City Hoppin'

Last full day in Evans Head. I setup my next host using a local library's computer, while confirming using Malcom's phone. They live about forty five minutes away near the town of Lismore, and they offered to pick me up. Sweet!

I was enjoying my last day at the beach, alternating between swimming, roasting in the sun, and looking at different rocks and shells, when I look to my right and a few people are yelling in absolute terror pointing towards some surfers. I'm looking around frantically and thinking it must be a shark. There is a massive shark in the water and it could tear these surfers up right in front of my eyes. But no, it's a kid that fell in off the rocky elevated pathway and the waves were threatening to smash him against the jagged rocks. They were yelling at the surfers nearby, when a lifeguard comes booking it past me and launches headfirst into the water on his rescue board. Luckily a surfer had made it to the kid and helped him out, but wow that was freaky.

The current poker score is now Malcom - 1 Laurence - 1 Me - 0. My last night here. I finally got on a roll and schooled those noobs so we were all tied up. Now the tiebreaker. I won. Took home the gold for Murka. Yeah son.

The next morning I woke up again before sunrise, enjoyed a nice walk and a skate sesh all to myself, then helped out with one last shift before Brigette picked me up in the afternoon. I waited for about an hour outside John's home when Brigette came walking over. She didn't come to the right spot originally, and enjoyed some time at the beach. I don't blame her at all. I stick to just being me, which is incredibly in tune with the motto of the entire Continent of Australia, which is,

"No worries mate, it's all good"

The forty five minute drive to Lismore was beautiful. It really does remind me of Ireland so much. The lush greenery, swervy roads, and the hills. We picked up some cow manure on the side of the road to use for their permaculture style garden, and left the money in the bottle. It's a very common thing, where people will have un-manned stands with a variety of goods and they just leave a bottle to put the money in. I love the sense of trust. 

We made another stop at an Aboriginal bora ring. So awesome. Tribal ceremonial grounds. It's one of the several places where the aboriginal people would hold initiation rituals. I let my imagination go wild thinking what happened here thousands of years ago, seeing the distinct dark skin and green eyes of the true Aboriginal.

I took a bunch of pics then as I was messing around with my camera I realized I could change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. It made me so happy. Going from 4:3 to 16:9 is like going from eating cheap Walmart brand ice cream to talenti gelato. Not even comparable.

I learned Brigitte is originally from France and her husband Doug is Australian. They have two sons, one who lives in Brisbane and one who lives in Melbourne. She told me the story of how they ended up here and also how they built their home themselves, and now they rent out the bottom level and top level, then they live in the middle.

When we made it to the home I met Doug briefly, who has short gray hair and a super long gray beard, then Brigitte gave me a tour of the place. They have a permaculture style garden, which is more wild and in tune with nature. Instead of cultivating the same crops in straight rows, it's more about letting Nature work out what's best for a particular area. I have much to learn about it, but if done correctly the weeding should be minimum and the sheer variety of food and herbs will be massive. I smelled a bunch of different herbs, and made a delicious tea. Lemon balm, pineapple sage, several varieties of mint, and more. Straight heaven for my nostrils. 

Just like when I was in Ourimbah, here they have silos that collect rainwater and that's all they use. Awesome sausage. 

Sephie!

This is precicely the kind of place I'd want to raise a family. Good chunk of land. Permaculture style garden. In the countryside but still relatively close to the local city, which in this case is about fifteen minutes away, and thirty minutes from the beach. Perfecto.

For dinner Brigitte made Moroccan meatballs and I was dying it was so good. So refreshing to eat food that has character compared to the same food I've been eating the past five days straight. 

Skatin' Surfin' and Sharks

I woke up the second morning before the sun rose and explored the area, walking on a trail that went through the local campground, past a skate park, then out to the ocean. All in all, just about ten minutes from John's home to the beach.

Skatepark a few minutes from the beach. What a dream. Reminds me of back in high school when me and my buddies built a mini ramp (mini halfpipe) in my backyard and our pool was right there, so we'd skate it up, jump in the pool, skate some more, jump in the pool, and repeat for hours. 

It started pouring all the sudden and I had no choice but to booooooook it. The weather here is so bipolar, kinda like my mood sometimes. One moment sunny, the next it's raining buckets of rain and I'm getting soaked, but hey the rain feels good too. 

