JUMPING for Joy....I'm the GRAND PRIZE WINNER!!!

Hello dear friends!

Well, if you haven't heard, I WON! I actually won the grand prize, the $10,000 trip to Australia! I cannot believe it...I've never really won anything before! I got a call last Friday at 5am here (which was lunch time in the US on Thursday) and they told me I won!!! Even though I was sleepy, I was WAY excited! So, thank you so much, all of you, for voting for me, supporting me, and spreading the word!! I would not have won without you! And a special thanks to my loving parents who became voting fiends...they were even voting in their dreams! I have such supportive family and friends! :)

I still do not know all the details yet of the prize and I cannot start planning it until I sign all their forms, etc, but I DO know that it includes airfares, hotels, and tours. Apparently, in the US, any prize winnings over $5,000 you have to pay 25% taxes on, so I have to pay $2500 up front in taxes. Darn IRS. Kinda a bummer, but hey, it's still a great prize! For my trip, I want to go to Cairns where the Great Barrier Reef is and go snorkeling/diving on the reef, sailing around the islands, to the Daintree Rainforest, Frasier Island and Cape Tribulation....and I want to skydive over Mission Beach (hmm...I wonder if they will let me include that)! So I definitely have a good idea of what I want to do and it is very exciting to think about it!

AND...I'm coming home in January for a visit!! I wanted to change my return ticket which was for tomorrow, Nov. 16, to come home for Christmas, but that would've cost an arm and a leg, so I will be coming home January 13 instead. I will get to have a hot SUMMER Aussie Christmas here with family, spend New Year's Eve in Sydney with my cousin (and see fireworks over Sydney Harbour Bridge...amazing), and then come home to cold St. Louis and see family and friends!! I will probably stay for a month to make it worth it, so get ready, I'm comin' home soon....and there are lots of people I definitely want to see! :)

After that, the plan is to come back here with my good friend Mandy who just got a year working visa. We plan to travel together, hopefully go to New Zealand, and maybe settle in Melbourne for a bit! Who knows what will happen, but there's definitely a lot to look forward to!

I think that's all for now, folks. Now, if I can just get you caught up with all my adventures....gotta get back to blogging about my travels soon!

THANKS again to everyone who voted and helped me win this thing! Big hugs and smiles for you all!!! :) :) :) :) :)