mandy's great adventure

Christmas season in the Southern Hemisphere...

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:40:00 +0000

...is a bit strange. First, I naturally expect it to be cold. Growing up in New Jersey we looked forward to the possibility of a snow day, but at minimum got to go to the tree farm to look for Christmas trees, where we could walk around drinking hot apple cider to keep warm. (Don't get me wrong, I actually can't stand winter, but there is something Christmassy about it, especially the smell of fireplaces and Christmas trees). In Northern Florida, we generally don't get too cold at winter, but still people take to decorating their houses with lights and flamingos and such, which is still quite fun.

But Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is still a novel concept for me, and like I said, a bit strange. People put up Christmas lights, which is nice in theory. But because it is Daylight Savings Time, it stays light until about 9:30 at night, so really, who can ever see the lights? Being without a car, I'm not going to go walking around the neighbourhood at 10:30 at night just to see if anyone has decorated.

And instead of Christmas dinner, because it is usually too damn hot in the summer for roasting and mashed potatoes and all sorts of good heavy treats, it's Christmas lunch, often BBQ style. I do imagine it would be nice to have a beach BBQ for Christmas but we don't live near the beach. Oh well. Instead, it will be salads and fruits and some roasted veggies (okay, we have to get a little roasted goodness in there) and we'll see what else. Ooh, it's only eight days until Santa gets here. Yay!

Plants are good for the soul

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:26:00 +0000

I started my first ever veggie garden this year. It was a bit of an adventure, and yielded the occasional carrot, which got eaten by a bunny in the neighbour's yard (ironic?) and the occasional turnip, which made a surprisingly yummy edition to pumpkin soup. But I am most happy about my thriving parsley plants. They just keep on growing and growing. And I've found it very therapeutic to kneel down by them, give them a little fluff, and say hello. I must be doing something right with them (or maybe they are just naturally very hardy, but I like to think I have something to do with their success), because they have survived winter and are thriving in to summer. What a wonderful feeling to be cooking dinner and say "ooh, parsley would be nice in this ... let me just head out to the garden and cut a few leaves." So nice. I think when we decide to stay in one place for a while we will wind up with a huge veggie and herb garden.

I'd also like to introduce you to my friend Basil the basil. He had a rough start. When I got him from the market, I uncovered him and found his soil to be moldy. Ick! He turned wilty very quickly, but I have persevered, and he's managed to thrive once again. I religiously move him out in to the sun during the day and back inside at night, so he won't freeze and die (I learned my lesson with my first basil plant, who died at the first sign of winter). He also gets lots of water, and again, I say hello and fluff his leaves a little bit with my fingers. I think he likes it.

Koalas and wombats and roos, oh my!

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:29:00 +0000

How can you not love these faces? This weekend we had the most amazing animal encounter experience. On the way to the Great Ocean Road, we stopped off in The Otways to experience the The Otway Fly - a treetop walk through the rainforest. Then, we stayed at the most amazing place. It is called Fauna Australia, and is a small, family-run wildlife park. You can only have access to see the animals if you are a guest at the property. You can hand-feed the animals - wombats and wallabies and other marsupials in the kangaroo/wallaby family. They have over 400 animals there. The owner also took us in to see the koalas up close. You can pet and feed them too. They are the cutest things ever!

This photo is of a mama and baby having their dinner. Koalas need to eat one kilogram (more than 2 pounds) of eucalyptus each day. That's a lot of leaves. They don't drink water, and they aren't always as stoned as they appear to be. It's just that they relax in the trees to conserve energy - and they sleep up to 20 hours per day. They have no natural predators in the wild, but because they eat so much eucalypt, they often run out of food and die (or are culled) in the wild. But these girls were happy and doing just fine.

Later, along the Great Ocean Road, we were surprised to see a koala bounding down the side of the road - they can move fast when they want to.

I wanted to take one home with me, but I don't have any eucalyptus trees in my back yard - oh well.

And, here's a photo of the friendliest wallaby ever!

Back in Home #2

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:24:00 +0000

After two months back in the Good Ol' U.S. of A., I'm back in Australia. Most of you know all this already, but just in case, here's an update. I went back to Florida in July to try to bully my dad in to taking care of himself (and failed miserably) and to visit with my Mom and some friends. I had a brilliant little side trip to Boston to see my good friend Lil G and had a wonderful time. I also took mini-trips to South Florida and Orlando to visit with other friends. But the most of my visit was just spent with family, acting silly with my Mom and just hanging out. Windsor came for a visit as well, which was good fun. It was his first time to "meet the parents" but it ended up being not-so-stressful, or at least I think so.

After a brief visit with Windsor to see some friends and family and a festival in California, we headed back to Melbourne just over a week ago. We had to fly through a massive dust storm in Sydney - which was a bit like flying through orange-colored milk. It was crazy! And a bit scary. Everyone applauded when we finally landed - thank goodness we had an experienced pilot.

So now we are back in Melbourne. Windsor is already back at work. And I am doing some editing and Martha Stewart-ing. I'd forgotten how FREEZING this house is. I think it was built in the 1920s or so, and has no insulation. So I am just (not-so-patiently) waiting for Spring to appear. The plan is to do a TEFL course and apply for English teaching jobs in South Korea. I'll keep you posted. If anyone's ever done that, I'd love some feedback.

Hugs

Lucy, I'm hoooooooooooooooooooome (for now).

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:11:00 +0000

I left Australia on Thursday for the epic trip back to the other side of the world. I did a quick fly-by trip to New Zealand to visit my friends Margot and Dave. I was surprised to find out that New Zealand was actually a bit warmer than Melbourne!!! I still froze my arse off because they had no heat in their house though. It was a quick trip, but I managed to squeeze in some favourite things that Windsor and I had discovered while we were there, like ginger cake and honey.

My trip to LA went through Fiji, and the flight to Fiji was fine but on the connection, the 10-hour one to LA, I sat next to this old old woman with a cane, who started doing that sick old-person's loogie hacking thing where it sounds like they are about to spew. She did that for hours and hours. Later I come to find out that she actually has the flu, has a fever, runny nose, and feels like she is going to spew, so I spent the rest of the flight breathing in to my jumper and holding my ears when she started the coughing thing (because I can't stand spew sound either). Why they ever allowed her to travel in the first place is beyond me. So it was fun, and needless to say I nearly ran off the plane when it was all over! And then I proceeded to overdose on vitamin C and zinc, so my body could fight off whatever cooties she spread throughout the plane.