The beauty about the beach here in Evan's Head is that it's not touristy at all. No tourists come here, it's mainly just other Australians, and me of course. 

The reward for getting up early. The crib is the second house from the left. John's family upstairs. The travelers downstairs, which actually used to be a hostel, hence why there are two rooms full of bunk beds. 

I checked out a local thrift shop with the intent of buying a towel, but they didn't have any so I bought a few books for less than a dollar. I found a towel at a retail place but it was like 15 AU so I said screw it I'll just use a few shirts like I've been doing. During my super exhausting shift where I sat on a nice comfy chair for three hours I was digging into this book and it was awesome! I've never even owned a book of short stories but I guess it's time to get more. I think that's the style I'd prefer writing, and to an extent some of these blog posts are like lil short stories. I love writing creatively about my experiences, although coming up with a short story with my imagination would be an entirely different challenge. And actually, come to think of it, I sat on that chair for maybe two hours. The other hour was spent stretching and kicking around an Australian football with some little Auzzie dudes. 

The birds here are truly the greatest.

I went paddle boarding just after sunset and it was my very first time ever. So relaxing and serene. I was so focused on staying afloat, then I heard some sounds coming from far away. Oh yeah. The bats! I just stood there, while the sky was fading from violet to deep red to a lighter red-orange, watching the seagull sized bats form two huge cylinder like shapes, like two big black fragmented tunnels in the sky. As they got closer to me and the forest they dispersed. All I could think was "where is my batsuit so I can join em and eat some delicious wild fruit!"

Got a solid game of poker going tonight. The noobie Malcom won ah ha. We watched an episode of Doomdsay Preppers, and we were all laughing so much. Wow. What a show. Hysterical, but also a bit sad that some people live with so much fear about "what could happen."

A New Day

Malcom told me last week there was a shark alarm where everyone had to evacuate the water. It didn't really make much of a difference to me, I was gonna shred some waves cuz it's been way too long! I'm a rookie when it comes to surfing but it was still super fun, and you know if a shark came up to me I would just rip it's eyes out. In all honesty, I'm kinda insane in that for a while now I've actually wanted a massive shark to come at me so I can face my fear head on. Yeah, I'm crazy.

It was a stunning day today. After a morning surf sesh and my shift at the surf shack I made some lunch, the same lunch I've had for the past few days. Brown rice with onions, peas, butter, and coconut milk. Then stripped most of my clothes off so I could roast in the sun while I took the paddle board out for the second time now. It was beautiful and relaxing, except for when I looked down at my paddle in the water and a sting ray bolted away at lightning speed that shocked me for a moment because of the sheer speed. I went under a bridge where people were fishing, then came to a shallow island in the river where countless birds were posted up. There were a group of pelicans straight ahead, who are really some of the funniest goofiest birds ever, so I started stealthfully and silently putting my paddle in the water inching closer and closer to the birds. I get about ten feet away and jump out and sprint as fast as I can across the island, the pelicans taking off like giant 747's into the sky, as well as countless other birds. Pure joy. 

The Surf Shack

Woke the first morning in Evans Head feeling good and elated to be in an entirely different place. I found out from the guys that John (our host) only provided accommodation and not food, which was definitely surprising because that wasn't stated in his profile, but I was told we can use the kayaks, paddle boards, and surfboards so that kinda made up for it. I met John who came down to tell us what the day looked like, and he was very straightforward and to the point and told us exactly what we needed to do (the guys obviously already knew). This is the first host I've stayed with who lives a totally separate life. He lives upstairs with his family, and we aren't to go up there unless it's an emergency. Kind of cool at the same time though, because we all have our own space to hangout.

Me and Malcom were on the first shift, where he'd show me how to do everything. All the work here is simply to rent out different goodies to people like kayaks, paddle boards, and surfboards near a popular campground that is just up from the house. John has a trailer with everything in it that he drops off, and then we rotate shifts just chillin by the stand doing whatever we want. There were two kayaks that needed to be brought up to the shack, so instead of carrying them me and the Swedish dude put em down in our literal backyard and went up the river. On the sand was a small army of tiny crabs that had shiny blue shells, like stained glass, that scattered away burrowing into the sand becoming invisible in a matter of seconds. So cool!

