my first experience in Australia. Luckily she was understanding and remembered me so I got on another shuttle without incident. After almost two hours of trying to find the persons house Im staying at, I finally gave up and began looking for coffee (I now know that addresses are backwards here with the apartment number first followed by the street number). Little did I know I would be stumbling across two of the coolest people on earth!

Natasha was sitting quietly reading, minding her own business, when I asked how the whole getting coffee thing works here (they have the strangest words for things such as coffee). Within minutes we were chatting away like old friends and she generously offered to take me with her on a walk around the beaches. I'm quickly learning to love spur of the moment decisions so I graciously agreed to go. Thats when Liesl (yes, like the girl from The Sound of Music) showed up. She was just as incredibly awesome as Natasha.

The three of us spent over an hour hiking around the bluest beaches I've ever seen. I saw pods of dolphins, a homeless man's shanty on a cliff overlooking the water (that he's been living in for 10 years! Talk about prime real estate!), and some of the most incredible rock formations that had been carved out from the ocean! We hiked for over an hour before heading to meet up with more Australians for lunch. I ate kangaroo (i'm serious), which tasted a bit like venison, and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon learning more about Australia. The whole day (minus the shuttle fiasco) couldn't have been more perfect!

I've now arrived at my couch surfing buddy Emily's penthouse, er, i mean, apartment and am headed to bed early to catch up on some sleep!

-Ashley

Fun Fact: Rugby is everywhere here. Instead of throwing baseballs and frisbees, the kids (and super hot muscular young men) throw rugby balls around while at the beach!