Time for another Australia story! After departing the Outback, my friend and I arrived in Melbourne, which was a welcome sight after days of heat, hiking and sand. I remember being surprised at how cosmopolitan and diverse the city turned out to be. I mean, a large population of my people, Greeks and Middle Easterners, were there! All around me I saw well-groomed men with dark hair, dark skin, big brown eyes and so on … Mama likey! Especially after touring a desert with people who smelled faintly of moth balls and formaldehyde. Needless to say, I was ready to wrestle with some Mediterranean...

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As you may or may not know, I have a VERY active imagination. This is often the reason I tend to eat pavement hard when I’m running. Instead of focusing on the ground, possible curb or even a minor crack in the sidewalk, I’m dreaming about what I’ll wear on my non-existent book tour. FACE PLANT! Before my trip to Australia, I often found myself daydreaming about becoming a world-class surfer while visiting (literally I trip over NOTHING on flat GROUND, yeah, all right...surfing will be the ONE sport I’m likely good at), having a tan, muscled, blue-eyed, accented hunk of meat fall...

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In February 2009 I took a trip to Australia. I have a close friend who lives there and decided it was time to visit her. I absolutely fell in love with Australia! This is more of a sidenote, but I seriously cried for days after returning home from that trip. I started looking for jobs in Australia, as well as looked into selling my condo. I loved it there, and often daydream about going back. My friend was born and raised in Australia. Aussie all the way (Oy, Oy, Oy!)! We traveled all around seeing as much as possible in 16 days. (For anyone thinking of going to Australia, seriously, give yourself...

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