Green Frogs & New Zealand Guava

Unfortunately Bruce had to leave for almost a week to get some dental work done in Sydney, but it's still been a great time. I've been helping Llan put in some insulation into Bruce's new space by the garage, but mainly I've just been sanding the wall and getting it ready to be painted.

I've been waking up around five in the morning everyday and I love it. Early to bed early to rise is the only way to be. I find that if I start my day early I can dedicate the first few hours to exercise, nutrition, reading, and sometimes meditation (just sitting and focusing on the air coming in and out of my nostrils). Whenever I start my morning like that it's always a better, more productive day.

I walked around the corner this morning and Llan was on the elliptical blasting Katy Perry... pure joy.

Most spectacular morning here, just walking up the street as the mist crept up all the way to where I was and slowly enveloped me. 

Aaaand... a dead brown snake. 

One of my all time favorite pictures... it's perfect. 

More goodies I didn't know existed. 

What does that look like? A clump of trees and plants? Think again..

An outside shower! Two showers to be exact. One of the first things I'm doing when I have my own land is building an outside shower and a spacious slightly raised colorful bathtub hidden in my permaculture style garden, surrounded by fragrant flowers. Why? Because it's the most medicinal thing in the world. 

I always take my shower when the sun is setting, and I had an interesting interaction one night. As I was showering Llan comes out butt-ass naked and proceeds to take a shower right next to me. It was weird for maybe like a second and then I just let it go, and we continued our conversation we had ten minutes prior. That's how chill I am ha. Didn't even care. Just two humans getting their bodies clean. I had a train of thought afterwards when I was changing in my room about different societal and cultural norms. Some cultures literally cover up their entire bodies (well women anyway) and some view nakedness as totally ok and acceptable. I thought back to the time when I was in Sicily having a conversation with Mattias and he said back in Germany and many other parts of Europe they have spas/saunas where whole families will go.. completely naked. But he said it actually feels really natural, like it's not weird at all. In other words, what is so very wrong to one culture is so very ok and acceptable in another. In my mind it's one of those things that's circumstantial. Frankly, I'm excited to have my own land so I can garden and walk around naked and soak up some rays. I like feeling connected to the Earth that I live on. 

So zen-like. Nature baby! 

Llan took me out to dinner at a local cafe that turned into a solid wood oven fired pizza joint on the weekends. Such a great atmosphere. Everyone brought their own alcohol, glasses, and even lil appetizers, then the pizza was thrown in the oven fresh. That's where I met Gabe. Gabe was a cinematographer for a big news station for many years traveling all over the world. He had some awesome stories. After we got home Llan told me Gabe has an alterego. Her name is Gabriela. Yes, he has a secondary personality.

I was doing dishes aaaaaaand plop. I look on the window seal. It's a huge frog! 

Bruce told me he woke up in the middle of the night one time and he heard a high pitched yelping. Almost like a scream. It was this same type of frog stuck behind the oven. I'm telling you the sounds that the animal life makes here is like Jurassic Park on roids. I love it. 

"Yeeeea all this hoppin' around has me sweatin' like a gypsy with a mortgage mate. I reckon I'll let my blubber ooze over the wood... would you whack a couple of snags on the bobi for me? Ahhh good on yuh, cheers mate."

The five days Bruce was gone went by super fast. We had a lil dinner party when he got back and they invited some friends. Bruce is one hell of a host! One time they took a workaway-er on a yacht trip off The Gold Coast with champagne and everything. So awesome. 

Bruce gave me a haircut that started with a shampoo and massage, and all I could think was, "God bless this man." He said he doesn't really know someone until he does their hair. I told him, "do whatever you want." "Surprise me." He ended up thinning it out a bit, trimming my beard up nicely, and mainly cutting the long parts in back "to bring out my beautiful neck and facial structures." Ah ha. He did a great job. 

A Morning Walk

A little bit about Bruce. Bruce lived in Sydney for quite some time and owned his own night club. He then went to school for hair/makeup and became really known for that. He and his old partner had loads of money and traveled quite a bit. At one point he gave up a lot of that high class living and donated most of his material possessions (I'm talking Gucci suits and super expensive furniture). He had a second home in this area and always missed it when he went back to the city so he finally decided to move up here for good. He has his own space where he does hair in the home (and Llan is working on creating a new space for him attached to the garage), and people fly in from all over to get their hair done by the master. Also, he gets hired to do the hair/makeup for lots of people at housewarming parties and such. 