California was beautiful and warm and dry, my friend Brian picked me up and we rode beach cruiser bikes down by the beach, which was wonderful. It was beautiful and sunny and warm with a nice breeze, and it was so nice to not be cold!!! I also hung out with Brian's family for a zany dinner. Garlic sabotage made me feel a bit sick on my flight to Florida Sunday night, and I couldn't sleep either.But finally last night I slept 15 hours and am feeling just fine today! Florida is freakin' hot and it is like soup outside. My hair is all frizzy. It's funny.

I'll be here for probably two months and am going to try to find some temporary work and also deal with my parents' health issues. That's all for now.

June Update

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:12:00 +0000

Hi. Remember me? Has it really been nearly two months since I wrote anything? Sorry for the delay, but I guess I'm just "living" instead of "traveling" so haven't had all that much to report. We are still living in "the frat house," the boys are still as messy as always, but I am coping, because it is cheap, and I can't work here. So.

I did make a mini-visit back to Alpacaland where, goodness me, they've all been sold. I was very sad. I guess they got an un-refusable offer for the whole lot, so bye bye alpacas. But they did keep three, one of which was my favourite little baby from last year, so at least I got a little bit of quality time with the alpacas. And of course some quality time with my friends there too!

Next stop: Florida. I am heading back in July, via brief visits in Auckland and LA to see friends. I am not sure how long I will be in Florida, perhaps two months? It all depends on too many factors, the most important of which are my parents. I have to see how they are doing, if they are healthy enough and sane enough for me to leave them again :-) We'll see.

So post Florida, it looks like I either:
1) Come back to Melbourne for another few months while Windsor works and does his family thing. If we move out of the frathouse I might actually have enough inspiration to finish my book!
2) Go off to fill-in-the-blank country to teach English. That way we can BOTH work and feel useful. But we are not sure where we would go, if we would like it, and if we would be any good at it. We are open to suggestions!
3) Get a 1-year working holiday visa for NZ. Again, mainly so we can both work, but we have nothing/no one there really.
4) Stay in Florida a bit longer to look after the parentals. But that would mean either Windsor can't work or we are apart. Mom says "No hon, we are fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine." But I need to see for myself.

So that's it. I am slowly working through editing my book. Sloooooooooooowly (the aforementioned frathouse is not the ideal place for creative inspiration). I've been going Cuban Salsa dancing every other week or so, which has been wonderful and fun, and I've met some fun people too. And I'm just hanging out with my girlfriends and with Windsor, doing lots of baking to keep the house warm (and maybe fatten ourselves up for winter because it is COLD in Melbourne).

Oh, and if anyone knows of some short-term temp work in Florida, LET ME KNOW!
Hope all is well for whoever is still reading this :-)

The Best Pre-flight Announcement Ever

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:03:00 +0000

Why can't all pre-flight announcements be this entertaining?
This guy is fabulous.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=16920289001

Living with Boys

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:25:00 +0000

I've never lived with boys before, well, other than my dad, and my brothers who moved out of home when I will still a wee little thing. But in my adult life, I have never lived with boys. I've lived with girls, I've lived with my parents and I've lived alone. I have stayed in the same room with boys at numerous hostels around the world, but I have never lived with them.

I came back to Australia to live with my boyfriend (which, in itself, is a whole-nother-huge thing, but it is all going quite fine thank you for asking) and wound up getting two extra boy housemates as a bonus. It's like three for the price of one!

Luckily for me, my boyfriend has been house-broken and potty trained. He does all the things normal people are supposed to do, like clean up after themselves, share work around the house, etc. He's actually even better than that, he cooks too. I lucked out with this one! He's a keeper!

But the others ... well ... they haven't entirely been house-trained.

Let's see if I can give you a few examples.

1: The Shower. I frequently walk in to the bathroom and find myself stepping in puddles. I look down and see that both the bath mats are soaked and there are water puddles all over the floor. It is as if one of them takes a shower and grabs handfuls of water and, with a flourish, says to the world, "here I am," and flings the water all over the bathroom. If we had a detachable shower head, I would assume one of them had a water fight with his shadow. But we don't. So I guess the only logical explanation is that they shower, step on the bathmat with soaking feet, shake themselves off, and then walk to the other side of the bathroom to pick up a towel to finish the drying process. I, on the other hand, hang my towel over the shower rail so that I can get dry without soaking the floor. Logical? Common sense? No? Que?

2. The Smoking. They don't smoke in the house. If they did, I wouldn't live here. But I can't tell you how many times we've asked them to shut the door when they are smoking on the patio so that the smoke doesn't drift inside to the kitchen and then right in to our bedroom. We might have to resort to stuffing hairs in their cigarettes. I wonder how that would go over?

3. Dishes. We've all had roommates that didn't do dishes, but this is a bit ridiculous. I think one day the boyfriend said to one of the guys, "Um, your dishes have been waiting in the sink for you since Friday."

So combine this with drum lessons; shoes left in perfect "trip over me" positions; loogey-hocking sounds emanating from the bathroom; empty milk cartons, empty potato chip packets and glasses lying around; it is sort of like living in a frat house. So this is what living with boys is like. But really, it's not all that bad, I mean, look at the bright sides ...

um ...

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight ...

uh ...

The drumming keeps would-be burglars away.

And ... um ... it's cheaper.

It's kind of like being at University again.

As my dad would say, "Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you."

Working from home?

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:21:00 +0000

Does anyone know about LEGITIMATE work-from-home jobs? Do they actually exist? I've been searching and searching for US-based work-from-home jobs (proofreading, data entry, whatever) and everything on the internet appears to be a scam or requires some start-up fee that will eventually turn in to a scam. Even links from careerbuilder turned out to be "just pay this small fee to sign up" type stuff ... and I'm just not falling for that. But something US-based that I can do remotely is all I can legally do at the moment, so ... calling all home-based workers ... where did you find your job?

Australia, revisited.

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Three months in NZ was coming to a close so it was time to decide where to go next. Back to Australia with Windsor? Back to Florida alone with a failing economy and questionable job opportunities? Somewhere random to teach English? Apply to extend my tourist visa and stay in NZ a bit longer?

I applied for another tourist visa for Australia, because the idea of a 16-time-zone long-distance relationship didn't appeal to us. But given my past immigration interrogation fun, would they grant me another visa? I was on a time crunch, because I had to leave NZ in less than 4 weeks. How long would it take to approve/deny the visa?

It was a bit of a mission to get the crazy thing. I submitted my very lengthy application on line, since that was the quickest way to get it processed, only to have the internet connection I was using die, causing me to lose almost the whole thing. Bad omen? But I pressed on and finished the application.

