Journey to Port Kembla

I left my home in Melbs at just before 6am yesterday, and as I walked down Punt Rd toward Richmond station, it began to pour down rain. Cold rain. And all I could do was smile as I mentally said goodbye to that chapter. I boarded the train, and off I went. Upon arriving at Southern Cross, I found the Skybus that hauls you to the airport and got in. Another 20 mins and I was at the airport. After an anxiety riddled 20 min check in where they weigh your bags, I managed to sneak onboard with way more stuff than you're allowed (I had 4 layers of clothes on, books stuffed into my carry on "purse" a laptop bag full of beach towels and cds. But I was home free! no extra charges. I gave the man a big ol Texan smile and waited for boarding. And waited. It was nearly time for our flight to take off and still, we waited. Lots of other passengers began looking as confused as I felt, but finally, they called our flight, and we all shuffled out to the tar mat, boarding from both ends of the plane. What a genius idea! We need to do this in the states. So fast. We were in the air in no time and after a quick 1 hr, we landed in Sydney. Shuffled along to baggage claim ,then down the stairs to the trains.

This is where things got confusing. I knew where I needed to go and had some pretty specific directions from my host but train time tables confuse the hell outta me. I told the ticket seller where I was headed. He looked confused. Bad sign. But printed me out a ticket for $20 that said Port Kembla on it so I figured that was a good sign. Now, how to get there. I spoted a platform that had one of the many stops listed on my directions on it listed. Winner! from there, I must have gotten on and off of 4 different trains. The last one, as I boarded it, the announcer informed us that there had been a breakdown on that line and we were indefinately held up. Bummer. I texted Tesha and let her know. She and Ben happily met me in Wollongong a few hours later in a white rainbow bus fully decked out. AWESOME!!

We spent the evening with some antipasto, a walk to the beach, then pizza and a few glasses of red. Their cat Kaffey is a sweet fluffy black lover, and it felt so good to snuggle with a feline ( miss my babies). We stopped by a friends house and met a delightful family. I scored a necklace from the sweet little girl and the dad gave me a cd of his band ( more australian music yay!)

What a wonderful day! I am so happy right now. As hard as it was to move on, as soon as I did, I feel a great relief. I am not stuck. I don't need to be scared. This is my journey. And it has only just begun.