Day 1: Jetlag and the Australian Winter

If you'd have told me this time last year that I'd soon take a break Notre Dame and move to Australia to become a scuba instructor, I would have called you a liar. But since that happened, it serves as a pretty handy introduction for this blog of mine. Perhaps it's a tad cliche, but next to maps and flip flops, a good traveler should never forget their blog.

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As I write this, my internal clock is still working out the math of flying 14 hours to a time zone 17 hours ahead of California time. As far as I'm concerned, I've time traveled and Saturday May 22nd never existed. Mostly I just have a headache. Also, it's winter in Australia, and it is legitimately cold. Chalk it up to my American ignorance, but I thought it'd be warmer.

I landed in an overcast Sydney this morning and - after a little jaunt through the parade of strange people that is customs - met up with my mentor the instructor courses, Carl. After a short ride (on the wrong side of the road, I might add), we arrived at Abyss Scuba Diving, which will soon become my second home away from home. I met a few of the people I'll be working with, stored all my gear, and signed papers to promise that I won't act a fool on company time. Then off to unpack.

I'm living in a sort of hostel while I'm here, which adds to the thrill of being thousands of miles from home. I have a double room to myself at the moment, so I'm stoked on that. I'm told the rooms are co-ed, which could be interesting. Hopefully, du Lac won't judge me too harshly, should I have to room with a member of the fairer sex.

Not terribly exciting, but those are the highlights of my first day. These posts should start getting interesting soon, so bear with me. I'll leave you now with a few things I've learned about Australia so far:
-Outback Steakhouse commercials lie, it's not always warm and sunny.
-The ambulances are pickup trucks, which kinda blows my mind.
-Toilets flush the same way.
-There are far less boxing kangaroos lurking around than I thought there'd be.


Yours in Constant Kangaroo Vigilance,
Robert