A few days later I got an email, to my email address, yet addressed to some random person named Silviu something-or-other with a case file number that definitely was not mine. I emailed back saying that person wasn't me, but did they have questions for me, only to realize that they don't actually check the email address these things are sent from (either that or they were embarrassed about using an old form letter and not changing all the relevant bits).

As I re-checked the body of the email sent to Silviu, I realized the questions were actually addressed to my situation, so I then had to answer all their questions. They wanted a detailed description of the activities I planned to undertake, a detailed itinerary of my travel plans, what my intentions were, how I would support myself, and could I back up my assertions that I would return to the US later this year?

Phew! Where to begin? It was a bit hard to do since I haven't booked anything travel-wise, thinking they would reject me, and my activities basically involve hanging out. I have an open-return ticket but of course am not going to set a date until I know the visa outcome. But I persevered and wrote them a novel, explaining my reasons for going back, who I planned to visit (with phone numbers for character references), what I planned to do despite not yet booking anything, and attaching flight itineraries, emails stating the date change policy on said itinerary, bank statements, etc.

It was a fair bit of work for a simple tourist visa, but the work paid off as a few days later, I received an email: VISA APPROVED! Ohmygoodness. I had to sit down. I was surprised to receive a response so quickly, and surprised to be granted a year long tourist visa! I was expecting at best three months. But I got a year! So needless to say I was happy (and scared, I've never lived with a boy before, that is a very grown up thing to do!!!!! But most of all happy!!!)

So after the visa approval it was a mad dash back up to Auckland to try to sell the car, which had acquired a cracked windscreen right after we got our safety inspection done! There was lots of running around, cleaning, organizing, test drives, negotiations, and stress. We ended up selling Subi on to two nice Finnish backpackers, who will hopefully love him as much as we did. It all happened so fast, and we were sad to see him go. Then it was back to our friends' house for some crazy last minute packing (how did we wind up with so much stuff???!!!) and then a quick flight purchase and off we went to Melbourne two days later.

So I am here now, in Melbourne, doing a bit of couch surfing, until we find a place to live. It is strange being back, since I wasn't planning to come back for a while. But it's also business as usual, not too much has changed in the four months I was away. I am excited and nervous about moving in with a boy, but tons of people do it, and I can too! Haha. I will have lots of time to finish my book, so hopefully when I go pick it up again for editing I won't think the first draft is horrible! I just have to do it!

So that is about it from me for now. Wish me a good place to live and some book-writing ispiration.

New Zealand Wanderings, Part 2

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:53:00 +0000

Where oh where to begin ... I've had so little intnernet access, so I am way behind on the "where in the world is Mandy" catch-ups.

New Zealand has been wonderful to travel around, and perhaps one of the most tourist-friendly places I have ever been to. They have (I think) government-run tourist offices called "i-site"s in nearly every tourist center, and generally the people are super genuine and friendly. It would be an easy peasy job for me ... they don't work on commission so just genuinely want to help people! But I am not job-eligible, so that is a moot point. I'm just glad they've been here to provide any and everything tourists need to know.

We've been sleeping in Subi. I think we've spent about 30+ days in the car, and about 15 days in hotels since we left Auckland. We worked out that we're spending less money doing this (and our hotels have been nice ones, not ghetto budget ones) than we would have if we'd just stayed in backpackers the whole time. And after sleeping in the car, we appreciate the creature comforts of the hotels that much more.

We had an uneventful Christmas, just took the ferry to the South Island. Shortly after, we volunteered at a music festival for a week over New Year's. It was a lot of ridiculous work, as we got there about 3 days before the rest of the volunteers. We worked our arses off, building a fence out of tree branches, hauling felled trees from the forest, going on a mission to collect flowers and plants for decorations, creating said decorations, it was madness. We worked a lot. But after we had our fill, and the other volunteers finally showed up, we took off to have some fun. It rained on New Years Eve, but we did have a few rain-free hours, and I got to dance outside under the stars. We also had a good time exploring the area around the festival. It was atop a place called Takaka Hill at Canaan Downs, and was full of sheep pastures, hills, dry river beds, more hills, more grass, the occasional river with a waterfall, just heaps of beautiful scenery, so it was easy to escape the chaos of the festival.

After we left the festival we passed through some highly over-rated areas and some nice surprises too. We've found fantastic places to camp, surrounded by pine trees with the sound of the ocean to wake us up. We got attacked by sand flies near the top of the South Island, so have decided to stay firmly away from the West Coast, where they like to hang out the most. We're in Christchurch now and are pleasantly surprised by this quaint city.

But suddenly, the fact that my visa is up in 4 weeks has crept up on us, so now we need to think about what to do next. We need to sell Subi soon, but are having a few minor issues with him so have to figure out how best to sort that out. We're working on it. And my visa issues are beginning to be a pain in my bottom, but again, we're working on it.

I hope to update again soon. In the mean time, I hope everyone had safe and happy holidays and are so far enjoying 2009. (2009!? Already?! How did that happen?)

Oh by the way, photos are here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=205645&l=ade86&id=791230081

and here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=207415&l=1f939&id=791230081

new zealand wanderings - photos ...

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:38:00 +0000

can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190129&l=aeafb&id=791230081

New Zealand Wanderings, Part 1

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:12:00 +0000

It is time for a very overdue New Zealand update. About three weeks ago Dad's continually improving health gave me the all clear to head back off on my trip, so about three weeks ago Windsor and I met in LA and headed off to NZ. We spent about a week in Auckland just hanging out and getting over jetlag and catching up on all the goings on in the 100 days since we'd last seen each other!

We bought a car, a shiny '91 Subaru Legacy Wagon, who we have affectionately named Subarubi, or Subes for short. He is white, and has a Hello Kitty dressed as a koala as his mascot, hanging from the rear-view mirror, and a Samurai In Car sticker in the back window to protect us. We've acquired lots of padding and bedding, and have turned the back in to our sleeping quarters. We've got curtains and everything. It's taken a bit of getting used to, being a bit firmer than a normal mattress, and being a bit cramped with two in the back, when I am used to a double bed by myself. But after a week or so of sleeping in the car, I am getting rather used to it.

After Auckland, we hit the road in Subarubi and went to the Coromandel Peninsula and visited the famous Hot Water Beach, where there is a hot spring directly under the sand in one section that makes it, you guessed it, HOT. When we got there, thankfully about 50 people had already done the digging so we could be lazy and just sit in and enjoy the VERY HOT water. It was crazy. But we've since left the crowds behind and have been finding more peaceful but equally amazing spots to hang out. We found a few great spots right by the water to sleep, and have been cooking and picnicing for most of our meals, with occasional treats when we feel like splurging or are just too plain lazy to cook!

