Down under

We're here!!!

yippie!!

Okey, let's see, how long did it take?

2h30min train from Grums to Gothenburg
5h20min "free time" in Gothenburg
1h45min flight to Frankfurt
4h35min waiting in Frankfurt
11h20min flight to Singapore
3h40min waiting in Singapore
4h flight to Darwin
1h refuelling in Darwin
2h20min flight to Cairns

= 36h30min

no wonder I feel rather dizzy...





















Above: The Journey (and the airport in Singapore) and The Arrival!



Well I'm pleased to inform you that I'm now a member of the 10 000 meter club (Mile High Club) - but maybe I have to clearify that it's not the one where you have ... you know ... at the bathroom with someone, 'cause it's an all new club - so far I'm the only member (that I know of), and I'm actually the founder too =)

It's the club for people who's going to the toilet at least fourteen times on a fairly long flight to do a lot of step and aerobics movements - like step touch, tap, high knees and just running on the spot - this because it's not only a lot of fun (fake singing to yourself in the mirror goes without saying), but your legs can't stand it otherwise...

some of my blood-vessels couldn't stand it anyway, despite my very own version of "Pump it up", so they decided to burst - it's actually a quite nice pattern they made on the back of my left calf right under my knee - it's in the shape of an 'E', so I guess it is kind of an honour to me =)

Right, enough about that - let's talk Cairns for a bit!


It's blimey hot!! And damp!! If I was the kind of person worrying about my hair and needs to have a nice coiffure every day - this would be paradise! Without even doing a thing, I'll have a nice curley hairstyle thanks to all the moist =D (and here you can see my new little bike - me like!)

But all the flights took some power out of me, so I got a cold somewhere above Pakistan and in combination with the heat here, my nose is all but happy...

I am on the other hand, so I'll ignore my small protruding bodypart that wants to visit a pharmacy and stay there, and just enjoy the fact that I'm actually here!!






















We're going to chill for a couple of days, and then take a tour to the rain forest on tuesday maybe, and then it's some serious snorkelling at the great barrier reef that awaits!
The weather is very diverse - it was thunder and bolts of lightning together with a tropic rainfall that welcomed us this morning (around 8am), but now (around 3pm) it's sun and the UV-warning sign is at 'Extreme'... even though there are still clouds..




Oh yeah, right, papy was super happy when we arrived and discovered GB Glass (down here called Streets), proudly displayed in every shop - so what could he do but model?! =)





'Right, I'd better be off, need to keep moving so that I won't fall asleep too early! (damned jet lag)
.

Here we goooo!

Oh my goodness...

I mean, gosh really!

It was a close call but hey - here we finally goo!

Imagine this; you've been planning a trip for over a year, never mind you bought the tickets two months ago, you've still been planning it, thinking and dreaming about it for a long long time - and so you're finally there - or almost anyway...
You've got your travelling partners, never mind it's your parents (!), they're still your travelling buddies, and the packing is soon at I-see-the-light-in-the-tunnel-phase, and you've got everybodys tickets - now all you have to do is to make some copies of tickets, passports and so on.

Now imagine this - it's Christmas Eve, around ten in the morning, and you know you should have had all the paperwork done like yesterday or preferably the week before that, but what the heck - it won't take that long to make a few copies, and then you can pack some more before having a delicious christmas dinner at your grandma's house.
Now, when you're sitting there with all the documents, ready to copy your ass off, you're thinking it might be a good idea to check so that your parents passport numbers match the numbers on their visas - this you would normally not do to your travel companions, if they were anyone else but your parents, although we all know parents need looking after (!).

And here, to your outstanding surprise, you see that the number on your fathers passport is not equivalent to the passport number the visa is issued for - not a single figure is right - how is this possible?!?!?!?!

This is when you start to panic...

Well, as it turns out, daddy got a new passport about two-three weeks after the visas were issued,

and for those of you not familiar with the visa process; when you apply for a visa (we did it through our travel agency) you need to supply all the information in your passport, like passport number, date of issue, date of expiry and so on - so the visa (an electronic visa anyway) is now automatically and electronically connected to that specific passport, you don't need a label in it or anything 'cause that's all in the computer etc.

so when papy got his new passport because the old one was falling apart (don't ask me what he does with his passports when he's alone to make 'em look like that, I have absolutely no clue), the new one had a new passport number - everything else was the same, even the expiry date, but the passport number was brand new - and since that passport number doesn't have a visa connected to it, it's going to be pretty tough for the old man to get in to OZ I'd say...

So what did I do?
(now you don't have to imagine yourself anymore, I'll tell it from my point of view now)

I got a little stressed..

I spent around three-four hours calling everyone - well, first I tried to apply on-line for a new tourist visa for dad's new passport and normally this takes around five seconds and it's all good - but for some reason - I think God thought it would be fun to mess around a little - the visa process was "On hold" because it had to be "processed manually"....

Meaning when there are people in the embassy...

Meaning Monday - three days after take off...

So NOW I started calling everyone - the police to try and track down my fathers old passport, although after an hour or two we had established that it was probably just ashes now..

Then I tried calling the embassy to get them into action - but it was closed "due to a public holiday". And the police couldn't help us getting another passport either 'cause we would never get the old passport number anyway, and well - I tried everything I could possibly think of, even calling the airlines (SAS and Qantas) to hear if they would let us all three board 'cause then my father could wait in the airport until the visa was in order - around one day. Well SAS would let us board, but Qantas refused (was not really prepared to speak strine (australian) over the phone with a grumpy airline worker so I guess I didn't fight for my cause as much as I could have done) - so that would have left daddy stranded in Frankfurt...

