G'Day!

I’m in Australia! I made it here with no trouble at all—even an hour-delay on the ground at LAX couldn’t damper my mood as I was so excited about this trip. One in flight, I heeded Bec’s advice and skipped the meal, choosing to pop an ambien (thanks, sissy!) instead and zonked out for a good five hours. After that, I watched Breach and a most of Blades of Glory, and cat napped a bit. A very quick 14 hours. The slowest part of the trip was getting thru customs in Brisbane—about an hour total.

Once I cleared customs, I walked out to find a friendly man holding a sign reading “Sarah Wasner.” Assuming that meant me, I introduced myself, and we headed out to the car. The trip into the Gold Coast took a good hour, but my nice driver kept me awake with some good stories about the country and the area.

My hotel—the Sheraton Mirage—is pretty lux, with a lovely pool and a great view of the beach (took these pics this morning). It’s very much like Waikiki here—lots of high rises (offering “holiday letting”) set against a beautiful coastline. I’m only 2K away from “Surfer’s Paradise”, so needless to say there are plenty people riding the waves here.

So far, I’ve gone on a great run on a path that curves around the coastline (saw a snake and a lizard!), walked about 4 miles roundtrip to a mall—where I bought a few essentials, like an AC converter and some fruit and snacks—and navigated a few communication glitches (figuring out how to make a call with some low-budget card I bought) and getting online. Now, I’m going to drag my tired bones to the beach and probably zonk out!

It’s Father’s Day as well as the 2^nd day of spring here, so there are plenty of people BBQ’ing and hanging out at the awesome playgrounds by the water. The temps is a sunny, comfy 75. Just perfect.

I could go on and on, but my time is limited, so I’ll just say that I’m happy to be here!

And happy Birthday to Ula Beck! We'll celebrate next week!