Happy Canberra Day!

I looooove Canberra! Another win for me because everyone told me not to come here ("It's boring") but I did anyway and I'm having the best time! Not boring at all. It's a beautiful city and the people are super friendly and there's lots to do. I didn't plan to be here on Canberra Day but it just worked out that way. It's also Sarah's birthday today (in Australia) so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH! :)

A few months ago my friend Debbie in CA told me that Eddie Vedder was coming to Australia on his first solo tour here so I bought a ticket to see him in concert in Canberra. The show is tomorrow and I can't wait! I took the train to Canberra after a couple days in Sydney where I hung out with my buddy Soo Se and some other new friends. My first night back in Sydney I took the ferry over to Manly Beach where I met up with Soo Se. 

We drank some wine at his hostel and got caught up on each others' adventures. I didn't have a place to stay and was thinking I would possibly check into Soo Se's hostel later but I didn't want to spend the money if I could avoid it so I waited for someone to answer one of the couchsurfing requests I'd sent out. When no one had responded by about 7:30, I went with Soo Se to a Bavarian beer cafe down by the Manly wharf where there was a couchsurfing meeting/bar night. We drank some beers with the Sydney couchsurfers and at the end of the night a nice couple (Swiss girl/English guy) took me back to their apartment down the street. The next day I hung out with the girl, Tanja, while the guy, Dean was at work. Then I set off on my own and was thinking about taking the ferry back to the city but before I did, I got a text from Soo Se. He was back at the beer cafe with his new German friend so I went there to meet them. We hung out for a while (me and Soo Se with all our backpacks) and at one point our server came over and asked me where I got my sweet daypack. I told her I found it online and bought it from a nice woman in CA for just $20. She said "Oh man you're so lucky!! I'm going to Africa for 6 months and I've been looking for something just like that but they all cost around $200." I asked her when she was leaving and she said end of April, so I told her she could have my backpack. She was so stoked and insisted on paying me so I let her give me $30. I'm going to try to squeeze all my stuff into my other pack (and put any overflow into a grocery bag) and mail it to her the day I leave Melbourne. :) She gets a super sweet backpack, the backpack gets to visit yet another continent, and now I have an extra $30 to get me through the rest of my trip. Score!!  

Soo Se, Antonia and I took the ferry back to Sydney and on the way, I got a text from a couchsurfer named Sam, offering me a place to stay for the night. I met him in Newtown and he immediately went out to dinner. He invited me to come with him but I didn't really want to spend the money so even though we had only met about 15 minutes earlier, he just left me alone in his house for a couple hours. He gave me a sweet potato and some carrots to cook for dinner and let me use the internet. Later, we went out for drinks with some of his friends at a bar in Newtown. I got a good night's sleep and in the morning I went to the train station to catch the train to Canberra. After buying some groceries at Woolies and going on the internet for a little while, I found myself with very little time to get from Town Hall station to Central station where the train was leaving from. I got to the train platform about 8 minutes before the train left, and still the nice train conductors looked at my ticket and said "You're in Car B but there are lots of school kids in there ... why don't you sit in Car D -- it's almost empty." Awesome! I had the quietest car, and two seats to myself. I read about 100 pages of my book and listened to music and watched the beautiful scenery pass by out the window. It was a wonderful train trip. When I arrived in Canberra I had no plan and nowhere to stay. I got on a bus into the city and instantly met a nice French girl named Aude. 

She's been in Australia a few days and just came from Sydney too. She checked into the YHA hostel and let me put my backpacks in her room while we wandered around the city. Since no couchsurfers got back to me that night, I ended up checking into the YHA too. The guy at the desk gave me a $5 discount and put me in an 8-bed dorm with only one other girl. The next day (yesterday), Aude and I set out for the Old Bus Depot Markets, a fun farmer's/craft market in Kingston. I got an amazing French crepe with Camembert cheese, asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes. It was massive and soooo good. Then I had some baklava and chocolate truffles. Yum. We walked around and looked at the crafts and artwork, and watched some swing dancers putting on a show at one end of the market. It was so much fun! My friend Erika in CA had put me in touch with her friend Cameron who is from Canberra but spent some time in SLO a couple years ago. He met Aude and me at the market and then the three of us went kayaking on Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra's man-made lake in the center of town. We kayaked out to a little island in the middle of the lake, walked around a bit and then kayaked back. Then we went hiking up Mt. Ainslie and saw the city from up above, which was really cool. 

After all that we were all pretty hungry so Cameron took us to his favorite Chinese restaurant in town where we had a delicious meal and lots of wine. It was a wonderful day. Oh! and right before dinner I got a text back from a couchsurfer named Tom, a nice guy who goes to Uni here in Canberra, who said he'd be happy to host me for two nights. He picked me up after dinner last night and took me back to the house he shares with three other Uni students in North Ainslie. I'm at the National Library right now with Aude and Cameron (who are patiently waiting for me to get off the internet) and we're going to meet up with Tom soon at the National Gallery. There's so much to see and do here. I just love it! I'm considering extending my stay here by a couple days, but then I won't be in Sydney for St. Patty's Day like I've planned. So many decisions. I'm also thinking about going back to Melbourne sometime in the next week or two, before or after my trip to Adelaide, or coming back from Perth a couple days early so I can do the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne. We'll see. Whatever happens, I'm sure it'll be good. :)