Australia is a long way from Beirut. The journey, including stops at Larnaca, Dubai and Singapore, took almost exactly 24 hours that I thoroughly enjoyed (I've always wanted to have all my meals aboard a plane). During our stop at Singapore I had time to go around the airport and visit its unusual cactus garden. I had never been this far East before. As a matter of fact, if anyone had told me two months earlier that I'd be going to Australia at all, I'd have sighed: "I wish!"

I arrived in Melbourne after midnight on September 10 (don't ask me where the 9th went), to find my friends Anne, Katt and Trace waiting for me. The first thing Anne did was give me a stuffed koala!

We set out for Traralgon where Katt's sister lives, 160 km away from Melbourne. It seems that for Aussies, that's just a drive next door. After all, Anne had driven all the way from Adelaide about 1000 km to pick me up from the airport

Naturally the car had to stop dead somewhere on the road. It wasn't until 5 am that we reached the house, and collapsed to sleep. I got acquainted with springtime in Victoria: next time I'll take polar clothes with me.

When we woke up, the trio took me for a drive in Koornalla, a park where they had camped on the previous New Year. Here they are, from left to right: Katt, Trace and Anne.

One of the first things I noticed, not surprisingly, was the Australian language. Within a few days I was thinking in Aussie, though I was afraid to sound silly if I used it. I've never been to England so I can't compare but I was amazed at the similarity of the pronunciation, and it was sometimes hard for me to make it out. What was not familiar at all, however, were some typically Oz expressions! That first day with the amused help of my friends I started an Aussie-English lexicon. Some of the words below I couldn't have guessed if my life depended on it! Here are words you would hear in Australia and their meaning in plain English:

Traralgon and a wooden detail I noticed on many houses. Any idea what it is?