06.01.10

And so it begins! We barely slept last night. John spent a good few hours putting wheels on the bag (it was a success!), and I wrapped up a few last things for the blog and preparing for all our flights and so forth. By the time we hit the sack, it was 3am. John was so excited that he couldnt fall asleep. He spent some time on the internet, and then laid in bed like a little kid on the night before Christmas. It was cutebut Im sure we didnt finally fall asleep till 4am.
We got up bright and early at 6am. We stored away all the luggage left behind and cleaned up the room. Justine even got up to say goodbye. I will admit, I got kind of teary-eyed, but I just ran for the car so no one could see my welting eyes. Its a bitter sweet thing, ya know? Right before we left, John got a call from his family too. They were all together back home for Memorial weekend, so he got to chat with everyone one last time.
We were in the car and ready to go at 7am, but of course we didnt delay on the excitement. I had recalled seeing two different airports in Melbourne and thought to check our boarding pass to verify which one. Turns out the one we needed to go to was an hour away, and Len had never even been there before! Not to mention we are facing peak rush hour battles, and we have to be checked in for our flight no later then 8:30. Traffic was stop and go, and I tried not to freak out about it.
Its really funny because, out here, the teenagers that have their pimped out cars, bumping their stereos, racing at stop lights, and doing burn outsthey call them hoons. Len cant stand them, but this morning he was hooning it up! Switching lanes, going as fast as he possibly could; just so we could get there on timeand we did : ) (Thanks Len!)
This was the second tiniest airport I had ever seen. Only one airline, Jetstar, and was about the size of 2 or 3 gates at a normal airport. It was just a large room really. Check in was super easy, and far more lenient then in the USA. They did, of course, confiscate Johns utility knife, my nail clippers and a pair of small scissors, but they laughed about it! If that were in the states, they would have lectured us and made us feel like terrorists (with good reason though).
We were kind of worried that our carry-on luggage was too big. The stipulation to the cheap airfare we got was that you only had one small carry on bag. Our backpacks are easily twice the length of a small suitcase. Luckily, they gave us no problems, but I have a feeling we wont be so lucky in other situations.
After a short nap and plane ride later, we safely landed in Brisbane! What can I say? This is it! We took a train into the city and walked a bit until we found a star bucks. We grabbed two seats, got some tea, and started making our plan for the day. Where will we sleep tonight?
I was super tired already but it doesnt help that our backpacks are super heavy, and really force us to work muscles that I didnt even know existed! I ended up falling asleep in the chair.
We stayed at starbucks for some time until we found a camp ground just a few seconds out of the city. We took the bus, and got there just before dark. John just finished setting up the tent, and I am sitting outside, writing my blog, underneath the gorgeous Brisbane stars. Oh, and not to mention all the bats squeaking at one another. We just got a glimpse of one in the little palm tree by our camp site. It was MASSIVE! The biggest bat I have ever seen! It was so neat to see it crawling through the tree. We scared it by accident, and then it scared us by flaying right over our heads!
The weather here is sooo much more warm and sunny. It will only get hotter from here-on-in the more we move up north too. Its nice because even the nights are warmer and not too chilly.
So there you have it. Our first, official, backpacking night. We will be camping here for two nights, and then will move on. Right now though, I have to go unroll my sleeping bag!