October 4th, 2023: "Big man in a little seat(s)"

Alright! So uh, officially in Australia! What an adventure to get here fr, it was super interesting but I do NOT want to do it again for a hot minute.
Here's a (not so) brief recap of my journey from Vancouver to Melbourne:

• First off, got dropped off by my parents at Brentwood Center. It was emotional. Hugs were exchanged, tears flowed, but we managed to let go and go on our seperate ways (they made their ferry despite getting stuck in traffic, great for them :) )
• Next, I met my good friend Anna downtown! She really wanted to say goodbye properly so we had a lovely Nero Waffles brunch together before taking one last long walk around downtown. It was real fun, thank you for the good time Anna, I still owe you for those freeze dried candies. But of course we had to part ways so we hugged it out before I stepped on the skytrain to Richmond (she should have been on the same one as me btw but we didn't figure that out until after LMAO)
• Arriving at the airport, I got through security as quickly as I could. It was pretty freaky going by myself, I had no one to really guide me except for the very nice (but very uninterested) airport staff. I thought I would have lost something or left some stuff behind several times, but luckily that never happened! I made it to my gate and then took a long walk around the terminal before I had to sit down for
• A 15 HOUR FLIGHT BABY!!! Man nothing makes you hate sitting more than:
  1. Working at a desk all day.
  2. BEING STUCK IN ECONOMY ON A 15 HOUR FLIGHT
  Needless to say it was not the most enjoyable experience, but it was one nonetheless. I had a lovely Australian farmer couple sitting beside me and we kept each other sane throughout the flight.
• Then a brief layover at Sydney airport. I bought some chips here, salt and BALSAMIC vinegar. They were pretty good! Nice mix on the traditional salt and vinegar format.
• I fell asleep for most of the way from Sydney to Melbourne, but there was a sickass huge lightning bolt that almost struck the plane! Everyone was freaking out at first but the pilot calmly came onto the speakers to say "OH yeah that happens all the time, these planes are built for it, no worries :)". It didn't help put anyone at ease but it was still super funny.
• And then finally I was in Melbourne! It was super surreal seeing all these strange Aussie words and pieces of culture outside the airport for the first time. Of course when I arrived it was PISSING rain (I left Vancouver to escape the rain god damn it!), but luckily my bags are at the very least water resistant so all my valuable were safe :) Fun fact though, apparently Melbourne's rail network is super good? And just has trams downtown you can ride for free. I bought a transit card anyways (I'll need it later I assume) but it was nice just being able to hop on a train and get to my destination without paying a cent.

But shit, yeah, nothing super crazy to say yet! I haven't had a ton of time to explore the city yet (very tired) so nothing really there.
The hostel I'm staying at though is pretty nice so far! (name will be revealed later after I have left for security I ain't gettin MURDERED :O) I've never stayed at a hostel before, but this has been pretty much what I expected. The showers are relatively clean, the carpets are as clean as they can be (I think haha). They had cleaners come in this morning to tidy up the common spaces and floors which was super nice. They even have a full kitchen, so I get to make super cheapass meals if I so desire >:). The residents have been a mix of very friendly and very standoffish. It seems like a lot of people already know each other here and as such aren't really willing to make space for newcomers in their little groups. I did meet one really nice solo traveller named Pato, and he and I had a couple beers together on the porch of the hostel while talking about our aspirations and shit while we're here in Australia. We both kept getting distracted though because right across from us in a little park were these ENORMOUS ass bats! Neither of us knew they existed in Melbourne until last night so imagine our shock when the chittering we'd been hearing gives way to these MASSIVE shadows flying over the bright skyline.

An image for reference, never EVER heard of these things being here before:

Anyways, I'm going to call it here for today. If I want to write more then I'll have to go actually do stuff LOL. Gotta get my bank account and Tax numbers set up so I can actually do the "work" part of my working holiday.
Okay! Piece out, see you laters,

- Lachlan