On the Road Again

Term 1 is finished!  Three week holiday here I come!  This is the reason to be a teacher!  We've enjoyed the last few days before we all head out in different directions for our holidays - easy last week of school, a few beautiful sunsets, and having an old friend for dinner.

Just beautiful.

Last photo of the late Peggy.  She was delicious.  First time I've eaten a pet/lawn-mower.

I'm heading out on Monday for a long road trip to Brisbane where I'll be for a few days, and then to Sydney at the end of the week.  Not taking my laptop, so I'm sure some of you out there will be happy to have a break from lengthy adventure essays.  Expect some short, mostly photographic posts from the road!

Lots of love, keep in touch!  

An Altogether Unexpected Holiday

With Easter holidays coming up, I've been in the early stages of designing my first Big Travel Adventure since my arrival. As hard as it is to make plans with a group, its even harder when you're on your own – there is nothing baring you in any direction which makes picking only one direction a bit of a challenge. With a solid bit of cash saved up and the only requirement being that I do a CPR/First Aid course somewhere during my 3 week holiday, the options are pretty wide open.

Cairns this time of year sounded great. Rain-forest, reef, beach, first aid courses, travel by train and see the coast. I thought about new places I'd never been and maybe revisiting a few highlights from my tour as a 10 year old. It was all going to be a very fun adventure.

But this blog isn't called Very Fun Adventure, now is it? No, no, darling.

You see, when I got up last Sunday, I expected to stop procrastinating and finally book some tickets for Cairns and get my ducks in a row. However, just when I thought I was going the right way, the ever elusive unexpected option presented itself. By lunch time the same day I had secured tickets which would allow me to have a whole day of meeting and greeting and listening to one of my favorite actors. In a few weeks. In Sydney. By way of Brisbane to do my CPR/First aid course. Sorted.

It really did happen rather quickly (...sound familiar?). I do knowingly admit that I seem to have developed a little bit of a quirky attitude lately, with the overwhelming mental response in these should-I-really-do-this situations being, “In the last minute I have considered this option, affirmed its possibility, seen its potential, and it would be quite lovely. I can hardly unconsider it and should I not go through with it now I will surely kick myself for a long time knowing that I considered it to be lovely and did nothing, so I might as well just do it.” Blame only-childhood or something. I can't recommend it as an approach for every situation, but surely some good must come out of bucking up and just doing what you want now and again.

I'm pretty excited about it. In the last few years though, the craziness of meeting celebrities has sort of calmed down. I am always excited, don't get me wrong, but now I can just chill out and have a chat and respect that they're just as normal as anybody else. Must have happened when I worked at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, girl gotta play it cool if your gonna pick up famous people at the airport.

The wee Watson girls on the other hand, are flipping out. Dragons have been a highlight of our classroom for ages now. I tend to stick with it because anything which gets them writing, creating, listening to stories, and make-believing has to be good. So while they're nowhere near the “Oh Benedict Cumberbatch, I love him, cheekbones, eyes, mmm” they're immediate reaction to hearing my travel plans was more along the lines of “YOU'RE REALLY MEETING SMAUG? WHAT IS HIS FAVORITE COLOR? DOES HE LIKE VEGEMITE? WHAT'S HIS FAVORITE ANIMAL? IS IT FUN BEING A DRAGON? CAN HE FLY? WILL HE SKYPE WITH US?”  I now have the ammunition to make this quite the unforgettable Q&A.

I'll have a few days in Brissy, head down to Sydney for a few, then head back up north and meet up with the Watson's for some camping and a roadtrip back to Carnarvon. I've already been in touch with a few Australian fans who are going and so I'll at least have some people to awkwardly stand in line with and such. For what I'm sure is not the first nor last time in my life, thank you Tumblr.

I'd say this is the last thing I'd expect to be doing, but that means I would have had to have thought of it at all to begin with.

Gotta love it. Altogether, unexpected.

Their marketing department knows exactly who their audience is.

Brisbane

The absolute best thing about “Brissy” was that it was never as hot as it was the first day I arrived. Fine, fine fine. If you pulled my leg, I'm sure I could maybe come up with some other high points. Brisbane is a river city made up of a large Central Business District and many smaller surrounding villages on a landscape of rolling hills and beauty. It boasts a cool bridge and an efficient public transit fleet that I rode everyday (buses, water buses, trains) in some form or another.

Story Bridge

To be honest though, my favorite activities while in town weren't technically in Brisbane.

The first big outing was to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where I successfully saw...koalas! While the park was really well laid out and had lots of interesting and cute critters, I started feeling uncomfortable about halfway through my visit. At some point in the last few years I've developed a much larger appreciation for natural life, and I think seeing all these beautiful creatures in cages on display just rubbed me up the wrong way. I just sort of of sat there thinking, “I'd rather spend a whole day hiking around looking for stuff and seeing ONE wild creature than seeing loads in a cage.”

