*BLUE*

Wow. I’m soooo excited!

I’ve just got to my hostel in Vancouver… four hours late I should add because my flight was so delayed!! Terrible. I’ve spent the whole day travelling. I was up at 6am packing and arrived about 4pm!

As the plane flew into Vancouver you could see all these mountains and they just kept rolling along! It was so amazing They’ve ALL got snow on top of them hey. Its really weird I didn’t expect that at all… I thought the mountains were like ages away!! It’s crazy…

Last night I chilled out at the hostel and listened to some live music. It was pretty chilled and nice after four hard days walking!

I got my Canadian working permit super duper easy! yayness! Tomorrow i have to go get a SIN and open bank accounts and all that jazzamaroo!
I sort of wish I’d had a few more days in San Fran but I guess I’m going back through there

xoxo

Why hello there!

Today is my last day in San Fran Well, actually it’s my last morning now !!! I have to be on a shuttle at 7:45am and I haven’t even packed - uh oh! Nevermind

It was so grey today. I’ve been wearing my funky kathmandu to keep me warm ! Its quite cosy

The party (the ‘renegade’ one) happened but i didnt. I feel asleep in what they call the ‘ballroom’ about 3am and woke up about 3:40am and the dudes I was going with had gone to bed ’cause they didn’t seem me asleep! So annoyed!!!!!!!!!!

But I got up this morning and to the bridge I went. Now, i was spectacle about the amazingness of the said bridge (golden gate for those who wonder) and I’ll be honest here - it’s really not that good. It’s just a damn bridge. AND i felt sick when i looked down and got dizzy when I looked up. Its WAY too high. It was quite horrible ! I even saw the ‘cables’ wobble which I didn’t expect.

Also, I walked alll the way to this fort right beside it becasue apparently (so lonely planet and thousands of other toursity type stuff told me) it was an awesome place to take photos from when standing on the top! So i get there - yay i can take good photos - and the very top level is closed. BA BAWM! As its a fort the other levels don’t look out to the bridge.

And, its not GOLD. its (and I quote) ‘international’ orange.

I walked from one place to another (again) today. I’ll be glad to sit on a plane and do nothing for like 2 hours tomorrow. I walked to the other side of the bridge and realised that I had no clue how to get back on the ferry so I just turned around. hahah. they english dudes I’ve met while I’m here did the same thing but they caught the ferry. and apparently it’s quicker=/ oh well…

Tonight I’ve been trying to upload photos and wanted an early one (whoops). they had two live bands and another guy that sat infront of his mac and a guitar and didn’t do a lot - tho’ he was okay… but yes that was my last night in sssaaaan fraaaaancsico!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They turned back the clocks here last night so I’m now like an hour closer to Perth time! YAY!

OH!! before i forgett. last nigth was halooweeen hahahah all the americans (and saome from the hostel) got dressed up and not in scary stuff just ANYTHING! and went out. I sat at the window with some guys and laughed all night. at 2am the cops went through the streets yelling “okay this is enough, everyone is to go home now!” it was so insane!!! hahah people have had pumpkins by their door and everything!! really weird..

Anyway sleep time for me and such! OH but wait - I took a wallabies photo
today <3 I’ll post it later!!!

xoxo

Well, well, well. I’m sat here wondering how the heck I got sunburnt today. I think it’d be the 6 hours of walking I did.

Amy’s hot tip for the day: Golden Gate Park is MASSIVE.

So today I ventured the furtherest out of tone I’ve gone yet. (And going to go given i leave Monday).

I wanted to go check out the park - and everything inside it. Theres windmills and lakes and playgrounds and all sorts of crazy stuff. On my way i realised that the beach was right near by! So… I ended up at the beach.
So the beach here is like brown. The girls in my dorm (English/German) told me it was so beautiful! Crazy. But it was cool, there was like no shops or anything. Just beach, the road and the park or houses and stuff. There was even surfers and people surfing. I asked one dude if he was really going to go out and he looked at me weird like I didn’t know what surfing was. Little did he know - there was no surf! Crazy man.

