Outback

I am oficially in the middle of nowhere. My internet is available through a little booth for like a dollar a minute and kangaroos and running around wild. We drove about 1200 km so far and went on a 7 hours hike in the mountains...got some great pictures coming up to illustrate that. My body is in the big shock right now and a tent is waiting for me! I really hope I survive this trip :)

Down Under

The last couple of days I've been feeling a little dizzy: I must tell ya, it's hard to walk upside down in down under.

According to a credible source, here are things you absolutely have to do while you are in Australia:

1) See the Kangaroos, Koalas and other local creatures.
To do this, we visited the Healesville Sanctuary, where native australian animals chill in the sun and demonstrate how sick and tired they are of endless tourists and school groups that come to see them everyday.
Lazy kangaroos don't even move when you approach them and wombats hide under the log to avoid communicating with you.

2) Support Australian economy by drinking Australian wine.
Australian wine industry is the fourth largest in the world and Australians consume over 400,000,000 litres of wine per year. So accomplish this task, my dad and I visited a Domaine Chandon sparkling winery to taste some of their exclusive champagnes. The tasting room has
breathtaking views of the vineyards, mountains and autumn trees.

3) Mix with locals and learn local slang
I attended several gatherings that involved tasting of delicious food/wine with local people. I was making big efforts to understand Aussie accent, while chewing on a nice piece of venison or lamb. I was even lucky enough to meet a group of people to introduce me to Melbourne nightlife. They were all from different coutries though: New Zealand, US and Australia, but lived in Melbourne.
It can be more compared to european, rather than american: nicely dressed girls and many many guys wearing trendy t-shirts, shaking their styled hairdos and dancing to house music. The crowd is pretty young - you don't need to be 21 to get in. You can wear sneakers to fancy clubs, but then again, I'm talking about the clubs we went to. Melbourne lounges are even more laid back and friendly.


4) Do something you can brag about later
That is why we are planning a trip accross Australia. We will drive about 3000k in the middle of nowhere to see Uluru, the big australian rock, and hang out with local aborigenes. I will try to keep you updated, but not sure if there will be wireless in the woods.

Melbourne - Here I come!

Upon my arrival to Melbourne, as you would probably guess, immigration had trouble with my passport and visa. Again. Right now it seems to be a joke.
After all the hardships, my father and I have finally reunited in the land of kangaroos.



So far I've spent a little over 24 hours in Australia and have eaten about 7 different types of meat and fish. People make fun of my California accent and a habit of eating salads for dinner.

Auckland - The City of Sails

Today I had my first experience driving myself on the left side of the road. To say it was freaking scary is to say nothing :) Surprisingly, I got to city centre without major trouble.


Noticeable things about New Zealand:

1) Auckland is a result of many volcano eruptions and is surrounded by active volcanoes. It has some really nice views and beaches. (See photos)

Mt Victoria in Devonport, which is a 10 minute ferry ride away across the bay, has some stunning views of the city and surrounding areas



Giant mushrooms grow on the top of the mountain





2) Everyone is SUPER friendly and relaxed : I made like 7 friends in 5 hours. I came completely unprepared, but managed to get lots of advice from locals








3) The Sky Tower is the landmark, I suppose. It is the tallest building in Southern Hemisphere built in 1997. In my opinion, it's a complete Vegas Stratosphere tower rip off. The latter was built in 1996.

4) Birds make out right on your table












5) Speaking of birds: Kiwi bird is a national symbol of New Zealand. This so called bird has no wings and can't fly. It's is a size of a chicken and looks very cute to me. In honour of this rare creature, Auckland is sometimes called - KIWI CITY, Aucklanders - KIWIS and New Zealand - KIWI LAND. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see one - they are kept in very special places, far from predators like me.

The most stressful departure. EVER.

That's right, I have just experienced the most stressful departure in my entire life!

I am jealous of people who always have everything in order. They are always on time, they are at the airport 3 hours before the plane leaves, they have a glass of wine at the airport bar before take off - to celebrate the beginning of their vacation, they slowly walk to the gate and board on time. I am NOT one of those people:) Anyways, here is the breakdown of what it was like.

24 hours before the flight (May 19, 9PM)

Packing process is going VERY slowly. Just to give you an idea if what type of packing it was: I had to move out of my house, put ALL my belongings in storage, pack the trunk of my car with everything I need in North Carolina for a year, pack my bags for the world tour. For those of you who don't know, I am moving to the east coast to join the Sales Training Program at Cisco, right after my trip.

20 hours before the flight (May 20, 1 AM)

Screw packing. I'm gonna go party in San Francisco

9 hours before the flight (May 20, 12 AM)

Crawl out of bed feeling completely beat up. The underground party in SF was on until 4.30 AM

3 hours before the flight (May 20, 6 PM)

The front lawn of my house looks like a yard sale - boxes, suit cases, clothes, STUFF are all over the place. Nothing fits: I intend to take twice as much as my trunk can fit in, the suitcases don't even close. Jason is being a great help trying to jam 500 pounds in something that can fit only 50.

1 hour before my international flight

We arrive to SFO, finish packing in the parking lot and run to check in

50 minutes before the flight

The guy at check in says that HE CAN'T LET ME ON THE PLANE. After about 15 minutes of arguing it turns out that: my agent messed up on the booking of the outgoing ticket from New Zealand. Basically she included the flight, but forgot to charge me for it. Since I don't have a proof that I have ongoing travel arrangements FROM New Zealand, they assume that my intentions are to stay in New Zealand forever to live, raise kids and abuse the social system, thus they can't let me into the country.

30 minutes before the flight

It looks like my only option is to BUY a $705 one way ticket from New Zealand to Australia, or I am missing my flight and losing ALL my tickets

25 minutes before the flight

Apparently I look so stressed, that security decides to search my bags. Thank you very much.

10 minutes before the flight
I hear my name coming out of airport speakers, I run faster.

5 minutes before the flight

I MADE IT TO THE GATE (last one, of course). I am sure by the way I look, my neighbors think I'm insane. Yes, this is the beginning of my dream world tour?

AFTER landing, they couldn't register my passport and visa at the passport control...so I spent another hour in "Immigration Detention"...At this point, I wasn't surprised :)

Hey Eveyone!

I decided to create a spot where I can keep everyone updated on my adventures during my little world trip in spring- summer 2007!

Here is the current plan:
May 20-May23 New Zealand
May 23-June6 Australia
June 7-June14 Thailand
June 15-July 17 Germany
June 17-June27 France, Spain, Austria?
June 27-July19 Russia
July19-July24 Czech Republic
July 29 going to North Carolina!!!

Mashaka