So here we are again...

Travel, my old friend.
It's been awhile.
Sure, we met in Byron Bay for a week at Easter, but it'll be so nice to have a solid, consolidated block of time together.

My adventure begins this week. T-Minus 5 sleeps and counting.

This trip has been in the works since news of a wedding invite reached my ears.

I am taking in Fiji, New York City, Las Vegas, Calgary and Los Angeles, with brief sojourns to both Baltimore and Washington DC.

I have been planning for months; working overtime; booking flights and hotels each time a small amount of money was scrimped, saved and earned. And now, the time is almost here.

Everything's booked, yes, I've started to pack;

now all that's left is the nervous breakdown before I leave.
and travel insurance.
and a hotel in LA,
and working out which cameras to take.

and on that note, I'll leave you waiting in anticipation for the first bit of news once I'm back on the road...

Kerplunk and Ho Chi Minh City

Well.

I’ve hardly begun and the arse has fallen out of my trip. Tonight I got a text from Sabrina saying that she had scored herself a job in Darwin and would not be accompanying me to Melbourne. Bugger. Not quite the expletive of choice before the downpour of tears, but it is what is.
And so. Desperate phone calls to the girl and the folks, all of whom have reassured me that I will not be left stranded in the outback.

Mum and Dad were fantastic. It was absolutely lovely to hear them being so supportive, and in a way, validating my choice to spend this time finding what it is I want and what I am going to do. Mum has told me that if it’s going to be photography, I need to take photos, which I can’t do well if I’m not enjoying myself.

I completely agree. Having them offer to support me so I can continue this journey is so, so special to me. I hugely appreciate it. And so. To the new plan. Not even sure it’s worth making on, they don’t seem to be working out to well, but here goes.

And so, still unstimulated by K Rudd, tomorrow I will get INTO (not on!) a plane and make my way to Ho Chi Minh City. I have started to get excited. I am much more a traveller now that ever, and am taking my traveller’s eyes with me, as well as my photographer’s eyes. I am excited to see things that are new in a city I have visited twice before.

I am meeting up with Jackie and Mike (remember them? I met them at King’s Canyon. We had excellent chats, they shouted me a beer, we laughed as a frenchman’s swag was eaten by a dingo, and then we hung out in Alice together) when we get there. We’re planning to hit the markets on Day 1. I also would love to go to Cholon, the Chinese district. I’m a little intimidated of it, though I have been briefly before, and think having a bloke along for the ride will ease my mind. Also I think sometimes in a place like HCMC, you can become very overwhelmed by everything when you least expect it. Having friendly faces around always helps!

As yet we have no other plans. We have booked the first two nights’ accommodation, but beyond that, are free to do whatever we like until we leave. I have no idea about Sabrina’s plans, but I have been looking into catching an overnight train to Nha Trang, a beach town on the east coast about ¼ of the way up North. It’s about $21 for an air conditioned soft sleeper, and I think it’s an overnight train, so it will cover a night’s accommodation. Then lay on the beach drinking cocktails for a couple of days, before heading back to HCMC.

I would also like to go back to the Mekong Delta. Anything that will take me to markets will be ace. Markets can be the most confronting places. In my time at markets I have seen chickens being slaughtered and bled. Skinned frogs. Cooked pig’s heads. So many fruits and vegetables that I have never seen before. And some faces that I’m sure if I spoke the language, every line would tell a fascinating story. It’s also an awesome chance to try some local food, often egged on by the locals, who can’t wait to see the white girl eating deep fried [insert insect name here] or hard boiled fertilised eggs. So yes. Markets please.

And home again?