So i trekked through the park for hours (didn’t quite think it would take this long) and found the museum in the middle and a bunch of other crap. The park itself is lovely. Its such an oasis too… The bus I caught goes right through the burbs to get there and then in the middle of concrete city theres this massive park. Kinda nice.

So once I finished my wonder… I realised I’d have to go all the way back to where I came from to go my second park to see the Legion Art Gallery! Spewing hey… so I walked more more and then bused and walked up this massive hill - theres a few of those here.
The Gallery was nuts - Rodin’s “Thinker” is there and if you dunno what that is then google it!! ‘Cause ya should! They actually have heaps of Rodin. Van gough was there toooo and more Picasso and Monet!

Yeah. I’m so exhausted. We went out on a ‘pub crawl’ last night. $2 vodkas and beers. The vodkas come with these cute as tiny little straws. But apparently they get you more wasted than a normal straw. Do not as me why. I have no idea. Ask someone who does. People had balloons and i picked one up of this table as we walked by and nobody said anythign. So i had a flower for much of evening! I made a good Canadian friend who said he’d take me out and bout when I’m in Toronto!! Wee and he reckons I’ll get work easy Yay!

It was a good night tho’ made some friends! We were planning to go to hooters!! I was quite excited. But it looks like we’re not! (Damn English are weeeak!). But we’re going to the ‘renegade’ (thats what the girl who knows about it called it) haloween gig tonight. Very excited! Doesnt start till 4am tonight tho’ and they have daylight saving here tonight so we loose an hour! Craaaazy.

So yes, I might sleep before we go out again tonight!!! Not much else to report. i’m uploading to flickr so I figured I’d post.

Farewell World!!!

First things first - this is what I had for breakfast!! I’ve been trying to eat American (hah) so i’ve been having my free bagels with cream cheese in the morning! And yesterday I had a hotdog! Oh, and today I had starbucks! (everyone seems to have starbucks here its nuts - I don’t really rate it…)

Oh my gosh! i’ve just done so much. I was beginning to think that being here by myself would suck! So i just got out there and did stuff and it was just amazingggg!!!!! So here’s what I’ve done!!

Yesterday I went to alcatraz! I took like 100+ photos and theyre all on the photo page (top right hand side). Well, they’re not ALL there but they nearly all are It was so amazing. After playing Tony Hawk (hahaha) I felt like I had alreay been there. The history was just nuts as well. But yeah I spent like 5 hours there. I could’ve gone with these two German girls that are in my dorm but I was afraid they’d be bored and I wouldn’t do what I wanted so I just went by myself! It really was amazing!!!
Last night i was *going* to go on this pub crawl that the hostel organises. but i just crashed at like 5:30pm and slept all night. My sleeping habits are a bit insane at the moment. I’m not sleeping when I should and when people come in to the dorm they’re waking me up ’cause I’m sleeping very lightly (very weirdo for me).

Anyway, seeing as I crashed so early I was lying awake from around 5am. But i forced myself out of bed at 7:30am!! And went for a walk. It was really quite nice. i took some awesome shots of the transamerica pyramid. They’ll be in my photo section in the next few days.

Okay… so then I decided today I’d hit heaps of the art galleries! I’ve been quite looking forward to San Frans Modern Art Museum. So i trekked out to the city and caught a cable car (quite a weird way of moving I think) into the city and walked down there. Once I hit the corner that i thought it was on I just went straight into the museum there and paid. I walked up the stairs, haha, and realised I was in the Museum of African Disporia (sp.). I was like - what the hell!!? Anyway, it was quite interesting and very interactive. I wasn’t there long as it isn’t big. Apparenlty its the first of its kind. I filled out these ladies guest survey - they were really keen for me to do this! And i got a home baked cookie that I called lunch! So we were all happy in the end <3

Afterwards I found the modern art musuem!!! This place was just fantastic! Giarrad (sp) was on display - he did all this amazing textile stuff. So modern and funkY!!! They even had Philips electrical appliances on display - weird, quirky, but cool! Like the blue stufff I would have in my kitchen Apparently its helping to make kitches smooother for the customer!!!

