Manly: Not just an adjective

Because we ended up going to sleep at 1 pm on Sunday, neither Ben or I had eaten anything for almost 24 hours. We woke up at 3:30 am, unable to sleep any longer, but doubtful we'd find anything open at such an hour that would serve food. Like any good addicts, Ben and I took the opportunity to watch all our queued TV shows ;)

Finally, it was 6 am, never have I ever so intently watched a clock hoping for 6 am to come! We ventured out, in our summer vacation best, and promptly ran into rain and wind and general coldness! We re-found a french cafe with covered sidewalk seating (which we had eaten a croissant - our only Sunday food- at the previous day). Ben ordered a Big Breakfast and I ordered a crepe. For some reason, my crepe took it's sweet time getting to me, so long in fact, Ben had FINISHED his brekky by the time I got my food. *For the record, there were only 2 of us at the table, NOT 5. ;)

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and drove wildly around Sydney, and out through some super posh suburbs. We stopped off for a bit in Manly, but it was kinda chilly and overcast. We did have some success, we got lunch and bought Ben a cossie (swimsuit). The sales guy was trying his hardest to teach me how to say "Cairns" while Ben was trying on suits...I never did get it...After walking around a bit more, we returned to the car and started heading north again....

Australia

I'm in the process of updating my blog to reflect the next 33 days I'm spending in the massively gigantic and grossly underpopulated country of Australia. The southern hemisphere, my first crossing of the equator and my third continent.

After just a short (cough) 22-hour flight from London, Ben and I arrived in Sydney, and thanks to the magic of the Earth's rotational axis, currently in the midst of summer. (As miserable as sitting on a plane for 22 hours is, I would gladly sit in any extremely confined, monumentally uncomfortable, restrictive seating arrangement for 22 hours every December if it ushers out 1ºC in favor of 24º temperatures.)

We had initially tried to check into our hotel around 9 am; not-so-fresh-or-rested from our "double sunrise" flight, we were desperately hoping for an early check-in. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we were able to check our luggage at the hotel and we were off walking the streets of Sydney.

The day went as expected, both of us being completely disorientated (our internal body clocks have NO clue what time it is), in a foreign country (just because they speak English, does not mean its the same language!), and being completely and totally overwhelmed (33 days in a country with a long itinerary of things to do and see ahead of us). We did as best as we could, got a rental car, got a cell phone, found our hotel (actually, found 2 of our hotels), saw the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, bought my first Australian souvenir, and tried to kill as much time as possible while exerting as little energy as possible.

Finally around 1 pm, we returned to the hotel and were able to check in. While neither of us wanted to nap, or at least not nap very long, soon we were both asleep, and remained so until around 3 am the next morning...oops.

We didn't get to see much of Sydney, but neither of us are too bummed, at the tail end of our journey we'll return to Sydney (in time for New Year's Eve) and will have plenty of days to see as much of it as we can. In the meantime, we're off up the coast. The first leg of our journey has us driving up Australia's Holiday Coast to Brisbane - with stops in Newcastle, Port Macquire, Coffs Harbour, Sufers Paradise and finally Brisbane. More about that to come...

The longest 5 to 14 weeks ever!

After waiting 4 months, 18 weeks, or 129 very long days, I FINALLY got a decision on my HSMP visa. Not that I've been anxiously waiting and counting the days...

I've been expecting a decision all week, and had contemplated calling the Home Office for my decision. I have just been too nervous. Early last week the UK Border Agency posted on their website they were processing applications from May 19th, and people on trackitt.com (a forum website that other UK immigrants share their thoughts, fears, experiences, etc) with higher reference numbers were posting decisions and people with application dates after mine were as well, but I was just too nervous!! That and the HO is open from like 9 to 4 (which is 1 am to 8 am for me); totally not convenient.

So, I just checked my mail, every day, and hoped that I'd get a package with all my documentation and an acceptance letter. And when I got home from the gym Friday night, I had a notice saying that I had a package waiting for me at the post office.

I barely slept any Friday night, just waiting for the post office to open so I could finally just KNOW. I woke up early and got to the post office at 9:01. By 9:03, I had ripped the package open; finally, I had my decision. My application was approved.

I'm still in a state of shock. Technically, I've been waiting for this letter for 4 months, but I started the application preparation well over a year ago. It's so weird that it's finally here, and my move over is imminent! I am very, very excited.

Next step is applying for an entry clearance. It is a much quicker process; I apply from an embassy in Los Angles (and not the Home Office in the UK). I have to submit 3 months worth of bank statements certifying that I've maintained a minimum balance and get some biometric data taken. Sounds easy enough, but I'm sure I'll end up worrying unnecessarily over that part of the process as well. ;)