Darwin

Darwin.
There are a couple of distinct differences between Melbourne and Darwin. Obviously. The first thing that hits is the temperature. I left Melbourne on Tuesday morning. It was cold, raining and 12 degrees. I shivered at the airport, as my clothes were all wet from the trip between house and tram, tram and bus, and bus and airport. I stepped off the plane into a somewhat humid 33 degrees. It’s warm, sunny, and constant up here. You don’t get so much as a cool breeze to break the heat. And you can’t do anything with your hair.
Everything here is so green. Darwin’s wet season is winding down, and the city is still oozing life from every pore. Darwin’s CBD is less ‘concrete jungle’, and more a little bit of concrete fighting against the jungle. It is a small 6-8 block district containing offices, retail services and plenty of air conditioned refuges from the heat outside. Mitchell Street is noisy, though nothing like any kind of busy street in Melbourne. It is lined with backpackers, restaurants and travel agencies. It is a block back from the waterfront, which is nowhere near as alluring as it might be, due to the constant threat of saltwater crocs and box jellyfish.
The local flora is beautiful with big tropical leaves weighed down under huge droplets of water. The frangipani’s sweet fragrance wafts through the streets, the crimson flowers on the tall flame trees glow bright in the northern sun.
Small and large lizards scuttle across footpaths as you wander the city and gigantic insects that inevitably give you the fright of your life, are quite fascinating in their colours, shapes and uniqueness.
And yet there is something unsettling about Darwin. It’s not that I don’t like it; it’s just the unshakable feeling that there is something not quite right. There are the ever-present groups of Aboriginals. They’re peripheral. It’s the only word I can come up with to describe it. They seem to be on the periphery of everything.
There are the teenagers who are hanging around in shopping centres, loitering, swearing, and generally running amok. Nothing unusual there, aside from the fact that these particular mallrats all seem to have babies and toddlers tagging along with them.
Another thing I noticed today, though not unusual in itself is the presence of hurricane fencing. You know the type, the 8-foot high chain-link fences often used around construction sites. Those are used as front fences here. And side fences. And back fences. Quite often, it is flanked with thick black plastic. Not the most welcoming of facades.
The city itself seems tired. Everything seems to be slumped, as though it has reached the end of a long and tiresome period, and it just wants to have a lie down. The houses in the suburbs seem laden the stress of years of preparing for and bracing against the ever-present threat of cyclones. It is as though the constant heat and humidity have worn the city down, and it is in that moment, that moment just before it throws up its hands in defeat. It seems to be heaving a huge, resigned sigh. To what it is resigned, I don’t know. I don’t know if it knows.
It has the feel of a temporary city, not quite so much as Yulara did, but there seems, on my at-a-glance appraisal, that there are few prospects here.
And so it is not with a great deal of sadness or regret that I won’t be here for long. Sure, it’s pretty, but there is little more left to maintain my interest.
I leave on Saturday, meeting Sabrina at the airport here before heading off to a grand adventure in tropical Saigon. Upon our return to Darwin, I intend to visit the much-raved-about Mindil night market, before driving off for the cool natural pleasures of Litchfield National Park and beyond.

Leavin On A Jet Plane

Welcome back. I am officially travelling once more.

As I trudged along Brunswick st in the rain this morning, I put my hood up, dragged my bag along behind me and hopped a tram to Southern Cross station, making my way to the airport through the cold, rainy, 12 degree Melbourne morning.  I do love Melbourne.

I am off again today, up to Darwin again, to take a trip to Vietnam. I will return to retrieve my car before driving home with my Ayer's Rock housemate, Sabrina.

I don't feel anticipation. I don't feel trepidation. I don't even feel excitement at this stage. I just am. I think once I am on my way to Vietnam, I will be thrilled, and once I have been successfully stimulated by K Rudd, even more so. But for now, I am sitting at Tullamarine, cold, wet and lonely. Looking forward to the 33 degrees that Darwin has promised, and the time when the excitement hits.

I have a new home... of sorts

So this is my travel blog.

At the moment, I am not travelling. I will be again in 3 weeks.

As such, I have started a new blog, exploring the wonderful goodness that an abundance of time, a lack of money and a fresh view on life has created..

