The To Do List

My time in Melbourne is dwindling down, and as of today I officially have 3 more weeks until I travel north to Cairns. There, Laura, Dana and I will reunite for another estrogen-filled travel extraveganza complete with a motorcycle tour along the Captain Cook Highway, Bungy Jumping at A.J. Hackett, and of course, diving to spend time with the sadly disappearing Great Barrier Reef.

After a week in Cairns I'm lugging my backpack and duffel to Sydney to meet up with my Kiwi girlfriend Nicole. Orginally the plan was to wander around Australia's unofficial capital by my lonesome. But I met Nicole, a 21-year-old fellow blonde who's come to hang out in Melbourne from Wellington, NZ for about a year, with work and travel along the way. Sydney seems to be the appropriate weekend trip for any tourist, so she impulsively bought tickets to meet me for my last weekend in Oz. When you tell people you've traveled to Oz they expect to see a picture of you in front of Sydney's famous icon, the Sydney Opera House on the Darling Harbor. It's an essential.

But until my backpacking adventures begin, I have some imperative business to wrap up in one of my favorite cities in the world. This includes: writing my final papers for school, so I can at least pass, finish up my time at the wine bar and take care of some financial stuff before I leave, send stuff home, figure out my future situation upon arrival at O'Hare Airport, and

The To Do List

The To Do List is THE LIST. Simply put, it's a piece of computer paper Scotch-taped on the living room wall of my apartment with fun things in Melbourne I want to do before I leave, but it means so much more than that. The number of activities crossed out on the list will provide me with closure with Melbourne, because I don't want to leave. What the list looks like when we leave will be the determining factor of how much I cry on the plane ride (either crying until I hyperventilate or letting a gentle tear roll down my face while waving good-bye).

Next post I'll put up the To Do List, and fill you in on how it has been going. Rest assurred, there are already plenty of scribbles and edits, so at least I won't force the plane to land and get escorted out for being too hysterical.