They had heaps of weird stuff in there like that - but I really liked it! Oh and they had heaps of posters from different bands etc. They had a massive radiohead poster - Davey would've loved it!!!!

So i wandered round there for a good couple hours! AND i was so excited. I saw an Andy Warhol painting 'Self Potrait'! OH MY GOODNESS! I nearly wet myself! So bloody cool i tell yOU! And then, I saw Picasso and Matisse and Braque!!!! Oh and Duchamp! Oh my goodness I was so excited!!! Between that and Alcatraz my San Fran experience is complete!!!!

I've been wandering around a lot. The streets here a quite dirty and Chinatown has a smell that reminds me of Sabah. I remember when I first got off the train the steam coming from the sewers and the smelll - pong!!!!

I can see why people say Australia is so beautiful. I mean the streets are just cleaner. But this city is pretty damn cool. I wish i had bulk cash to go shopping with!!! And I'm not dining at any of the lovely places that I walk by!! its quite sad!!!

Tonight I'm going to be social and try and make some friends Its getting a bit lonely and the girls in my dorm leave tomorrow! So i'm going on a pub crawl. I'll try post some pictures of the cable car being pushed up by a truck! Thats right (I forgot) we just stopped. right in the middle of the road and half way up one of the massive steep hills for like 15mins. Then... this big truck comes along (like the snow ploughs) and the dude goes 'move inside while this truck pushes us up' - i thought he was joking!!! SO WRONG!!!!!

Cool flickr uploaded - this is the truck pushing us up!!

Well! Here I am! I made it - yahoo.

Not quite sure what to make of this place! Its quite nice and the people some quite friendly. The plane ride was interesting too…. not very full! But that was cool ’cause there was a spare seat between me and the person next to me. It feels so weird to be having the same day all over again!

i caught the train in from SF airport. It was quite an intersting journey… the houses here are really strange. All like little boxes - exactly the same - and each with a little square window in the exact same spot.

Anyone would think the Americans weren’t creative.

And.. its hot!? Like fully sunny and stuff. I can’t tell you the temp. ’cause it doesnt make anysense to me - weird people.

Oh, and the money! So weirdo i tell you! I tried to buy a water from the vending machine and it wouldn’t take it ’cause their paper money is weeeeeird!!!

Anyways just a quick one i wanna get some sleep!

Ohh - and thanks for all my messages/phone calls/texts/voice texts/picture texts etc!! <3 feel the lurveeee

So here it is! Finally! Honestly, i’ve been trying for the last however many hours to get the bloody internet connection in this hotel to work!!! CRAZY I tell ya. Anyways, apart from the lack of technology in this Hotel its been great I slept in today which was like amazzzzing! First time in forever that I’ve slept more than needed hehe. I currently have a spa running too and its just been great!

My Aunty was nice enough to wait up for us and we got to her place at like 630am Saturday. We had a wicked breakfast with her then went out to Chapel street for Jono to hit the shops… I thought I knew this street better than any in Melbourne but I (somehow) walked the wrong way hahaha and we ended up almost in St Kilda! Crazy!!! So after a huggge walk we went back to Cheryl’s and our eyes were nicely getting closed - so we checked in at like 2pm to our wicked room!!

I saw my cousin (of sorts) last night and Jono’s sister and boyfriend. We had pizza! And we had beers at the St Kilda bowling club which was so weird but cool… there was all these people walking around in funny white outfits haha. Melbourne was full of crazy drunk people dressed up to the nine thanks to the Caufield Cup!

Anyway, this is just a quick one. The net here is to slow for me to get my pictures happening but I’m gunna put up my goling away drinks up! And me and my pooor carrr - look after it nomi!!!!!

peace

amy