Check this baby out at 

http://evieandmabel.blogspot.com

tell your friends.

I'm hoping to make a little community of sorts...

Ahh Melbourne

So I have been back for awhile, and cultivating my Melbourne lifestyle in preparation for when I am back and settled.

Interesting Melbourne-y stuff I've done:

went to the Ian Potter gallery with Karen

went to the footy with Bec

got a wicked cool old Malvern Star and have started hotting it up.. next stop - red spokes!

been rollerblading

indulging in many hours of planning crafty projects

made a load of badges

went to Laverton Market! Yay!

jam donuts

hanging out alot with my girl, which is awesome

caught a tonne of trams

went to nova's comedy festival broadcast and won two double passes to shows

dinner at Northcote Social Club

drinks at the bar in the lane off Chinatown

Shanghai Dumpling

Vegie Bar

Melbourne is a city I love, but oh, how nice it is to rediscover it with fresh, traveller's eyes.

I am back to settle from the first week in June.

I will be looking for work. Preferably teaching part time, and doing something that is FUN on the other days. Crafting. Market Stalls. Art Shop. Pub. Something where I can meet people, always a big problem as a teacher, learn something, and work to live, not the other way around.

Exciting times!!!

home again, home again, jiggity jig

and so I arrived, with little to no fanfare in Melbourne this morning. I had an overnight flight, and very very little sleep in 24 hours, so I took myself home to Mum and Dad's and promptly went to bed.

Very little to report at this stage.

Heading into the city tomorrow, in an attempt to maintain the travellers' eyes. Taking loads of pics and meeting up with Anita tomorrow evening, which will be ace.

Any and all advice and suggestions on ways to get through this next 6 weeks while holding onto the freedom and autonomy that I have developed and nurtured while I have been away will be greatly appreciated!!

What do I Want?

Has been asked a bit of me in the last couple of days.

After much (much, much, much, much, much) thought, I am in the process of contemplating making a decision about temporarily coming home.

I think it's what I want. 

I miss Melbourne.

I think I have achieved so, so much since I left. I have so many ideas, plans, thoughts, stuff I wanna do.

I was looking at jobs in Melbourne, preferably short-term, easy, well-paid jobs. And I was so excited at the prospect!

I am thinking of coming home for about 6 weeks. Working. My ass off. Then coming back. Hitting Kakadu, meeting up with Sabrina, heading to Vietnam, and road tripping back to Melbourne to start my 'new life'. (Of course, stopping along the way to take a fuckload of pictures.)

I know why I left.

Have I achieved everything I wanted? Maybe not.

Am I well on the way? Hell yes.

I am rediscovering myself. I am trying damned hard to do things on my own terms. I am taking good, good photos (all of which have been removed from facebook, lest I manage to get enough of my shit together to exhibit them). I am feeling inspired.  Most of the time.

I am exhausted. I feel the constant pressure of worrying about food, money, accommodation, petrol, weird room mates etc is wearing me down.

My thoughts at this stage involve taking a break, heading to Melbourne earning some cash. Setting things up for my new life as it were.

argh!!!

My little spaz out

happened on Knuckey street in Darwin.

As I walked out of the employment centre, having been informed they will only help me if I am a permanent resident of Darwin, I realised, I am possibly, completely screwed.

No one wants temps. No one wants backpackers.

No one wants Melburnians. No one wants me.

Mum is coming on Friday. She leaves on Monday. At this stage, I am beginning to think my options are going to be to leave as well. Try my luck finding work at a roadhouse perhaps?

If I had the money, I would head south tomorrow, and drive till I got home. In fact, I probably could do that. But where would that leave me?

Tickets to Vietnam on May 2nd. From Darwin.

It would add about $500 to the trip before I started. But maybe that's okay. Maybe that's manageable.

I just don't know what to do, but I do know that I am struggling right now. I know that I could go home, and likely pick up emergency teaching work within a week of being home. I know that I have somewhere to stay and food to eat.

