We started in St. Louis at about 11:00am on Wednesday and 30+ hours of waiting and flying later we landed in Sydney. We spent half a day in Sydney and then caught one more flight into our host district in Gold Coast. We flew on JetStar airlines which was a very nice, clean, and new seeming plane. It was an Airbus 300 I think.
It was the best flight so far because it was the shortest we have taken. The descent into Gold Coast had my ears hurting and slightly deafening. In addition to that, I felt a little under the weather today...I think its a cold...but after a regimen of Nyquil and Zicam I feel a little better. But I've lost my voice. It's down to a whisper and kind of squeaky. We have our first presentation to give on Tuesday night. I don't think I've ever lost my voice for more than a day so hopefully all of this tea I've been drinking will help.
We ventured to a Woolworth's today nearby our hotel. Woolworths is a grocery store. We're staying at this resort hotel for one day and our view is incredible. Even though there was some heavy rain to dampen the ground, it did nothing to dampen our spirits. These people have been so nice to us. We were welcomed at the airport, transported and dropped off at this luxury resort for a day to decompress and then treated to Thai food for dinner. Charles (his last name escapes me) said it was his favorite restaurant. And I've only been in the country for two days...but I agree with him. The lemongrass stir-fry with mixed seafood was spicy and delicious. We also sampled some Australian wine while visiting with these fantastic people. Again, my voice was faltering and it was noisy so I'm sure my voice strained more than it should.
Tomorrow at 7am we're going for a walk in the morning and then at 10am our host families pick us up and spend the whole day apart from our teammates for the first time. We will spend the whole day with them and meet back up at Charles' (and wife Wendy's) house for a welcome BBQ. Charles has promised he has quite the garden. It sounds like it's both edible and ornamental landscaping so I can't wait to see this thing.
I hope my readers aren't as confused with my writings as I feel that I am. I have a hand-written journal, a typed journal and this blog to which I contribute my thoughts. I think I'm repeating myself sometimes, but I'm the only one who knows it. Then again I DID do a lot of repeating tonight because of my non existent voice. These Aussies don't know what I actually sound like. I realize I should probably save my voice, but the conversations, the sights, and my curiosity keep my lips moving. Thankfully this blog doesn't require audio.
Good night all. Nick
I hope you are feeling better!
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