Day 47: Getting Ready
by ashleighpenrod
On Saturday, I’m leaving my beautiful, snowy state (by “beautiful,” I mean a specific brand of beautiful… like, that-snow-used-to-be-pristine-but-now-it’s-brown-and-gross kind of beautiful). While I’m away, I’ll be in the sweltering foreign land of Australia.
Needless to say, I’m incredibly excited. My best friend from college currently lives there and will be serving as my travel friend and tour guide.
BF and I spent many a college night eating Easy Mac and coming up with fake stories about fake versions of ourselves. We were the funniest fakers on campus, as was evidenced by our slew of fake friends. I’m anticipating a delightfully fun fake reunion, followed by a real one, followed by days and days of hiking and snorkeling. And possible poisoning.
My dad pointed out that most of the world’s most poisonous species of animals live in Australia. I made the mistake of Googling all of them. My advice to you is to never do that.
That’s my BF and Giant Nemo (not poisonous) in Australia earlier this year.
In preparation for my trip, I’ve made a preliminary packing list:
- Swimsuit (obviously)
- Backup swimsuit (Since I didn’t already have a backup swimsuit, I quickly bought one on clearance from J.Crew. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a pretty color for under $10/piece, so I bought a suit the exact same color as my skin, covered in white polka dots. I’m not sure why it was on clearance.)
- SPF one million sunscreen
- My seven-year-old laptop (How else will I blog?)
- At least eight pairs of shoes
- A bunch of hardcover books
- Advil for when I hurt my back carrying all those shoes and books
- My blue ‘Go Fly a Kite’ fanny pack
I will continue to refine my list as the date approaches. Until then, feel free to let me know if I’m missing anything.
4 0 2 
Yep, I googled it. I hate spiders. I hate snakes. And I now hate stone fish. I mean, what the? Seriously?
I warned you!
Hello Ashleigh-
I’m a friend of your mum’s who alerted me to this magnificent blog, which i am thoroughly enjoying 🙂 I moved to Perth, Australia about 4.5 years ago and it has been wonderful. I haven’t seen many of the deadly insects, snakes, sea life, etc but i’ve seen my fair share (tiger snake, dugite, redbacks, mozzies, drunk children in micro skirts, etc. ) But one thing that made me chuckle about your post today was this: “My blue ‘Go Fly a Kite’ fanny pack.” I feel it is my duty to let you know, because i made this mistake numerous times before I was kindly made aware of my folly. There are many words in the Australian slang, and otherwise, department that mean something completely different than what we as Americans have come to understand them as. For example, “fanny pack” to Americans means that little bag that fits around your waist and carries all of your essentials, but to Australians the word “fanny” simply put, means “vagina”. I wish someone had told me as I was running around saying things like “oh, just a minute let me get my fanny pack” or “its in my fanny pack” and “i never leave home without my fanny pack.” I’m sure you can imagine my terror upon learning what these Aussies thought i was saying. I found googling Australian Slang much more helpful because this is where the real dangers lie, in the language, not in the snakes, sharks or spiders.
Also, you’re going to LOVE AUSTRALIA! and have your mum pass along my info if you happen to venture west to Perth.
joiexox
Joie! Haha… THANK YOU! I will stop googling poisonous creatures and will turn my attention immediately to Aussie slang. Thank you for pre-saving me.
I wish I were going to be somewhere near Perth (I’ll be clear across the continent in Cairns), because I would LOVE to meet you! I have heard much about you and have two of your beautiful bird paintings hanging in my house; they are my most beloved pieces of art.