The Countdown is ON!!!

It's hard to believe that this dream trip is about to begin! And as always, there's a story to be told... Australia has been on my "must see" list for as long as I can remember, but this year the dream started to become real. Back in December, Creative Memories made it okay for us to do business via social networking sites, so my facebook account was about to power up! As consultants from all over the US, Canada, and Australia began posting pages on our CM Go Digital facebook group, I became curious about several women whose pages and postings I liked. So I did what any normal nosy person would do - I wrote them a message to learn more about them!

Very quickly, I became facebook friends with Shelley, Jenny, Jan, Janice, Kerrianne, and Amy, and then I introduced my NC friend Anne to them, too. I learned that the girls from Oz lived all over the country, and that while some of them knew or knew of the others, none of them knew all of them! But now we feel like we all know each other! I began kidding that I should come to Australia and do some digital scrapbook training, and then it became much more than a joke!

Fast forward: in a few days, I'm leaving for Australia, bound for Sydney and Showcase Australia! I'll be meeting Shelley first, then having dinner with her and Jenny and the WA team, and then meeting everyone except Amy at Showcase. I even get to speak there!! At Showcase, I'll be staying with Shelley and her team and I'm so looking forward to meeting many more new Aussie friends!

After Showcase, Rex (my husband) arrives and we'll spend a few days in Sydney at Shelley's. On our list - a performance (the Umbilical Brothers) at the Opera House, a bridge climb (with Shelley safely on dry land), beaches, and who knows what else??? Then we're heading for Cairns (think Jacksonville to Toronto) and the Whitsunday Islands for a few days of rest (ha!), relaxation, resorts, and REEF!! We'll fly to Cairns and then take the train to the Whitsundays (like Toronto to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and then on down to Brisbane (UP to Raleigh), where we will meet Jan (aka Brissie Jan) and see the sights there.

From Brisbane, we fly to Perth (which is like flying from NC to San Diego) and then we'll rent a car (pray for us as we drive on the wrong side!) and drive 5.5 hours to Jenny in Geraldton! After a few days, we'll go back to Perth and visit with Anne, then fly to Melbourne (sort of like San Diego to New Orleans) where we will hang with Janice and Kerrianne a couple of days. Then it's back to Sydney and a trip to see Amy in the Blue Mountains and ride on the Zig-Zag train. Are you tired yet? We'll round out the trip back in Sydney, and on the way home we even get a day in Auckland. But the rest of New Zealand will have to wait until next time!

Stay tuned...the adventure is just beginning!