From beyond Tasmania at the edge of the outback

So the Tasman Penninsula was AMAZING. I had such a good time there, if you check my facebook you can see some photos of the hike, or as they say in Aussieland 'bushwalk', that I did whilst I hung out and chilled at a community that my friend Ilan was attempting to create. They had just put up the 'for sale' signs on the different lots on the property.

While I was there I helped out by doing a bit of garlic planting and cooking. There was a couple from Taiwan that were wonderful and we took turns making our local dishes from our home countries. They were fascinated by my gourmet mac and cheeses as well as the hamburgers where my friend Lian (Lee-Ann), also from Taiwan, and I made the buns and dipping sauces for the handmade french fries. It was all good fun. I was only going to go for a couple of nights, but ended up staying 5 and got a free ride back to Hobart with another backpacker that was also moving on after being there for 2 1/2 months. He was from Holland. It was quite an international crowd with another girl from England and a couple from France topping it all off. Wonderful place.

I stayed with a friend and his family at their home just outside of  Hobart for a couple of nights. Two beautiful young daughters, the oldest of which, 4 years, challenged me greatly by wanted to play the game 'how much does that hurt'. I told her I wouldn't play with her if that was the only game she had in her repertoire :) A couple days, a few curries, and a lecture from Vancouver about midwifery, isn't the internet wonderful, later I was dropped off at the airport with a hug and a warm adieu and back in Melbourne.

Melbourne wasn't hugely exciting, but it was nice to see old friends and have a bit of a chin wag (I learned that one in the past couple of days.

I decided to wait till the last minute to decide where I was going next, and headed to the train station on a bright early morning. Needless to say the teller wasn't too impressed with me not having a destination in mind and made me stand to the side for a while until I could give him one. I saw a sign that said Swan Hill and gave him the word and 3 hours later I was off.

Luckily I made friends on the bus who made sure I was safely in an accomodation before leaving me to my own devices, she even got me a discount on my room. The town was so small and not really touristy so it only had motels and single rooms. I spent a lovely night by myself with a hot shower and some telly before heading off the next day to cheaper beds.

I ended up in Mildura and booked a couple nights at the backpackers that looked like it had the most character, it had shoes hanging off the electrical lines out front. Mildura is a huge grape, almond, and citrus growing area. There are lots of people that go there to do some seasonal work in order to earn their 2nd working/holiday visa for Australia. I quickly made friends with the family of backpackers who had united together in their efforts to reach this goal. They were from England and Germany and Italy and Korea. I had such a wonderful time, but knew that despite this I was not ready yet to settle down.

So I decided to come here to Broken Hill. It's a strange little mining town that is literally in the "middle of nowhere". Actually. My new friend Nick and I had a bit of a drive around in the nothingness and ended up in the next town Silverton, population: 42! Hahaha. His friends were the proud owners of the Mad Max II museum which I got a free tour of. Interesting.

I'm off to Adelaide tomorrow or the next and shall continue to blog along the way.

No more pictures from here on out, it's too hard with not knowing when I have to pay to use the internet everywhere.

Love to all!

Tasmania

 I decided to take the ferry from Melbourne...

 I'm on a bit of a ground transport kick, it's nice to feel the distances your traveling in real time. The ferry was quite relaxing, read, slept, lounged...

From the port I knocked on the window of a future Olympic rower, lucky me, who drove me to Launceston. Then from there I got a ride to my first WWOOFing host on the Northeastern coastline from a lovely man named Clive. He had two babies, sold wheelchairs and was building new house in Launceston, your typical family man. We stoped in a tiny little town on the way to pick up a boat and I was facinated by the petrol station...I'm guessing it's self-serve?

My host dad, Todd, taught me how to eradicate Spanish Heath, which is a pesky weed that took over their property. One bush at a time, there were throusands...they are the rosemary-looking brush behind us.

 

 

 On the last day I was there, it was mother's day and my host mum, Astrid's, Birthday so we all spent the day baking cupcakes and cake and...

Host mum with all our yummy baked goods.

 Vegemite scrolls. That would be vegemite and cheese rolled into bread and baked..deeelicious. I grew a love for vegemite when I lived in New Zealand and have rediscovered it since I got to Aussieland.

Todd and Astrid had 2 daughters, Eve and Grace. Grace lived in Launceston during the week, but came home for the weekends and Eve in this photo is still in high school.

This was my home for the first week. I snuggled up in my sleeping bag like a cocoon, with a hot water bottle shoved down by my feet. You could only see my eyes peeking out, it was pretty cozy.

After a week I sadly parted and made my way south to a new family. Brenda and Stephen, with little 3 year old Quinny and 6 year old Elanta their two 11 week old kittens. Living in a purple house, much like the one I grew up in back in Kauai. Little did I know how much work it takes to be a parent, but I walked away with a much better idea of what life can be like when you have small people to take care of.

I luckily found a ride to the lovely Tasman Penninsula, which I arrived at last night and am about to venture out into the town of Nubeena, population 277. See what I can find. Until next time....

