So I was finally going to meet my new, most intriguing Aussie friend in Aus in person after two months of e-mail and phone correspondence... which all started as an accident (see Part 1 below). It all still seemed so surreal. The plane ride seemed to go on forever, making me wonder if we were actually moving through air or just hovering around, but eventually I slept and happily missed some of it. After many hours' flying & connecting, I landed in Sydney, AU, where I was to board another flight to Cairns to meet G. It rained that morning, so the baggage crews were pulled off the tarmac at Sydney airport. What?! I thought Aussies were so rugged and tough... do they melt in rain?? 

Consequently my baggage took 1.5 hours to hit the conveyor belt. By the time I got the bags and went through Immigration, my connecting flight to Cairns had already closed. A very annoying young man at the ticket counter kept smirking as he seemingly gleefully explained why there was just no way to still board this flight, and that the next available flight wasn't until 5 hours later. I finally asked him to please stop smirking because there was absolutelynothing funny about this! I was desperately travel weary and dying to meet GB in person, who was planning to meet me at the Cairns airport at the originally scheduled time, so I was in no mood for any delays, let alone smirking. After my little mini-freakout, which actually mostly involving swearing under my breath a la some Looney Tunes character, I found a lovely little salon/spa in the airport where I got a haircut and a very relaxing massage. It helped, tho the clock still ticked awfully slow that day. 

Finally I was on the flight to Cairns. As the captain announced our impending landing, I went into a minor panic... there was no specific reason, actually - I suppose the entirety and/or reality of this whole crazy thing had finally hit me and it scared me to death for a moment. Then, of course, I thought, "what if he is disappointed when he sees me... what if he doesn't actually like me in person... aaaaahhhhhggggg! No, I didn't scream out loud on the plane - I do always strive to NOT be the ugly and/or batshit insane American, after all. As the plane was touching down, I made the mistake of taking my compact mirror out of my purse & looked at my face... my peeling, flaking, dehydrated, nearly mummified face!!! OH MY GOD!!! I dug frantically for moisturizer and began to just slather it on in hopes of instantly resurrecting this mass death of derma... so much for my makeup... now he's definitely going to recoil in horror like Elsa Lancaster in Bride of Frankenstein... maybe I should just run away now and cut my losses...

 

Of course I didn't run - I pulled myself together as much as one can in such a circumstance. As I walked down the final walkway toward the terminal, the waiting area was now visible through a window... and there he was. He looked just like the photos (whew!) - actually, he looked even better in person, and he's a very photogenic guy. He smiled and I smiled and i kind of waved I think. I thought he looked a bit nervous, too - whew again - I wasn't the only one. 

We hugged upon meeting, and it felt good. Very very good. This was the big sniff test, and so far, G was passing with flying colors. I just hoped I was, too, especially after 36+ hours of traveling and no shower. 

We spent the first day and night in Cairns - an absolutely lovely little city on the coast of northern Queensland, and G's hometown. He was a gracious tour guide as well as just a very nice and real man. We laughed a lot, talked a whole lot, did touristy things and just began the process of getting to know each other in the real world. Our emails & phone chats had already allowed us to learn volumes about each other, but as informative and explorative as that was, it was still all virtual. This was finally real. And it was good... very very good.

And yes, it gets even better yet...