At least this time I was able to sleep 5 hours and so the flight was almost over when I woke up. Having had omelette for breakfast on the first flight I decided once again for the Korean alternative “Porridge”. This turned out to consist of rice instead of oatmeal and so I had a water-rice mixture with some dried herbs sprinkled on for breakfast. Didn’t taste great but as a backpacker you are not demanding. At least I have learned my lesson and now I know what meals to order on the flight back home.
first Australian sunrise
With only a little scratch my trolley survived the trip and I was glad I had everything I planed on needing.
We were screened several times in order to make sure we are not taking any vegetables or meat into the country. Not sure why but when it was my turn to step forward the officer sent us straight to the K9 line.
now really tired but happy to be in Oz
Feeling a little bit lost we were looking for our coach to take us to our hostel. A nice elderly Australian with a thick accent and a ribbon saying “volunteer” on it told us where to find the counter. Was a bit hard to understand him but we got the gist of it.
After receiving our tickets we stepped out to breathe Brisbane
We were driven to the hostel where we were told that check in time would be 2 pm. Having known that prior to arrival we dumped our luggage and decided to attend today’s orientation meeting. Our travel agency hosts an orientation meeting where we got some general information about Australia
Our Tax File Number (TFN) was applied for and we received our mobile SIM-Card.
We had 2 hours to kill before the meeting would start and so we went for a walk in the Botanical Garden.
Parrot-like birds in the Botanical Garden
Usually when you arrive in Australia
So, after the “orientation” (basically a summery of what we already knew) she collected our passports and did the online application for our TFN.
To kill the time once again the girls took a walk to South Bank (apparently someplace nice I also need to check out) while I opened an account with Commonwealth Bank. Of course I needed my passport for verification and so I had to drop by once the agency meeting was over (no worries, Natalie *grrr)
After my account was verified I took a walk thru the Mall. Its quite a busy place with lots shops and cafes and you meet a lot of different ethnics. Seems to be great place to live.
I recharged my new SIM Card but for some reasons I cant text. Really need to figure out why cuz it bothers me like crazy. My cigarettes came to an end and so it was time to stop smoking (as of 25Apr10 08:55h when I am writing this post I am holing up fine, not great but ok)
Having done everything I was able to for the moment I headed home to finally find some rest on my pillow. It was 60 hours ago that I have last seen a decent bed and it did not take a minutes before I was gone. This really was a great extended first day with so many impressions experienced.
Closing, I would like to mention that apparently the Germans are the dominant force among the backpackers. Seems like every second guy or girl you meet is from home. I am sleeping in a 6-bedded dorm with 4 Germans and one British guy. Also, in the public areas like the kitchen you can always make out some German muttering. Basically not bad since you can have all your questions answered in your mother toungue, on the other hand I also want to improve my English that became a little rusty over the last years. This is also a reason why this Blog is written in English language.
Cliffnotes:
Arrival in Brisbane
Travel agency sux
Botanical Garden
Stopped smoking
New bank account and cell phone number
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