An ode to Melbourne

Sometimes I ask myself, "what AM I doing with my life." There are days where I do what some people would consider nothing. Today I woke up and wrote in my journal, went and sat in the sun to eat breakfast, called my best friend and talked for 3 hours, played my ukulele in the park, read my book, and watched a movie. I feel guilty about it at times, like I'm not improving the world and that is what I'm supposed to do with every minute! But my friend reminded me of all the amazing things I HAVE done despite these lazy Sundays, when it's really a Tuesday :)
So I'm thinking as I spend my last couple of days here in Melbourne, what have I gotten out of these past 3 months, besides finishing my university degree of course! And I looked around the back yard and came up with a few things...

I made friends with this silly cat who stalks invisible things in the backyard and despite taking himself so seriously, he has a silly disney character and a bell hanging from his collar.

I realized how much I love hanging laundry in the sunshine.

I found out I could actually grow my own food!

I experienced the joy of finding a vegetable that I had not yet discovered because it was hiding amongst the leaves trying to grow big enough to impress me ;)

I now know what an artichoke looks like once it  blooms. 

I read heaps of books.

In the end I know my ukulele is always there for me no matter how much I neglect it.

So despite looking like I'm doing nothing, I have actually accomplished heaps. It feels like a lot less is happening when you're stationary in a foreign place. There are lots of other things I've learned about that I can't take pictures of, such as relationships and not being afraid of the dark and entertaining myself, things I won't even know until I use them later. So despite the doubt that invades my mind from time to time, when I say to myself, 'wahhhhtt am I doing with my life?' I know that I'm in the right place. My life is giving me a sense of confidence in my abilities and who I am. Every day I feel challenged and I must often rely on the friendship of strangers, and sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy in my head because I don't have anyone to talk to. 

So yeah that's me.

Brining Olives

Olives are going wild all over my neighborhood, and little did I know they would turn purple and go soft when they ripened. But I saw an old italian looking man going for them at the park and I decided he probably knows what he's doing so I followed suit.

 Then of course, google told me exactly what to do with them next....

Container

Slice into their juicy little sides to allow the brine to seep in more effectively.

Brine is heaps of salt and water.

They look like they're taking a bath.

Now you have to shake them around once a day and change the brine once a week until they're not bitter anymore. I'm making a checklist to remind whoever takes responsibility.

Voila....edible olives

More foodie adventures and some Great Ocean Road ones too.

Another food adventure occurred, sourced from the Victoria markets. We had more kangaroo, but in the form of burgers...

 As well as some crocodile sausages, which were mighty tasty. Light in flavour, a cross between chicken and fish.. This photo makes it look huuge...

And I'm always the vegetables with every meal! Nazi, so I try to make a salad most nights, using some stuff from the garden.

On another note, I was told by most people that I was to not miss going on an adventure on The Great Ocean Road. So finally a coworker of mine, Kristy, and I headed off on our own little adventure. Da Dun Ta Dah!....

We camped for two nights, the first in a trailerpark in Angelsea and the second at a beautiful camping park in Joanna Beach. But shhhh don't tell, it was the only free spot to camp and there weren't many people there so we don't want word to get out!

On the second day there was a fancy sign that announced that we were, in fact, on the Great Ocean Road. Ahhh, this whole time I thought we were already on it!

We made camping food, mine tasted a bit like dog food, sang tunes to the neighbors and went to sleep along with the sun.

We saw the 12 Apostles, bit limestone fixtures, of which there are only 6 left.

Apparently some people went out on the cliffs and it crumbled away underneath them awhile ago.

And Kristy had a sharp eye and spotted an echidna on the side of the road. They are apparently not related to the porcupine, despite some slight resemblances.

All in all it was a fun trip. I love to camp and sleep in a tent. It's very cozy. I'm not too fond of sights with lots of tourists. Perhaps I've had enough of that in my life. Despite the huge variety of beaches, there wasn't many people swimming. Apparently the water stays cold all year round. I went for a quick dip right before we headed back to the city, it was a bit...fresh :) The currents are also pretty rough, there was a sign at the second beach we camped on warning not to go swimming so that you didn't get swept out to sea. Not a risk I was willing to take.

Otherwise, my last exam before I graduate is looming on the horizon. 29th of April, Australia time of course. My last month in Melbourne before I hit Tasmania is passing quickly and is filling up with all the things I meant to do. Working hard, occasional couchsurfers here and there, same old. Love to all.

On death and dying

Death is a subject that hasn't really had much meaning to me until the more recent years. When I was young I remember the first person that died was my GG, great grandmother. I think I knew what it meant at the time, and I remember wanting to go to the funeral, but I wasn't allowed. So I was curious about what exactly went on at funerals, I had seen them in films, but I hadn't experienced one.

Until later on my Aunt May, who is an old girlfriend of my grandfather, but is pretty much family at this point, lost her husband Erwin. I don't ever remember meeting him, but I ended up visiting my grandparents while his funeral was taking place. I can't remember what happened exactly, but I remember there being a 'forbidden room' that was allocated for the family to go and cry. After the service was over, grandma and granddad took me outside because they said it was time for the viewing where the casket was to be opened and only close family was allowed. I an adolescent at the time and I wanted to see a dead body! I still didn't understand what it felt like to lose someone and to me it was just a fascinating opportunity, but I did what they told me followed them out.