Mommy and baby  joey koala!  

Which is exactly what I did next! The next day I headed off at a very early hour to Moreton Island with a local guide company Bushwacker Eco Tours. We “enjoyed” sandboarding. By which I mean my tour mates enjoyed watching me ride down a gigantic sand dune on a slab of waxed wood and face plant quite a few times. There was honestly so much sand in my clothes afterward that I walked straight into the shower with all my clothes when I got home at the end of the day.

Those dunes are tricking you, they were massive.  It was like a giant sand-bowl and here I'm at the top.

Before that, however, we went snorkeling at the Tangalooma Wrecks where we spotted loads of fish, a friendly Woobegong shark, and the endangered hornbill turtle. Fun Fact: fish will swarm around you and eat will eat tortilla wraps out of your hands. Also a fun fact: Birds will see this and gobble up whole fish right in front of your eyes. Teamwork.

The Tangalooma Wrecks.  Purposely shrunk whaling ships that now host corals from the Barrier Reef.

I was quite tired the next day from Moreton shenanigans, so strolling around Brisbane's Southbank was exactly my speed. A nice little Saturday market, fresh sushi, and some fro-yo on the riverside set me up quite nicely to enjoy my favorite cultural activity: going to the cinema! And I must say, while Chris Pine isn't my favorite Jack Ryan, the movie was pretty good. I mean, you can do a lot worse than Kevin Costner in dress blues. Once you love someone in Waterworld, you never go back.

My last day in Brisbane was spent with the same eco tour company, but this time we traveled south of Brisbane into the Hinterland to see some sub-tropical rainforest. I absolutely adored this tour. Our morning started off at Natural Arch with some rainforest bushwalking, little ecology lessons, a waterfall through a cave, water dragon, eel, and strangler figs.

The Strangler Fig: An epiphyte who grows on top of other trees for centuries, but eventually strangles its host to death.  Lovely. 

Natural Arch

We also made a stop to see glow worms which usually only live in caves. A local created a man-made cave where the worms could live in darkness full time (and visitors could see them during the day). No photos were allowed, but the site of them in the pitch blackness was exactly like like looking at the stars in a clear night sky...if stars trapped mosquitos for breakfast!

[Note: My camera died somewhere during the day, so while there aren't many good photos currently of the following, some tour mates took some and I'll update this post when they email them to me!]

After a lovely lunch where we discussed my other favorite aspect of culture, language differences, we went on a nice long hike through Springbrook National Park. The hike wasn't so long, but we all were in need of a little break for rest and photos when we reached Twin Falls. Now when presented with the following waterfall, I ask who among you would not immediately take off all your clothes and go for a swim? Bit cold, but completely clean, no unfriendly water creatures or mushy plants – and nothing is ever going to erase the image I had floating on my back looking up at this waterfall at the Australian sky.

Twin Falls from my crappy mobile camera...more pics to be uploaded later!

Once I decided clothes were in order again, we scaled the cliff and checked out the source of the waterfall, a spring so pure you could drink from which was delicious! Filled my water bottle twice. We had another little detour when we spotted a huge human hand-sized blue crayfish, to which I immediately turned to the guide asking, “You gonna catch that for me?”. Long story short, good thing I chose to go for a swim already, cause I fell in the creek in our pursuit, but we eventually caught the little bugger (ie – I told CJ where it was, and he risked his digits catching it). Fearsome little beast, could chop off a finger with those claws! Endless thanks go to CJ for indulging the waterbaby of the tour.

Brisbane was a great city, and an even better city to use as a base to explore the areas around it. I have a feeling I'll make it back there soon. With Brissy done I'll be in Emerald for a few days where I'll meet the family I'll be working with and doing a little two-day induction with the girls distance education school.

Internet has been shaky the last few days, but once we get to the reserve properly (end of the week) things will definitely be more stable. Leave some comments would love to hear from you guys!

Welcome to Brisbane

I'VE MADE IT!  Three planes, a train, a bus and a nice wee walk have set me quite happily in Brisbane's New Farm area. You can imagine the length of stories from a nearly 30 hour our trip AND my first day in Australia, but let's focus these five little nuggets.