I even called B, the guy at MyPlanet who got us our tickets - thank you sooo much for taking the time to calm me down on Christmas Eve! - and we figured out that the only thing we could do was for me to spend another couple of hours to try and track down anyone at any embassy anywhere who could help us, and if that didn't help I had to cancel my dad's ticket, well the one to oz anyway - and then B would try and get him a new one on monday (or if that was all booked, on tuesday) - so it looked really dim for a while, that dad had to wait the entire week end and then fly down solo next week...

Btw, I need to give good praise to MyPlanet - these guys rock!
Especially B!!!
so this is no no-commercial-travel-journal, 'cause I will most certainly speak very highly of those who deserve it, and the very opposite of others =)

Then, all of a sudden (well it took longer but I'm really tired so I've decided to cut the story short a bit) dad got a text regarding "visa" something - so I checked my email and there it was - an email from the on-line visa application I did around tenish "Dear Mister, we are happy to inform You that Your visa has been succesfully issued etc etc"

!!!

Imagine the joy! =D

We practically danced the rest of the day - it went from being a crappy lousy christmas into being one of the best ones ever!!

So now it's Christmas Day, well technically speaking it's the 26th, everything is almost packed and the train leaves in 9h, 25min

So I guess this is it - here I go !!!

I'm taking off!! Flying away!!!
(can you see me fly??)




Take care of Sweden for me ya!


I hate to say it - but see you soon! =)

Fare-thee-weel Gothenburg!

'O my luve is like a red, red rose,

That's newly sprung in June;

O my luve is like the melodie,

That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

While the sands of life shall run.

And fare-thee-weel, my only luve!

And fare-thee-weel a while!

And I will come again, my luve,

Tho' it were ten thousand mile"

(Robert Burns, My Luve, 1759-1796)

And I will come again Gothenburg - tho' it were ten thousand mile and more!

Right, this was not so hard as I expected it to be, even if it stings sometimes - saying g'bye to everyone in Götet and packing up the apartement..

I realise how much I love this silly town and my even more silly and wonderful friends =)

But as I've been telling a lot of my exchange students - if you're not at all sad about leaving, then you could just have stayed home to begin with! Being a bit sad means you've appreciated all the experiences and the encounters with folks you've met - and just think about all the memories you have now! I mean, come on! that's priceless!

So it's with a straight posture and my head held high that I've told my buddies to take care and see you soon!

The countdown continues:

6 days, 17 hours and 10 minutes!

ca passe vite, hein!?

oie oie!

well, things are happening...

got the flight tickets today...

=)

still no visa though...

hmm...

YIHAA!!

Okey - let's get this started!!

Welcome all of you - friends, family and pets! - to the story of "Emma in 2009", the year a lot a lot a lot will happen =)

It is today exactly two weeks and 42 minutes before I take off and leave cold Scandinavia for sunny Australia! Talk about butterflies in my stomach... they keep upsetting me so my colon is very stressed and nervous - you'd be too if you had a zillion flying insects inside you!

Alright - for those of you who just got my email with this web address and an indication to go here and read - I'll tell you what's going on:

I got my acceptance letter two days ago from the University Of Newcastle, New South Wales (from now on NSW), Australia, telling me that they are honoured to have me as one of their exchange students next semester - and let's face it, who wouldn't be honoured to have me?!
So 23 Feb I'll be attending O-week (orientation week) at Callaghan Campus, Newcastle, and then start my courses 2 March.

But wait a minute - why are you then leaving in two weeks and 37 minutes? one might think - well, I wanted to take this opportunity to take a look around Australia (from now on Oz or oz) and New Zealand (from now on NZ or nz) when I'm in that part of the world - I might not get the chance to go there so much in the future, who knows?

So for three weeks I'll be backpacking around oz with my parents (!), yeah I convinced them to get rid of their huge suitcases and buy an Everest backpack (oh, and a flight ticket) - so now they're coming with me. It's going to be pretty cool to see them tackle this! =)

They're going home 15 Jan, and 16 Jan I'll take the plane to Auckland and check out nz until 4 Feb. And after returning to oz I'll still have almost 2.5 weeks until o-weeks starts so I guess I'll unwind in Byron Bay, Maroochydore and so on, until uni begins!

That's why I'm writing this - to keep all of you guys up to date!
'cause let's be honest, you can't possibly ask of me to keep three different travel journals?!?!
swedish - english - and french?!?

that's not really fair....

So I hereby force you to read english since most people'll understand this, I know that everyone in England, Ireland, the States, Canada, Oz and Nz has an advantage here, but well, who said life was fair - at least this is most fair to me =)

and so I beg of you not to post any (bad) comments regarding my English skills.. I'll do what I can, and sometimes I'll make up my own english words and from time to time I will ignore the capital letters even though I know there's supposed to be one =) and when thinking of what I'm most likely to post on this page (adventures, magic, unravelled mystery and a great story), maybe there are more interesting things to comment on but my spelling =P

That's all for today, now there's only two weeks and 19 minutes left.. (it's 16.51 here in Gothenburg btw)..
So to quote my good 'Friend' Joey:
"Let's get that ball really movin' - hey hey ho ho!!"