Great Expectations

Ok so I started to write a post and realised what utter bullshit it was hit select and deleted it all.

So this week I turn 25.

Its funny because when I was a child in my head 24 year people I saw down the street, working in shops or on TV I thought were proper grown ups. I always believed by the time I was 24 I would be a proper adult.

I would not be off gallivanting off around the globe living a shared house in Melbourne waitressing without a clue in the world about where my life would take me. That was not part of the plan. 

Twenty-four year old people looked like they had it all sorted. They had the beginnings of careers, responsibilities, long term boyfriends, flats that they’d made into homes and took two week holidays abroad somewhere.

I’m not sure if this is what I actually want or if it’s what I believe I should want but either way that hasn’t gone to plan.

Unlike Liz Gilbert I didn’t just collect National Geographics under my bed in a box, (for the purpose of this we’ll just pretend I don’t currently have a pile STA Travel magazines on my side,) I got an idea about a place I wanted to go and without a thought in the world booked the soonest flight there and then looked into the place afterwards when I would indulge in buying a Lonely Planet guide after browsing Waterstone’s for hours.

I’ve been told a fair few times that I should become a travel writer but I think there’s enough people in the world telling people what’s so great about a place and that they should visit. Who am I to tell people what they’d enjoy about a place. Everyone likes different things about places and people should judge for themselves what they want to go and see in the world. And the best places, well what’s the point in telling everyone else, because then they’ll just get spoilt.

I might not a clue what I’m doing with my life right now, and I think that I probably should now that I’m turning 25 but to be honest how many people really have a clue about what they’re ever doing in life. At least I’m enjoying not having any real reason not to say 'fuck it where’s my next flight to!'

I might not be minted when I’m old and my grandchildren might be a bit disappointed about this but when I’m looking back on my life I’m gonna have a hellva lot of good memories. 

Free writing 25/10

In my writing class, we start each session with what is known as free writing. You sit for ten minutes and write whatever it is that comes in to your head. Pen constantly on the paper. It doesn't even have to make sense. Its just whatever is in your head on paper, connecting your thought to your hand.

Here's my mind on October 25th.


What shall I do?

I have a whole world of opportunity available to me. I love Melbourne and I could easily stay here for the rest of my life if there were the right circumstances. Obviously right now I'm working in hospitality which is not my ideal or desired scenario but I am travelling after all. I think I've forgotten that fact.

Everyone, well not everyone but a lot of people I'm meeting or know are here for the long haul. They've moved or relocated here for some reason or another and I think perhaps being around people with these long term plans is making me think more of longevity than what I've had done before.

So, ok. Yes I love Melbourne. I'm perfectly happy here. Its a great place and I'm having a lot of fun. My writing class is great and so is going to the gym. Even all the drinking and socialising is brilliant. After all I am holiday! Although Marcin , my manager at work, would probably argue with that last point!

So for the future, what are my plans? Am I going to stay in Melbourne? Am I going to travel East or West? What about New Zealand, Fiji, even Asia... Cambodia, Vietnam? How about South America or even Latin America?

Then there's that road trip across the US, when shall I do that? I could get a Canadian WHV too or do I want to stay here in Oz for a few more years? There's so many questions. So many unanswered questions. When am I going to answer these questions? Will they ever be answered? I can't even answer that right now.

When the subject of the future comes up my mind draws a blank.

So Miss Field, what career do you see yourself in? Blank.
So what about lifestyle? Do you see your future family? Blank.
So where will you end up? Blank.
What about your friends, when will you see them again? Blank.
What do you want out of life? Well I guess I could answer that one. Not with the response you want though. I think I want to enjoy myself. I want to have fun. I want to love and be loved. I want to feel safe and satisfied. I just want to look back and to not have regretted anything.

The Wise Old Man Was Right

When I was in India back in 2009 I met a old man in the northern city of Varanasi. In actual fact he was a palm reader, but that's not really important right now. As we spoke to told me that there was one place in the world that I was meant to be, but as of yet I hadn't found it.

He said his place was Varanasi. This is where he was meant to be, but for me, it wasn't my home town, or even my home state or country. It was far away and that eventually I would find it. At the time I was nodding politely taking in everything he was telling me not trying to give any expressions on my face about anything. I didn't want him to think he was barking up the right tree and continue telling me things that he thought I wanted to hear. I guess I was trying to test him, see what he really thought of me, as he was supposed to be a palm reader after all.

He did tell me some specific things that actually were factors in my life, personal things that were hard to make general to everyone, so I listened closely to everything he told me.

This concept of happiness being far away I could quite believe. Although the cynical side of my thought 'Well yeah, I am travelling in India right now, I'm obviously curious about places far away!' but then again the contentment he spoke of was on a much deeper level, and I understood this.

So my point is this: I think he was right.

Just how right, I can't say at the moment but I'm pretty sure I'll find out.

I'm not saying this guy is some Yoda person who knows everything but he knew or could sense something.

Back in March of this year, when I left Sydney and spent a few weeks in Byron and the Yoga ashram I returned to Sydney and I was the happiest version of me I've ever been. As clichéd as it sounds I was on top of the world. The time out just made everything click and I realised my place was Australia. Where exactly I didn't know but there was something that made me come here- for I had no real reason or desire to- and its paid off.

This is life now though, not just some holiday and it doesn't even feel like I'm travelling right now. This is just real life. I have a job and a house. I'm going to the gym, I'm spending time with friends, I'm even attending night classes!

In fact it was probably the classes that made me realise just how much I love this place. After my first writing class I felt so inspired and comfortable with my life I knew this is where I was supposed to be.

Melbourne is not just my mango, but at the moment its my place. For how long, I'm not sure- but right now I have no desire to move on. Not yet anyway.

What actually happened?!

Where to begin?

Picture a large clock. As you’re watching the face the minute hand is racing around, with the hour hand not far behind creating a circular blur as they spin.

As more of the surroundings come into view people are moving in fast forward. They’re journeys are a blur, they’re movements unnaturally quick: walking, eating, drinking and laughing.  

You are now as aware of my last two months in Melbourne as I am.

My head feels so full of stuff that’s happened, but if you were to ask me what I’d seen or done I don’t think I could tell you very much.

My memories all feel like a distorted Tim Burton film. I know things happened but my memory of them doesn’t feel quite real.

As with everything I do, I’ve thrown myself into life in Melbourne 110 per cent.

I’m working two jobs, which amount to roughly 50 hours a week- one in a café and another in a bistro.

The café is busy and can be enjoyable although the staff aren’t really my kind and people and there’s not enough positivity for my liking, whereas the bistro has brilliant people and a great positive working environment and is by far my favourite of the two, which is why when offered full time hours I gladly accepted and I am leaving the café in two weeks.

Every free morsel of time I’m doing something.  I’ve become a big fan of the power nap just so I can fit more things into the day.

When I first moved to the city I had this lovely idea that I would have tons of free time and I’d take yoga classes and pick up some new hobbies. Those hobbies have turned out to be eating and drinking out, or as I like to say ’mealing.’

Melbournites love to go mealing. They catch up over coffee, they have reunions over dinner, they chat in the street stood at a pancake stand and review the latest football matches in crowds at bars.

 They are just plain sociable.

People call Melbourne the ‘most liveable city in the world.’ And they’re not wrong.

They’re always some kind of festival on. For instance last week the International Film Festival took over the city, with venues all other showing great films from all over the world and I managed to catch one called Sightseers. A fantastic British dark comedy, funny from start to finish and well worth the watch. Next week the Fringe Festival starts, followed by the beginning of the Melbourne Festival and then Fashion week.