Hmmmm.

Advice?

Solutions?

Lifelines?

Darwin.

It's been quite awhile since I blogged.
The shock of getting a fire weather warning smsed to me from the Vic Police this morning has jolted me into action in making sure I am in touch with folks at home.

I arrived in Darwin on Saturday. I stayed in a backpackers for the first two nights, and have since moved to another. I am leaving here tomorrow morning and changing to another smaller backpackers. I have decided to check out a few different ones so that when I end up staying here longer time I know I am staying somewhere that is comfortable, safe and homely.

I have been looking for work, without much success just yet. I did get a job, but when I showed up, I was informed I was no longer required. I am going to try to organise teacher registration up here and hopefully get some work that way.

I've seen some amazing stuff. Huge termite mounds. The Tropic of Capricorn. Massive Storms.
Honestly, I am about ready to come home. I am hoping a will find a job and be so busy that I will just earn alot of money, but I kinda wish the Vietnam trip was leaving from Melbourne so I could come home.

I feel like I have achieved alot of what I wanted to from this trip. I have alot of ideas about what I want to do when I get home. I feel like I have established things in my head. I certainly don't have a life plan, but I have alot of ideas.

I want to have an exhibition of my work
I want to take circus and burlesque classes
I want to have a functional veggie and herb garden
I want to get a bike and use it often
I want to live in the Northern suburbs
I want to go to more gigs
I don't want to teach full time

I feel like I am on track. Now if I could just get a freakin job up here, I would feel way better!

I have traversed a Nation

and I am tired.

Moving on up...

And so I am.

After a little hiccup yesterday (battery of car dead. new battery put in. bye bye $140), this morning Amy and I have packed the car up and are ready to move on to the Devil's Marbles. We are shopping this morning for food for dinner tonight and for the road, and then we're off!

We are planning on visiting, in true tradition of Australian 'big things', the big aboriginal man at Aileron, then on to Wycliffe Well in the hope of seeing a UFO (or at least Mulder and Scully) and onwards to the Devil's Marbles., where we'll be camping for the night. 

Tomorrow we drive to Daly Waters, via Tennant Creek, stopping at Barrow Creek, where Peter Falconio left a signed $5 on the wall, and staying at Daly Waters pub, which Bill Bryson speaks highly of.

Then onto Katherine, Edith Falls and to Darwin.

Hooray!

A Town Like Alice

I am in Alice Springs. I have had some good times getting here.

In Kings Canyon, I met a couple named Jackie and Mike. We had some good chats, good times, and did the Canyon Rim Walk together. It was so nice to have their company.

I ended up staying at the Canyon just for one night. The camping facilities were just okay, but the combination of ants and flies, and seeing a dingo rip someone's swag to shreds was enough to make me think that I should just head straight to Alice.

When I got here, I saw some friends from Yulara, and a big night of drinking and trashy dancing at the local saloon, Bojangles ensued. (no sign of Uncle Chop Chop at Bojangles...)

I am staying at a Backpackers here that is part hippie commune, part family share house. It's room circle a grassed area and pool, behind which is a big white screen, on which movies are projected at a deafening volume each night. Tonight it's Labrinth. I'm not making any secrets about how excited I am! I like it here. It's cool and chilled out. It's good recharge time.

Amy is coming this evening, and there will surely be some frantic repacking of the car to fit in both of our stuff in an orderly fashion. I have few other plans while I am here. I haven't taken any photos in Alice, so I might go for a wander today, but I don't feel any pressing need.

The universe has continued to provide in a number of ways. I am embracing this mantra, and holding on for dear life right now.

Some examples:

- good chats, and shouted a round at Kings Canyon, by the lovely Mike and Jackie.

- asking for a refund on the second night of a camp fee, and being refunded the full amount.

- stumbling across a yard sale and buying a rip curl beach bag and a pair of roxy swimmers for the sum total of $1.50

- elegant rabbit. need I say more?

