its a new year, and im happy to say that once again - i'm in a new place.
i was hoping that the new year would bring me lots of adventures, but so far its been more than i ever could have hoped or dreamed.
I met amelia through CS and she came and stayed at our place for a couple of days. i had been hoping that the universe would provide a travel partner, and lucky enough it did. we ended up heading down the coast and for the past week have been having an incredible time. Our hitching adventures have been great, and we've had a lot of good fortune in the amazing souls who have picked us up.
On tuesday we got a ride from American Jack, and being from the same state in the US as Amelia, he was super nice and put us onto some people we may have be able to stay with in Jervis Bay. Well, from that small, random encounter, we ended up spending a good 4 days in a granny flat, behind the house of an artistic muso family. They fed us, lent us their kayaks, gave us info on the area and were more kind and helpful than we could have hoped.
The night before we left we had dinner with their family and another couple, and luckily enough stumbled upon a treasure trove on info on the south coast. We were put onto a place called Tilba, so began hitching that way yesterday.
After a pretty slow day of getting rides, we got picked up by two guys from Bermagui, so we went with fate and have ended up camping in their garden. its been amazing, 'cause we've gone from a beautiful place in Jervis Bay, to another beautiful place.
Right now im listening to bell birds, in a small wooden cottage surrounded by trees, just up from an amazing little river in which we've seen sting rays, fishies, crabs and an octopus.
Last night we went swimming in the river and i was pretty fucking amazed to see light sparkling through the water. Apparently its phosphorus, but whatever it was it looked fucking incredible and has one of the most amazing things i have ever seen in my entire life!
its been a pretty cool adventure, and i've been writing down little entires which i will upload at some stage.
the next stop is Bega, i think. But... we'll see what happens :-)
- louisa
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
"Back on the road"
*the following is an entry written while on the Just Transition Tour in November 2009 - sorry it took a while to put up*
"Hello my friends, stalkers and members of the random internet commuynity!
I'm surrently sitting in a beauitful green, leafy park in Musselbrooke.
Why am i here? Well theres a bit more to it than to simply say "im on the Just Transition Tour".
As you may well know by now, having read (or skimmed) my pervious posts, i be a mighty explorer (yaaar)!
I like to travel, and if stuck in the one spot for a while i tend to get uneasy.
I've been living in Newcastle since march, so its been 9 months. Sure ive gone for a road trip here and there but the mundane nature of uni life is taking its toll.
I felt passive, unmotivated and like i was wasting my time.
But - uni has just finished for the year and so i am free again!
...and not a minute too soon.
I'll be honest, i was falling into an easy, comfortable lifestyle which, honestly, didn't push me to "live".
Well, i need to live. now.
I need to live "in" the now.
so... here i am.
The begininning of another adventure, i took of yesterday in the first honest travel adventure i've been on in a while.
No drugs, no money, no idea what to expect.
This is real life.
So yesterday morning i got up at 7am for the first time in a long time, and took off on a tour of coal affected communities in the hunter region.
Yesterday, in one day, i saw more that i have in the past few weeks.
We went to Mami River, Stroud, Singleton and Jerry's Planes visiting each of the coal affected communities from the different areas.
I didn't realise how much i missed my open spaces. The sheer joy that filled my heart upon being amongst green grass and rolling hills was amazing. I feel right here. This is how its meant to be.
So, basically, so far i've been filming what these people have to say, learning heeps, and basking in the beauitful places in which i find myself."
POST SCRIPT: The just transition tour was incredible. I learnt so much about coal in our area, and the negitive effects it has on communities, land, health and people. You can read more about the Just Transition Tour at http://transitiontour.wordpress.com/
"Hello my friends, stalkers and members of the random internet commuynity!
I'm surrently sitting in a beauitful green, leafy park in Musselbrooke.
Why am i here? Well theres a bit more to it than to simply say "im on the Just Transition Tour".