After the Coromandel, we started on what we are affectionately calling our Thermal Tour Of New Zealand. New Zealand is full of active volcanoes and consequently, lots of boiling mud, hot springs and the like. We found a little gem of a town, Te Aroha, and happened upon a spa with a hot soda springs bath, complete with a wooden tub that looked like something out of a movie. It was 45 of the most relaxing minutes of my life, the water was smooth and silky and an amazing place to relax for a while.

After Te Aroha we went to Rotorua, or RotoVegas, which was way too busy and touristy, but where we saw boiling mud and steam vents right at ground level. We went to Hell's Gate and had a thermal mud soak, followed by a sulphur hot pool soak. It was amazingly relaxing, but we smelled of sulphur for about three days afterwards. We met some super nice locals who, upon hearing we were sleeping in our car, offered us the tent in their back yard with a real mattress. Very nice of them!

After checking out a few more sights, we left smelly Rotorua, saw Lake Taupo, which is the same size as Singapore, and Napier, a town that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in true Art Deco style that rivals Miami Beach.

We are now trying to get to Tongariro National Park, but it's a bit rainy so we are going to see what happens.

All in all, things have been fantastic!

Thank goodness for health insurance (don't come to the US without it!)

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:26:00 +0000

So as you may know, if you are a faithful blog reader, I came home to Florida when my dad was in hospital. He went in twice, first with a heart attack, and a few weeks later with congestive heart failure. He's doing well now, by the way. He still has to take lots of medicine and go to cardiac rehab, etc, but hopefully he's on the way to getting better.

So we recently got the hospital bill for the first stay. Just the first. Now, this lovely little bill includes just the hospital stuff, not the doctors. Would anyone like to take a guess at the amount? He was there for about 5 days, and had a stent and pacemaker put in, in addition to all the bells and whistles of medicine, blood tests, etc.

Any guesses? $10K? Nope. $65K? Nope. $85K? Nope.
The total amount was $144,851.30.
Yes, that is ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
I have mentioned that this does not include doctors' fees, right?
Let's see if I can provide you with a little bit of a breakdown:
Pacemaker - $22,000
Emergency Room - $2901
Cardiac Cath Lab - $34,308.50
EKG/ECGs - $4772.50
Room Charges $12,900 (I hope it came with champagne and strawberries!)
Drugs - $1626.25
Sterile Supply $8,877.50 (you didn't know that gauze has gone up to $2000 per box did you?)
There's plenty more, but that just gives you a little idea. And remember this does not include doctors' fees, etc. And this is only for the first visit. We still have yet to receive a bill for the second hospital stay.

So all I have to say is thank goodness for health insurance. Honestly, what would my parents do if they didn't have insurance? I guess the same thing that millions of Americans do, sell everything and/or declare bankruptcy. So long story short, don't live in or visit the US without health insurance. And can we please try to pass some bills and elect some lawmakers that lead us to something resembling universal health care!

And as a side-note, can I please mention again that I heart travel insurance. In FIVE business days, my travel insurance company has reimbursed me for my flight to get home while my dad was in the hospital.

Love List - Australia Edition

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:34:00 +0000

(I started writing this before I knew I would be departing Australia "with a quickness," so this is a belated post.)

Even though I bagged it a few weeks ago when I said I don't have the burning desire to live here any longer, Australia is still one of my favourite places to visit and worthy of a love list. So as I say bye bye to Oz (for now) here is my Love List - Australia Edition:

*The cutest native animals live here - koalas, kangaroos, wombats and more. Really, are any animals cuter? I don't think so.
*Melbourne's $2 sushi rolls everywhere in the city - the perfect anytime snack.
*Tim Tams, Mint Slices, Double Coat Tim Tams and more Tim Tams.
*Thousands of miles of beautiful coastline with white fine powdery sand and beautiful blue/green water.
*The sky. I can't really explain it, but the sky is just BIGGER here, especially in the country.
*The best kitchy/catchy sayings of any English-speaking people I have ever met.
*My friends. They are what makes it a wonderful place, and it is they I will miss the most until something calls me back here

Bye Bye Australia, see you when I see you!

Trip...Interrupted

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:49:00 +0000

Thank goodness for travel insurance, that's all I have to say.

I still have to tell you about my trip up to Queensland and the crazy meditation experience, but first, temporarily, I am trip ... interrupted. Dad had a heart attack a few weeks ago, and then he was supposed to be fine. And then he had problems so they put in a pacemaker, but then he was supposed to be fine. And then fluid filled in his lungs and he had congestive heart failure. Dad was telling Mum not to tell me so I wouldn't worry (um ... REALLY?!?!?) So long story short, I don't want to get the "he's not fine" phone call, so I booked a flight, was on a plane the next day, and 30 hours later, I am back in Florida. He's doing alright but he's a stubborn guy, so I will be the get well Nazi and make him do all the things the doctors say to do but that he doesn't want to listen to. Wish me luck!

My plan is to be here for the next four weeks or so to make sure he is going to be alright. And if so, I will still continue on with my travel plan, which is to head to New Zealand with Windsor in the end of November.

Thankfully, my friend travel insurance (if ever there was reinforcement that travel insurance is NECESSARY, this is it!) told me to just buy a one-way back and submit that along with hospital records for reimbursement. They won't help me get back to NZ to finish my trip, but they will reimburse the cost of my last-minute one-way trip home (which thankfully, was not too crazily expensive, we heart STA in Australia).

Hopefully, more good news to follow soon.
(And thank you already for everyone who has sent well-wishes via facebook!)

PS I forgot to mention, Australian Immigration wanted to "have a chat" with me before I left the country. Lovely. They asked if I was coming back and just wanted to remind me that an electronic visa is not meant to be used for back-to-back three-month stays, because it looks suspicious that I might be working illegally. Well I wasn't! Wah! When I asked if I could apply for a new e-visa to come back for two weddings late next year she said, sure I can apply. Didn't say it would be granted, but I could at least apply ... hm ...

Mandy's Love List - October Edition

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:30:00 +0000

(idea stolen from ali. i would love it if anyone would leave your own in the comments section!)

*slowly waking up from a deep sleepy nap, especially with sun streaming in the room (and then going back to sleep for another 10 minutes!)
*the feel of soft springy grass or cool, dry sand under my bare feet
*a perfect, sunny, jeans and t-shirt weather day
*the smell of jasmine flowers in spring time
*waking up the day after a good workout with sore muscles. it hurts, but you know you've done work!
*being in a foreign country, losing myself in a sea of voices in a language i can't understand
*sitting on a bus in (insert country name here) just watching the world go by
*making stupid, silly faces at my mom, laughing, turning away, then turning back with even sillier faces to see who cracks up first

Adventures in Hostels ...