- being given a left-behind copy of the Lonely Planet Australia book by the hostel desk chick (cause mine has vanished)

- scoring 3 books and a cd for $10 at Vinnie's yesterday - surely enough to get me at least through to Darwin!!

I am still stressing about money, but am also aware that it won't help solve any problems, so I am working hard to leave that worry on the back burner until such a time as I can do something about it.

For now, I am relaxing, contemplating shopping plans for food for the next week, and just enjoying myself.

And it's ace.

Plans are afoot....

Indeed they are...

I have finished working for Voyages at Ayers Rock. I'm quite happy about that. Will be even more happy when I have had my rental inspection and my final paycheque so I can be done with them!

I have found a friend from work is leaving a week after me. We have made plans together. I am leaving here on either Friday or Saturday, depending on funds and activities. I will be spending 3 nights at Kings Canyon, camping (at Voyages) where I plan to do the Rim Walk, the Base Walk, and read some fluffy books. From there, I plan to head to Alice Springs and stay the night at a Backpackers, where I will meet up with Amy (from work). Once she has packed her stuff into the space that is left in my car, we will be off, driving to the Devil's Marbles on Wednesday next week.

We will camp overnight there, also making sure we stop at Wycliffe Well, a town notorious for the high volume of reported UFO sightings. After this, we will make our way to Daly Waters, and camp at the renowned Daly Waters Pub. The next day, we will be moving on to Katherine. I am quite excited about Katherine. Though I have lost (!) my Australia lonely planet book, I have been reading Sabrina's, and Katherine Gorge should be raging during the wet season. Should be lovely for photos. I am hoping to stay two nights in Katherine (hoping that it's cheaper than Darwin!!) Once I arrive in Darwin, I have no plans other than to desperately scramble and look for work, and hang out and wait for Mum to arrive on the 6th.

The money situation will be starting to get a bit desperate by that stage, so I am really hoping to find some decent work. Will end up in Darwin for about 6-7 weeks, so hoping to head out to Kakadu and Litchfield on some weekend trips. 

Then Sabrina is coming up to Darwin, and we are headed to Vietnam! I have been to Saigon twice before, but am looking forward to seeing it through different eyes (and a different camera lens!) I'm hoping to have my new camera by then. We are in Saigon for ten days, and then back to Darwin for a couple, before we begin the long trek home. 

We will probably stop in Katherine again, Alice, Coober Pedy (I'd really like to do the Oodnadatta Track mail run), Port Pirie, Adelaide, then back to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. 

I'm looking forward to it all, and feeling good, knowing there is a plan, with general time frames. The universe will provide, but I hope it provides some cash flow!!!

All's well otherwise, I will be staying in my current room (after I have 'moved out') rent free until I leave here. I'm looking forward to making it back home to help Amy and Glenn celebrate their wedding, to go to the Pink concert, and to make a start on my new life, whatever that may be. I am having a down day today, I think the money worries are troubling me, but I am working hard to stay positive and focussed and enjoy myself.

I hope everyone reading this is doing the same, wherever they are...

Luckiest Girl in the Country

Tonight, I was SO lucky.I scored myself a near-free seat in a helicopter flight..

Yep. I got my chopper over Uluru.

In exchange for a sixpack of beer, tonight I was on a $400, 55 minute, sunset helicopter flight over Lake Amadeus, Kata Tjuta and Uluru.

I am so so so lucky.

It was ace.

(and yes I did get travel sickness!)

So...

I took a deep breath after the last post, threw caution to the wind, and decided that the universe will provide.

Sabrina and I booked tickets to Saigon for May 2nd, for 10 days.

I am really really excited. I am hoping to get to Darwin (have a travel buddy for the drive, Amy from work) and find a job for a month or so. Do some weekend trips to Litchfield, maybe Kakadu, and  head to Vietnam.