As you may well know by now, having read (or skimmed) my pervious posts, i be a mighty explorer (yaaar)!
I like to travel, and if stuck in the one spot for a while i tend to get uneasy.
I've been living in Newcastle since march, so its been 9 months. Sure ive gone for a road trip here and there but the mundane nature of uni life is taking its toll.
I felt passive, unmotivated and like i was wasting my time.
But - uni has just finished for the year and so i am free again!
...and not a minute too soon.
I'll be honest, i was falling into an easy, comfortable lifestyle which, honestly, didn't push me to "live".
Well, i need to live. now.
I need to live "in" the now.
so... here i am.
The begininning of another adventure, i took of yesterday in the first honest travel adventure i've been on in a while.
No drugs, no money, no idea what to expect.
This is real life.
So yesterday morning i got up at 7am for the first time in a long time, and took off on a tour of coal affected communities in the hunter region.
Yesterday, in one day, i saw more that i have in the past few weeks.
We went to Mami River, Stroud, Singleton and Jerry's Planes visiting each of the coal affected communities from the different areas.
I didn't realise how much i missed my open spaces. The sheer joy that filled my heart upon being amongst green grass and rolling hills was amazing. I feel right here. This is how its meant to be.
So, basically, so far i've been filming what these people have to say, learning heeps, and basking in the beauitful places in which i find myself."
POST SCRIPT: The just transition tour was incredible. I learnt so much about coal in our area, and the negitive effects it has on communities, land, health and people. You can read more about the Just Transition Tour at http://transitiontour.wordpress.com/
Monday, October 12, 2009
quick one!
happy birthday to meeee, 19 on the 12th of ocotober 2009.
i know its now "technically" the 13th, but i figur you'll allow the leeway.
ok, so a quick one to let you know my uni holidays included a nice little trip up to byron. saw some awesome things, met some cool people, experienced some new experiences.
highlights:
- campfire cook-out
- the awesome paperbark swap forest
- seeing the stupid semi trailer half an hour down a 4-wheel drive track
- see the little rooster in his nice new home
- catchig up with cal in byron
- chilling in front of the fire and crocheting myself a new pair of half-socks.
much more to write about but the battery is dieing so i must jet off.
on one more note - got a nice crochet hook off mum today and since then i've made a new set of leg warmers... i'm thinking i could sell it but the ethical dilemma of the week is how does one put a price tag on their labour? how do i qantify how much time in my life is worth? if you know an answer to this let me know, and if you'd like some woolen stuff crocheted for you let me know, i will take money or swap.
i know its now "technically" the 13th, but i figur you'll allow the leeway.
ok, so a quick one to let you know my uni holidays included a nice little trip up to byron. saw some awesome things, met some cool people, experienced some new experiences.
highlights:
- campfire cook-out
- the awesome paperbark swap forest
- seeing the stupid semi trailer half an hour down a 4-wheel drive track
- see the little rooster in his nice new home
- catchig up with cal in byron
- chilling in front of the fire and crocheting myself a new pair of half-socks.
much more to write about but the battery is dieing so i must jet off.
on one more note - got a nice crochet hook off mum today and since then i've made a new set of leg warmers... i'm thinking i could sell it but the ethical dilemma of the week is how does one put a price tag on their labour? how do i qantify how much time in my life is worth? if you know an answer to this let me know, and if you'd like some woolen stuff crocheted for you let me know, i will take money or swap.
Monday, September 21, 2009
ITS BEEN TOO LONG!
deary me bloggers, sorry for the lack of posts!
its simply been too long, and though i should be doing a blog post on my PR blog (its an assignment) i'd rather chat with you for a moment.
sooo, lifes been pretty crazy.
The house is looking totally awesome, I've made my room into an awesome little practice studio which has seen many musicians from newy jam out the tunez.
i'm playing with a zombie parody band at the moment, and theres a lot of talk about drummer for other projects and possible collaborations.
really getting into djembe so its all very new and interesting.
planning a hitching trip to byron in the 2nd week of the holidays, so that should be sweeeeeet aswell.
music has kiiinda taken over at the moment, but its all about the ebb and flow.
just enjoying living in the "now" at the moment.
