Great White Shark Dive-Day 1

Okay, it's official.  My life is so awesome I'm jealous of myself.  Seriously!  The past 4 days have been like a dream and I'm still not truly convinced it happened.  In short: I met amazing friends, came face to face with a 4 meter great white shark, witnessed a bronze whaler feeding frenzy, got deliciously sunburned, swam with Australian fur seals at sunset, got adopted for the day by a friend's family, went to the breathtakingly gorgeous Coffin Bay, climbed a giant sand dune, and to top it all off, I randomly met Rodney Fox.  Rodney freaking Fox!  I have never been so in love with life.  I wish I could put these past few days in a bottle and keep them forever.  There is SO MUCH to talk about so I will break it into days.

Day 1-I arrived in Port Lincoln at 2PM, 5 hours before check-in.  I took a $40 cab ride to the Marina Hotel which is where all of us on the Rodney Fox Shark Expedition were supposed to meet.  Because I was so early, I was going to check my bags at the hotel and explore the town a bit.  Another guy on the shark tour got in at the same time so we introduced ourselves and had some drinks at the hotel bar and sat on the patio overlooking the marina.  His name is Ben and he's an Australian teaching English in Colombia.  There is a 12 person maximum on the boat, so it's crazy that I met someone else doing the same thing as me!  We got on really well and took a walk to a beach then went back to the hotel for happy hour.  As we were finishing our first drink we saw a seal right at the boat ramp so we ran over to see it.

He was so close people were touching it and feeding it fish.  He was so cute and playful!

We went back to the hotel and met up with some of the other people doing the shark dive with us.  There was a Canadian family, a father and son from Russia, two guys from Germany, and then us solo divers: Ben, Matt from Texas and John from Australia.  It was a really eclectic bunch but it couldn't have been better!  We got picked up by Andrew Fox, Rodney's son, and we went to the boat to drop our bags off before dinner.  We were met on board by Jennifer and Ian who are the most delightful people to be around.  As I was stepping off the boat, I missed the deck and was hanging off the railing and Andrew had to rescue me.  It was extremely embarassing and hilarious.  We had dinner and got to know each other and got back to the boat around 10.  Andrew gave us a quick briefing about the days to come then it was off to bed!

My Australian Odyssey! 1/2

I'm killing time before my Port Lincoln flight.  I got a Coke Icee and now I'm sitting at the beach.  I had a rough night last night.  My ear is clogged and was throbbing when I went to bed.  I had to take 3 pain pills.  It doesn't hurt now but it's still clogged.  I am proud of myself for not freaking out last night.  I was worried it was infected and would impact the shark dive but I went to bed and told myself I'd deal with it in the morning.  I went to the pharmacy and got ear drops, ear plugs for the water and these plugs to wear on the plane to deal with pressure changes.  The pharmacist said my ear is probably not infected because it didn't hurt when I pulled on it but said to give it a few days.  I was worried about seeing a doctor because I don't have travel insurance but he said it would only be $30-40.  I feel much better knowing that.

I really can't believe I'm flying out to swim with sharks today.  It doesn't seem real.  And while I'm extremely excited, the emotion I'm feeling most is sadness.  I never though I would do this without Dad.  He should be here too.  I'm glad I'm doing it alone instead of with a friend because it wouldn't seem right to do it with anyone but Dad.

My Australian Odyssey! 1/1

I still can't believe I'm swimming with great whites this weekend.  I'll be boarding the boat tomorrow.  Right now I'm at the gate waiting for hours to board the plane to Adelaide.  I feel bad for whoever sits next to me.  I have a nasty sinus infection that will never go away and I haven't showered in 2 days (tmi?)  I am disgusting!  I can't wait to get to my  hotel and shower!  And change clothes for that matter.

.....

Adelaide is a lovely little city situated on the coast in South Australia.  After getting to my hostel, I went across the street and picked up Subway then walked 2 blocks to the beach and ate on a park bench.  It was windy as hell so it wasn't the most pleasant evening at the beach but I reminded myself that getting blasted by sand on an Australian beach is still much better than getting blasted by Arctic temperatures 24/7 in Korea. After eating, I took off my shoes and walked in the surf until the sun set.  A few times I felt a little freaked out because the beach was so much like home.  Everything looked the same-the sand, the water, the sunset, the fishing pier.  It was a very comforting feeling.  And I realized how much I miss the beach.

After dark, I set out on a fruitless search for a store selling alarm clocks.  My Korean phone is all out of sorts.  It says it's January 6, 1980 and the time is all wrong and I really need an alarm.  I had to guess the time and set the alarm for 7:45 PM when I'm hoping to wake up at 9:30 AM.  So we'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

My Australian Odyssey! 12/28-1/1

I actually wrote quite the trip diary down in Australia and I'll re-type it all here for all of you fine folks at home.  I will break it up by day so here's my first entry from 1/1/10:

Before I left for Australia I said I was going to write everyday.  Of course I haven't but I'm determined to start off 2010 on the right foot.  I'm sitting in a beautiful country home in Buladelah, Australia (pop just a little over 1,000) listening to frogs, crickets and cicadas.  It's the closest I've been to nature in a long while.  The air is humid and still and the grass is still damp from the afternoon rain (my muddy sandals can attest to that!).  It's so peaceful-a far cry from spending New Year's Eve in Sydney but exactly what I needed.

I've never met an Australian I didn't like and that holds true here as well.  Everyone is so friendly and laid back.  I spent the day with Jen's friends and her friend's parents and it was wonderful.  We did nothing but eat and drink and gab.  It was so fun to spend so much time with a new family.  After being in Korea for so long, I've realized how much I miss families.  It's felt so good to feel like I belong again.  I haven't stopped smiling since the plane landed.  Tonight I was sitting and listening and soaking it all in.  I can be in a situation where I can understand the conversations, have a conversation without using small basic words and I don't struggle to understand what people are saying (unless they're using Auslish!) 

And the food.  OMG the food!  Every meal is so amazing and it's funny because if I was back in the US it wouldn't be exciting at all.  But after 4 months in Korea it's like gourmet food.  I've had roast chicken and potatoes, a bunch of tacos, sausages and steak and onions.  I'm in heaven.  I love bulgogi but it doesn't compare to El Paso taco shells and beef!

It's also amazingly green here.  I couldn't stop gasping the first day just seeing green grass and trees.  Winter is tough in Korea, but for a Florida girl, it's probably tough anywhere.

Also-animals!  Australia has loads of them.  I get woken up at dawn everyday by the assortment of cockatoos and kookaburras in the yard.  It's rare to hear birds in Korea and if you're woken up at dawn it's probably from a truck coming down your street advertising something with a megaphone.

We went to Featherdale Wildlife Park on Tuesday and I got to pet kangaroos, koalas and emus and yesterday we went on a bushwalk in Katoomba Nat'l Park.  The trees in the bush smell amazing and fresh and the air is clean.

I'm flying down to Adelaide tomorrow and then onto Port Lincoln on the 2nd.  I'm hoping to explore both cities a bit in between my shark dive.  I'm really excited to see the Australian ocean!