Melbourne, Australia!!

Hello world, I'm in Australia! Right now I am sitting in the hotel restaurant on the 2nd floor, drinking lemon water and looking at the busy street below. I am sitting here wearing shorts, flipflops (yes its january 27th and I am wearing flipflops) and I am waiting for my "Chicken Skewers in Peanut sauce over steamed ice with a mixed leaf salad". The street looks very busy with people running about, and everyone looks like a tourist haha. Oh, my food is here now. WOW, that IS peanutty, AND those leaves really ARE mixed! Damn that tastes good! Ok, so to fill you in on "how the trip was"-Left vancouver @ 5pm Wed (jan 25th)- Arrived in LA @ 7:40pm, proceeded direrctly to the new gate.- Saw a woman running around looking lost and frantic, and this other woman came up to her and said "excuse me, was that Ludacris that you were with earlier?". she replied with a "yes". Now I can see why she was frantic. If you were
'rolling' with one of the most famous rappers around and you LOST him? ya, panic. - Got through customs and had 3 hours to kill so I thought I would sit down and have a pint of the good stuff :)- the guy that I sat next to was Nathan. Nathan from Halifax, and going to
Melbourne on the same plane as I am to meet friends. Nathan has been sitting here
6 or 7 hours. Nathan is drunk. Nathan insisted on buying his new friend Michael
drinks.
Michael is drunk.
- Finally it was time to go to the gate, and after a few short....rather LONG minutes we were on the plane. - I sat between 2 guys, one of which looked like a criminal, and the other I found out later LOVES to cuddle strangers while he sleeps..- Many movie choices up in the plane, but I ended up switching between "wallace and grommit" and "the exorcism of emily rose" endlessly playing for about 6 of the 14 hours aboard the plane. The rest of the time consisted of eating,
sleeping, and "wow this guy likes to cuddle".
- Finally arrived in Melbourne @ 935am Friday, went through MORE customs (in 35C
heat by the way). No sign of Nathan. Nathan is probably still sleeping on the
plane. Poor Nathan.
(I have to pause the story for a second...a cop HERSE just drove by...is that what police cars look like here?..anyways, on with the story) Finally got my Luggage and this next part made me smile: There actually was a man waiting there for me, Holding up a sign with my name on it...well kinda. The sign seriously said "Mitchell Wachenann". We stared in silence at each other for a while, then I showed him my passport.
his reply: "Close enough...ok we're off then"and away we went.
This guy (already forget his name) was like a walking encyclopedia!!! Every block we drove past had a story! About 15 minutes later we arrived at the "Mecure Welcome Hotel". I said goodbye
to him and went to my room (816...great view...of a back alley). Took a few pictures of the amazing view and hopped online to email the family telling them I am alive and well. - Had a shower, shaved, called front desk to see what is included in my room (the cruise line paid for the room, had to see what else they paid for!). Turns out I have a $20 credit for lunch and a $30 credit for supper, which is why I am here...its lunch time (actually its almost bedtime now....I wrote this all during the day but only now am I typing it into my computer heehee). Now its back to the room, drop off the journal, grab the camera, and wander around aimlessly through the streets of Melbourne taking pictures. After that,back to the room to nap.