- Lou
its simply been too long, and though i should be doing a blog post on my PR blog (its an assignment) i'd rather chat with you for a moment.
sooo, lifes been pretty crazy.
The house is looking totally awesome, I've made my room into an awesome little practice studio which has seen many musicians from newy jam out the tunez.
i'm playing with a zombie parody band at the moment, and theres a lot of talk about drummer for other projects and possible collaborations.
really getting into djembe so its all very new and interesting.
planning a hitching trip to byron in the 2nd week of the holidays, so that should be sweeeeeet aswell.
music has kiiinda taken over at the moment, but its all about the ebb and flow.
just enjoying living in the "now" at the moment.
- Lou
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Detective Huntley
ahoy there blog readers,
I'm back at my parents place at the moment, waiting to channel the spirit of detective huntley, the character im playing in my facilitation of a "murder mystery night".
Unfortunately i have had the flu of late, so between sips of chamomile tea and nibbles of a clove lets hope the blocked nose and lethargic feeling dissipates soon.
The house is going well, we're all settled in and the place is looking awesome.
I'm dirt poor at the moment, pretty much no money, but thats ok. Hopefully centerlink will kick in soon.
Appart from my melbourne adventure not much has been happening. did a quick trip up to coffs for a doof which was alright, but appart from that i've just been sleeping, eating, dumpstering and going to uni.
Its good, the dumpster is on my way home from uni, so i've been checking out the bins every day. Tuesday had heeps of baked goods so that was aweeeeeesome, and i hope to keep track of it over a long period of time. Hopefully i'll end up with a decent indicator of what day will have what food.
well, i have to go be a facilitator for this thing.
until next time
- Louisa
I'm back at my parents place at the moment, waiting to channel the spirit of detective huntley, the character im playing in my facilitation of a "murder mystery night".
Unfortunately i have had the flu of late, so between sips of chamomile tea and nibbles of a clove lets hope the blocked nose and lethargic feeling dissipates soon.
The house is going well, we're all settled in and the place is looking awesome.
I'm dirt poor at the moment, pretty much no money, but thats ok. Hopefully centerlink will kick in soon.
Appart from my melbourne adventure not much has been happening. did a quick trip up to coffs for a doof which was alright, but appart from that i've just been sleeping, eating, dumpstering and going to uni.
Its good, the dumpster is on my way home from uni, so i've been checking out the bins every day. Tuesday had heeps of baked goods so that was aweeeeeesome, and i hope to keep track of it over a long period of time. Hopefully i'll end up with a decent indicator of what day will have what food.
well, i have to go be a facilitator for this thing.
until next time
- Louisa
Monday, July 13, 2009
Going Places
more than a month since my last entry, sorry for being so slack.
I know this blog seems a little out of the loop, but i think its more got to do with a lack of adventure than anything else.
So the hitching comp became a reality, and i set off again on the 4th of July.
I actually have part of a blog entry i wrote while away, maybe its more "authentic"?
"So, i've been itching for an adventure. Months of stable uni life (as far as "stable" uni life goes) had left me jaded, with a sense of loss where my new found post-Europe freedom had been.
I hated the feeling of loosing that, and as i sat, stuck with uni in newcastle, i searched for avenues to fill the void.
When i got back [from Europe] the first thing i searched for was "Australia" on hitchwiki.org and trashwiki.org.
After finding those websites invaluable in Europe, i was eager to see the australian content. Maybe it would help me touch base with like minded individuals (I was living in Cessnock at the time, and its not the most forward thinking place).
There was hardly any content."
