things are starting to move a bit more on the finer details. the trip's fleshing out but my bank account is going anorexic:

--> three weeks ago i left work early, braved edmonton city streets and walked into a trek vacations office. i could have booked online but wanted to ask some questions and get some details on what i was about invest in. it took the lady 5 minutes to get all my info/ take my cash. when i tried to get some details, she told me that once the actual tour op processed my booking she'd email me the info. later she emailed me all the info already on the web site. 20 minutes to drive there (construction) and 30 minutes to get home (traffic)...i could have booked online! the suave little picture you see is my first "tour". ten days long, it takes me to everything i want to see, plus some stuff i don't want aka SNAKE farms . should be fun.

--> purchased a plane ticket for afterwards to get back from broome to perth

--> booked a room in a hostel for the last week in perth-it's school holidays for them so i thought it wise to make sure i won't end up in the streets or worse yet, a $300/night hotel room. kind of screwed up on the booking dates though, still may have to sleep on the streets for a night

--> got my visa

--> moments ago booked tour #2. originally i was going to wait another month to do this (until i had some cash saved up) BUT when i checked the website today they had cancelled 1/2 the dates! i really needed specific dates in order to fit this tour in to my schedule (hahaha as if) so i kind of panicked and in typical michelle fashion hit the "purchase" button asap. (there was only 3 spots left) anyways, this particular tour takes me in a 5 day loop going east from perth. it HITS everything i wanted to see. wave rock, tree top walk, the south coast, caves..

so there you have it. a little more than 4 months to go and about 70% of the trip sorted out. too bad i have no money for food yet...good thing i hear road kill is quite abundant in the land down under

savings toward trip: -5%