Such a spot to work, if you'd even call it that. Life is goooood. Me and Malcom just hungout and talked for a few hours, then I went to go shopping for some food, and would return when they were closing up shop. At the local store up the street, which I skateboarded to, I bought eggs, butter, brown rice, onions, peas, oats, coconut milk, bananas, and milk that would last me for the next five days. It cost me 35 AU. Not too shabby.

I took a lil nap in the afternoon, helped close up shop, and then the rest of the night was free. Had some great conversation with the guys. Malcom has a summer home in the Archipelago Islands off the coast of Sweden that made me think damn there is truly an unlimited amount of places to explore in this world. Laurence grew up in London and has been on the road for some time now, traveling all over Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan with some buddies, and then came to Australia alone.

As the sun was setting, eating my brown rice with onions, peas, butter, and coconut milk, Laurence said (in his English accent of course), "you gotta see this man!" I went outside and above me, covering the sky, were thousands and thousands of seagull sized bats that were flying over to the nearby forest to forage for wild fruit. Wow. I've never seen anything like it. 

12 Hours North

Having been in Newcastle under a week, with only three weeks left before my plane ride back to the motherland, I messaged several hosts along the coast. I was thinking about staying with a friend of Pieter's (first guy I stayed with near Sydney) but I had a host come through in Evan's Head so I swooped up that opportunity. This would be the biggest jump yet for me. I found a ticket so cheap it seemed like a scam almost. $40 total for a ten hour train ride north and an additional two hour bus ride. For how expensive Straya' is I was stoked on that.

Packed everything up, including some goodies for the road. Small bag of mixed nuts, one avocado, one tomato, and two oranges. Five minutes before we left to the train station, it started pouring down an insane amount of water. The weather here is so bloody unpredictable. Just walking out to the car right in front of the home, putting all my stuff in the back, I was half drenched. I said my quick goodbyes, got dropped off at the Newcastle station about fifteen minutes away, and walking up the hallway to where I'd be boarding the train, I stopped next to a darker man with glasses. The first thing he said was, "well you pack light." Indeed I do. We sparked some serious heartfelt conversation. He hadn't had a home for a while, sleeping at friends places, and outside in his tent. He said, "I ran a very lucrative business." And was telling me about how he'd given money to help out friends, and one of them used that money to start his own drug empire. Another friend who he grew up with from a very young age took the money and flew to Japan and has never returned. Craziness. He was headed back up to the Gold Coast where he had some legal issues he needed to take care of with his landlord. The man had heart, even though in his own words he said, "I could have become a very cynical man."

From all the experiences I've had I know I have a gift with people, but I don't know if I'd even label it as that, it's just who I am. I genuinely care about people, and I don't judge. Some people may say they are loving and accepting people, yet the only people they love and accept are their family and friends. To me, in my heart, that is a very limited form of love. That's easy. It's easy to love family and friends. It takes so much more character to genuinely love a complete stranger, a bum smoking a cigarette on the street, someone who's beliefs are starkly different than your own, someone who comes from an entirely different background than you, and so on. That's why I don't hold such limiting beliefs as cigarettes are bad, alcohol is bad, drugs are bad, it's bad to be gay or lesbian or trans, swearing is bad (since when is a combination of sounds coming out of my mouth bad? who makes up this shit?), tattoos are bad, etc. Because what does that do when you see someone who's covered in tats? Or smoking a cigarette? Or a gay couple walking together? Automatically, unconsciously, it essentially separates you from that person or couple because you hold a belief that it's bad or a sin to do such things, and then it's unlikely you will interact with that person or couple, much less become friends. Ummmm yeah, I'd rather not separate myself from millions and millions of awesome people. Never.

I boarded the train, after the man I was talking to boarded a different section, and I knew I'd never see him again. The next ten hours was spent riding over countless rivers, bridges, in the countryside, near the ocean, past banana farms and other wild looking plants, on a train ride that felt like it was on its way to some mysterious unknown land called Hogwarts it was so unbelievable, all the while sitting next to a kiwi named Barbara. She grew up living the quiet life, but once given the chance, headed straight to Straya' because she never liked the quiet life. She wanted to hit up the pubs and city life. On traveling days like this I usually just go hungry because I travel cheap. Barbara bought a sausage roll, and after declining it at first, she insisted and I very much enjoyed it. Fruit could never fill me up. I had an epiphany on the train and realized my video camera takes pictures! That made me so happy.

