its been raining here all week and as shitty as that is, its not really cold or anything and my mother had the good sense to stuff a poncho in my bag so im pretty set.  except that my pants dyed my bag black and im afraid to take them off for fear of what my own legs look like.

spent the day perusing museums and just strolling through my last day here in sydney.  it was glorious.  i havent done something like that i think since i was in europe with D.  and i sort of loved the irreverent take on history that aussie curators take.  its like they dont take themselves too seriously and use words like 'poo' in their exhibit descriptions and depict graphic animal deaths.  and they actually encourage people to interact with the stuffed animals and they dont shield their children from visions of death. 

its fabulous.  i laughed my ass off.

so tomorrow morning im headed to melbourne.  ive decided to spend the extra $30 and go for comfort and speed rather than thrift.  sue me.  itll be 11 hours or so of drinking wine with strangers and reading and i want to be able to relax... whatev.

then its going to be all wine tasting for days and probably the great ocean road trek for a few more.  http://www.visitvictoria.com/Regions/Great-Ocean-Road/Activities-and-attractions/Outdoor-activities/Walking-and-hiking.aspx


be safe, be well.
taryn

good evening followers and friends.

yesterday was the kind of day where you just dont want to get out of bed... so i just moseyed around the hostel and didnt do much of anything.  the previous night was a loong one that ended with me, and irishman, and a german falling asleep while drinking milk in the hallway at 4am.  amazeballs.

today i went and got myself pleasantly lost on the way to the koala sanctuary where i saw tons of animals and got to pet a bunch of kangaroos!  they kinda remind me of deer in a bad way that involves lots of flies and a slight bit of mange.  still freakin cute though.  i also chanced upon a talking cockatoo (germans call them cockadoos) and was surprised at myself for being surprised with its aussie accent.  i laughed my ass off and got a vid of it that ill show you later.

its a little different travelling on my own than i thought.  i have to make all the decisions and its a little difficult to engage other people in trying to help me weed out the options.  for example, i would love to go to melbourne on wednesday or thursday, but i cant decide how to get there.  i could take a bus, train, rent or buy a car, or even fly.  i ruled out flying because i want to actually see the countryside, and then driving was out too because just crossing the street is a challenge for me.  

and then theres the question of finding another hostel.  its not that i dont like where i am, its just that these people arent really backpackers; more like long-term hostel residents.  this means that im not meeting people with whom i can travel on the road, which is more along the lines of what i wanted.  

ahh whitegirlproblems...

tomorrow im headed to the movies and a picnic in the park with a german woman from the hostel, then perhaps ill actually make some more decisions.

love you dearly.

taryn

good afternoon!  what a glorious day it is to be hungover!  i sit again in the back of the turkish restaurant that is blazing hot and i think im sweating booze.  my voice sounds like ass and i have that morning allergic reaction that makes you sound like youre dying.  im also sunburned and covered head to toe in insect bites that i seem to have acquired in a matter of minutes.  amazeballs.

yesterday was truly amazing.  i spent the day doing touristy things and walked around the town for literally 6.5 hours.  after about 3 hours i saw this man with an FCS backpack and i thought hey!  this guy must be american because FCS is an american company right?  wrong.  he was german and i thoroughly embarrassed myself trying to explain why i was touching his backpack. 

he forgave me the awkwardness and we proceeded to spend the next 8 hours together walking around town, napping in the royal botanical gardens, and generally laughing our asses off.  his command of english was nearly perfect and since my understanding of german is nil, it worked out fairly well.  we parted ways in the evening because he had to catch a bus down south to be a surfing instructor (i informed him that he was what we like to call in america "living the dream").

later on in the evening i went out with this english dude who want to show me around because he's been here for 'for-deen monfs'.  we started at this bar that reminded me of newport intensely.  i felt right at home being underdressed in a sea of beautiful people. 

i wont bore you with the details of my wild barhopping night, but it is sufficient to say that i ran out of the business cards i brought for the night, i woke up with a number of friend requests and a mysterious email from someone who knows im going to the beach today and wants to join.  i might also have played 'i have never' with some irish men.

i would also like to say that i love a country where you can drink outside on the street... which is what i did for most of the night.  it was wonderful and i felt dangerous.  haha. i also learned that i am shitty with names.  like really shitty.  this is turning out to be a major problem.

love you.
taryn

also, is it normal to still feel like youre on the plane hours later?  good lord i must be more dehydrated than i thought.

also, will i get arrested for having a knife?  not that i do or anything...

hello my lovelies! 

today i arrived in sydney, australia.  it was 18 hours of madness and hurry-up-to-wait-in-line, but i finally made it. 

i had been numb until i finally got on the plane and was super excited until the guy next to me turns and says, "have you heard the news?"  my heart sank.  i spent 9 hours on a cramped plane sitting next to a mormon proselytizer.  that definiety threw a wrench in my xanax/beer plan for the flight.  now i have no problem with most religions, but i just dont like to have it shoved down my throat.  so some pamphlets, theoretical bantering that was blissfully muffled by the engines, and 9 hours later, i arrived in fiji. 

the religion-choking aside, those guys were pretty cool.  they had just come back from their 2-year mission and had not seen their families the whole time.  we chatted about their culture and what it was like to move to another country when they had never before even left their island of fiji.  although now i am a bit more informed about the mormon version of history...

so rush rush only to wait out a 4-hour layover and awake to be surrounded by piles of screaming children.  anyone who knows me knows that this is not my ideal situation.  the flight was fairly quick and only included being searched 3 times.  im convinced its because i made a joke back in LAX at the ticket counter about being a felon.

so like i said, i am here in sydney.  i got a phone but apparently you cant call me, i can only call you so watch out for a 615 number.  sorry about that.  then i hopped on a train and then into a cab during rush hour only to find out that my hostel is closed til 4.  truth be told, im not sorry about that.  i spent the last 2 hours reading, drinking beer, and eating a full meal for the first time in 24 hours in an empty pub.  life is good.

and may i say, bree, that the hand sanitizer you gave me just came in handy because i had to use the bathroom in the back of this turkish restaurant where im using the internet.  no TP or paper towels.  boo.  resourceful serb that i am though, i saved the airplane napkins.  booyah!

massive anxiety attack aside (mostly due to dehydration and the bathroom situation) i am happy to be here.  ill be even happier to get more than 90 minutes consecutive sleep as well tonight. 

Taryn

It's getting down to the wire and all I can say is that its 3:30pm and the chardonnay has just been opened.  I mean, you can't blame me!  I've been up since 6am, worked out twice, moved boxes, and cleaned my apartment.  My fantastic mother has also planned a "dinner" (Taryn, it's not a party.  I know you don't like parties about you.) for 18 people.  Yes, 18.  And no, apparently it's not a party. 

So things are almost all together.  Most of my things are in storage or my old bedroom in my parents' house.  Emails have been sent, bills paid off, goodbyes said... it feels like I am going to be gone for a year instead of just 3 months. 

I am thinking about where I am going to stay in Sydney, and if any of you have any ideas for hostels, lemme know!  Also am compiling a list of must-sees so make mention of that too, if you please.

TF

4 days! 

I am freaking out so much that I am sitting back in the wonderful Wine Lab even though I am officially on sabbatical.  It's like a comfort food.  I love it here and these people.

So I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Paso, SLO, Morro Bay and Santa Cruz.  It was madness but since I am going to be gone for the holidays I thought I would drop by and say HI.  A little more comfort people, you could say.

Hm.  That's all for now.  I'm off to half-price sushi with Breezle.  It's not as gross as it sounds...

TF