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:39:00 +0000

I've been traveling again for about a week, and it's time for Mandy's edition of .... Adventures in Hostels.

My first one was above a pokies bar/casino type thing. When I walked in to reception, they said "oh just head in to the gaming area, somoene should be there to check you in ... " Okay ... So I walk in to this casino with my backpack ... imagine walking aroud Vegas like that?! So on one side of the bar you have the casino or "pokies" area, where it's all slot machines, people sitting there drinking at 10am and trying their luck with the one-armed bandit. Cross over to the other side, and it's a gaming bar with betting on greyhound racing and other random things. Not the most logical place to have a backpackers, but there you go. The Backpackers occupied the floor above these bars, and so throughout the night you could hear people sreaming "go go go go go go gooooooooooooo you rippahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. woooooooooooooooooooooooooo" I guess that guy won. They weren't the best nights of sleep, but I survived.

Next I moved on to a place that made question what the Y in YHA stands for. In case you don't know, YHA stands for Youth Hostelling Association. It's a chain of hostels all over the world. You can often find them in small obscure places where other independent hostels don't exist. Such was the case with my next town. But what I've noticed is that these YOUTH hostels tend to attract a ... how shall I say ... more mature crowd. I was the youngest person there by nearly 20 years. And I generally feel old going going in to hostels. In this particular one, there was a 60+ lady who had been there for a month, figuring out her life, etc; a late 40s man also there a month, after a life-change move from Melbourne, staying there whilst waiting to buy a house; a couple in their 70s on a driving holiday; and another guy who was in his 40s-60s (hard to tell with some people) who was just there hanging out. He started to try to impress me with stories then told me how he once "took up with" a German girl and traveled with her for a bit. I thought, "uh-oh, he's trolling for another girlfriend" so I immediately talked about my boyfriend! I made a quick getaway and made sure my door was locked! But long story short, what is it about the YHAs that attract the older crowd? Don't get me wrong, I love me some more mature people, and to be honest prefer them to drunk 19-year-olds, but this was insane! I think everyone had their lights out by 9pm!

And speaking of creepy guys, I wonder if boy travelers have the same problem that us girl travelers have. I guess the idealist in me thinks that usually when people talk to you they are being nice and don't necessarily have ulterior motives. However. The other day I was talking to a guy, friendly enough, as most locals around here are with travelers. But as soon as the conversation turned to "so are you married? have a boyfriend?" with my reply of "married, no; boyfriend, yes" he immediately reponded with "okay well have a good night." WHAT! I guess he wasn't "just being nice." I mean, I am always on guard anyway, but really, can people not just be FRIENDS! So boys, do you have this same problem?

But I digress. We were talking hostels. I moved on to the next town where I was blessed with a roommate who snored like a train. I am not lying. She snored louder than any man I have ever heard. It was so bad that the other girl in the room moved out in to the lounge room and slept on the sofa cushions. I wanted to follow. I had ear-plugs, but really that did nothing. It was one of the only times in my life that I thought suffocation might be a good idea (kidding). I have never had such murderous impulses as I've had the last two nights when all I want to do is sleep and all I can hear in the chainsaw breathing of my neighbour. Thankfully, she left today, so hopefully a good sleep is on the cards.

Aside from my interesting hostel adventures, I am actually having a really good time. It's been nice to get out of cold-winter-still-hanging-on Melbourne and head north. I am in Byron Bay now, where it is just chill, relaxing, and with good vibes. I stumbled upon Peace Day outdoor markets the other day, complete with the world's worst reggae band, followed by a better one, and drum circles and chai tents and lots of cool earthy chill stuff. Later I found a bar with another reggae band, so was the epitome of the happy mandy traveller!

Tomorrow I head off to Rainbow Beach, a 9-hour bus ride north, to get warmer still. It will be nice to get some beach time and reading time and relaxing time to quiet my mind before I head off to 10 days of noble silence on a meditation retreat ... ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Melbourne Update

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:49:00 +0000

Just a little update ...

I left Alpacaland last month and came back to Melbourne. We never did figure out what happened with the missing alpaca. I guess it will forever remain a mystery. It was nice being on the farm, but I was happy to get back home to Melbourne and see my peoples!

Melbourne is getting cold. No, it is cold. I would say it generally hovers between 5-15C (41-60F). Sometimes there's a freak warm day, and others I sniffle and wish I'd remembered to bring my hat when I went out. I've borrowed a variety of long underwear, sweaters, hats, etc from various people, so am managing to stay warm most of the time. And I realize it's not Siberia cold, but hey, I am from Florida, give me a break.

I've noticed that Melbourne is being taken over by Emo kids and people who don't know how to wear skinny jeans properly. Is this a phenomenon everywhere? I have a feeling it is, but I am not sure.

The emo kids and their dark clothing, black make-up, piercings, etc, are everywhere. It's like revenge of The Cure all over again. Heads down, pouty faces, get over it man, be happy! And since all trends seem to be repeating themselves, I predict the next fad will be a reworking of Nirvana grunge.

But in the mean time, it's the skinny jeans phenomenon that perplexes me. I thought the whole silly skinny jeans with ballet flats was just a Melbourne thing, but much to my chagrin I've discovered it's global. The thing I don't get is when some people, especially males, wear skinny jeans, they let them droop a foot down their ass. If you are going to wear baggy, wear baggy. But if you are going to wear skinny jeans, for goodness sake, they are meant to show off your ass, not to droop off your ass. They look like they've done a big poo! People! Goodness!

Other than that, Melbourne is wonderful. We went to see Wicked a few weeks ago, and it was, really, one of the best shows I have seen in years. The music, singing, acting, sets, storyline, everything, was just fantastic. I highly recommend it. I hear the Broadway and London waiting lists are quite long, but it's worth it!

I am about 80% finished with my book. There are more than 70,000 words or 150 pages, so that is really exciting. I never thought I would get such a good chunk of time to get it all done. So I am very happy. Next I have to find an agent or a publisher, so if anyone has any brilliant suggestions (or contacts) I am all ears!

Next month I will go to New Zealand with some friends, and then will be able to come back for one more lot of three months, during which time I will finish up the book and see what on earth to do next ...

I hope everyone, wherever you are, are well. I'd love to hear what you all are up to...

Alpacaland Drama - Another Escapee? What is going on!?!?!?!

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:00:00 +0000

So I walk outside the house this morning, and start over toward the chook pen, where I am going to feed the chooks (hens, chickens, whatever you want to call them) and collect their eggs. I look up, and there’s a big white hen standing there, staring at me.
What?? How did you get out??!!??