Had a short break in Grafton, and now was on a two hour bus ride up to Evans Head, a small non touristy beach town. I whipped out the bag of mixed nuts I brought and put in some tunes. Soon after we drove past an awesome looking carnival going on with heaps of lights, rides, and stands on the outskirts of a local school's soccer field. The nuts tasted funky, and it wasn't until about an hour later, I turned the light on above me to take a further look and I noticed blue and white mold. Yuck. But I had nothing to get the taste out of my mouth. I guess that's an example of how tolerant I am. Just sitting there eating moldy nuts for an hour, but not stopping because it's all the food I had.

Finally arrived at Evans Head and walking outside the driver was handing my bags to some randy joe, after being confused for a moment, he said in his Swedish accent, "you must be Andrew." He looks younger than me, distinctly different, his name is Malcom. He's from Sweden. We made it to the home a few minutes away, and it's right next a body of water, looks like a river. I met another workaway-er named Laurence who is from London. I was super tired and super hungry at that point, so I washed the taste of moldy nuts out of my mouth with stale corn flakes and milk, then went straight to bed in a room that had six other bunk beds, but I had it to myself. 

Bali inspired Huts

For my work here that's what I've primarily been helping with. Michael is a carpenter, who on the side, makes Bali inspired huts out of straw. Australians love traveling to Bali, Thailand, and Indonesia. It's all relatively close, very cheap, and totally different. All I do is separate a big clump of straw into four groups, then pull each small pile together, and use two black zipties an inch apart at the bottom, tighten it, and finally cut the slack off. I've said it before but I really do like this kind of work for a few hours at a time. The simplicity and repetitiveness is entrancing. I think there is so much value in training your mind to focus on one thing. One thing. In this day and age of an unlimited amount of information and distractions, the whole idea of multi-tasking is totally bogus in my mind. It just spreads yourself thin, spreads your focus too thin. I would rather work to train my mind so that when I have a task in front of me my mind becomes like a laser beam and I just get it done, smashing through the challenge like a beast, rather then doing a million different things with scattered energy. For me, that's how shit gets done. It's probably one of the best habits I've created over the past few years. Obviously I have my moments of laziness and moping around, but when I have something in front of me that needs to be done, I just do it. All the way down to simple things like making my bed, keeping my room clean, doing the dishes, exercising. It's all habit, and this one will serve me the rest of my days.

Heather, Michael, and Siren all headed out to work in the morning, along with Tasman and Kaitlin who had school, so I finished my work then loaded my camelbak up and explored the city, eventually finding a nearby skatepark. Hell yeah. It was lodged in between a road and a park that held sports games like rugby and soccer. It was just me and two kids, one on a short board, one on a scooter. I cruized around for a bit, then started talking to these two little dudes. After hearing my voice, one asked me, "Where you from?" I said, "America." To which he said, "oh I love America."I asked him, "Yeah why is that buddy?" Starting to laugh, he stated, "cuz they say the N word a lot." Ahhhhhaha. Too good. He wanted to show me a picture he took of a car on his cracked screen, but he said the only way to see was to put the phone under my shirt and stick my head under. His Strayin' accent is priceless. Then I asked him what was written on the top of his board. He smiled at me, "Fuck." The next few hours I let them borrow my board on and off and we did some quality shreddin'. I was drinking out of my camelbak and he was thirsty, so I let him have as much as he wanted. He came back to me after he went over to a middle aged man sitting on a bench in the distance. I found out that a different person watches over him during the day and then at night. With no discernible sadness in his tone, he said, "my parents didn't want me anymore." Apparently his day time caretaker thought I was feeding the kid booze via my camelbak. What? He walked over to him with some water in his mouth and spit it out in front of him. "See! It's just water!" This kid has such a raw mature sense of humor I've never seen in a kid that young. I love it. He told me how he wants to go to America cuz they have strip clubs. I said, "well I bet they have them here too." Then holding out his imaginary pen and paper, "Ok where?! Sydney?! Gold Coast?! Where?! Huh?!" Ah ha. Before I left I told him with my attempted accent, "I reckon I'm gonna be leaving soon mate." He shot back, "I reckon you're not gonna leave, or I'll kick your ass." Ahhh man I love this kids punk spirit. I walked home wondering where he'd end up. He has a different caretaker morning and night. Parents who completely left him for unknown reasons. Wow. I wish him the best. The kid made me laugh so much.

