Koala Bear

My time finally came one morning when I saw a Koala for the first time ever! It was right in the front yard. A really curious creature. When I went back inside to show Brigitte and Doug I said something like, "so do all Koala's have red eyes?" Looks a lil demented. It has some sort of disease that causes blindness. Normally, Koala's are designed to go from Eucalyptus tree to Eucalyptus tree and never touch the ground. The problem is due to deforestation and trees being taken out to build homes, etc, the Koala's are forced to go down to the ground level, and that's where they catch certain diseases. Poor guy.

After my work today I took a swim.... completely naked. T'was very nice indeed. During dinner I learned more about the whole work system here in Straya'. It makes so much more sense to me and America should be taking notes. If you work Saturday. Time and a half. Sunday. Double time. If you work late at night. Time and a half. Genius. This kind of system is much more balanced. Although the cost of living is pricey, the wages are extremely good. If someone has to work two or three or four jobs just to get by that is proof enough of a flawed system.

A spider creeping through the home. No one cares. In the words of Brigitte, "it's proof of a balanced ecosystem." I agree with that statement. 

Mmmm sunsets in Straya'. 

What a dreamy back porch view. 

On Saturday Doug and Brigitte gave me a lil tour of the nearby town of Lismore, stopping at a local market. That's always one of my favorite places to be in the world. A local farmers market. Where people gather with the highest quality home grown food to enjoy each others company and share. I love it. All the smells, The samples. The music. The people cooking and sharing what they love. Such a nourishing place to be. Connecting with the local environment by eating it, and meeting people who share that same passion.

Also we stopped at a retirement duplex that Doug has been building for a while. The main thing I've learned from Doug is to be proud of what you do. Be proud of the work that you do. I don't understand how someone can work a job for years and years that they hate, just for the illusion of safety and comfort. Or working a job you're not passionate about. I understand it may be necessary from time to time, but I will never choose safety and comfort over following my dreams. I don't care what the risk is.

I was lucky enough to be here on Doug's birthday and wow was that a treat. Brigitte made one of the best meals I've ever had. She made a salad, and I can't help but partially drool just thinking about it. Yes. A salad. Some of the best bites of food in my life. She made it with roasted pumpkin (a dark green variety with orange spots that was on a totally different level taste wise) and sweet potato, shallots, red onions, lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, avocado, coriander, mint, curried macadamias and cashews and then the dressing was lemon/lime juice, olive oil, garlic, chili, ginger, fish sauce, and honey. Most of the ingredients came straight from the garden. Served with a delicate piece of white fish. Wow. They had some nice champagne. I opted for the filtered rain water. 

During the five days I've been here Brigitte and Doug have told me a lil bit about the woman who lives in the basement. She is bipolar. One morning at like 7:30am she started blasting screamo rock music, and I mean blasting. We couldn't help but laugh. Some nights, or at random times during the day, she would yell complete gibberish. My last night I woke up around 1:00am and I went over into the kitchen area where the window was cracked open with my notepad and pen. She was right below me. 

"Welcome to my world. Welcome to hell. Yeah come around the corner aaaaaaand, raise this!"

And then a genuinely bone chilling laugh came out of her mouth that kinda freaked me out. 

"I told you they're cold." 

My only interaction with this woman was when I was on the ride mower doing the lawn in front of her porch and she was outside hanging clothes on the line and she looked at me, smiled, and mouthed "thank you." 

Brigitte gave me a bottle of local macadamia nut butter and this coin for Anzac Day. Anzac Day is April 25 and one of Australia's most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australia and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

I got a response back on workaway.info from a gay couple about thirty minutes away, and judging by the reviews I was in for one hell of a treat. On Sunday early afternoon a car pulled in and I said my goodbyes to Brigitte and Doug and some hello's to my new hosts. Adventure time...   

Hipster town of Byron Bay

Because they don't live near public transportation Brigitte offered to drop me off at Byron Bay (less than an hour away on the coast) before work and then pick me up after she got off in the evening. Being here in Straya' I've heard all about Byron Bay. It's famous for being a hipster town full of great local food, juice bars, alternative healing modalities like reiki/energy work, and loads of man buns and beards.

We made a stop on the way in the town of Lennox Head where Brigitte told me she used to bring her kids here every weekend and it's one of those less busy/touristy beaches. 

And literally right across the street... a fresh water lake. 

I made it to Bryon Bay and already noticed a higher dreadlocks to normal hair ratio. I stopped at the local library for a bit to check out possible places I could go next then I headed down to the beach.. of course. The beach. One of the most tranquil places ever. 

What a day. Found a nice spot to post up and enjoyed the scenery sippin' on my filtered rain water.

Top left is the famous Cape Byron light house. 

Somewhere in between my sessions of swimming and floating and roasting on the beach I heard the sound of a guitar as if the trees behind me were jammin' out. Probably due to the LSD I took a few hours previous..

Kidding.. ah ha. Gotcha. I walked closer to the trees to take a closer look and shouted some rubbish like "ayyyyy what's goin on in there mate." Then... a response... but not from a tree. It was a dude. He appeared out of nowhere and I journeyed into the small open area where he had a tent setup and a lone guitar. We had a chill conversation and he said he was simply taking a break. He'd been living here in the patch of forest lining the beach for a few weeks. At one point I said something like, "so who else has seen your place here?" To which he said, "no one, you're the first". Mmmm I seem to have a knack for complete strangers welcoming me into their home. I listened to him play guitar for around thirty minutes then found a nice quiet patch of grass to take a power nap. 

After using a futuristic terminator style bathroom that had a sliding door, touchscreen buttons, and a robotic voice that said how much time you had left, it was about nighttime. 

As the day turned to night the parks filled up with people playing music, games, and throwing fire.

Solid end to a magical day in Bryon Bay. 

Exploring. It's what I do.

Brigitte works in rehabilitation and Doug builds stuff so they were off in the morning. We talked about the work for the day briefly and I immediately finished it like a beast in a few hours, then I did as anyone would, walk around the house with nothin but my penguin boxers on, making tea from freshly picked herbs, and cooking up some creations in the kitchen.

View from the road in front of their home. 

The work that I did the first morning. Just gave this trail a nice haircut on both sides, then used a wheelbarrow to bring the clippings up to be composted. Beautiful weather! Like it's been the past month and half straight. 

The pool that Doug built himself. Later he would tell me proudly all about the filtration device that he made himself. 

The Next Day

It hasn't even been two days but I'm ready for an adventure so after my work in the morning I ate a big lunch, filled my camelbak with water, and brought an apple and banana along, as well as my video camera. I started with their yard, then journeyed out on foot. I started a little after noon, so I knew I had a little more than five hours before the mosquitoes carrying all sorts of freaky stuff would come buzzing around. 

Soon after I started it was dead silent. Nothing. Another reason I won't raise a family in a busy city. No silence. I saw a spider web that went over the road and it was so thick it looked like I could walk on it like a tightrope. Entertainment for the trip included me spying on nature with my 35x zoom camera lens, talking to myself in different voices, going into properties for sale and filming myself like it was MTV Cribs, and stopping in the middle of a three way intersection to take a glorious piss.

 Taking its last few breaths. 

Right when I was walking past this Halloween style bunny a car ran right over it. 

Cuz I know everyone wanted to see that. 

Whoopsie. I'm spotted. 

Sup bro you look a lil squashed. 

Crispy fried. 

The plant and animal life in Straya' is of a different world.