Then over my teenage years my great uncle died, a coworker of mine and another of my brother's, people I knew, but I didn't see often. This was when I started to experience the sadness that came with death.

Now as an 'adult' or young adult, my uncle and my cousin died in a plane crash last year and I experienced the devastation of death. I couldn't move or breath when I found out. It was a similar experience to after I had been mugged when I was 17 and had first moved to Montreal for my studies.

Later in the year last year I was driving home from work with my boyfriend at the time and we were the first two people to come across a man who had flipped his car and died. I will never be able to rid myself of the image of him hanging out the window of the flipped car and his life slipping away before my very eyes. It seemed such an intimate moment for me to be witnessing of a stranger. Who am I to be there for the moment of his death? I've not even been to more than one funeral and I wasn't allowed to see the dead body. It was the first dead person I saw. Again it made me frozen and unable to speak or breath. All I could do was stand and stare while my boyfriend called the police. I was afraid to be alone for at least a week. All the fears I had when I was a child about monsters under the bed and darkness and just plain irrational thoughts overflowed my mind. Eventually enough time passed that I thought I got over it.

Why do people cover their mouths when they look at something terrible? I have to say that is what I did.

More recently I've dealt with the death of my boss, where I worked at the wake and watched how the relatives and close friends of this man I had never met dealt with his death. I went out the back for a snack and encountered Mark's brother-in-law who was losing it because of a song that came on the record player and went to go hide away. Who am I to witness this man in his grief?

It is allowing me to learn what to say, which is generally nothing, and to be more comfortable in the wake of death. Since Mark, two other coworkers have lost family and friends. It's a death party right now. I'm wondering to myself if there is a death epidemic or if this is just life. Just a part of life that seemed mysterious and hidden and now that I live in the 'real world', it is everywhere.

The last death that made me need to write this, was a 4 year old boy. There's a school next to my house and a boy ran in front of a car and died last Friday. It looked just like when I came across the accident in Ontario, the road blocked off, police taking photos, people crowding round and staring, flashing lights. Thankfully, this time I was on the outside of the police tape. It really made me sad when I saw the little boy's shoes still lying in the road.

Those thoughts and feelings from the Ontario accident came rushing back that night, and I had a hard time sleeping and a hard time snapping out of a weird disconnected state of mind. Little kids aren't supposed to run in front of cars, that only happens in movies, and in movies they always stop just in time.

One thing that gives me a bit of perspective was listening to my friend Danika describe what it was like to witness the earthquake in Haiti. There were so many dead bodies that you didn't even notice anymore. They were no longer people.

Death is a cultural construct. From how we express ourselves about it, how we celebrate it, how we mourn. It is something that I wish I had more exposure to at a young age. Not exposure in that I wish more people died, but I wish it was talked about more freely, in front of me, with me, around me. Demystifying it, making it less of a secret.

Who knows?

Golden Plains Music Fest!

Hey Hey all my blog followers. I have recently attended my 2nd music festival and the 1st overnight one at that. Twas a lovely weekend with heaps of sun, music and fun. I'll do a little photo journal for yah.

 I was feeling a bit nervous about going by myself for two days and two nights, but as per usual, my mouth got the better of me and I made a 'festival family' on the shuttle from the city before I even arrived at the festival. They're all from Brisbane, so I'll have a place to stay when I head that way.

 Here's the home I had for the weekend. Set it all up myself, on loan from my housemate, but I'll sure have to get myself a 'traveling home' one day.

It was very cosy...and blueeee

Mine was just one of many in a giant tent city. I could've stayed for longer....

Soon enough you're going to ask...Where are the toilets? Golden Plains, which is the name of the festival, is held on farmland near a small town called Meredith which is about 90 minutes outside the city of Melbourne. They try hard to keep the land as pristine as possible and minimize the impact of a large group of drunk and dirty hippies :)

Isn't shit lovely?

There were quite a few different food stalls to choose from, in case you forgot how to pack the correct food for camping, which I did. Always a learning experience. The Hare Krishna curries seem to be a staple everywhere I go in Australia.

Soon after arrival, it was time to set up for the festivities. Why didn't I think to shove a couch into my backpack???

They have a tradition at the festival that if you like the band, you take off one shoe and wave it in the air. These people perhaps had left their shoes at their tents? Or they're new like me :)

Some guys played some music. This is the Hold Steady, loved the name, but didn't get too into their music.

 Eventually the day had to come to an end...I guess. And that was when I stopped taking photos.

The next day was just as awesome and I also had to do my volunteer shift, as I got a free ticket in exchange for volunteering some of my time to make sure everyone was okay in all the different tent cities. My shift was Sunday night from 12am to 3am. I was paired with a girl named Rosemary and we had an awesome time handing out water and lollies to passerbys. They were all very greatful, we felt a bit like red cross workers in a lose sense of the term. Then this awesome girl came by and we had a little bit of a girl's night, chatting and laughing and dissing men. It was all very fun and healthy for us ;)

That was my festival. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Love.