Another day Heather had a yoga class near an awesome spot with some free museums, shops, cafe's, and a super long super scenic pier along the ocean. I brought along the essentials, my skate, camelbak, and camera. Wow this is awesome. I started taking pictures, then checked to view them, nothing. Blackness. Took a few more. Nothing. Blackness. My heart sunk. Noooooooo. Fuckin fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Shit, Damnit. No. No. No. Noooooo. My camera is broken. From the fall over the bridge the other day. I let out my anger and frustration for the next ten minutes, then let it go. Whatever. I guess I won't be able to take pics the rest of my trip. Poop. I bolted down the pier on my skate all the way to the very end which took me close to thirty minutes. Incredibly beautiful. But no pictures for everyone. I guess those images are just for my mind only. Later that night. Ghostbusters with the fam. So classic. I hadn't seen that movie for years and years.

Heather was a surrogate for a gay couple, which I think is awesome for gay couples to be able to experience having kids. She just had her baby recently. Even though she sees her daughter every week, there's no way I'd personally be able to give my kid away like that.

To each his own

I made my homemade surprisingly healthy chocolate and peanut butter fudge with Kaitlin and everyone loved it. A few days later, I went into the kitchen and Kaitlin was making it again by herself. Made me smile. 

The baby kitten tried sleeping with me one night. Curling right up on my head, then over my neck. Finally after waking up several times that was enough. The kitten is at such a fun stage. It's so playful and curious about everything. I've been saying it (to myself) for a while now that I want a cat so badly. Ever since Sicily I fell in love with cats and their mysterious playful innocence. 

Journey to Newcastle

Knowing that I only had a month left, I planned to travel around as much as possible, so I lined up another host in the city of Newcastle a few hours north, near the coast of course. I said my goodbyes to the family, who were wonderful hosts, and got dropped off at the Ourimbah train station. 

When I arrived at the Newcastle station all I had was the address, but I had no idea where their house was. I asked someone that was working and he stopped what he was doing, looked up on google maps, and showed me the map and explained everything. Man the people here are awesome.

With my green back pack on, camelbak in my left hand, and my skateboard with my camera covered in a crimson red beanie in my right hand, I took a shortcut through a huge park and across a bridge. I put my skateboard down the first moment I was on some smooth pavement, then continued riding across the bridge. A little more than halfway across the bridge, I saw a crack coming up ahead, and it was teetering on the edge of being too big for my skateboard wheels to be able to cross it, but I took the chance. Not a good idea. I lifted up my front trucks easily clearing it with the front part of my board, but my back wheels got caught, and from the weight of my pack, I got hurled straight down into the pavement with surprising velocity, scraping into the small pebbles that made up the top layer of the bridge, dropping my camera, and hearing it tumble and crack across the pavement inching its way closer and closer to the ledge, as I screamed in terror, "NOOOOOOOO." And then looking behind me and seeing my skateboarding rolling along right toward the edge. "NOOOOOO." My camera was inches away from falling down into the river, forever destroyed, and my skateboard luckily was stopped from the railing. I didn't move for a moment, in a bit of shock, the weight of my backpack pressing me against the pavement, looking over at my camera with the flash that popped up from the drop. Goodness. That was bone headed.

I got up and collected pieces of cords and electronics that had fallen out of my pack. My lens cap. Nooooo. Where's my lens cap? Shoot. I looked all over. It must have fallen, but I didn't see it anywhere. O well. An older lady walked past me and I said, "mehh could've been worse." I continued on, blood oozing down my elbow and knee. I could have been mad. Very mad and upset. But five minutes later I was laughing about it thinking that well, it's a good story. I asked a few people, showing them the address, where this place was, and finally made it.

