Time for a Change of Pace...

...and it couldn't come fast enough. 

5 Days

Yes...the countdown is on. Well still on to be more precise. Technically I've been counting down the days left in Alpha since we pretty much got here and I started cleaning toilets and waking up at 5 in the morning but now the countdown number is exciting rather than a tragic reminder of how much time I had to endure before really starting some hardcore traveling. So there it is. Five days. 

And what may you ask will I be doing in five days? To put it simply-getting the heck out of Alpha. Now I'm not saying Alpha doesn't have it's good qualities-friendly people, new experiences, money saving opportunity-all good things. However, I haven't left a two mile radius in three months. THREE MONTHS. Here I am supposedly living the exciting life of an international traveler whilst in reality stagnation has overtaken my life. Fortunately no longer. On Monday, June the first, I will be boarding a bus headed to...drumroll please...Longreach. Okay. Not REAL exciting, but it is the heart of outback Queensland and there's a couple of sights I want to see so I figure while I'm in the area, I might as well take advantage of the proximity factor.  After two nights there my traveling companion and myself will rock the bus again, this time back to Rockhampton where there is a confirmed sighting of a cinema. Unfortunately my movie obsessed boyfriend has gone through major withdrawals not having access to a movie theatre for 12 weeks. I'm afraid we might blow a small portion of our savings on movie tickets for a few days to catch up on the glory that is cinematic art. Like WatchMen apparently. And Wolverine. You know. Real Oscar worthy material. Hey if it keeps him happy I'm all for it. That and fast food. Chris is suffering KFC withdrawals as well so we'll have a couple of really healthy days stuffing our faces with disgustingly greasy food and holing up in a dark cinema. I'm so glad we're in Australia.

Now for the really exciting part. After our stopover in Rocky, we'll make our way down to Brisbane, catch up with a friend there, change over some luggage, and board a plane for MELBOURNE. Let me tell you, I've been going through my travel books and I'm very excited to see Melbourne. As far as big cities go, I wasn't very impressed with Brisbane, I enjoyed the sights in Sydney though it's a rather sterile city (from what I remember from my trip five years ago), but Melbourne seems very interesting. There's loads of art galleries, museums, ethnic influences, historical architecture, and one of the most famous open air markets in the world-the Queen Victoria Market. There's only one downside: since it's winter here, and Melbourne is on the far southern tip of Australia, it will be cold. That's an odd concept huh? Usually you go south for the winter to warm up-this whole southern hemisphere thing really throws you for a loop. You know the toilets flush the opposite way? Sorry. I got sidetracked. Well being as I came to sunny beachy Australia I didn't so much bring a coat. Or really any warm clothes. Translation: you will be seeing a lot of pictures of me in Chris' giant hoodies. Let's hope they're warm enough. If not I'll just have to keep myself warm with enthusiasm! 

Goodbye Alpha...Hello Travels!

Current Location: Alpha, Queensland

Destination: Melbourne, Victoria