If you’re a ‘doer,’ then get yourself to Melbourne, and if you’re not then you will be when you get here.

So I might not have any idea what I’m doing most of the time and my head might be a blur of activity but I’m enjoying life so much right now that it doesn’t even matter.

I think a good measure of how well your life is going is this: Look in your fridge. Mine’s bare- there’s some grapes and strawberries, an almost full bottle of milk that is close to the use by date and that’s it. I don’t have anything because I am never at home. I am too busy having fun. 

Make it or Break it in Melbourne

Coming back to Melbourne, I had no idea where to start. I had decided to come back but with less than a week to go I had no idea where I was going, barely a cent to my name and not a single plan in my head.

All I knew was that I had about $40 in my bank and an offer of a floor to stay on for a while.

It really was make or break.

I either got my act together or I was on the first plane back to Britain with my credit card taking the brunt of the cost and I would be back to square one minus a job, a home and an income. 

I decided to leave Annie on July 14th and head back to the city; although I'd loved every minute helping here out with her fury family, it was time to get back to the city and to the real life.

That weekend was awesome to catch up with Patrick again and his housemates Dave and Ben and when monday morning came around the job hunt was on.

By the end the of the week I'd had a trial at an Indian restaurant and offered a job, an interview at a cafe and offered a job there and a job offer at an bistro/bar.

Job sorted, the next thing was to find somewhere to live and with another week I'd found a room in a shared house to move into.

The fews days I was going to stay with the guys turned into a few weeks but it was definitley much appreciated and without their help I would have been back in the UK before I could even say, "Home to England for the Olympics!"

I've certainly taken a fair few chances in my travels but luckily for me I seem to have seven lives as I always land on my feet, however I do have a lot of people to thank for that and boy am I grateful to them all.

Somehow I'd done it again- my life was on track once again...  I had a job and a place to live and best of all I was now in Melbourne, living my Australian dream.

The Women with a Heart of Gold

From Sally's, I went straight to my next host Annie, an animal carer in Darraweit Guim, about an hour north of Melbourne. 

Only ten minute after getting in the door, I'm standing in the kitchen and I turn round to see a baby kangaroo hop towards me and I think: I love it here ALREADY.

It took me eight months to see a kangaroo in oz and now her I was sharing a kitchen with one! 

Not so long after Annie announces it time for feeding the babies and she passes me what looks like a koala wrapped up in a blanket to hold. It turns out to be a little wombat named yogi, but regardless what creature it was, my heart melted and I couldn't help but adore this tiny bundle of fur wrapped up in my arms.

Annie herself has got to be one of the most warm hearted people I ever met. She's opened up her home and spends her pension selflessly caring for orphaned and injured native wildlife. 

She has baby possums climbing up the bookcase and a make shift kangaroo pouch hanging of the arm of the couch housing a five month old baby kangaroo still naked as the day it was born. She nurses the orphaned young day and night bottle feeding them milk. 

Her home is set in the middle of her plot of land surrounded by enclosures for all those she rescued. Bird, possums, wombats, kangaroos and also her own pig and chooks. 

She lives almost completely self-sufficient on the food she grows her self in her vegetables patches. 

In my eyes, Annie is the epitome of what makes a good wwoof host. She genuinely cares about meeting new people of learning about their lives as well as sharing her own. She also leads a life that completely different to most others and offers a real experience for someone who is volunteering with her.

Her passion is infectious, just as her love of Doctor Who and Harry Potter is.  You find your self just as addicted as her with no idea when you started watching the clock waiting for Doctor Who to start or how you managed to watch all eight Harry Potter films in one week.

Without a doubt, the month i spent with Annie has got to be one of the most amazing things i've done while in Australia and just as i told her when I left...I will definitely be back. 

The Lavender Ladies

Going the hard physical nature of caring for horses to the relaxed life of the lavender ladies was a refreshing change for a couple of weeks.

The lavender ladies are a mother and daughter who own a lavender farm in a place called Nar Nar Goon south east of Melbourne and made their own lavender products which they sell nationwide.

By the time I went there to help them out, the lavender was no longer in season so I spent a large portion of my time helping the daughter prepare the products for sale although a few days a week I spent down at the farm with the mother (a 78 year old women with the strength of a 25 year old man!) cutting down trees and preparing bonfires, however we also chased the 25+ Jersey cows, which is had in one of her paddocks, when they mischievously got out from time to time!

Sally, the daughter, was a nice enough person although she bordered on the side of boring even though she did rock and roll dancing for her hobby. She was meticulous on everything, especially on time and I never felt that I could fully relax around her for this reason. She was also one of those people that always felt that they had top fill a silence to make it comfortable, which in turn makes it feel uncomfortable. Some times its just best to shut the hell up.

Her mother, Jane, was also very similar but I enjoyed my time with her a lot more. It was also great to get outside and do some more physical work out in the sunshine, plus she lived in a five star b & b at the farm and made some amazing food for a man who would stay during the week which was a bonus.

We chatted about books,TV and experiences and while I was there I finally read Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird, a book that I absolutely loved and couldn't believe it took me that long to read!

It was a peaceful couple of weeks but after the exhausting month I'd spent at the stables I tghink it was just what I needed!

Horses at Hoddles Creek

 As amazing as Melbourne was to me I really just wanted get my specified work finished (which I needed to do to be able to apply for a second year visa,) so I didn't have to think about it any longer and it was out of the way. So just after a few days staying with Patrick I left and headed for a place called Hoddles Creek, about an hour and a half east outside of the city.

While I was staying with Ineka and John (in Beauty Point, Tassie) I'd got in touch with a host that I'd found in my wwoof book, (a list of people who were looking for volunteers  to come and stay and help them out,) and arranged to stay for the remaining nine weeks of my specified work time.

Trish and Brian Wettenhall had their own stables and trained and bred horses, an animal I'd never worked with and was obsessed with as most little girls are when growing up, so it seemed like a great opportunity to be able to work with them.

I caught a train to Lilydale and from there a overcrowded bus to a place called Lustia Park Road where I was to be met by Brian.

 It doesn't matter how many times you have to travel on an overcrowded bus with a rucksack, I swear it doesn't get any easier and people certainly don't seem to get any nicer. The forty minutes or so of the journey I had to block the isle as someone snotty nosed teenager sat in the luggage rack and everyone else tripped over my bag countless times and I had to continually apologise to people who gave me a look of disgust as to why I'd be on their bus with such a large bag. I obviously had planned for the bus to be busy and wanted to get in everybody’s way.

I met Brian at the next bus stop along as the driver had forgotten my request to point out when I needed to get off and to be honest Brian didn't seem any friendlier once I met him either. The whole journey to their home was broken up with some somewhat awkward conversation- me trying to ask questions and be friendly and Brian seemingly ignoring that I was there and barely answering me.

When we arrived he didn't really seem to even make the fake 'oh i'll get your bag for you' movements and he showed me into a room where he said I could stay in. I was hoping that it was just me and that once I got to know these people things would change.

The house itself was nice enough. Quite big, bungalow style set in the middle of a large area of land to the side of a large stable.

The was already a girl there wwoofing, a German girl, in her late twenties although see looked more as though she was in her late teens who was just about as talkative as Brian. She was leaving the next day anyways so I didn't try too hard to talk to her as I guess it didn't really matter much.