55 Henry St. Tighes Hill, NSW, 2297.

I knew no one was gonna be home, but Heather left the door open for me and told me in a message what room I'd be using. It's a fairly small whitish-blue home with a white fence in front. I walked in and entering my new room was a colorful twin bed in the corner, a sign that said Tasman's Room, another sign that had scribbly handwriting, Tasman is awesome. Surrounding the room, containers of legos and toys, trains and stuffed animals. A room that could only be inhabited by the pure innocence of a child. I put my bags down, cleaned up my wounds, laughing some more, then in the corner of my eye saw something move. "Hello?" I walked over to the door by the kitchen and it was a bunny hanging out with a cat and her baby. I picked up the baby kitten and checked out their back yard that had a patio area with two couches, plants and herbs growing behind it, two sheds (one still in progress), and a little gated off area with a few chickens. I was lying on their mini trampoline with the kitten on my stomach with the bunny right below us, when I heard something in the home.

I kind of startled Heather when I walked back in the kitchen door, but she knew it was me. I met the dude himself. Tasman. He was carrying a little loaf of bread he had just made at school and implored me to try it. It was slightly raw, but I picked off a pea sized piece and put it in my mouth. "Mmmmmm." Heather began cutting up some cheese, different meats, pickles, tomatoes, and avocado. An afternoon snack with crackers and mayo. That's when a little spiderwoman came running in through the front door. It was the neighbor across the street, with probably the cutest accent on this planet. I said, "look you gotta put your fingers like this then you can shoot out spider web, see? Schooo. Schoooo."

I learned that Heather had traveled all over the world for five years back in her earlier days. She was originally planning on majoring in mechanical engineering, but because of her travels, she discovered her passion for nature, and so now through her company she talks to cities and different organizations on everything about climate change and how to be more sustainable, etc. At this point she has literally hosted over a hundred people in her home. Wow. That very well could be me in the future. In my experience it seems that people who've had time to really travel (and I don't mean flying to an exotic location and staying at a nice hotel for a week) tend to have a clear sense of what they want to do, and are generally more open minded.

I met another dude who lives here named Siren. Originally from the eastern part of the north island of New Zealand. His dreads are so on point it makes him look like a more sophisticated hippie. He's chill, of course. How could someone with such classy dreads not be chill? He's an artist for a local magazine company. And Michael who is Heather's current partner. Aaaand little Kaitlin.

Everyone except Siren were headed to a local mall and they asked me to come so I did. Australia is really like America in so many ways, yet as far as the nature aspect and the language quirks, it's a totally different world. That night after seeing how good I was with Tasman, who is autistic, Heather said, "you'd be great working with kids."  

Cool Stories n Stuff

A little bit about the family. Both Ali and Geoff are teachers. Ali also does photography work for weddings with one of her sons friend who does the cinematography. Years back one of Darsy's friends asked Ali to help him take pictures for a local wedding, and from that they started doing more and more, getting clients from word of mouth and through social media, and now they fly all over, to places like Fiji, New Zealand, and New York. All expenses paid. It's nuts how much people spend on weddings these days. Good for Ali though! 

I had a great conversation with Ali about the school system while we were sippin' on herbal tea. She is so great. Her pure love reminds me of my Mom. She agreed with me that the school system is good in some ways, but so very limited. It just reinforced in my mind of the fact that I'm gonna go a different route when I have my own kids. 

On a morning walk kookaburra's lined a wooden fence sitting so peacefully. They have a look that seems as if they can recognize me. Their heads slowly turning as I walk past. Also, in the distance,a family of cockatoo's sitting on a tree like huge white ornaments on a Christmas tree. Huge white ornaments with neon yellow-green mohawks.

The road they live on doesn't have running water so they all have huge silos that collect rain water, and if they do run out, which rarely happens, the city will come and refill it. Where they live feels very much like the countryside, yet it's only fifteen minutes to the nearest beach. I went with Ali and Geoff to one of their favorite spots at a local beach where they usually go once a week at least, and I brought my goggles and did some snorkeling. The water was a clear turquoise and I saw small groups of colorful fish that were so flat it looked like they were in 2D. The sand on the bottom shaped like miniature mountains rolling along as far as the visibility would let me see, and the sun beaming through the water leaving traces of visible glowy light against the texture of the water. Magic. 