When we get back to Darwin, I will be headed for home, in time for Amy and Glenn's wedding, hopefully with new camera in tow. And possible a German friend with an interest in coming to Melbourne :)

I feel stressed about money, but excited about plans and adventures.

It's nice.

Ooh, and I may have wrangled the best deal yet...

But won't spoil it in case it doesn't happen. If it does, there'll be photos, never fear!!!

I'm...

I'm scared.

I am making big money decisions and taking big risks. 

I am buying a camera. It's expensive.

I am thinking about flights that are too good not to take to Vietnam. They are expensive.

The money from working here is pitiful.

It's been a good experience here, but it's definitely time to move on.

I'm worried I will run out of money and get stuck. 

I am worried that I won't get home in time.

I miss everything and I am worried that I am missing out on things at home. 

It's hard being away, and not being able to do the things I want to do.

I'm trying to be big and tough and strong. But it doesn't always work.

And so I get scared...

Some of my photos for you....

So I am still sick, but it's meant I have had a lil bit of time to resize some of the photos I've taken to put up on my blog. Yay! Would love it if someone could show these to Chiefy!!

Out near the rock, at dusk. Not long after sunset.

Sunset light on the desert sand at a lookout facing both the Olgas and Uluru. Beautiful.

Sunset over the Olgas from the same spot.

Love this photo. It was a total fluke too. I'm way into silhouettes at the moment. Had you guessed?

Ayers Rock.

And Again

Beautiful sunset view over The Olgas. I was really down the night I went out here, and it was really special. I was there alone, and took some time. Beauty like this unquestionably feeds your soul.

The Olgas at Dusk

Again.

OMG

Who gets a cold in the middle of summer, in the desert?

Me, that's who. I am sicker than I have been in a really long time with a very bad head cold. It's making me sad and grumpy, and I am exhausted. I go to work early, I get home, and spend the rest of the day on/in my bed, only to have a restless night's sleep full of vivid and sometimes creepy dreams, having to get up and change my sweat soaked pjs, or just generally waking up and not being able to get back to sleep.

It's not fair.

I don't wanna be at home sick in bed in a room by myself where I have already watched all my DVDs, read all my books and magazines, and don't have any money for any more.

okay. whinge finished. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better...

Photo Project

So with the abundance of stuff to do up here when you're not working (note sarcasm), I have been buying alot of magazines. One thing I will say for the newsagency here, though you have to pay freight on papers (Saturday's Age costs $6.60!!!) They have a vast and varied selection of glossies and mattes, and some really good design/art/gay mags (though not Frankie), however, I digress.

In one of these mags, fantastically named "Monster Children", they interview some artist guy, and give him a disposable camera and a list of things to shoot.

From this, my housemate, Sabrina and I have devised our own list, comprising 12 items from each of us, and have each purchased  disposable camera, and within a week, we are in the process of taking each of these pics. It is ace and challenging, and something I am seriously keen to start up with a small group of devoted followers when I return home. Other suggested themes are the numbers 1-24, IN ORDER. Not as easy as it sounds. Also, the letters of the alphabet in order, backwards or forwards. My theory is, we get a group of about 10 people together (I'll make a facebook group), and make it a monthly thing. We agree to meet on a set date with electronic and printed copies of our list of photos. Photos must be taken on a disposable camera.  I can think of a few people who will be keen already!!

And again, I digress. Here is our list, and with any luck, shortly following will be our photos.

Shoot:

the road

something in your room

something blue

something metal

something you use every day

something you're going to eat

one of your friends

a sign

something electronic

somewhere not accessible to guests (at the resort - yes. I live at a resort)

something you can see from work

someone who looks weird or funny

uluru at sunset

water

an animal

a fruit

the sky

something on your way to work

something in the IGA

any kind of bottle

a view out of our house

something wooden

something that makes you happy

something that has to do with sports

I have 8 to go

:)

Now go check your facebook to see if I invited you to join the fotoclub group!!!