I look up at the gate and there it is, closed, just as I left it yesterday.

How on earth do you catch a chook? I have mentioned that I am a suburbanite, not a farm girl, right? And I have mentioned that I am by myself, right? So my mind starts whirring, as I envision myself making a grab then ending up in a nasty tangle of feathers, hair, squawks, screams and fingernails. Nope, that won’t work. So I carry on walking toward the gate, and miraculously, she starts to follow me. But then all her friends inside the gate start looking at us too. The last thing I want is to open the gate, only for her friends to run out, instead of her running in. So I open the gate and throw some food at the chooks on the inside, trying to distract them. Then I look at the hen and tell her to come on. Like she understands human-speak. But she does come a little closer. Then she turns around. Bugger. I open the gate a little wider, and the friends on the inside have a look at it, contemplating their big break-out, but thankfully become more engrossed at the food I’ve just thrown them. The chook comes closer again as I open the gate a little bit wider to let her in. But nope, she turns around again. Thankfully, there appears Key, one of the dogs, to block her way out toward freedom. Excellent. The chook chose wisely and chose the gate over the dog, so now she is safely back inside pecking on some feed and hopefully contemplating the idea of laying an egg.

But how did she get out? I walked around the entire pen (it’s pretty big) and saw no holes in the wire. There was a decent storm last night, so maybe a big gust of wind magically lifted her up and over the fence. Okay, not likely, so again, another mystery.

Then, to make things more interesting, I go on to feed the horses (there are two living in a paddock close to the house, an injured foal and his mommy). They are kind of big, and to be honest I am a tiny bit apprehensive about them, but I am coping. But they’ve just been given a bit more room to move around, so now I have to walk through their paddock to get to the girl alpacas. Easy enough, just throw some food at them to distract them (this seems to be a theme). So after said feeding, as I get close to the girl alpaca paddock, they come running over, but I see one of them on the other side of the fence! What?!?!? The paddocks are linked together with gates like a jigsaw puzzle, rather than a grid, so she’s not with me, and she’s not with the others, but she is in a big paddock that adjoins the house with an open gate on the other side (open, because there are not supposed to be any animals in that paddock). Granted, it is a quite long walk to get to said open gate, but it is open nonetheless, and I am not about to try to chase an alpaca down the road if she were to get through and down the driveway.
And how on earth did she get from there to here?

Again, I walked the fence between the two paddocks and there are no breaks in the fence, no bits where it’s lowered to the ground. There is one of those cattle gates on the far side, but I almost have to turn sideways to fit through it, so there is no way the alpaca could have fit through. And even if a giant gust of wind did pick up the chook (riiiight), it definitely would not have picked up the alpaca. So how did she get there? More importantly, how am I going to get her back?

Thankfully, alpacas like to stay with their friends, so even though the fence separated them and she had the most perplexed and unhappy look on her face, she stayed with them while I went to get a headstall and some food so I could lure and catch her. Thankfully alpacas are relatively easy to catch, and she was already conveniently standing near the corner where two paddocks met. I just had to corner her, wrap my arm around her neck (like saying hello to an old Army buddy) and then somehow get the headstall over her head. That was the trickiest part. Since I’ve only put a headstall on once or twice, I think it was a bit crooked, but it did the job. That enabled me to lead her behind me so she couldn’t run away – a bit like walking a very very big dog, but behind instead of in front of you. So I led her away from her friends (that was the hard part, she really didn’t want to follow me) toward the gate into another paddock. Then I had to get her through that gate, and close the gate behind us (because the two horses were in that paddock, but I had distracted them with a bucket of food). And then I had to walk her back toward her friends, which she did much more willingly, and then get her through that gate without any of the other alpacas trying to make a run for it (sound familiar, I feel like I just did this with the chooks). Somehow, it all worked out, and I was able to get her headstall back off her without too much of a fuss. And her friends welcomed her back with a sniff and a sneeze, and let her share in the food.

Phew, what a morning. But the thing that worries me (aside from the obvious question of how are animals getting out when the gates are closed and latched and there are no breaks in the fences) is … if things happen in threes … what’s next today?

Alpacaland Revisited

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:50:00 +0000

I am back in what I have come to affectionately call "Alpacaland," my friends' farm a few hours away from Melbourne. They've gone on a road trip and asked me to farm sit, so here I am. I am looking after 37 alpacas, three dogs, a handful of hens, and helping look after a couple of horses, in addition to the property itself.

The animals have been pretty easy to deal with. I have to feed the chooks and collect their eggs in the mornings. Then I walk over to the alpaca paddocks, count the animals and make sure they are all healthy, and give them some food. I also have to look after the dogs and feed them nasty bones which I have to buy from the butcher a few times a week (plucking the bones out of the plastic bags is not the highlight of this vegetarian's day). I also have to give food and water to a couple of the horses a few times a day. All in all, not too terribly difficult.

I did have one minor mystery that might never be solved. Rick had told me there were 27 alpacas in the girls' paddock, and 11 in the boys'. The morning Rick showed me all my duties, we went to the girl paddock to feed them. I quickly counted 27 alpacas and then had a look at them to make sure they were all alright. We cornered a plucked a thorny vine from one of the girls, then fed them and went on to see the boys.

But the next day, as I started counting, there were only 26. I counted again. And again. And again. 26. There are only 26. Who is missing? By now I've grown to know or recognize many of the girls, and I could tell who wasn't missing. It wasn't one of the babies, not one of the rose-grays (a pretty tie-dyed-like color), not one of the old grannies, not one of the white ones who always comes up to me. So who was missing?

I counted again, and there were still only 26. So after a quick walk around part of the paddock, I went back up to the house, got Josie (glad this happened before they left!) and we headed back out there together to have a walk and see if we could find her. It is unlikely that one of the alpacas would just wander off on her own - they stay in their herd. It is possible it fell down a gully, so we went and had a look for tracks, but found nothing. We went down in to the gully and followed it for a while, but there was no sign of anything. We walked the fence line around the whole paddock, but no alpaca, no blood, no signs of a struggle, no bits of fluff, nothing. It's a mystery.

Now, to make matters confusingly annoying, Rick is second guessing whether or not there were 27 to begin with, or if he had just forgot there were only 26 now. He can't remember. And I am also second guessing whether I actually counted 27 the previous day or if I had counted one twice. I am pretty sure there were 27. I counted 27. But now, I can't be sure.

