Road Trip Update

The funny thing with life is that after you make decisions you kinda have to follow through with them. Going back to uni seemed like a good idea at the time.. But then I had to quit my job, pack my stuff, and hardest of all say goodbye to Pees and Bev. Who moves out of a place where there is free rent, packed lunches and a hot cup of tea ready for you when you wake up in the morning???? Melbourne is a great city, made so much better by my sister and her friends. Awesome girls.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about the road trip.. To preface the whole thing I should probably update you on the state of my car. After approx 8 years of neglect when I came back from my trip a few months ago it became clear that the car would need some work. A lot of work actually. So I fixed everything they told me to and I think my car is now about 50% new. Which sounds good, but unfortunately none of this is reflected in anything external.

Infact the outside of the car is getting worse. The windscreen wipers are so rusty they are almost falling off, and someone tried to break into the car in Melbourne, so now only one of the locks works. But the car has now become a bit of a diamond in the rough so to speak, looks terrible, but really, really, deep, deep down, the car is a gem.

Sorry, I digress, the point was to tell of the epic road trip embarked upon to go start uni. I finished work on Friday and Pees and her makes organised a bit of a dinner party, so we drank lots of wine and ate lots of food, as you do. Then on Saturday morning I headed off far too early in the morning. Long drive that one, especially on your own. I arrived at the Palace in sydney at about 6pm.

Had a bit of a mad time in SY catching up with everyone, playing pool, drinking wine, watching people make icing for a cake in the carpark. Then when I was on my way to catch up with Ads someone decided to run into me. Little bugger. It was like one of those slow motion accidents where you can see them coming for you and begin to yell at them to stop before they smack into your car. So now Clemmy is sporting some scratches down her left side. I was thinking about it and I have decided I don't mind too much. That's not the side I use regularly anyway..

So after all that Emma and I left Sydney at about 4pm. We decided just to see how far we could get and then find a motel where ever we could. After the last experience with the weird man in leather we were keen to keep it safe.

We got into Coffs at about 10.30 only to find the Formula 1 was closed. But that is where things get cool. They have these touch-pad-atm-like-machine-things outside their motels, and all you have to do is enter some details and your credit card and it spits out a key! Welcome to the 21st Century!

We woke to some fantastic news about Amy and Chris which started the day off just right. And then headed back to Vegas. Got to tell you, by the time I got here I was weird. You know those so-tired-moments when the sentences don't seem to be able to connect into one another? Well the last couple of days have been them.

Today is the day that we move into our new place! Excited! and I need to go to uni to get other stuff sorted (not so exciting, but important all the same) I will be sure to post some photos of the new place when I can.

Memory lane

Just sat for a bit and read through the blog. Geez there is some rubbish on here. You would think, posting it out there for anyone to read, that I would be a little more careful with what I wrote, but nope, not really. There are bits when I'm mad, bit where I happy, mostly bits where it's really late at night and I am sitting around with my laptop for a bit before I go to bed. Weird hey? Like, imagine what our grandparents generation would think of that.

When Elissa went on exchange we used to write her letters and we were able to call only once a month. When Carly went, we used to log on to check the family email account twice a week, then, secretly, I set up my own account (imagine that!) so that I could speak to Pees with mumbles reading. When I went to Brazil we spoke once a week, and emailed almost daily when I was living in my second house there. Now, you just get on skype, enable webcam and you talk for free.

Sometimes I worry that all of this is going to leave me behind soon... Maybe it has, maybe no one blogs any more, and this is one of the things of old. I mean, I can't even get the DVD player to work. If I match up the coloured cables and it doesn't play on the screen, what do I do then?? My husband, who ever he may be, would want to be good at that sort of stuff. There are other talents I have that I cna bring to the relationship. I make good tea. Last week we learnt how to make Peach Jam and a little more interestingly Peach Schnapps.

Anyway, before I digress too much, things have changed. And I was just sitting around wondering at what point I would stop changing and moving with what was happening, or maybe if I had already and just not noticed. Maybe that's what happens to all of us.

The Time Has Come.

As of 25 Feb I am going to be a uni student again. Can you believe that they still hold a place at UQ after you defer for 6 years?

Bachelor of Arts double major in psych. Me gonna b smart eh?!

The GREAT Ocean Road

So I did something new the other day. I went on a holiday by myself. Never tried that one before. Sure I have travelled alone, but going on a holiday is different. But I'm telling you, it's awesome.

I have been to Melbourne a few times now, but never seen anything of Victoria, so I took advantage of my enemployed status and hit the Great Ocean Road. It is such an amazing drive. I stayed in a little town called Camperdown, about an hour out of Warrnambool and spent 3 days just chillin around, having a look at stuff.

Next time I do this drive, I definately want to do it in a car that is a little more fancy that my 20 year old Mazda, but considering her age, Clemmy did herself proud me thinks.

The current plan has me in Melbourne for at least another month or so, and I am definatly looking to try and get a few more road trips in there. This place has everything!