1. Sleep on the plane. But be smart about it. I'll let you know if I develop jet lag, but I doubt I will because I planned ahead have super powers. The boys next to me slept at the wrong time. They slept when they were tired. Instead, you must sleep when your destination time zone is tired. This may coincidentally be when you are tired, but chances are it won't be, and for that I suggest a warm meal, headphones/ear lugs, an eye cover, melatonin, and Zzzquil (or other over the counter sleep-aid). All legal and non-prescription so you can force yourself to get on the correct sleep schedule. Essentially, you want to be in whatever state you'll need to be in at the time you land. I got in around 10 AM so I had to be ready to be awake all day as soon as I got off the plane. Not really a party trick, but I'm sure someone would be impressed if you were a jet-lag master.
2. Air travel is an exercise in queuing. There will be lots of queues for what seems to be no reason. Be one with them. Learn their ways. Accept them as a part of life. Know that when there are 300 people being processed by one border control agent, you are not alone, and heavy sighing and dirty looks just make every one more frustrated because there is nothing we can do. Also know that heavy sighs and and dirty looks are completely appropriate when you're holding every one up in the security line because you are passionate about not throwing this water bottle away. Bring peace to the queue.
3. Australia is really hot. I sat next to these really cute kids on the plane, and even they warned me,“You better strip down some of those layers or else you'll be boiling.” Though everyone tells you how hot its going to be, it really is hot as shit. Brisbane is also very humid, so its the kind of heat that makes it feel like you're walking through jello. It's hotter than you think. It's hotter than you can really plan for. Maybe melting is some weird sort of assimilation process. Either way, I do not advise walking into center city in the midday sun as your first activity. To those concerned at home: Yes, I wore sunblock. To the lady at the hotel desk: Yes, I wore sunblock.
4. The people here are really nice. Thank you ticket agent who told me which combo would be the cheapest train fare. Thank you random dude who saw my slightly confused face and made sure I knew where the bus was going without me asking him. Thank you really nice bank man for shaking my hand and smiling and introducing yourself when I was a red faced sweat monster. Thank you Vodaphone lady for literally suggesting and giving me directions to other mobile stores when you found out the town I'd be living in wasn't covered very well by your network. Thank you awesome lady sitting next to me on the bus for some pleasant chatting and laughing just as hard when I pointed out my new favorite hats (to be fair she was originally from New Zealand).



Do you see their hard hats?  They have wide brims.  ITS LIKE A COWBOY CONSTRUCTION HAT.  Perfect. 

5. Traveling alone isn't so bad. There are some moments where I'd wish someone was here to experience what I'm experiencing, but so far its been pretty nice. I almost feel a bit guilty about that. Not that I don't love traveling with others! Its just...you can really do what you want. Sometimes you want to take the dirty city bus instead of a taxi. Sometimes you want to just take a swim and read by the pool instead of site-seeing. Sometimes you're just sweating buckets and need to walk around the air-conditioned super market for an hour and a half. You can do all these things. I'm sure I'll miss companionship at some point, but right now I'm enjoying the solo-travel life.

All in all a rather relaxed flight and first day. Nothing too crazy going on, but that's alright by me. I made it here in one piece and everything has run smoothly so I'm proud of that and a happy gal. Watching and listening to a big thunder/lightening storm rolling in, catch you guys later!  Update a few minutes after typing this: THIS STORM IS AWESOME.  Update a few minutes after that:  I forgot my towel was outside.  

On the Road

People deal with emotions in all sorts of ways.  These last few days, I've seen the differences between my parents, family, friends, and acquaintances.  I tend to be strongly positive.  I avoid having formal goodbyes, and opt for parting with the best wishes of seeing each other again soon.  And by strongly positive, I of course mean I'll hug you and be the strong one, and then will go cry in the bathroom when you've gone.

More than anything I try as hard as a I can to be aware of the magnitude of what's happening, without letting it overwhelm me.  Sometimes it does (pacing around my room at 3 AM last night organizing my carry-on baggage) but at the very least I try to recognize it and let the feeling pass.  Know that I'm getting nervous, know that I probably didn't pack everything I need, know that my parents will cry at the airport regardless of what I do.

I also tend to revert to my own sort of scripture.  The last few days have seen a sharp increase in my quoting of The Desiderata, Jackson Browne, films I've always loved but only recently realized are all about going on adventures.  Part of me knows that these things won't change.  I can watch my favorite scenes anywhere in the world, and the same songs will make me cry regardless of where I listen to them.

The hard part is the people.  What a species, I'll tell ya, they drive you nuts but you love 'em anyways. 

Well, I'm getting a bit sentimental now.  We're heading to the airport in about half an hour.  The internet went out at home so I'm posting this from the airport!  1 free hour of wifi, you go Frankfurt.  Despite all the rest, the hardest part of leaving for me is the drive away.  After we were out of site of our house, we were on the road - the journey has begun.  But those few moments where you're leaving and you're looking back are what always gets me.  It happened when we drove away from our house in Philly.  It happened when the cab pulled away from my flat in Edinburgh.  And it happened again in Landstuhl as I drove away from our home of 7 years.  All three images overlapping, or perhaps blurring together through the tears.  

I'll leave you with this, Jack Kerouac said it a lot better

“What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” 

The sadness of leaving and goodbye is real, but let's get this crazy venture started.   Love you Germany, love you friends, love you family!

26+ Hours of in-flight entertainment, here I come!