I think at this point i got distracted by people, I remember while writing a later entry by the camp fire i totally lost my train of thought as a dreaded man chucked a whole shitload of kindling on the fire. Everyone was like "ohhh, come on, unnecessary!" (cause it was kinda sparking in their faces) and hes like "what? just keepin' it going."
My reply was "You like kindling, hey?" and hes like "i just like fire. I've been thrown out of a few states for lighting fires."
He said it completely straight faced, matter of fact.
I loved it, totally reinforced the idea that everyone has their stories, and if we only look a little bit deeper, its there for us to find.
That guy was crazy, but in the most fantastic, interesting, beautiful way.
Anyway, I hitched along the south coast of NSW and Victoria, from Dapto to Melbourne. It took 3 days, stopping one night in batemans bay, and another in an amazingly interesting location near Narooma that i wish i could tell you about (keepin it on the down low).
On the way down top rides included one off a greens forest activist from Mogo, who was a really really nice fellow.
Other top ride was from Lakes Enterance to Melbourne in a nice new BMW, with an ex psytrance dj who is a massive fan of Karivool and Cog.
I love hitch-hiking.
SoS was good, i probably didn't get as much out of it as others, but i suppose my focuses are just different.
I'm more interested in the human condition, the psychology of what's going on, working smart, not hard. It seems there was a big drive on direct action and environmentalism, which is cool, and i support it. But its not necessarily for me.
I think there are other, possibly more effective ways to be doing certain things which i would rather put my energy into.
This coupled with the fact that i didn't know any of these people and didn't want to start any confrontations with possible hard-core radicals meant that i kept my mouth shut about my disagreement for most of the week.
Overall it was good though, i met some truly fantastic individuals, learnt a bit about nomadic lifestyle, aboriginal solidarity, and saw some FUCKING AWESOME BANDS.
The bands were probably more interesting than anything else, absolutely INSANE.
So it was a good week and then on saturday morning we hitched home.
Took the Hume this time and got to a train station in Sydney 4 rides and 11 hours later. From there we caught the train to newcastle, 'cause screw trying to hitch through sydney at night.
It turned out smashingly, i'm home safe and sound with a few new ideas and concepts in my pocket.
My travel bug has subsided for the moment while i kick up my feet and enjoy the comforts of stable life.
A shower, a warm bed, one layer of clothes.
i'll leave it here, hopefully with more to write soon.
I'm glad to be back.
- Louisa
P.S. we put together a hitching Zine, contact me if you want a digital copy :)
I know this blog seems a little out of the loop, but i think its more got to do with a lack of adventure than anything else.
So the hitching comp became a reality, and i set off again on the 4th of July.
I actually have part of a blog entry i wrote while away, maybe its more "authentic"?
"So, i've been itching for an adventure. Months of stable uni life (as far as "stable" uni life goes) had left me jaded, with a sense of loss where my new found post-Europe freedom had been.
I hated the feeling of loosing that, and as i sat, stuck with uni in newcastle, i searched for avenues to fill the void.
When i got back [from Europe] the first thing i searched for was "Australia" on hitchwiki.org and trashwiki.org.
After finding those websites invaluable in Europe, i was eager to see the australian content. Maybe it would help me touch base with like minded individuals (I was living in Cessnock at the time, and its not the most forward thinking place).
There was hardly any content."
I think at this point i got distracted by people, I remember while writing a later entry by the camp fire i totally lost my train of thought as a dreaded man chucked a whole shitload of kindling on the fire. Everyone was like "ohhh, come on, unnecessary!" (cause it was kinda sparking in their faces) and hes like "what? just keepin' it going."
My reply was "You like kindling, hey?" and hes like "i just like fire. I've been thrown out of a few states for lighting fires."
He said it completely straight faced, matter of fact.
I loved it, totally reinforced the idea that everyone has their stories, and if we only look a little bit deeper, its there for us to find.
That guy was crazy, but in the most fantastic, interesting, beautiful way.