So this is what there is to see:

These are the rocks

More rocks.

Me with the rocks.

Clemmy soaking up the view.

How scary is this sign? Considering this is about 500km from the nearest airport, you'd want to hope that by the time they got here they would have figured it out??? :-)

And then, I took a C grade road. I knew that in the UK A road were good, B roads were ok, and C roads, well C roads you take what you can get. Forgetting all this applied in Australia I took a C road, and well, I got what I was given. It got a bit rocky there in my little beast, Clemmy doesn't have the biggest wheels in the world, but after about an hour of bumping along this dirt track I made my way back.

I think it's time to Elf Yourself!!!

One of the annual delights that cannot be missed. Come on, you know you want to...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1709704967

www.elfyourself.com

Enjoy!

Now THAT is a good idea.

Just found this on a fb group wall:

everyone in my family is getting an individualised interpretive dance for christmas....

Is that not the best idea you have ever heard??!!

Bring it on!

Christmas Cheer!

Am feeling that this year is a little lacking in Christmas Cheer, and wanted to do my bit to make sure I wasn't contributing to the reign of the grinch.

So Merry Christmas to all, and to all good night!

The plan is underway...

So far so good.. Step one complete: I quit my job. Hurrah!

There is something really good about being unemployed and homeless. Thinking it might be something I look into long term, if only i could figure out how to finance it all..

Anyway, I have had the most amazing time in Vegas for the last two months. This really is a fantastic city, lovely people, lovely scenery, lovely atmosphere. Definitely a city worth spending more time in.

Am leaving for Sydney on Tuesday, due to arrive sometime Wednesday night. The car is looking and sounding good to go. There were some amazingly disconcerting noises coming from under there somewhere. Thanks to Mikey they seem to be under control now, which is a fantastic relief. With that, and the new map that the guys from work got me, Janelle and I might even make it to Melbourne!

So generally, to recap, life is great, and worth enjoying!

The Plan! - Take 25

So I've come up with another plan.... (strange and out of character I know...)

But the plan is this:

12.12 Pack all I own (and that will fit) in the little car and drive south.
13.12 Keep driving south
14.12 After a little more driving in a southerly direction I should arrive in Sydney!!
15.12 Hang in Sydney
16.12 More hanging
17.12 Hang some more
18.12 Pack the little beast again, and drive south again.
19.12 Drive a little more south and a little to the left, or is that west, or inland, or maybe just in a more downishly direction.. but in any case, I should arrive in Melbourne around the 19!!!! Hurrah!!!
20.12 Hang in Melbourne
21.12 More hanging
22.12 Hang some more
and so on and so forth until it comes time for me to get a job and stop bludging off my sister.

So I do realise that this plan will only take me to Christmas, and that there is probably some more planning that needs to go on.. but, all that being said, I have a reasonable idea what I am doing for over a month ahead.. and that is definite progress.

Really looking forward to catching up with everyone in SY and MB, missing you all like crazy.

Just found this

Was going through my gmail unstaring emails from long ago, and came across this thing i had written and felt inspired to share..

Jeanie Mayo came and spoke at church a couple of months ago, she asked one of the guys to come up on stage and hold her glass of water, then she bumped him and the water spilt all over the stage. She kept talking, and then bumped him again, the water spilt. She did this one more time and then asked him why the water was spilling. He turned around and said it was because this beautiful woman kept bumping him, (crawler) we all laughed until she said no, it was because there was water in the glass to begin with. Interesting thought.

See the reason that I would get angry at things that were happening was because there was anger inside of me. Do you get what I mean? If I was at peace and at rest, then it would have been fine. Like they said at leadership, we are a tube of toothpaste, squeeze us and what is inside comes out. You can't blame the person doing the squeezing if you don't like the flavour. (did they say that at leadership, or did I just make that up??)

But it is an interesting thought hey? What if I couldn't blame my circumstance for how I was feeling, what if I really was responsible for all my actions. Like really. How often do we just blame everything on the circumstances, how often do we get angry at the person who is making us mad, rather than dealing with the anger that is on the inside?

This whole theory is so much bigger than just anger, it counts for everything. Joy, fear, aggression, love, compassion, jealousy. What if we all stopped for a moment and took on some accountability for how we were reacting to things. I'm thinking it would make a bit of a big difference.

Anyway, this is my plan. I am going to work on having more love and compassion inside, so that when i get squeezed, I give out something that will do good for the world, and for me, and for the people around me. Sounds a little go-save-the-world-ish to me, but then, if we're not trying to save the world, what are we doing here really? Wow, in trying to lighten this whole thing up i think i just made it a whole lot deeper.. thinking i am going to leave it at that. :-)

You an Aussie???? Eh????

I just came across a phrase:

Ask the master to pass a banana.

Sounds a little odd? Maybe, but what a fantastic way to tell if someone is a aussie! There is no way that you can fake that one.

