Finally made it!

Traveling on the fourth of July, cheapest ticket available, but I was also resigned to miss out on the festivities: our small town festival, the parade, the fireworks. What kid, and kid at heart would want to miss those?
But as my plane was taking off from LAX and climbed into the sky I couldn't help but notice all the fireworks bursting around Los Angelas. There was the large city display, but from my vantage point I was also able to watch the smaller neighborhood and personal fireworks display. It was a real royal sendoff for me. I hadn't missed out on teh fireworks afterall.
Didn't sleep much on the plane, rather uncomfortable, but i was able to make a few new friends on the flight and the layover in Auckland NZ. Talking with a family from Gainesvill (fl) as well as a girl studying abroad with boston college I was able to pass the time and actually had a lot of fun talking to them both.
We arrived in Melbourne 20 minutes behind schedule, and my connecting flight to Brisbane left in about an hour. I naively thought i could make it. HAH! Customs took an hour and half to get through, and they were non to happy to see me munching on slim jims while waiting in line. Beef is a big no no to bring in here. Missed the connecting flight but caught the next one out. Oh ya, side note, there pay phones are bloody impossible here!
The flight to brisbane was cake, about 2 hours, and after a 12 hour or so flight from LA that was defenitly easy as cake.
Walked out of the terminal and there was the whole Aussie clan to meet me. Russel, Lydia, James and Crystal. The adventure was about to truly begin.