Interestingly, a guy called yesterday and said he had found a stray alpaca ... so could that be ours? We also know another alpaca had been wandering around a nearby town (prior to ours disappearing) so he could have been calling about that one. It doesn't seem that the tag number on the found alpaca matches one of ours, but we are looking in to it. To be continued.

In other Alpacaland news, I am spending the rest of my time enjoying the serenity of the country. The sky is huge, the stars are plentiful, and driving on the left is getting easier the more I do it. It's winter here in Australia, so it's getting pretty cold, especially at night. But I've got a wood-burning stove and a fireplace to keep me warm. No heat in the bedrooms though, so I'm under about 5 blankets! Cooking on the wood-burning stove has been fun, but keeping the fireplace going has been a challenge since recent rain has left most of the wood damp. I've spent a bit of time drumming up in the studio on Josie's djimbe drums, trying to improve my skills.
I often sit down in the girls' paddock and spend some time with them, as some them are quite friendly and happily sit there whilst I pet them. Sometimes they are skittish and run away, while other times they come right up to me and stand there for as long as I am willing to pet them. I must admit though, I do find myself talking to the animals more often than not, so I wonder what would happen if I actually lived out in a solitary country environment. But I do occasionally have some human company. Windsor came out to visit last weekend and entertained the alpacas with some whistling and throat singing. We cooked yummy vegetarian food and horrible scones, and he did his mountain man thing, chopping heaps of wood so I would stay warm. And this coming weekend, Mike, Nor and Rachel should be visiting, so I'll see if I can get a bit of a drum circle going.

Hopefully my next entry will include news of a found alpaca! Hope everyone is happy and enjoying summer in the Northern Hemisphere!.

Gimme Samoa ‘Dat

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:01:00 +0000

My three months of playtime in Australia was up, so I had to leave the country to renew my visa. My friend Rachel and I decided to go to Samoa, because, well, why not. I’d never really thought about going there before, but it was an island, it was warm(er than Melbourne), the price was mostly right, so here we go. We stayed on the main island of Upolo and it was a beautiful South Pacific island, just like I expected it to be. You know, lush green trees everywhere, lush greenery-covered mountains running through the center of the island, black volcanic rocks and white sand, beautiful crystal blue water everywhere, and magical sunsets.

Every evening I walked out to the dock or grassy pier to watch the sky put on its magical changing-colors sky show. First the clouds were white and fluffy, then they turned pink, then purple, then finally grey as the sun disappeared behind Savaii, the other island. The sky was a giant blue canvas, with big rainbow streaks of orange, yellow, pink and purple paint. Photos could not do it justice. I sat out there quietly alone, headphones on to provide background music for the show, the volume low enough so I could still hear the lapping waves: THAT was serenity - my favorite part of day.

The first place we stayed was on the south side of the island, and our accommodation was an open air fale, which is basically like a gazebo with a mattress and mosquito net, a kerosene lamp for light, and “walls” made of straw that we could pull up or down like curtains. And when we woke up in the morning, the crystal blue sea literally 20 feet from our door. The fale was really nice and comfortable when the mid-afternoon breeze blew through, but really hot when there was no breeze. We enjoyed the beach at this place, but we were pretty trapped. There was NOTHING near by, no stores (the nearest village was a long walk away), and only one restaurant that, despite the simplicity of this “resort,” was drastically overpriced and lacking in vegetarian fare. Add to that the open air cold showers, the mosquitoes, the lack of space to lock up our stuff, and the lack of ways to escape the heat, we had to go.

After a disasterous second place … okay, correction .... the place was nice, well manicured and beautiful, but the proprietor was a psycho hose beast who fought with us and made us feel both uncomfortable and unwelcome because we only wanted to stay three nights instead of seven . We actually got in to a full-on voices-raised argument about the whole thing. Twice. It was a disaster.

But finally, we ended up at a proper resort, which was our sanctuary. Free 15-minute massage, gym, sauna, big beaches, lounge chairs, friendly staff, free kayaks, pools, air conditioning, 8 different DVD movies in rotation every day in the rooms, several (still overpriced) dining options: it was heaven. Of course the breakfast staff was all friendly and dare I say flirty, bringing us extra juice and tea, coming by every five minutes to see if we needed anything, calling us by our names (well, Rachel was Rachel, but I was Jennifer or Jenny, to the one guy who thought I looked like Jennifer Love Hewitt, don’t ask me why). He always said “Hi Rachel, Hi Jennifer” and walked away giggling. They were never smarmy or over-the-top flirty, just friendly. And the rest of the staff tried to make us feel welcome as well. They were great.

We got a dose of more friendly Samoans on our bus ride in to the main town, Apia. The town itself was not so interesting, but the bus ride, that was a story. We took the public bus because it was both cheaper and more interesting than a taxi. In a car it probably would have taken about a half hour, but in the bus was nearly an hour and a half. When we got on, we were clearly the only tourists, and it was standing room only. The lady in the front seat offered her knee for me to sit on. But I said “no, that’s okay, thanks anyway” and carried on standing, amongst the weed whackers (or whipper snippers, as the Australians call them) and food bins that people left at the front of the bus (because it was certainly easier than carrying them to the back). I spoke to a man also at the front of the bus who turned out to be the resident drug dealer. He asked how we liked where we were staying, mentioned the owners’ names, and when I asked how he knew them, he said, whilst making an unmistakable joint-not-cigarette smoking gesture “I smoke with the bartender.” He went on to tell me how he grew his own, but I didn’t want to get too involved, so I stopped asking questions and went back to looking out the window.

I thought the sweet lady’s lap offering on the way over was just a kind gesture, but it turned out to be the norm. On our way back, I noticed that is just how it goes. When there are no seats left, people just start sitting on each other’s laps. The bigger-than-me girl who got on the crowded bus climbed on to the lap of the bigger-than-her lady-boy who was sitting behind me. I don’t think they knew each other, but hey, there you go. Get closer. As the bus got to standing room only, the man I was sitting next to and chatting with said, “Do you want to sit on my lap?” (to make more room) but I politely declined. I know he wasn’t being sleazy, but still, I just couldn’t go there. Straight male twenty-somethings sat on each other’s laps, arm around the other to hold each other up.( I tried to picture any of my straight American friends doing that and thinking nope, they’d rather run away than sit that close to another dude.) And people just kept on piling in. The seats were hard, wooden and remarkably uncomfortable. And … they were small. I don’t know if you have realized this, but most Samoans are rather large people. And the wooden seats were not quite big enough to accommodate two large Samoans, let alone three sitting on laps, so there were all sorts of half-sat butt cheeks crowding the aisles. It was fantastic. Everyone was comfortable and friendly and chatty and cool, and remarkably un-smelly despite the heat, and the bus even made a convenience store stop so people could get some snacks (which of course, the aforementioned man sitting next to me offered to share). People were really fantastically friendly.

