wanderlust

i've got a sickness what can i say? it's called wanderlust. and so with a little click of my mouse, i bought 3 tickets to australia - myself and my two kids! so i better get cracking at hauling in some new projects.

australia holds a special place in my heart. it changed my life, it changed my career path. i did a study abroad program there in 1990-1991 studying rainforest ecology in far north queensland. before that, i was pre-med. i fell in love with research and studying wildlife. i loved the country so much i decided to stay on another 2 mo, living with a family and doing volunteer wildlife work. i remember i called my mom one time and she said, "when are you getting back to the real world?" as if australia and that adventurous lifestyle wasn't the "real world." it was my world, it was where i was living and working and having the experience of a lifetime. whose to say it's somehow inferior and not the real world? so what if i took one measly semester off of college? i finished!

i have two dear friends who i still keep in touch with, and i recently found out one of my best friends from high school moved over there and so i have 3 people to visit and stay with! and they all have kids, so my kids should have a truly lovely time. we will not get back to far north queensland, but will spend time in brisbane, fraser island, airlie beach, and tasmania! i added in tasmania because not many people go there, it's supposed to be drop-dead gorgeous, and i figured i can sell more pieces on a place more off the beaten path.

i have wanted to get back there since i left. i met matt in summer 1991 just after i returned and it was all i could talk of. i always wanted to go back but never did. my fear of flying developed not long after and it was probably one of the reasons i justified not getting back there. so now i've come full circle, my fear of flying has dissipated and i hope that i don't just get utterly sick of flying with all the time i'll be spending in airplanes!

my goal is to take my kids on a life-changing eye-opening journey to another culture, and another land full of strange and exotic beasties. they have never been out of the country (except on our drive to alaska and they were so young) so it should be all new and all exciting! savannah was always telling me how *I* always got to go to all these cool places and she never got to go. so now there you have it. she can't say that anymore.