You meet so many people when travelling that you can sense what people are like on first impressions, whether or not they are the kind of people you want to stick around and get to know or whether they’re just not your kind of person. The German girl was nice, but the kind of nice which is boring and un-talkative, so I didn’t really feel it necessary to make the effort to make conversation. 

That evening over dinner Trish had asked me a few questions about myself and my family although to be honest she didn't really seem that interested in the answers.

Looking back on it, it all seems rather pretty terrible and I wonder why I stayed for so long but it didn't seem that way at the time, well at least in the beginning.

The work was hard but I enjoyed it. It was fantastic to work around and see the horses and there was so many of them. Each day I would muck out the stables, feed and gave water to the horses, took the horses into the paddocks at the start of the day and back in at night. The best parts were when I got the chance to wash and brush them and put their reigns on. I really enjoyed that and soon had favorites. These horses were great competition winners and it was a real honour being able to work with them.

The night after I'd got there Trish had received a phone call to say that her dad had had a heart attack and she'd rushed off to the hospital.

During the week there was a girl that stayed called Lizzy. She had several of her horses in the stables and stayed and helped Trish train and take care of them. She was there only the first week and a half however and headed off to a big competition that was happening in Sydney the second week, which Trish would have gone to also if it wasn't for her dad. In some ways I'm thankful she didn’t leave that week as she was going to leave me behind on my own to look after the stables- something I wasn't too happy about. 

A girl from Tassie had come to stay to, who was meant to go to the show with Trish on the Monday (of my second week there) but because of Trish not going to the show helped me out around the stables instead. As the week went on though I started to like being there less and less. I just seemed to get stuck with all the rubbish jobs and forever seemed to be mucking out stables and not doing any of the stuff with the horses that I'd enjoyed so much. Carly seemed to be asked to do all these things instead. I was starting to really feel like Cinderella getting left to do all the cleaning while the ugly sisters didn't have to do anything!

(While speaking to my dad on  Skype he asked me what the countryside looked like where I was and i couldn't even tell him as I'd barely been out the stables or looked beyond the paddocks!)

I didn’t really think about leaving though until the Saturday evening. Trish had decided as she was going to the national show now until the Monday morning that she'd go with her friend to a local day show not so far away on the Sunday. The three of us were sat in the living room and Trish was telling Carly when she needed to get up the next day and told me that I didn't have to get up till lunchtime to do the afternoon jobs. If I didn't feel annoyed about being left behind to do all the stable work on my own for the week I felt annoyed now that it hadn't even occurred to her that I might have wanted to go to the show the next day with them. Now I definitely felt like Cinderella not being allowed to go to the ball!

I was fuming, not that I let on to Trish, but told Carly later on when we were in the bedroom. She was really suprised too that Trish hadn't offered me to go to the show, seen as though they were going away to Sydney on the Monday and I wouldn't be going with them.

After talking to Carly I had decided that I was going to tell Trish that I wanted to go to the show, but when I went to talk to her she'd gone to bed so I decided to get up at 5 with them and tell her then.

She agreed that I could go in the morning, but she definitely wasn't happy about it and she wasn't shy in letting me know complaining all day about how much work had to be done when we got back. At the end of the day I was only there to help out , learn new things and meet interesting people who's lives differed from my own and was only expected to work for five days a week- working seven days and being expected to look after 30+ horses on my own for two weeks isn't part of the deal- especially when I have no previous experience of working with horses.

Turns the show wasn't even worth it... dressage is boring, but at least I got the chance to experience something new.

I decided that even though I'd agreed to stay for there nine weeks, I was going to leave after a month. It was my decision what I did with my time here in Oz and I'd come to the conclusion I didn't want to do that any more.

It was great having the chance to work with the horses and I learnt a lot, but something I’ve learnt in my travels is that it doesn't matter where you are or what your doing it the people that really make it, and these people were not making it for me. 

Melbourne is my Mango

If I loved London this much then I love Melbourne this much!

Melbourne just oozes with 'coolness.' Its buildings are funky, there's avenues of trees making the whole place look as quaint as a painting; there are laneways tucked between the streets filled with cafes pouring out of every cubby hole, graffiti decorating every spare surface and enough diversity to shake a stick at.

 I don't just love it, I have to come up with a whole new word for Melbourne.

Put it this way: my home in England Leeds is an apple- its perfectly nice, a good snack, tasty and plenty of variety, London's a pack of grapes- I love grapes, easy to eat, fun and I will always go back to time and time again just to remember how much I like them. But Melbourne, Melbourne's like a mango. I didn't know I liked mangoes at all. Then I tried one and it was amazing! I thought to myself 'god I've seriously been missing out!' Mangoes are bright, juicy, an explosion of taste and exotic. Its messy but fun- I have no idea where to start with a mango but I'll have one anyway because I love them.

That's how I feel now. I have no idea where I'm gonna start. I don't know the first thing about starting out in Melbourne. I don't know where to look for accommodation- where to look for a job but I can't wait to do it.  I just got this feeling about Melb; you know your doing something right when you don't need to be doing anything of any importance or significance and your smiling and you don't even know why.

I realised I might still not have a clue about what I want to do but I'm certainly in the place where I want to be right now... so as soon as I've finished my farm work I'll be on the first train back. I've had a taste now and I know this is definitely what I want.

I'm gonna take a risk and go for the Mango. Why not.

Travelling: A Love/Hate Relationship

Love
Having the ability to go wherever you want to go whenever you want to
The infinate possibilities of things you can experience
The diveristy in the people you meet
Meeting people for all over the globe who you get on with so well
Having all your worldly possessions in one rucksack
Swapping music with people along the way
Seeing the beauty of the world
Doing things you never expected you could do
Learning new things about yourself
Figuring out all the adults in your life were actually telling you the truth e.g. you never really get any older mentally just physically- you will always feel like a big kid even if you don't look like one

Hate
Not having my own wardobe
Not being able to buy everything I want to because I have no place to put it
Hostels missing the most basic things like bowls and graters
Always having to watch your bank balance and plan three steps ahead
Constantly having to eat pasta because you can't think of anything else to cook after not having to cook for yourself in so long!
Not being able to just call up friends and family when I want because of the time difference
Not having a bookshelf
Only having two pairs of footwear: vans and flip flops
Feeling further and further away from making any real decisions about the rest of your life
ALWAYS having to be considerate of others- sometimes it would nice to just worry about yourself!

New friendships, brilliant experiences and freedom win the arguement hands down, the rest I can put up with or will work out along the way :)

"No buses on a Monday or a Wednesday!"

I would like to ask my former self why on earth I wanted to go to Devonport for a whole three and a half days, or why I didn't look into the lack of things to do once I got there.

I had already bought a ticket to the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow, the best of the comedy festival that had been going on in Melbourne so I figured I'd stay a few days and check of some of the north west of Tassie. What I didn't realise is that there wasn't anything to check out.

I even thought about catching a bus and exploring some other places but a quick trip to the tourist information centre put a stop to that when I learnt the bus only went on Mondays and Wednesday and as luck would have it I was there Thursday to Saturday!

So I made the best of a bad situation, took a walk around the scenic coastal line and even walked right across the whole town just to take a picture of the Lovett Street sign (where I live back home.) Boy, what a wild three days! I did try and get some more information on the second day about going somewhere different but as before the women said .."The bus only goes on Monda..." at which point I finished off "..days and Wednesdays!"

