Although many of you naysayers might have thought the possibilities of me blogging would be slim to none, let me assure you that you are mistaken!! Although it might have taken me some time to tend to my much needed blog... don't worry, I wasn't going to simply tease you with my amazing opening paragraph. I think I had forgotten how long the trip actually was to Australia and might have reconsidered the 4 hour layover in Fiji which seemed like a good idea at the time. I spent the weekend before my departure in San Diego and was able to visit Beth. Beth took me to some great pubs right on the beach. While there, we hustled many a young man at pool. I don't want to toot my own horn here, but wow were we good.

I then went to Tecate, Mexico for two nights to stay at the health spa where Ashley has been interning. It was great to meet her friends and see what she has been doing the past few months. She even treated me to a nice spa treatment. The steam room was my favorite. Talk about some bonding time with lots of old women. We were escorted to San Diego by one of Ashley's friends named Joe who was about the driest person I have ever met, but absolutely hilarious. His car was tiny, so when he saw the amount of luggage we were bringing with us, I think his eyes almost popped out of his head. He said, "Well, I was going to ask if you both got everything, but apparently you did". From San Diego, we took a 3 hour train to Los Angeles and met a fellow Australian on the trip. Ashley and I have met the most random people while here... I realize this comes as no surprise to any of you. From there we had to take a bus ride to the airport (a small little detail we didn't realize was a part of our trip itinerary). You should have seen everyones faces when they saw us dragging our luggage from the train to the bus. In fact, this man felt so badly for us, he let Ashley and I ride on this golf cart with him to the bus. Once we got to the Los Angeles airport, we had about 4 hours to eat and settle in before our flight took off. Our flight from LA to Fiji took about 10 hours, and it was definitely not the most comfortable flight I have ever had. However, Ashley and I met some great new friends on the plane from Fiji.. so friendly!! I think Ashley and I both got about 3 hours of sleep on that flight. Once in Fiji, we spent 4 hours surrounded by drunk Australians waiting for their plane... it was 7 am at this point. One thing Ashley and I are learning very quickly is that you don't have to give an Australian a reason to drink. We then took a lovely 4 hour flight to Sydney and arrived extremely weary.

It has now been 10 days since Ashley and I have arrived in Sydney and we are comfortably adjusted to the time difference now. Thanks to these wonderful supplements called "No Jet Lag," we are back on top! We are temporarily staying with a really nice family who are good friends of Michael's. They have been so accomodating to us and live in such a beautiful home right in the harbor on one of Sydney's Northern beaches. This area is about 40 minutes from the city, but is the nicer area of Sydney. We have enjoyed working out, swimming, surfing, and sea kayaking while here. The people of Australia need to watch out because Ashley and I are joining a beach volleyball tournament on a beach called Manly. I'm not sure if any of you have actually seen me play volleyball, but I might be the worst volleyball player out there. I remember I was one of the only ones that got a "B" in Volleyball in highschool P.E.

Anyway, from here Ashley and I are going to stay with my friend Libby who is also on the outskirts of Sydney. It is our plan to rent a car and start traveling down the coast. We are in an area that has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Some of the views are absolutely breathtaking. It is so cool how the cliffs here just bleed right into the ocean. We don't really know exactly where we will be for Christmas or New Years, but will figure it out when the time comes. This might be hard for all of you to believe, but I prefer to just wing it. Planning those things out just takes too much time :) Ashley and I have taken some pictures, so I am going to post those in my next blog. Stay tuned....