In a crowded room

You learn to get very comfortable with people here...

The five of us are sharing a room with three other men. One from Germany, one from England, and...well I  have yet to introduce myself to the third one. Oh...who just walked in the room, that's awkward. In the last night I've become quite comfortable with strange men lounging in their underwear. As my mother would probably tell them, "Please, can you at least keep a little mystery?"

Went down to the beach to discover an Australian woman baring herself. She may have just been lost because there are three nude beaches on the north side of the city.

On the upside, the beach was remarkable. The weather is perfect, the sky is cloudlessly blue, and the water was perfectly refreshing. The five of us behaved ourselves and came back a little bronze without any serious burn damage (those dang Minnesotans, they take forever to learn).

I love all the accents in a place like this, and trust me, you hear a plethora of them. Like today, we met two Italian men chilling at the beach (sitting suspiciously close to the woman in the raw). They're all so fascinating and 95% of the time, I would replace my "accent" with one from any other country. But today as I was laying on the beach listening to my fellow "Yanks" frolic in the water, I was hit with a sense of pride and satisfaction. We may not sound as sexy saying hello as an Aussie is while saying "Gooday" but I have to say we're a pretty interesting group of people and if I would pick anyone to represent our country, they'd be pretty similar to the group of people I'm with.

Ish I'm getting all sappy.

That's all for today. We're headed back out to the beach for more sun and burn tomorrow, and then climbing the Sydney bridge at dusk! Apparently they strap you to the thing whilst you scale it. Joe and Christine have problems with heights, so throw a prayer or two in their directions...

Quick shout out to ma ladies at the bank. Every time I'm soaking up the sun on the beach I'm thinking of you and wishing I could toss a few rays your direction! Say hello to Dave for me.

Manders