The hostel was also one of the worst hostels I think I've ever stayed at. Well to be honest it wasn't that bad but it was pretty cold and completely dead... I swear I wouldn't had been suprised if I'd seen tumble weed roll down the hallway! It didn't even have a bowl or a spoon to be seen, so i was completely out of my depth even looking for a grater to make the salad I'd bought the ingrediants for! When a women moved into my room on the second day I almost jumped on her, although she turned out to be pretty rude and sarcastic and said, "If its people you wanted you should have gone to the other hostel, there's loads of people there." Thanks, thanks a bunch. Not only am I in this god forsaken place I am now aware I've made another awful decision by paying to stay in this dump for the next few days!

Thank god the show itself was absolutely awesome! I would have liked to have gone with friends or even not gone to bed straight afterwards but hey you can't have everything!

So after what felt like an eternity in this nowhere town I was so glad to leave on the Sunday morning that I got the first bus outta that place and headed back to Launceston. 

I spent the next couple of days back with Yvonne as she was kind enough to let me stay with her while I waited for a cheap flight to Melbourne and then it was goodbye Tasmania. 

A month and a half later with some brilliant memories, my time was up in Tassie and it was time to head back to the mainland and on to Victoria. I needed to get my farm work done and so it was back to the farm life with a quick whistle stop in Melbourne to catch up with Patrick, a friend I'd met travelling in Europe. Good times were ahead and I couldn't wait to see what was in store.

Ineka and John

The couple that the Japanese girl, Yayoi, was staying with before she came to work with me at the farm was Ineka and John. They had dropped her off and upon leaving said if we needed anything not to hestiate and call them, although at the time I thanked them and didn't think I would see them again.
Minutes after the phone call with the guy telling me that he thought I should leave, Ineka had rung Yayoi to see how things were. I spoke to her and within seconds she had offered to pick me and Yayoi up in Launceston asap.

John are migrant from 'Landan' and Ineka a dutch migrant from Amsterdam, and were two of the loveliest people I could have ever hoped to meet.

They offered their home to me and told me I could stay as long as necessary and asked nothing in return.

They had a beautiful home in a place north west of Launceston, in a place called Beauty Point, which they had renovated themselves. John was a builder by trade and Ineka worked in the local hospital as a nurse.

I stayed three nights with them altogether and I really appreciated their kindness as it gave me an opportunity to figure out what I was going to do next without any pressure.

We went for walks along Greens Beach with their dog Benny, watched DVDs and spent evenings chilling out watching TV and chatting; they really made me feel welcome and I couldn't have thank them enough.

On the Thursday morning I caught the bus back to Launceston, (armed with a packed lunch made by Ineka!) from which I would go to Devonport. Ineka and Yayoi walked me to the bus stop and we said our good byes and just as I had sat down on the bus John rushed and got on the bus to come and say goodbye too. It almost brought tears to by eyes saying goodbye as they had been so kind.

From the bottom of my heart  I would like to thank them both for making me feel so welcolme in their home when I needed it. It really makes the difference when you meet people like that when travelling and makes the whole thing worth while :)

My Complete History of Tree Plating

From the craziness of living and working with Yvonne, my next desination was a farm where I was going to work planting trees to earn some much needed cash.

The guy that owned the place had offered to come pick me up at Yyvonnes, which he did and we headed to his farm.

I had a feeling of apprehension when I first met this guy, rightful cautiousness about my own safety, unsure if he would be another weirdo or a genuine guy.

But there was only one way to find out. He seemed ok. Yyvonne had known people who'd worked for him before and he  checked out ok, so my doubt had obsided but a little was bound to linger.

There was something about him that I just wasn't sure about. I can't put my finger on it. When he talked he always addressed me part way through his sentences which I found odd. He always seemed to turn to look at me when talking while he was driving. I don't know why but I found this strange too. Everything he said though, that was fine. He was a mild mannered man, ensured me that he wanted me to feel completely comfortable in his home and happy. He was very much into history and talked about both Tasmania and Britain with great knowledge. I began to relax a bit and chatted to him and my experiences of Tasmania and what i'd enjoyed about it.

We arrived back at his home not too far out of Launceston in the countryside. He had a small be adequate house that he shared with his two dogs. A bit messy, but for an older gentlemen living alone, it was pretty much what I expected.

His manner, still made me feel a little on edge but I figured I was just being stupid and that everything was ok, which it was.

 I felt like I may have been over reacting about him when he asks me if I would be interested in waitressing. Hestiating, I remembered about a guy who had rung me a few days before asking if I wanted to waitress in lingerie, then he says don't worry I don't think its not your thing and I politely decline. FFS.

I hope I'm wrong and that its not the same job proposition the guy rang me was talking about before.  The phase 'not your thing' is questionable. Waitressing, is a standard profession, so therefore can be most peoples 'thing.' He didn't explain his comments. I thought it best to leave it. I would have been interested in getting some extra work but at the risk of finding out that it was work of the unsavory kind, I didn't ask any more.

While eating lunch not long after I had arrived too, he started talking about feelings he had about a lost love. The more he talked it was revealed that it was quite some time ago, a lot longer than I first imagined. He said that he felt better over the last year. As it turns out its was over six years previously and he never actually had a relationship with this women but a 'deep spiritual connection,' and she was a lot younger than he. Not the kind of thing you start talking about when you first meet someone, but then again after meeting Yvonne who basically told me her life story within the first ten minutes of meeting her, it was less of a shock nowadays. I turned the conversation away to some time he spent in Brazil and thanked god that another person was coming the next day.

The following day he left me pretty much on my own at the house all day while we went to some meetings he'd arranged with work collegues and friends. He'd left me with a few tasks to do so I got on with them once he'd left. He returned later in the afternoon, not long after the Japanese girl who was also going to work for him had been dropped off my the couple she was staying with. He acted a little odd, but not any more than he had done previously and invited Yoyoi to go with him to buy vegetables but not me which we both found strange. Not more than ten minutes later after he'd could have left he rang me again for the millionth time that day. This time though, I wanted to leave as soon as I hung up the phone.

He called to tell me that he didn't think I was happy and that I should leave.

I found it all rather biazaar. I hadn't given him any indication that I wasn't happy there, and certainly hadn't let on about my feelings about him being strange.

To me it felt as though I wasn't right for him, for whatever reason and now he had a new girl I could leave. Harmless or not I wasn't staying a minute longer than I had to. I also wasn't going to leave Yayoi there alone either. I hung up the phone and immediately packed. As soon as he returned, I got him to take us back to Launceston, where the couple who had just dropped Yayoi off were more than happy for us to go and stay with them.

Whether or not he was a harmless old man wanting the best for me or if he was a seedy old man and I wasn't going to do didn't matter. I just went with my intuition and got the hell out of there. Something its just best to go with your gut feeling and leave.

While travelling you learn so much about yourself and the world and in this case it was all about making the right decision.

P.S. Number of trees planted: One

"The Crazy Women" of Launceston

I left the comfort of Jenny and Bronte's home in the Huon Valley and headed to my next host.

Yvonne Gulyas. Fiftysomething. Lives in Launceston, northern Tasmania.

A single women with many life experiences and more than willing to tell her about her son who had got mixed up with the wrong kind of people, her intertwined relationships with men, her achivements and passions all within the first ten minutes of meeting her.

This was a truely extraordinary women. Needless to say, she had AHD.

Upon meeting her, I didn't know whether to be amazed at the amount of words and different conversation topics she could get out in one breathe or to run for the hills. I don't even believe that I got more than two words in during the first couple of days I stayed with her.