Perhaps Samoa is so chill and friendly because of the degree of seriousness with which Samoans practice their religion. I had no idea how full-on it was. There were a whole lot of churches, and the bus in to town had Jesus stickers covering the speedometer and odometer. I have never before been asked so many times what church I went to, if I believed in God, nor heard the words “my heavenly father” and “our lord savior” in such a short span of time. It bordered on uncomfortable. I was afraid that every time I said “Um … I don’t go to church” that the world would stop spinning as all eyes turned to me with a collective gasp of “WHAT?” followed by a lecture or a sermon or an attempt to save me. That only happened once or twice, until I had to politely say, “Look, I don’t really discuss religion with people I don’t know very well. Sorry.” That put an end to that conversation. But I am sure as that hotel security guard (yes, everyone wanted to talk about religion) walked away he was either cursing or blessing me, depending on how he felt that day.

But aside from the awkward conversations about religion and the fight with the angry Canadian, we found the Samoans to be awesomely friendly and they did a great job of making us feel welcome. It was a great trip, very relaxing.

And I am happy to be “home” in Melbourne.

They DO have koalas in their front yards…

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:58:00 +0000

Over the years, I’ve met several Australians who were amused by the silly questions they are asked about their country:

“Do you have koalas in your back yards?

“Do kangaroos go hopping down the street?”

“Have you found Nemo?”

“Can we ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie?’”

And of course, generally speaking, the answer is no. Some of these Australians get great amusement (or immense frustration) out of the ignorance of people who ask such silly questions. But I’ve gotta tell ya, I’ve seen it. I have seen koalas in the front yard!

Over the weekend, while I was back in Alpacaland, I took an afternoon trip to Raymond Island. This place is known for its abundance of koalas. And they were everywhere. The little fur balls were all over the place. Literally, they lived in people’s front and back yards, wherever there were ample eucalyptus trees to eat. And they were so damn cute! And, after driving for a few minutes, we happened upon a mob of kangaroos as well; there must have been at least thirty of them. It was fabulous. Imprompteau wildlife spotting more or less in the middle of suburbia.

Ahhhhhhhhh Straya Update

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:27:00 +0000

Time for a wee update - it's been a while. I have been in a relatively internet-less abyss. But, Australia has been fabulous. I've so far spent the majority of my time in Melbourne, my favourite city on the planet (if you couldn't tell by my previous post). I went to the Australian Formula One Grand Prix the other weekend - my friend Deano had an extra seat in a corporate box, so it was super nice to be fed and watered whilst watching the action. It was LOUD, and fun. I also went to the first footie game of the season (Aussie Rules Football) and my team (Go Tigers!) won, so that was great. Then on to the Rip Curl pro-surfing competition at Bells Beach (although we just saw the grommets going for it, the pros were off that day) and all in all it's been a very sporty few weeks.

I've also managed to pack in about a dozen park picnics, some dancing, lots of quality time with friends, including some from the US, and lots of time just hanging out and wandering through the city, taking long walks, eating yummy vegetarian food, reading and just being. Of course I can't leave out the alpaca farm adventure, but that's a-whole-nother story for a separate post (coming soon). And of course I have been amusing my Australian friends with my rendition of their accent, saying things like "bur-gah" and "what-iv-ah" and "wa-tah" whilst they try to immitate mine "waturrrrrr" "burrrrrgurrrrrr."

So in other news, I've decided to pack in the job search. Okay I will still look occasionally, but it just might have to wait until I come with a work visa already in hand (I am, sniffle sniffle, too old for the working holiday visa, so have been trying to find a sponsor, to no avail. I keep getting "your qualifications are great but we don't sponsor" as my standard answer). In the meantime, as I have been wanting and needing to do for some time now, I am going to spend the rest of my time (besides playing, of course) writing the book. It is time. It is in my head, and I need to do it. Encouragement is welcome, because it seems like a daunting dask (not the writing it part, the getting it published part). So there you go, that's my update, with an alpaca story coming soon.

PS Long overdue photos from Asia are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92640&l=05073&id=791230081

And Australia photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102753&l=0e14f&id=791230081

Why Melbourne Rocks

mo2ri2sey@gmail.com (mandy) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:18:00 +0000

Could there be a more tourist friendly city? Let me tell you why I love Melbourne.

First: the free stuff. There’s the City Circle tram, which goes in a big loop all around the city, and guess what, it’s free. Then there’s the tourist shuttle bus, which goes from Richmond to the Arts Centre and throughout the city, and guess what, that is also free. And if that was not enough, there are tourist helpers on Swanston Street with red caps and shirts and maps in case you get lost. Oh and don’t forget the tourist information substation on Bourke Street. It’s as if the city were designed to make life easier as a tourist.

Then there’s Fed Square with its outdoorsy space and lots of free summer festivals and entertainment (Slow Food, Food and Wine, Thai, Moomba Water Parade, etc) and the tourist information center, which has, wait for it, FREE information on everything going on in town – you couldn’t be bored living here.

Let’s add to that the fact that the CBD is a grid, with easy-to-remember order of streets (King, William, Queen, Elizabeth) – could it get any easier? There’s the half price tickets booth on Swanston Street for same-day bargain theatre. Vegetarian food is everywhere. Good food is everywhere, of every variety. Some of the foods I thought I’d miss when I left Southeast Asia are right around the corner. Then there’s Ackland Street for cake shops, Lygon Street for all things Italian, need I go on? Suzuki Night Market, and Victoria market with a plethora of food and produce and cheap souvenirs and clothes, and any and everything you could imagine.

Oh, and I can’t forget about my favourite bridge, connecting Richmond to the CBD. It has these speakers that play spoken stories or songs from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries. These stories or songs all overlap each other, and make for a nice, distracting, arty walk in to the city. Oh and of course there’s city art and sculpture everywhere in the city.

There are bike paths everywhere, CLEAN public toilets everywhere, water fountains everywhere, it just keeps getting better. And let’s not forget the Royal Botanical Gardens, the perfect picnic spot, or just a place to chill out on a nice summer day. Oh how I love those gardens.

I mean okay Melbourne is not perfect, it’s getting expensive, the real estate is crazier expensive, there are some drunken brawlers in the CBD at night which is getting the police all worked up (justifiably so), and strangely, people don’t really smile or say hello when they pass you on the foot paths, and yes, I have been run over by city people trying to pass me on the street.

But for the most part, damn I love this place. If anyone can find a rival to this fabulous city, I’d like to hear it…