Anyway, I hitched along the south coast of NSW and Victoria, from Dapto to Melbourne. It took 3 days, stopping one night in batemans bay, and another in an amazingly interesting location near Narooma that i wish i could tell you about (keepin it on the down low).
On the way down top rides included one off a greens forest activist from Mogo, who was a really really nice fellow.
Other top ride was from Lakes Enterance to Melbourne in a nice new BMW, with an ex psytrance dj who is a massive fan of Karivool and Cog.
I love hitch-hiking.
SoS was good, i probably didn't get as much out of it as others, but i suppose my focuses are just different.
I'm more interested in the human condition, the psychology of what's going on, working smart, not hard. It seems there was a big drive on direct action and environmentalism, which is cool, and i support it. But its not necessarily for me.
I think there are other, possibly more effective ways to be doing certain things which i would rather put my energy into.
This coupled with the fact that i didn't know any of these people and didn't want to start any confrontations with possible hard-core radicals meant that i kept my mouth shut about my disagreement for most of the week.
Overall it was good though, i met some truly fantastic individuals, learnt a bit about nomadic lifestyle, aboriginal solidarity, and saw some FUCKING AWESOME BANDS.
The bands were probably more interesting than anything else, absolutely INSANE.
So it was a good week and then on saturday morning we hitched home.
Took the Hume this time and got to a train station in Sydney 4 rides and 11 hours later. From there we caught the train to newcastle, 'cause screw trying to hitch through sydney at night.
It turned out smashingly, i'm home safe and sound with a few new ideas and concepts in my pocket.
My travel bug has subsided for the moment while i kick up my feet and enjoy the comforts of stable life.
A shower, a warm bed, one layer of clothes.
i'll leave it here, hopefully with more to write soon.
I'm glad to be back.
- Louisa
P.S. we put together a hitching Zine, contact me if you want a digital copy :)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Travel Sick
I'm missing Europe terribly.
I'm loving my new home though, and learning a lot every day. It's a time of personal growth, but i still miss the spontaneity of Europe.
At the moment i'm working on organising a hitching comp for SoS (students of sustainability) to run from Sydney to Melbourne. Should be awesome.
I think i might try and give myself a travel fix by taking off for a while after it, though. Uni holidays are almost upon us, so i will have plenty of time on my hands.
Money is on the tight side, but that's never stopped me before, so hopefully i'll manage to at least check out a bit of the lower east coast.
Maybe i'll run into some people at SoS who are keen to join me...
Still looking for a new house (did i mentioned we're getting evicted? for development. bleh.) so hopefully that'll work itself out soon.
I'm also missing accents.
gah!
lol, i think i need to get out more, i know australia has just as much to offer.
I've been reading up about the squatting scene here and i think there's lots of room for me to contribute to the moment.
Lots of exciting new things are presenting themselves, waiting for me to jump down the rabbit hole.
I'm enjoying my new adventure, but i do miss the other side of the world.
- Louisa
I'm loving my new home though, and learning a lot every day. It's a time of personal growth, but i still miss the spontaneity of Europe.
At the moment i'm working on organising a hitching comp for SoS (students of sustainability) to run from Sydney to Melbourne. Should be awesome.
I think i might try and give myself a travel fix by taking off for a while after it, though. Uni holidays are almost upon us, so i will have plenty of time on my hands.
Money is on the tight side, but that's never stopped me before, so hopefully i'll manage to at least check out a bit of the lower east coast.
Maybe i'll run into some people at SoS who are keen to join me...
Still looking for a new house (did i mentioned we're getting evicted? for development. bleh.) so hopefully that'll work itself out soon.
I'm also missing accents.
gah!
lol, i think i need to get out more, i know australia has just as much to offer.
I've been reading up about the squatting scene here and i think there's lots of room for me to contribute to the moment.
Lots of exciting new things are presenting themselves, waiting for me to jump down the rabbit hole.
I'm enjoying my new adventure, but i do miss the other side of the world.
- Louisa
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)