She was a poet, a writer, had previously been a journalist and now owned had her catering business. A crazy women, but her heart was in the right place.

I was volunteering for new experiences, and by joe staying with Yvonne was definitley an experience.

She'd lived in China for four years, had four children, grew up in sydney and relocated to Tasmania. She'd had her life theatened by a previous boyfriend hurling a knife, won poetry prizes, had love affairs with her best friends man, worked on chinese tv, trained as a chef, went to school in Malaysia, lived in Bali and took pride in telling me she had 'cancelled christmas' and was heading back there for a the festive peroid.

This women was something else.

She was loud. She was crass. She was one of a kind.

Her house was messy, but it was an organised chaos. She had a cat she mothered and a stray she fed. She housed two chinese students, both lovely people.

An odd family life but never a dull moment.

The 10 days I stayed with her were never boring. In the evenings I spent most of my time in my room, enjoying the peace and quiet and the ability to hear my own thoughts or chatted with Rachel, one of the students, answering her many grammar questions and helping with her pronouncation of English.

A couple of evenings she had guests for dinner which was nice. She was a very sociable person and she shone when she had company. Another evening we also attended one of her poetry nights, where she met up with a group of local poets and they shared their writings over a few drinks at a local pub which I found very interesting. It was also nice to see her in her element, almost like seeing a wild animal in the wildness. Her personality shone there too.

So as I said it was certainly an experience meeting Yvonne, and certainly not one I would forget in a hurry.

The Huon Valley Farm

The Family

On the Sunday I met up with a girl called Fiona, a 20 year old Canadian who was also going to WWOOF in Huon Valley with my new hosts Jenny, Bronte and Luke. Jenny was English and from Bedfordshire, Bronte from Adelaide, and Luke was their seven year old son.

They picked us up from the village bus stop and took us to their home buried amongst the hills of Grove in the Huon Valley.

Their house was a gorgeous self-build, and after coming from Michaels it felt like a castle. Everything about it was amazing. It was beautifully built, amazingly decorated and so incredibly homely

.

Me and Fiona

Me and Fiona had our own room which we shared with our own bathroom. I really was living in the lap of luxury after staying in a bed that was basically in the living room of Michaels house.
They had the perfect little house complete with two dogs named Rosie and Bruce (although I prefered Rosie Pie and Brucie!) and a cat called Murphy too.

Comfortably stretched in front of the fire!  

Goats!

On their little family farm they had assortment of animals. There was a herd of goats that much to my delight followed up into the forestry and climbed trees! Two bucks- Seb and Handlebars and my god did they smell! It was supposed to be a luring part of being on heat to attact the female goats but the only thing it attracted was my overwhelming urge to vomit!

They also had four large pens of chickens (which frequently liked to escape and create our very own version of chicken 

run!)  One poor little rabbit which lived in one of the hen runs which also housed some noisy geese! In addition, were three random peacocks that also lived in one of the chicken runs.
And last but not least were the three cheeky piglets, that I used to play chase with whenever I fed them, however I've since been informed are now only two :( and Blaze and Connor the mummy and daddy pigs.

Connor enjoying some apples

Even though I hadn't driven in years Jenny was keen for me to get behind the wheel of an old suziki she used around the farm. It was so much fun ragging it round and as it was old and a bit battered anyway it wasn't so bad when I bashed or crashed it (which only happened once.. into  wooden crate when it shot back in reverse!.. oh and the accident with the shed post!) It was a bit tempermental in reverse and liked to suddenly jump into full speed after being reluctant to start for a while, probably my inexperience as a driver but whatever it was made me wear a seat belt everytime I reversed!

Life was never dull at the Huon farm, even when we went for a general meander into Huonville, the next biggest town, we ended up on swan rescue!A friend of Jenny's had found a injured distressed swan which was passed over to us to rush to the nearest vet.Somehow at the farm me and Fiona managed to get the cold/flu and within a matter of 24hrs we'd gone from being completely ok to dying with fever and congestion- not the most ideal situation when your staying with a family for room and board in return for your work! The family were lovely though and didn't mind at all and told nus to take it easy, but we still managed to continue with at least feeding the animals for the next few days.

Easter Sunday came too and we assisted in an easter egg hunt that Bronte had planned for luke. He'd hidden various eggs and bunnies all across the farm with clues written on them leading to the next egg. Although still being both not very well, me and Fiona weren't much help but we gave some good moral support.

We did get in to the spirit of easter and make bunnie shaped cookies and hotcross buns though and they turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!

On easter monday, as Luke was off school and Bronte had a few days off from work we headed out for the day to the Hertz mountains, just south of the Huon region...and there was snow! I think it was what I really missed at christmas time and here we were in thick snow and it was brilliant!

I left the following friday, leaving Fiona behind and after a last minute swap of media, I went off to my next adventure and on to launceston!

Huon Sunset

Homely Hobart

Michael dropped me off in a town called Margate not too far from Hobart around 7:30 in the morning and I got back to Hobart around 9 and headed straight for city central backpackers where I'd stayed before. I liked the hostel so had no quarms about going back there. The women at reception recognised me straight away and found me in a bed in the same room as before. Just like returning home!

I spent the rest of the day doing some boring stuff like washing, bought some food and hung out at the hostel. I also started chatting to a lovely german guy called Lennard from my dorm and made loose plans to go up Mount Wellington, which over looks the city, the next day.

Later the day while in the dinning area I noticed someone I recognised. It was Phil one of people I'd hung out with last time I was in Hobart! Turns out his wwoof experience hadn't gone well and he'd come back to the city. He told me that there was supposely a few bands and stuff happening at a place called the kelly steps that night and I agreed to head there with him, after we shared his food after what i'd made had turned out to be an absolute dinner disater!

The Kelly Steps are buried down an alleyway, so if you didn't know they were there then you'd just walk right on by. As Tasmanians don't like to be 'normal' this obviously was the perfect place to have a few bands playing and to set up a make shift bar! We had a beer and hung out on the steps listening to the music for a little while, but due to our late arrival and the immediate end at 11pm we weren't there long. After all this was Tasmania and it certainly isn't reknownd for its all-night party scene.

On the Saturday I spent the day with Lennard, the guy from my dorm visiting Mount Wellington. We wanted to get there but didn't know how and ended up going on a tour with just the two of us around Hobart a little then headed to Mt Wellington that over looks the city of Hobart.

The views were really nice, but the best thing about the day was certainly meeting Lennard.

He was such a well mannered lovely person. We spent the rest of the day together hanging out at the hostel talking about anything and everything. How a crazy guy that kind of lived at the hostel looked like Gerrad Butler in the film 300, (He certainly wasn't any Gerrad Butler, but after googling a picture i agreed there were some similarities!) the different names the British and Germans call the seas around Europe (Its the Baltic sea, not the east Sea :p),  the weird names Germans have for things like slugs or should I say naked snails :) and why dinner is called dinner, what lunch is and what exactly is teatime, with a bit of bad pronunciation of German thrown in for good measure.

We certainly talked for hours. Its always pretty awesome when you meet someone like that! Especially when all you do is talk nonsense!

 We headed back to the room not so late. The next day I was heading off again, this time to WWOOF at a farm in an area called the Huon Valley South East from Hobart.

Beautiful Bruny

On the monday morning, March 26th, I met Michael for my first proper WWOOF experience, outside the church round the corner from my hostel. I was going to spend the rest of the week with Michael and his son seven year old son Brody in at their home on the beautiful Bruny Island.

