After a marathon session yesterday, I got through processing all my photos. However, the Internet connection here has been down for most of two days. I get 5-10 minutes of a slow connection here and there, but that’s it. So today, I’m sitting on about 200 photos which I have to upload to Flickr. I’m feeling sort of ripped off that I had to pay for wireless here (and it costs more than using one of their computers. I don’t understand that one) and I haven’t been able to really use it the last three days.
Now I can now start, you know, going out and actually seeing Melbourne and posting some of the articles I’ve been sitting on for the last month.
I did get an automated reply from the Consulate. The automated reply took four days and told me it would take 5 business days to reply to my email. Clearly, there is no sort of incentive pay in the state department. For all I know, the date for an appointment is even further out. Factor in the email response time, and it take two weeks just to get an appointment to start the process of renewing a passport.
I took time in Melbourne to get this done. I really hope I don’t have to sit in a city for two weeks to wait for my passport somewhere else now.
Now I can look into replacing my bags. My current bag set up is horrible and something needs to be done.
I also need to start thinking of actually exploring Australia. Getting a car, mapping a real route, and having a plan.