Facing my fear

                       

Melbourne Aquarium was worth every penny. What a range of life they have living inside those walls. I have officially been in the same room as a shark, challenging my phobias head on. Watching sharks from arms length as they speed past us, and over head. First, a 33 hour flight, and now an afternoon with some of Australia's coolest sharks and sea life. We start off the tour in Antarctica. Able to view the feeding of Emperor and King Penguins.

Cute eh?

There were all kinds of weird and beautiful sights.

Just breath taking.
But what comes next was a challenge for me...

I didn't do too bad, I may have jumped into some people, screamed out loud, and demanded emotional support from Chantal, but at least I didn't cry or piss myself. I don't look THAT scared...

Managed to snap a photo of my first shark encounter.

Thanks for the support, Chan.

Cute little tank, it was amazing to me how many sharks there were in just one.

The final hurrah, I cannot believe I ended the tour with a video like this, the fact that I was able to film in one place without jumping around like a maniac makes me feel like I can do anything. Now what's the next for overcoming my phobia? Port Lincoln? Cage diving with Whites? Eating shark? We'll see.

Anyways, I survived.

We've met some amazing people here in Melbourne, all of them travellers like ourselves. These are some of our mates we've met along the way, and have been sharing our experiences with.

Our fellow Canadians, and roomates, the Winnipeg & Vancouver boys.

Kyle, Joel, Kalen, and Sam.

Good Blokes.

My fellow Newfies.

Alex & Jon.

Our lady from Israel, Natalie.

And the Brits, Jaime & Sam.

Still haven't gotten around to trying Vegemite yet.

Also, Kraft makes Vegemite!

We stay in Melbourne over the weekend for the AFL finals. Our hostel is hosting the game live. For our Next journey, we have rented a camper van for 5 days to drive the Great Ocean Road, into Adelaide. With a quick stop in Portland on the way over, to see a mate, and then off to Alice Springs for a 6 day, 5 night tour. Then we settle down in the middle of the desert, or "the bush" for a couple of months of work. Most likely on a cattle farm.

We'll see ya later Melbourne. Very soon.

I love Melbourne

I love this city, it is full of life, and culture. I feel like I have found paradise. Which is a little premature to say, seeing as I have yet to see the rest of the country.

Today Chan and I hopped on the tram and went into the city with some mates we met in the hostel we're staying. We decided to visit the skydeck which overlooks Melbourne. We also visited the Queens Victoria market, which was amazing. Full of great food and things to buy for cheap.

Other than that we have just been doing a lot of wandering around the city, napping on the beach, and meeting people. The beach next to our hostel is just gorgeous, and there are penguins there! It's been a lot of fun, I think I can really get used to this travelling thing.

Unfortunately this is the best picture I could get of the penguins, there is no flash photography aloud during this time. Just because they are feeding and the white light will blind them. It makes them unable to catch fish. They were so cute though, and they make a sound like an angry man gargling water.

Yes, that's right, you can drink in public here.

Settling In

We have arrived safely in Melbourne, but not without incident... The flight to New Jersey was supposed to be a quick 2.5 hours, it turned into a 4.5 hour death flight and we couldn't land because of terrible weather and to top it off the piolet had the curtosy to let everyone know that we were running out of fuel so we had to land in a place called Allanstown. I'm not sure where that is, but, we didn't stay there long before air traffic control sent us back up into the death trap. We headed back to Newark, and then as we were about to land on the landing strip, had to ascend immediatley in order to avoid a wind tunnel. At this point I'm thinking "There is no way we are getting to Australia." But out loud I was helping to talk Chantal down from a crazy panick attack, which is amazing, because I didn't even believe a word that I was reassuring her with. Regardless, we landed, and after some vomiting we came to realize we missed our flight to L.A. Great. They got us on the next flight right away, we believe this is where CHantals luggage may have gotten lost... that's right. Half of our gear is somewhere between here and Nova Scotia, along with all of Chan's personal belongings, and everything she owns in this world. The rest of our journey was great, I have probably (maybe) gotten rid of a lot of my anxiety about flying, just for the sheer fact that I feel like I may have cheated death. We had a small 2 hour delay in L.A., there were some mechanics working on the wing of the plane. Better safe, right? The 18 hour flight across the Pacific was amazing, we sat next to a cheerful Aussie that we had a good laugh with, and we got to know him quite well, when we were not sleeping. He owns a guitar shop in South Sydney and offered us a Ukulele when we arrive, so We traded information, so on our travels we will hopefully see him and meet his wife! 

Currently we are staying in a hostel call St Kilda Beach House. We got a taxi here, which was a steep A$55, but Australia is a lot more expensive than I had anticipated, I had been warned... but I guess I had to see for myself. It is beautiful here, we have already met quite a few people last night, as our bar seems to be the most happening place in the area. My jet lag is mad though, I fell asleep at 10:00 last night and woke up at 4:30 this morning... I just have to get out and maybe go for a swim. It's a little chilly here in the morning, the water is definitely colder than I thought it was going to be... 

The receptionist tells us that at dawn there are some penguins that march across the beach that is right around the corner, so if we are lucky enough to catch that, I will post a picture. Chantal and I are going to spend the day exploring, and hopefully buying flipflops, razors, and underwear, seeing as how the airport still has had no sign of her bag. Good thing she has luggage insurance, tip for travelling BUY LUGGAGE INSURANCE!

The beginning

My bags are packed, all the paperwork has been done, A LOT of money has been spent, and Chantal and I almost lost our minds waiting for today. 

I will be boarding the plane in about 30 minutes, I fly out of Nova Scotia, 1.5 hrs to New Jersey, 6.5 hrs to California, then 18.5 hrs to Melbourne, with a small stop in Sydney. I will not see the 19th of September, skipping that day all together. Not sure where I will be in space and time, but this year will only have 364 days for us. We get reimbursed of course, on the way back we get an extra day giving us 366 days in 2013. Arriving in L.A before we left Australia. :S  

I'm nervous, scared, excited and 100% ready. Lets do this.