His home was a small self build in the middle of a clearing in the middle of his acres and acres of land which included his own creek. The house itself was a little blue box painted blue mostly inside too. The whole feel of the place reminded me rather of my uncle Alastair's house in the countryside in the north east of Scotland.

After meeting Micheal in Hobart we spent the rest of the morning running errands in the city, taking tools for repair buying things for the house and choosing some paint for the eves.
We looked at the paints for a while trying to choose something that would match the blue that he described his home to be.

We decided that we quite fancied an aqua marine colour- our logic was "If you have the feeling that you want to do something, just go for it," so we went ahead and bought it.  As it turned out though, the green paint we thought we'd bought was almost exactly the same as the colour of the house. After running a few more errands we stopped off at his mum's house in a place called Kingston were I met her and his ex-partner.

Ruth needed him to take her to the city to take her to a meeting, so Michael dropped me off in a cafe where I spent a fair few hours doing some writing. He said he would be back in a couple of hours, but his time keeping was as good as Polina had warned me it was going to be and he didn't return for a good four hours just as the cafe was closing.

We caught the ferry to Bruny just as the sun was starting to set, and the skies looked stunning.

Michael bumped into some people he knew on the ferry who had just been at the rainbow festival and they all headed back with us to his house, stopping on the way at the spilt that divided the north and south side of the island to admire the sun setting in the sky.

That evening for dinner we had a bit of a strange concoption of rice and sweet potato, carrot, beetroot salad and sweetcorn for dinner.

It was a bit of a strange start to my WWOOFing experience, not at all what I expected. He didn't seem to live much on a farm or have much of an organic plantation but i guessed i'd just see how it went.
The next day it was one of the Rainbow crew's birthday's- Shiva- a very expressive gay Italian man with eye lashes that fluttered as he spoke gesticulating with both hands. He was an adorable guy and I loved him instantly. The whole lot of us- Mitzy, Clint and their three children, Shiva, Virgina and Bea and their friends Erin and Joseph, and Michael, his brother Paul that was also staying with him, Brody and me all head to the beach and spent the day there. We played frisbee, swam, fished and chilled out all day.

For lunch Mitzy woked up some amazing sweetcorn fritters in her campervan for everyone, a recipe I have memorised as they were delicious!

As I'd never been fishing before Paul was determinded to take me out to catch my first fish. The brothers hacd their own fishing boat that we took a fair way off sure and Paul showed me how to cast a fishing rod and off we went. Their wasn't many fish about- apparently the fish move with the tides-but I still managed to catch one although it turned out to be a baby and we tossed it back in.   Paul managed to get a couple of decent sized fish though against the odds and we took them back to the beach and cooked them on a fire we made.

As the evening drew to a close we ll headed back to the house and made a huge feast for everyone with vegetables from Mikes garden and we all sat down to eat together on whatever piece of furniture was avaliable. It was a great evening sitting around and chatting about all kinds of things. Mitzy threw together a birthday cake for Shiva with whatever ingrediants she could find which was delicous. Shiva did this incredible almost theatrical interpretation of Mitzy with his eyes squinted and pouting his lips. , "The amazing Mitzy!.. Her children behind her, her man by her side , hand held up high looking towards the sky, holding a cake! I am the amazing Mitzy!"

When I couldnt keep my eyes open anymore I headed to bed. Looking at the time on my phone, when I got into bed it said 9:15; god i was getting old!

Talking to Michael the next day he assured me I didn't go to bed until about 4, so maybe i'm not that old afterall!

I spent the rest of Tuesday painting Michael's house with the paint we'd bought, and discovered that there was almost no difference at all in the colours. Oh well!

That evening we went fishing again. This time just me Mitzy and Paul. There was always different people to talk to and hang out with at Michael's. I liked this a lot. We even saw a pop of dolphins swimming though the bay.

On wedneday we got up pretty early and as the waves were good Micahel wanted to get out as soon as possible and head to Cloudy Bay to go surfing and asked if I wanted to come too. Of course I said yes. When we got there however the waves were pretty big so Micahel went ahead and surfed while I watched and waited for him to return to help me, but by the time he was finished we had to head back as a friend of his which was also surfing was going to come back with us. I did some yoga while I waited for him though. It was a lovely calming place to do some yoga. So on a platform built for the surfers, I relaxed and did some yoga to the sound of the waves. Sounds pretty new-age hippie of me, ay!

The last day I spent with Michael I finally did some "gardening." In fact I planted a tray of Brocolli. Not the organic gardening experience I had expected but an experience all the same. The rest of the day, trying hopelessly to do something for him, I did some cleaning and then spent the rest of the day reading and playing some ping-pong.

That evening just before the sun went down we took the boat out fishing and all those of us that were left at Michael's (Joseph, Shiva, Virginia, Michael, Paul and Me) took a rod each and tried for the final time to catch some fish in the lagoon as the sunset drinking a few beers. We caught a few fish and headed back to the shore where we sat round a fire and watched a seal as it played in the moonlight that reflected on the water.

We headed back as we were getting cold and Joseph decided that he was going to make 'chocolate creme;' it wasn't the success he'd hoped for but was pretty good regardless.

Friday came and as Michael worked back somewhere near the city over the weekends he dropped me off at a place called Margate, where I caught a bus back to Hobart. It was nice spending a few days with Michael, even it wasn't the experience I had expected. I loved beautiful Bruny Island, but it was nice to get back to civilisation too and back to the homely Central City Hostel.

Tasmania: The Other Australian State

I caught the 7am flight from Sydney to the capital city of Tasmania, Hobart.

This journey signified eight whole months of travelling on a trip that was only supposed to last only four. Here I was in a country I'd never dreamed of being in about to embark on an adventure I'd never imagined I would be going on.

However since I had come to Australia, I'd set my heart on venturing to Tasmania and here I was finally fulfilling that wish.

In a few short hours I had landed in the new state of my choice and the anticipatience of what may lie ahead was exciting. I now really was in the realm on the unknown. I had no idea what I was doing now. Little plans or ideas. This was the type of backpacking that I had tried to do the whole of my trip so far. Travelling without knowing or planning. Well ok, without planning maybe thats not wholley true. I had made some vague plans to do something that is called 'WWOOFing,' however what I would actually be doing- who knew!\

WWOOFing or 'Willing Workers On Orgainic Farms' is a kind of volunteering organistation that is actually in action all over the world. You exchange your time and energy and get some memorable life experiences, food and board in return.

Another bonus of this scheme is that if you complete three months or eighty-eight days of work (which can also be done on paid farms,) you can then qualify to apply for a the much prized second year visa.
Its a great way to see some of 'The Real Australia,' and experience life with an Australian family or host and do things you've never dreamed of doing.

I had already been in contact with a women who lived in the north of Tassie and arranged to stay with here later in April and another yoga retreat in the south of Tassie in the beginning of April.

With time to kill before those arrangements I wanted to see a bit of Hobart and the surrounding areas and and perhaps see if i could find some others to volunteer with.

The day I arrived in Hobart I was wiped. The late night and early morning start had used up all my energy, so after a short wander around I ended up falling asleep on a green in front of the parliament building in an area of town called Salamanca. Determinded to do something with the day I booked to go on a tour to the famous 'Wineglass bay' in Freyinet National Park later that week and went for some dinner at Muirs Fish and Chip restaurant which Debbie from Sydney had recommended to me.

