Oh my God, I'm in Australia! It is gorgeous -- water and hills everywhere, very loud colorful birds, purple-flowered jacaranda trees all over the place.... Fantastic.

Yesterday was complete tourist day -- we went to a wildlife park where we could feed kangaroos and pet koalas. Sooooooo cool. Soooooo cheesy. I soooooooo didn't care.

This was Watarah National Park, "The home of Skippy." "What, the peanut butter?" Joe and I asked. "No," Paula said, very indignant, "Skippy the kangaroo, from the TV show! They named the peanut butter after him!"

So Paula is wrong about the kangaroo/peanut butter connection (as far as I know), but The Adventures of Skippy was a real TV show -- basically Lassie with a kangaroo. Who knew?

Today we'll be wandering around the city then going to a housewarming party. It's so great to see Paula again, and to finally meet James. They're both tremendously cool.

Other notes: The money here is SO COOL: very colorful, with a little cellophane window. Plus, you can't tear it or crumple it. Dude. The coins almost all have wacky Aussie animals on them. Dude. Excellent.

Right, I'm off to explore. Further updates when possible.