so as per my comment under the last post i'm in the qantas club at canberra international airport. it is called an international airport but there are no international flights. not tonight at least. i'm exhausted. i have spent the day being a tourist. started at AIATSIS - the australian institute of aboriginal and torres strait islander studies. one word: NERD. then to the museum. spent time at the captain cook exhibition and actually paid ten dollars to look at nga taonga o aotearoa. when hello i can see the stuff for free at home. four days away from the country and i'm homesick already. shame. then i went to parliament and looked at the debating chambers. NERD CITY. honestly. how do i sleep?

gave a paper at a conference a couple of days ago. am gobsmacked at how indigenous health is silenced in australia. not all of australia. just the conference i was at. and i think like the majority of forums. anyway everyone thought i was amazing. quite different from when i present the same stuff in new zealand and i basically get booed off the stage. and at the conference dinner someone told me i was so young to be so confident. i took it as a burn. and burned the woman back. but then it turned out she was trying to be nice. doh.

which reminds me. differences between here and home. here they play new episodes of the simpson. home: they don't. here the qantas club has a bartender. home it is self serve. i prefer the self serve cos then i can pocket bottles of soda water. here rush hour involves waiting at lights for about thirty seconds. home: it is worser. here you have to demand a glass of water with your meal. home you can't even take a seat at a cafe without someone pouring you a glass of cool water. i prefer home on this too.

anyway, i'm being antisocial and should go. my boss is the one who got me into the qantas club. as if i'd be a member. so i should go back to her. maybe i'll post tomorrow. i mean tomorrow i'll be desperate for excuses to get away. i'll be spending time with my aunt. and it seems she has planned every moment of our time together. one word: suffocating.

but i am still excited. sydney here. i. come.