The food was nice but being a girl from grimsby I'm not easily impressed by forgein fish and chips especially as the fish in Britain tends to come as big as your face with huge mound of soft steaming chippy chips. It was good fish but the chips were not up to standard. Sorry but GY fish and chips win handsdown everytime.

I spent the rest of that evening and the following day hanging out at the Central City Hostel back in Hobart. It was a lovely atmospheric place to be. The weather outside sucked- cold and windy- so I took some much needed lazy time and watched tv and films.

I got chatting to a lovely German guy called Dennis in my dorm room and his friend Martin, although Martin spent all his time with his head in book and barely said two words. They'd just come back from a seven day trek across the Cradle mountains which sounded pretty awesome, although had completely stunk of the whole room with their walking gear that was spread out across the floor. Dennis apologised profusely about but as he was so nice I told him it didn't matter.

The following day a german girl moved into the room too full of energy and life which certainly brightened up the place. She'd too been on some tour of Tasmania and had her washing drapped over every possible bed post avaliable.

On the Thursday I'd booked to go on a tour to the famous Wineglass Bay. Whenever you see pictures of Tasmania, its more than likely you'll see a photo of Wineglass Bay, I certianly got dozens of images of it when I googled Tasmania. In fact it was one of the reason I decided I definetley wanted to come. It was a kind of 'I want to go there!' moment and minutes later I booked my flight.

The tour wasn't the greatest. A bit overpriced for what was actually included but I enjoyed it all the same. All the places we stopped at were truely stunning and really made me gush about how amazing Tassie was to all my friends and family back home.

It really made me feel saying 'Excuse me Tasmania, the rest of the world called and would like some of its beauty back!'

 It was a nice day and I saw some lovely places but the best part of my day (although a close second was the friendly wallabies at Freyinet NP!) was probably meeting a young Phillapeano guy called Ken. His wonderfully boytorus and fun character really made the day. We just acted like children taking hundreds of photos and messed around all day. When we got back me and my new best friend went and grabbed some dinner at Fish Frenzy and chatted the evening away.

Friday was spent being lazy too. I really was loving this not working malarky! If you don't want to do something then don't! I could deffo get used to this!

got a call from Ken about 7 asking me if I wanted to go take photos of the lit up city skyline. I figured as I hadn't done anything more or less all day, apart from hang out with a dutch guy I'd met called Sander and talked about my travels through Asia, I would go. We (unsuccessfully!) took some pictures of the city and then played about with our cameras taking pictures in the shadows and street lights and ended up with some pretty interesting photos!

The following day we met up again to check out the famous Salamanca market with a whistlestop at an amazing bakery that was just round the corner from the market. The market was fun. Lots of stuff you expect to see- handicrafts, homemade jams, wines and whiskeys and nick nacks and plenty of food! There were quite a few buskers too making some nice music which nicely added to the market feel.

In the afternoon I headed back to my hostel and got talking to a Russian/Candian girl named Polina. Funnily enough she had just come from the WWOOF host that I'd spoke to the day before and was about to go stay with, had moved into my dorm and was even in the bed above mine!
I was getting hungry by now and being lazy and not wanting to cook for myself I was just going to head out and see what I could find. Me and Polina ended up going to an Thai restaurant with an English guy- Phil- and his French friend Adrian, which Polina had met earlier that day. We finished off the evening back at the hostel with a box of goon (bag of wine, to the English ones of you) and chatted the night away.

It was one of those nights that you would just like to chill out and have some pleasent conversation, however Phil's idea of fun was intense conversation analysing peoples beliefs. We had gotten into an extremely deep conversation about Yoga Ashrams and his views were the polar opposite of mine. I think he felt my feelings of my time in the ashram were naive and that i'd been sucked into what they wanted me to believe and feel. In the end he said he was interested in my arguments and we agreed to disagree on the whole matter and to be honest I was just glad that it was over as I found the whole ordeal exhausting!

In a pleasent end to the evening though I spoke to my best friend in England and it was so nice to hear her voice and here all about normal life back home!... Even if it was interupted my running out of credit and a women telling me to be quiet!

 Sunday came. My last day for the time being in Hobart and I finally got the energy to go to MONA- The Museum of Old and New Art, after failed attempts every other day of the week, Man, that place is weird. If you know me, you know I love art. I love all types of art. Historical painting, modern paintings, colourful paintings, b;ack and white paintings and 'i don't know if thats actually classed as a painting 'paintings. Drawings, sculptures and photographs- I enjoy them all. But boy this place was something else.

There is such a bizarre collect of things in that place I don't even know where to begin. There were things I loved. There was David Shrigley videos and art, a room filled with tv screens of people singing and dancing to Madonna songs and a huge head on the floor that you look into and see all the things whirling around its brain. But there were strange, strange things too. A poo making machine room- which smelt like sick and looked worse, a video of a person squeezing zits and a really eerie room containing a mummy on a island surrounded by black water accessible only by a stepping stone path that went around the side of the room.

I'm glad I went, but it definetly hasn't knocked London's Tate Britain of my art gallery top spot.

To finish off the evening me, Dennis, The german girl, Polina and another German girl who moved into our room went in search of a pub. It sounds like a simple task, but trying to find a pub in Hobart on a Sunday night is harder than it looks. In the end we were in luck and found one open which even had a band playing... to a massive crowd of four people! We sat and had a couple of drinks and then headed back after our crazy night. Wow Tassie is just... wild! I'm guessing that the Sunday night lack of entertainment isn't a great example of Tassie nights but you never know. This place does seem pretty quiet!

Hobart was a lovely welcome to Tasmania and I couldn't wait for what the rest of Tasmania held!

A Reunion of Friends

I came back from the Ashram on Monday 19th March and spent that day in Sydney before I flew to Hobart.

It was really nice to be back 'home' for a short while.  I got to catch up with a women that had been at the ashram and with my friends from NQ. My meet up with Debbie from Mangrove had originally been planned as a coffee for an hour or so but turned into a five hour long chat in my beloved Starbucks on Campbell Street corner. It brilliant when you meet like minded people like that. Debbie, a fourty something Australian women who had dreams of travelling in Europe, and I had so much in common we talked for hours about everything and everything. We talked about life experiences, travelling, family, books, films, philophises and the rest.

Before i knew it it was 5pm; She had plans with a friend to go to the cinema and I had planned to meet Danielle from work. We said our goodbyes, hopefully not for the last time, and wished each other well for the future.

As I walked away from my meeting with Debbie which left me in such high spirits, I called Danielle and we arranged to both walk towards each other down George Street until we bumped into the other. It was lovely to be able to run up to her and give her a huge hug in the middle of the George Street crowds.

We sat in the Myers building and I was so hyped up with energy from chatting with Debbie for the last five hours, I talked at her like the speed of light filling her in with all the going ons from the last two weeks. Soon enough it was time to meet the others- Ardo, Irine, Midori and of course my darling Hien!

It was amazing to see them again! And we did what we did best and this was go and eat out at some of the awesome resturants Sydney had to offer. We all headed to Home, a Thai restaurant in Chinatown and got some food, which turned out to be pretty darn spicy much to Ardo's pleasure. There we all caught up on each others lives, and the antics of me and jan in the brilliant Byron Bay.

Before long it was getting late and time for me to head on back to the hostel as i had a very early flight, (yet again!) This time knowing that I wouldn't be returning to Sydney, at least for a very long time, I said my very last goodbyes to these people that had been dear friends of mine while I lived in this amazing city although I knew that one day some how I would see at least Hien and Danielle again.

