Australia

Wow!!! Australia!!! I've been here for almost a month now and I finally have time to write!
We left a cold, snowy Boulder, Colorado on Wednesday, January 9 and got to Melbourne, Australia on Friday the 11th. We flew from Denver to Los Angeles, then a 15 hour flight over the pacific ocean to Auckland, New Zealand and from there to Melbourne. The long flight on New Zealand Air was really nice. You had your own TV and you could play games and watch movies and TV shows from a giant list for free. I watched Ratatouille, High School Musical 2, and the Simpsons Movie, and some Simpsons tv shows. I only slept 3 hrs the whole time! An hour before we landed in New Zealand, the horizon was rainbow colors for a little strip, but when we landed, it was still dark. We had a 3 hr lay over. Debbie Brady was at the Melbourne Airport ready to take us to her house. We were sooooo excited to see Anna and Alice again and we had some bonding time in their new pool. In the afternoon Ben drove my parents, anna, and me down to Brighton to see what our apartment looks like (from the outside cuz we didn't have a key). It is quite nice especially because it is a 7 min. walk to the beach. When we were driving back to the Brady's I saw my first rainbow lorakeet at a traffic light. I was soooo excited, but soon discovered that they are everywhere, and I see them every day. By the time we got back to the Brady's it was time for dinner. I retired around 8:00 cuz i was soooooooooo tired!!!!
The following day we went to the Brady's holiday house, which is just an hour away by a beautiful beach and away from the city. We spent about a week there. While we were there the dad's and us kids got to take a surfing lesson at a beach called crunchies. It was so much fun (even if i only stood up 4 times)! The waves were perfect, and it was warm enough for me! After that I saw some roselas (red parrots) and galahs (pink and gray cokatoos). I also saw a mama and baby koala on a walk with my mom!!!
When we got back to Melbourne we established our apartment. Poor Leah was really homesick and sick, but she was happier when she made some friends at school. The Brady's got alot of furniture for us, so now the apartment looks pretty nice. Leah and I share a room and i guess its ok. The main street, Church Street, is just a five minute walk away. There are some pretty good stores like Smiggle (the stationary store) and Sports Girl. There are even two supermarkets, Safeway and Coles! The beach is really nice, and there are cool tidal pools with sea anenomes and starfish when the tide is down. There are also pretty nice sea shells, but my dad doesn't want us to collect anymore because we already have so many!
The weekend before school started we went down to Somers again. It is a really nice home away from home! Then on Tuesday the 29th, school started. It is soooo different! We have to wear uniforms, and they are sooo ugly (we even have to wear fancy man-shoes!)! I am going to Korowa Anglican Girls School, which means there aren't any boys! I thought things would be really boring without guys, but they arent! Everyone is pretty close, like sisters, and there aren't any clicks! The plus side is that we each get our own laptops! Mine is a new one complete with a webcam! it is sooo awesome! I have already been to the mall with some of my new friends! Everyone is sooo nice, I feel really welcome (and they are all interested in "the new girl from America"). I really love it here!