Years ago a chimney fell on Bruce's knee and his bone popped through the other side, so now he has a huge piece of metal in his leg, which you can hear every time he walks. Click. Click. Click. Kind of eerie sounding. 

I woke up super early today before the sun came up and was blown away just walking up their street. 

Ahhhh a lil morning mist. 

Absolutely stunning. And for those who don't know already I never edit any of my pictures. Natural color all the way. 

Morning dew. 

I've had a habit now for a while of crushing up plants in my hands, not only because I love all the different scents, but because it's medicinal. Studies are popping up now showing a link between just smelling certain plants and even just listening to a cat pur, to things like increased bone density. Nature is medicinal. I think we all know that at this point. Why do you feel so refreshed after a weekend camping or a simple trip to the lake? Because nature holds the vibration of healing. The problem with science is it will always be a million steps behind nature. My prediction is that science will continue to discover new medicinal aspects about nature for as long as it exists, and then pharmaceutical companies will jump in and try and make a giant profit on extracting one single compound from a plant or tree because at that point it becomes patent-able. But that mindset of extracting one single compound from a symphony of many will always cause side effects.  

Our current society is so out of whack. We are afraid of bacteria and because of that the food industry pasteurizes and irradiates almost everything. Not only that but we've bought into the nonsense of cleanliness. Sanitizers, soaps, detergents, and chemicals of all kinds that strip away our own innate bacterial defenders. 9/10 of our cells are foreign microbes. I think a crucial piece of the puzzle missing from modern day living is our lack of interaction with the bacteria and microbes that sustain us.  

Macadamias! 

Love all the creative mail boxes. Dopesauce. 

Llan taught me the morning routine of feeding all the animals and cooked up a mean breakfast of poached eggs, spinach, english muffins, sausage and hummus. The weather has been beautiful ninety nine percent of the time I've been here. No joke. My strategy to work my way north as fall turned to winter was a solid idea. Speaking of seasons, it's kinda weird enjoying the changing colors of fall when it's spring in Amurica!

I've been tasked with filling in the holes and sanding this entire wall. It's the last wall that needs to be done. Takes quite a bit of time but I've learned to enjoy simple jobs like this. And it's nice to be outside in the fresh air.

I spent a solid thirty minutes jammin out on the top platform to some nineties music. I love not needing approval or recognition to feel great about myself. 

Bruce cooked up a feast of roasted chicken, vegetables, and a reduced wine sauce that was umami-liscious. He's given me a few hugs just today. Such a loving guy. Or he just thinks I'm one hot dude. Ahaha I kid I kid. 

Flora & Fauna

The variety of plant and animal life here is like nothing I've ever seen before. It really is fascinating that Australia has so much life that you can find no where else on the planet. All of these pics were taken around their home. 

One of my favorite family of plants. Zingiberaceae. Ginger, cardamom, and turmeric belong in this plant family just to name a few. This is turmeric. The first one I've seen growing firsthand. 

I'm not even kidding this freaked me out.. I thought it was a giant spider at first ah ha. 

Giant almost basketball size Pomelo's.

Buddha's hand. Full of citrusy deliciousness. 

Finger limes! Never seen or tasted these before until now. 

Bruce & Llan have two sets of baby chicks, and the first morning I woke up the second family was hatching. Most of them hatched just fine but a couple didn't so we put them out on the table for nature to eat up. 

Oscar. What a gentlemen! 

These guys are called Guinea Fowls. They come from Africa and they do an excellent job at keeping the snakes away. 

Brothers. 

First family. 

Second family. Freshly hatched baby chickies! 

I found a book written by The Dalai Lama and opened it randomly and the words described exactly how I feel. 

"We cannot escape the necessity of love & compassion. This, then, is my true religion, my simple faith. In this sense, there is no need for temple or church, for mosque or synagogue, no need for complicated philosophy, doctrine, or dogma. Our own heart, our own mind, is the temple. The doctrine is compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights and dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately these are all we need, so long as we practice these in our daily lives, then no matter if we are learned or unlearned, whether we believe in Buddha or God, or follow some other religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no doubt we will be happy."