first follower :)

Just a little shoutout to Brianna for being my first follower :) Love you B!

2 weeks!?!?!

I leave in two weeks..... and still have SO much to do! Ahhhhhhhhhh. But I'm getting even more excited!!!!! I'm trying to decide how my itinerary will work out and what things I'll be able to do, but then I realized that I need to decide what I'm bringing with me (thanks Katie!). So I figured I'd turn to the internet since I could surely find a packing list that would fit the bill. I definitely found a lot of packing lists, but some of them had interesting items.

Like this one. At the bottom it lists 'jumpers' as an item to pack and says ' Definitely take one or two.' YES. definitely take one or two jumpers..... riiiigggghhhhtttt. So maybe I'll be making my own packing list... taking ideas from all the lists I've found.

Or maybe I'll just take two jumpers and call it a day.....

It's finally official!

I did it... I officially booked my trip!!! There's no backing out now :) I'm going through a company called Oz Experience (www.ozexperience.com). They're a backpacker tour company and it's a hop on hop off bus from Sydney to Cairns. I have 21 days to use my pass (Perfect, since I won't be there for much longer!). With it I get a free day trip to Hunter Valley (http://www.winecountry.com.au/)- complete with wine tasting tour and a stop at Kuringai-Chase National Park. I'll only have a short time in Sydney, since I can't leave the US any earlier, but that just means I'll have to make the most of it! I'll also be spending the night at a cattle ranch (where I'll learn how to lasso a goat... love it!) and a surf camp. Add in an afternoon stop to play barefoot Aussie lawn bowling- some random Aussie activity- and a trip to the crocodile farm, and it'll be a pretty authentic Australian experience.

I'll be planning my itinerary here pretty soon and will be booking all my buses way ahead of time. Sometimes they get so busy that you'll get stuck for a few days if you haven't booked ahead- since I have limited time that's not really something I'm okay with, although getting stranded on a beach isn't too bad either :)

Off to Australia!

I've randomly decided to take a 3 1/2 week trip to the land down under. I'm heading there solo- but not without much help from planner extraordinare Katie (who not only is an excellent bachelorette party planner and inspirational speaker, but happens to be a fabulous travel agent too!). I owe her big time for the countless hours I've made her go over the travel options with me.

I don't really have firm plans right now, other than that I'll be leaving the US on July 7th and heading to Sydney. On the way over, you lose a day because they're 18 hours ahead, so I actually won't be in Australia until July 9th. Which means I'll never have a Wednesday that week. But on the way back August 4th will be a 48hr day... weird, huh?

Over the 26 days that I'm there, I'll be heading from Sydney to Cairns (pronounced Canns.... I didn't know either). And I'll be stopping off in Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Brisbane, Noosa, Rainbow Beach, Fraser Island, Airlie Beach, The Whitsunday Islands, The town of 1770, Magnetic Island, Mission Beach, Cairns, Cape Tribulation, and Daintree.

I can't even begin to explain how excited I am!!!! It started out as me going on a Contiki tour (they do the planning, you just show up) and has become a full-blown backpacking adventure!! I'll be using this blog to update you on my adventures in Oz and post the millions of pictures I'll be taking! (I'm buying a memory card that can hold 32,000 pictures... no joke!)