The last two weeks had been awesome, work free and responsibility free. Being back on the road sure felt good and it wasn't about to change for a while at least. Onwards to Tasmania!

What do you think when I say yoga ashram?!

From Byron bay I took the train back to a place called Gosford, about an hour and a half north of Sydney where a women Shakti, met me to take me to the ashram deep in the mountains in the countryside.

When we arrived it was around 10pm, at which time the ashram was in the practice of mouna- the practice of silence that takes place every night from 8:15 until 7:30am the next morning.
The day started at 5am so I headed to my room with two girls that I met, Sophie and Remi, that Shakti had introduced me to, and went to bed ready for the next morning.

Each day had a clear rota.

5am- Wake up
5:30- Yoga class
7:00- Breakfast
8:00- Karma Yoga (Basically cleaning tasks around the ashram which is a practise of giving yourself for the benefit of everyone in the spirit of the community.)
9:00 Rostered work (Work to contribute to the Ashram running eg kitchen, grounds work and mantience, house keeping, office work etc)
11:00- Tea break (break for tea and fruit)
11:30 Rostered work
12:30 Lunch + clean up
1:30- Rostered work
2:30 Yoga Nidra (Guided mediation)
3:00 Afternoon Tea (Tea and fruit)
3:30-5:00 Rostered work
5:15 Yoga/meditation class
6:00 Dinner + clean up
7:15 Evening class or DVD
8:15-7:30 (The following day) Moana

You worked in all the rostered work times unless you had free time, and you had three and a half days off a week.

My time at the ashram taught me a lot about myself.

I need to learn to challenge my perceptions of why I feel the way I do about things in everyday life. If its regarding an event, person or situation, I need review my opinions and decide whether or not I am justified in thinking in the way I do. I should open up to other viewpoints that may exist and see if these could alter my own preception.

For example one of the yoga residents is a more of an authorian figure, with a dominating voice and strong character. When I first spoke to him I felt as though his personality was overwhelming, too controlling and that he had some kind of superiority complex which  made me feel like inferior person and child-like. After overhearing a conversation he was having about his family, I learnt that he was the the second oldest in a family of ten children and was the oldest male child. This made me realise what I'd mistaken for an overbearing nature was probably just a caring nature used to being in charge and looking out for others younger than he.

Now having looked at his characteristics from another viewpoint it has opened up my mind and I can now see how my initial ideas were narrow-minded and did not allow for other possibilities.
I need to remember to apply this logic to other scenarios and I will go through life with a greater acceptance of world.

Also, having never really done a lot of meditation in the past, I found the meditation classes a relatively new practice but what I achieved in my first real class was a really strange. It was a truly unconscious state of being.

Deep within my chest I felt and could visualise a ball of light that brightened with every intake of breathe and which decreased with every release of breathe.

My body was no longer identifiable to myself; It was a void space- part of the atmosphere that surrounded me, something I could not determine to be a separate entity.

The only sensations I could feel were a gentle warmth in the very top of my head, and a mild coldness in my hands and feet and the warm ball of light in the center of my chest pulsing with each breathe.
Suddenly I became aware of an intense burning pain in my lower back just below my rib cage to the right of my spine which demanded my attention and eventually caused me to pull away from my trance and lay down.

Very strange, but very intriguing.

I found life at the ashram very easy. It was so simple just to slip into this community and live as they did.

So what is Yogic Lifestyle I hear you ask?

When people hear about the practices that go on in places like these it gets some mixed reactions. Some people believe these places are like a cult, involved in some weird going ons. Hidden away from society in some eccentric rejection of society with the sole purpose of having some higher level of being in a meditative trance.

OK, that may be in some ways true I guess. Yes they are hidden away from society but no more than people living in some of the rural villages that exist around the world.It not so much a rejection of modern society but the decision to leave material posessions behind and concentrate on themselves and a cleaner existance.

Sinics argue that its easy to achieve an inner calmness and acceptance in a place like that, hidden from the 'real world,' but if your your not open to the practises and willing to and are able to let go of all the bad things that haunt you then it doesn't matter how you spend in places like that, it won't have any lasting affects on you. You will simply foget everything as soon as your return to your normal routines.
The residents that live in these places aren't just a bunch of people trying to leave their previous lives behind, they are educated people who have chosen to study and adapt to the yogic life style and wish to pass their teachings on to people who want to learn.

Yoga is much more than streaches that people do in classes in leisure centres across the world, one or twice a week when people can be bothered to attend. Its many practises combined. Its a dedication to all these different practises: breathing techiques, mediataions, postures- understanding our bodies and minds and achieving a true inner peace.

One day when I was reading some of the feedback forms while working in the offices,  I came across one persons form who'd gone on to write on the back about how much this place and the practices had helped her life- after what I gather were some negative experiences.

This person had focused on one of the phases I'd remembered hearing, 'Act rather than re-act,' and this struck a cord when I read her letter.

I find this a very interesting concept. Taking control allows you to measure the degree of movement in yoga, and enables you to work within the range which you are capable. This idea also works in everyday life. Instead of letting things happen to you and dealing with responding to these actions, if you are the active party you are in control of the situation and therefore able to cope better. It strengthens you mental ability and gives you greater power in the situation. A similar philosophy I also learnt in my psychology classes at college, talked of this 'control' being achieved with knowledge. If you are in possession of knowledge about an event that will happen, for example how to cope in an earthquake, then when a earthquake does happen you are mentality prepared and will suffer less stress than those who were unprepared. I wonder if knowledge is essential however in being active. Are those who are active in possession of knowledge more so than those who re-act, or can simply be active alone. Maybe its just a question of individual personality.

There will always be times, however, when a passive approach is more suitable- a time to 'surrender and accept' as the lady on the form had written.

In some quite free time I had I managed to finish the latest book I had 'The Alchemist,' by Paulo Coelho, a book with many interesting philosophies of its own.

One that I really liked was this (written in relation to love but could be also about friendship,) "If what one finds is made of pure matter, it will never spoil. And one can always come back. If what you found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you will find nothing when you return." I guess only time will tell about my friendships back in England and those I made with people from all over the world whether they are only 'moments of light' or indeed 'pure matter.'

Life at the ashram wasn't always serious though. It was a time for everyone for personal reflection but we also had some fun too.

We found a hoover that was used as a backpack, just like the ghostbusters suits, so me and a couple of the girls-Hannah and Elina- made a video acting out a ghostbusters scene. ( Which exists somewhere on Youtube I do believe!) We skipped one of the mediatation classes to film it, although everyone in the class heard us singing the theme tune and screaming at the 'ghost' so it wasn't much of a mediatation class after all, oops!

I also had a conversation with one of the girls that was just embarking on a six month residencey at Mangrove, about digging a tunnel in the back garden when I was about four  or five and when my mum asked me what I was doing I said I was digging a hole to Australia. Think i'd been watching too much Neighbours! In fact I think I was probably trying to get to Ramsey Street. Little did I know at that age that it was much easier just to get a plane and that many years later I would finally get to Australia, I may even make it to Ramsey Street eventually.

                                                                                                                     

I found it to be a very calming, grounding environment to be in and very much disagree with the opinions of someone I later spoke to that the people who stay there are avoiding real life. They are simply living a much more basic kind of life and focusing on themselves and living in a very much self-sufficient way.

I left that place feeling refreshed and happy. It was an awesome place. Amazing people, beautiful surroundings, gorgeous food and inspiring classes.

After that wonderful break from the real life it was now time to head back to the city and continue my journey on to Tasmania!