Hello Reader,
I have been contemplating the future of this website. My contemplation occurs in a small town named Torquay. It is in Victoria in south-east Australia. This town is the book-end beginning of The Great Ocean Road, and also where the surf labels Quicksilver and Rip Curl began. I’m staying with a new friend. Her name is Glenda. I’ve been taking it easy here in Torquay. Glenda has shown me some of The Great Ocean Road and some swooping hillsides draped in cloud cover and foliage that transported us to another place. We’ve also dipped into several beaches and gone snorkeling in the feet numbing Southern Ocean. There have been several markets that we’ve gone to where Glenda propped up a 30+ ft high flag she made on gigantic bamboo pole that I managed to put together. It was exciting to see a drum circle form around it. Sometimes I go for runs in the morning and half of the time I find myself continuing on my run down to the beach a mile or so away, which is easy to do because the ocean can be seen from Glenda’s road and it seems to lull everyone right to it. Glenda is on a number of conversation committees here, so when I’m not riding a bike, working in the garden, or finishing up the book Lord of the Flies, I might be at one of the local parks collecting seedlings to transport to Geelong to re-establish their native plant-life.
It seems I awake earlier every day. Many months ago I was reading a favorite book of mine, Self-Reliance. In the book it mentioned not taking a second nap, when you wake up in the morning don’t go back to sleep but get up. If your body requires the extra sleep it will make up for it the next night. I don’t know if this is true, but I liked the idea of it and I gave it a shot. Since I have done this I have typically been the first to rise anywhere that I go. Since I am waking up early I try not to disturb anyone and that is when I go for a run, but not before a self created regime of stretching, meditating, and exercise. The objective of meditating is to put yourself at east by not thinking, and I find that this is best practiced in the morning when I first wake up. I find it rather difficult in the arvo when my head is spinning from my study of yachting or reading or study of New Zealand or Tasmania at the library. I found meditating to ancient Chinese music helps during this time when my mind is going as fast a roller-coaster.
I haven’t felt like writing in the blog lately. It isn’t that I don’t want to write, its just that I think I have written everything that I need to say about my traveling and life in Australia. That has been the focus, hasn’t it? If I need a reminder all I need to do is simply look at the title up top. Before I left the United States I had started this website and it was called The Bang and it was based around my writing my thoughts. That’s it. It lacked a detailed focus. It wasn’t until I befriended Anita, the hair-stylist, that I went with narrowing the theme of the site to all things related to my leaving that life and starting this one. When I came here I was hit with a number of profound realizations. It took many months for me to begin to understand the changes that were taking place. I became enamored by the possibility of this new life. I wondered for many months how I would change as a person, because I always knew that it was inevitable to happen. It was easy to write then because I was facing these possibilities for the first time and that zest flowed with ease into my writing. Things feel different now. I feel like now I am able to look back and understand the change as it has already taken place. Where before I was left guessing what would happen I am now able to reflect on what already has. It has transformed me in some subtle ways and others extreme. Every day I am faced with this life I have chosen and every day it is like drinking a fresh cup of spring-water on a sweltering hot day. How can I convey that to you, the reader of this blog, when all I am doing is picking seedlings or watching a local folk band before helping them put away their equipment?
If I write with the focus of making my time spent in Australia sound entertaining than I lose my passion to write. I’m very passionate and I think sometimes that leaks out into my writing here. I admit to you now that many of my blog entries have been written not from who I am, but to be an entertaining and fun read. I have been told that I sound very different in my private writing than in my public writing. As I rode down to the beach today I realized I was going to come forth and explain my feelings about the website. Days ago I reminded myself that this is my vehicle and it can be as organic as I make it. It can grow into whatever it likes and as long as it remains truthful and real than I am okay with that. I have some things coming up and I think now is a good time to consider a change.
So what’s happening with me? Well in two weeks I am going back to Orlando, Florida to visit my family. When I visit I will empty out my furnishings of beds and pictures and on. I’m going to spend some time with my Mother and Father and get to re-know them if they wish. The foundation of their son will never change, but yet there is much I am open to share with them if they wish it. Will I see all of my friends during my time in Florida? I have to say that I do not think so. I hope I am wrong, but my days are limited there and I am aware of how fast the time passes. I will also be using this time to refurbish the gear that I travel with. I couldn’t be more satisfied with the job I did in my original packing to go to Australia. I packed just enough and nearly everything I needed. What I couldn’t prepare for was that much of the gear that I brought simply would not be able to withstand the elements of Australia and disappointingly much of it has broken-down. I have a job coming up on a sailboat. I have been showered with good fortune again and I have a couple of opportunities to sail in Tasmania. I will depart from Florida in mid-January after a trip to New York with my family. In March, my visa will expire, and my time in Australia will come to an end. While I was in Sydney I visited the immigration office. There is no extension available to a citizen of the United States. So now you see why this website is facing a critical time of change. “a life in Australia” has grown to something more. My life has changed during my time here. Perhaps it changed the moment I left Orlando, which a strong argument could be made. It won’t be long now before I leave Australia, and a life in Australia will have been attempted. What will I write about then? More so, what will I write about now? Perhaps I’ll just write about my life, life, or simply whatever I feel like.
My next entry might be soon or in a few weeks while I figure this out. I will absolutely share some more of my experiences in Australia. I am visiting Melbourne for a few days coming up, and there will be plenty to share about sailing in Tasmania I’m sure. Talk to you soon.
Cheers Mate.