So much awesome wildlife out here. One year at the local Uni there was a bird that collected all the blue rubbish it could find (pieces of cups, lids, wrappers, etc) and made a little hut of some sort near the ground level, with what looked like a stage (all blue of course) in front of it, and it did a mating dance on the stage!

Also, in this area they have the infamous funnel web spiders, who can sense your presence from around three meters away and have been known to literally chase people around. They look like tarantulas with a shiny black color and pincers that can go through fingernails! Even people that wear gloves still get bitten, and if not treated quickly, it can be a fatal. I never saw one.

The lyrebird is one of the most unbelievable creatures I've ever heard of. They can mimic a crazy amount of different sounds. Ali said they used to have one near their home that would mimic a phone ringing and they always got tricked out by it cuz it sounded EXACTLY the same. Wow. It mimics dozens of different birds, and loads of more human sounds as well, like phones, cameras, chainsaws, dishwashers, etc.

This mushroom literally grew to the size of a huge dinner plate in the matter of a few days. 

I checked out the local skatepark and was trying a nollie shove it to rock to fakie on a quarter pipe, and one foot got stuck on the board so i did the splitz and slammed the ground hard. Skateboarding is gnarly. I had to lie down for a bit then I got up and tried the same trick, and stomped it. That's what it's all about, fall hard, get up and do the same trick and land it like a boss. 

It was before the sun was up. I was lying in my twin bed in the caravan surrounded by a purple-ish pink mozzie net to keep the critters out. I had just woken up. 

I try to wake up with awareness. Take some deep breaths. Not just notice my surroundings, but feel my surroundings. It's so crucial to my sense of joy and peace and well being, to just be present. To just be. I've learned this from experience, when I just dwell in my head, or the past and future which is just a thought form, it takes away from the only moment that Is. The present moment. 

I started meditating and asking myself what times in my life have I been the happiest? And why? And it all comes back to the people. It's all about the people. Relationships.

When I walked outside to the parking lot on the side of the Uni, which still feels very much in the bush, Ali was lying on the grass looking up at the sky. When we were driving back Ali said one her friends told her to, at least once a day, lie on the grass and look up at the sky. What a gem.

Cuz Ali said the certain kind of sprouts we ate for dinner can make your armpit smell different, like it did back in her hippy days. 

I was teasing Toby with all the terms like, "yeah goodday mate, yeah cheers mate. She be right, couple a days mate, couple a days. Oh too right, tweasy mate. Fair dinkum mate. Ridgy didge mate, ridgy didge. Ah ha." He held up a pair of scissors and said, "I'll cut your hair!" 

Umina Beach

As for the work I've been painting some baseboards in their home. Super easy and relaxing. I've found that I really do like jobs like that for a few hours at a time. Simplicity is like a form of meditation for me.

Geoff asked me what I felt like doing today and I said skateboarding and beach time. All the fellas are crazy into soccer and Toby had a game near Umina beach so Geoff dropped me off at the train station early in the morning, let me use his Opal card which payed for my ticket, and I was off. Toby's game wasn't until later in the afternoon so I had the whole day to myself to check out the area, which included an awesome park with a dope skatepark and a beach a few minutes away. I loaded my trusty camelbak with water, two apples, a quarter jar of tahini, two sandwiches, and some nuts. Ready to go.  

I didn't want to pay for my cheap phone that I wasn't really using anyway so I smashed it on the ground, then trashed it. 

Beautiful sunny weather and unbelievable train rides. Australia is a masterpiece.

When I arrived at the beach I checked everything out, looked at the park, and for the next several hours I cruized the skatepark, floated in the ocean, roasted on the beach, savored my food, and repeated that process again and again. I'm so comfortable in my own skin, and I know I am that way mainly due to traveling the world alone without much technology.

The quote "ready, aim, fire" couldn't be any more wrong in my mind. It should be "ready, fire, aim."

You don't need to prepare, just begin. Just go for it.

While I was skatin' there were little league soccer and Australian football games goin on, people grilling up various goodies on the flattop grills that dot most parks here (love that), and families having a nice laidback afternoon.

Tonight me and Toby were hanging out and I asked him what movie he wanted to watch. He recommended that we watch Jackass. He's 11. Ah ha man I love this place.