back from oz

I am back in the U.S. and trying to go to sleep right now, but my sense of time is all turned around, so instead, I am wide awake and organizing my photos. (If I were still in Sydney, I'd be getting ready for dinner, not bed!)

During those last few hours in Australia (were they last night or yesterday or when? -- the time thing is so confusing), we talked a lot about our favorite trip "highlights."

How to choose -- there were so many. I loved Tasmania -- the white sand of the Friendly Beaches that stretched for miles, and no one was there but us. I loved the deck at Clover Hill -- the sun felt so good, and you could see the Bass Strait. I loved stopping for fresh-baked pies -- I am obsessed with them!

Then there was my early morning run at Warrenmang -- wild kangaroos were literally bounding away in front of me, and cockatoos yelled down at me from the trees. And of course, the night sky in Moonambel. You looked up, and just like that, there was the Milky Way and the Southern Cross. And I'll never forget the feeling I got when I walked to the Sydney Harbour for the first time and saw the Opera House. To see something like that -- something you grow up reading about and seeing on TV -- in person literally just takes your breath away.

And let's not forget the crazy nights out in Sydney. How in one night we went from a bar that was like the Marina on steroids (mini-dresses that barely cover your ass and stilettos are de rigueur) to a lesbian bar where they stamped our wrists with the word "bitch" (and it wouldn't wash off!) to a terrible touristy bar with Lionel Ritchie blaring on the speakers. And that last night -- how we sang Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" at karaoke, got the whole pub singing along and won two pitchers of beer. (Definitely the high point of my karaoke career!)

Still, it feels so damn good to be home. Even if I am the only one awake in the house right now ...