Wednesday 16 February 2011

Day 6: Dandenong and planning

Well, half of Day 5 and half of Day 6. It's a bit manic around here, with people going back and forth to the hospital, and me making plans and breaking plans. We're making do though.

Was feeling pretty rough yesterday, all the changes at once, from normality, from the time zones, from the cold to the heat, it all caught up with me. Feeling better today though, had a cup of coffee this morning, a little slice of normality, which really calmed me down.

That's my first bit of advice to anyone who decides to travel in the future. Think of something that reminds you of normality and stick to it, it's really helpful when you're feeling a bit nervous and emotional.


Went to Dandenong yesterday, local town. It's smaller than Swindon, but bigger than Bassett. Pretty dull to be honest with you. I wandered around the shops for a bit, not buying anything due to money restrictions of course! Didn't feel up to food, I think it's the heat... who knows.


Debated going to see a movie, but I missed the starting times by 20 minutes, which was a shame. Probably a good thing though, saved me close to $20. Eventually I went to the local library and read Dune for a couple of hours.

This morning I woke up at 4 AM, probably because I went to bed at about 7... I'll feel that in about 6 hours >.< Not a smooth move.

Contacted my parents friend Helen, and am going there for lunch and crashing on her couch on Saturday to Sunday. Then on Sunday evening I'll be staying in Melbourne Central in a hostel before finally catching a Greyhound Bus early Monday morning up to Canberra to meet Mike and family.

The numbers Clare gave me for Mike don't work... either I'm not dialing the right code or something or she gave me dud numbers. Either way, I can't book things until I hear back from them that Monday is a good day to arrive... fingers crossed.

Cancelling the hostel I had booked for next week is a pain, I lose my deposit. On the bright side, it's only about 20 pounds, so no biggie. Hopefully I can find a job up north!

Second piece of advice for anyone going travelling, find something new to do! I was stuck wandering around a rather dull town yesterday, something I can do at home. I'm going into Melbourne tomorrow for the day to see the sights, something I can't do. If it's not working for ya, move on!

Heavens opened last night and this morning... instant flash floods. I've never seen rain like it, rain so heavy that you can't see more than 5 feet out the window. Already I've seen new things that I wouldn't see back home.

I'm really glad I've come.

Finally for now, I've set up my phone to auto upload all my pictures to a Picasa web album. I need to find a computer every now and again to caption them, but feel free to check it out:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Sedrander/AndySMusings?authkey=Gv1sRgCNOvs8Lr9aqCvgE&feat=directlink

Hope everyone is well,

Andy

No comments:

Post a Comment