Was chatting to my cousin the other day, and she said that she had met a a guy who backpacked through Oz for a bit and had defined Australia's in like this..

If they come from Adelaide, they ask you what church you go to.
If they come from Melbourne, they ask you what school you went to.
If they come from Sydney, they ask you how much you earn.
And if they come from Brisbane, they ask you in for a cup of tea.

Pretty accurate, I've been an aussie all my life and have never been able to define it like that. Got to love the outside perspective.

While we're talking about people from different perspectives.. just have to tell you what happened to me the other day. I went to a gun shop the other day (long story) and was totally shocked at what I saw. There were one Pauline Hanson poster with her hugging a aussie flag, a signed photo of Pauline, and this amazing sign, it said "Austrians against immigration, protect the Australian identity" Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Now I don't want to put anyone down here, and I really don't want to offend. But if we against immigration, and all about protecting the aussie identity, then should we all really be adopting Aboriginal culture. After all, we're all immigrants after them.

My view is my view, but I tell you what, every time I meet someone new I learn, I grow, I learn to look at things differently. We all have so much to learn. Just because someone is born is Australia, or says "Ask the master to pass a banana" the same way I do, that by now way means to say that we share the same views, or have any greater right to live in Australia than I do.

Now I know I am probably getting a little carried away with all this, but what is nationality about anyway? I mean, really, look at it, the English settled in Australia, but now, because of a law someone decided to pass, I cannot stay in England, the English can only stay in Australia for a limited time as well, yet all of the EU countries can come and go as they please.

And while I'm on it... lets just talk about property ownership for a bit. How on earth can we really justify the purchase of a piece of land. If you start from the beginning, who are you going to buy it off? God?? The chemicals that caused the big bang? How did we come upon the concept that we can own a piece of earth and control who can and cannot walk upon it? Where did we get that right?

Anyway, a bit of a ramble, but these are my thoughts. Nothing against anyone political views, and nothing against property ownership. Sometimes I just get thinking about these things.

So I was at work the other day...

It was a Sunday and I was at work, not the best, but sometimes it happens. This guy who works in another department to me was helping me clear up the office. We went up to drop some boxes into the big bin, this guy says to me, you'd better bring your car keys.

Car keys? I ask. Aparently so.

We walked to the carpark, stopping outside a white van. This guy turns to me and asks a question, one that I will never forget. Do you use tampons or pads? That's right, looking directly at me, he just asked, just like that.
My responce....? I looked away, and mumbled under my breath, "depends".. opps, not good, not the right responce. Now he's going to think I am using depends depends, like those pads for people who have trouble getting to the loo in time!!!!!
It was not going well..

In responce, all he did was open the van, and start loading a plastic bags full of tampons and pads for me. It was explained to me that some of the boxes we're as full as they could be, that space was not being used as well as it could be, I was shown how I could save more space by adding an extra tampon into the boxes of two, making them into boxes of three, then if I wanted, I could keep that in my bag for an emergency. Great, stratigic tampon carrying tips from a middle-aged-I'm-ok-talking-about-tampons-with-women-man!

I couldn't believe it. This was actually happening. Here I was, in the work carpark, loading a plastic bag with STOLEN tampons, pads and pantyhose. OMG! Can you get arrested for that??

You know what's worse?? In all the imbarrassment, I just dumped the bag in the boot of my car to do the best I could to forget about it. Then... I had to get my tyres changed. Think I remembered to take all the tampons out before I got them to check my spare???? To all the men at Bob Jane's thank you for your tack. They just calmly moved them onto the back seat and said nothing when I went to go and pick up my car. At least some people are still a little discreet about these things.

Not so unemployed anymore..

Luckily for blogger I now have a job. Cancel the lawsuit, it's been sorted.

Started this hecticly busy job on Monday with DPI, is good, pays good, which, I must say, currently is the most important thing. Call me a capitalist, but 5 months without a pay check and the size of the next one suddenly becomes important. :-)

So.. that was not what I wanted to talk about. There is not really anything huge that I wanted to say. Just a bit of a ramble really I guess. Have been home now for 20 days. Seems like a bit. But really, it's not.

So I have gone from having all this time to chill out and do whatever to being super busy and totally spacey.. turns out getting back into this whole work thing can take a bit out of you.. you know, that whole having to use your brain thing :-)

Excuse me!

Blogger does not have unemployed as a job option!

All I can be is non specified. I am not non specified, I am unemployed. That's employmentist.

I currently am bum. I sit and drink tea and sometimes beer. I have read 4 books in 8 days. I have watched 3 movies. Do they think this is a free ride? Is that why they feel the need to negate my occupation or lack there of??

I am in contact with recruitment agencies. I travel around the city in a suit, in the heat, at their whim, for no avail. Why does blogger feel the need to berate me so?

I was in a kiwi, throwing a kiwi, at a kiwi!

So, I mere 30 odd hours and 4 flights from Canada and I was in NZ. The surf board made it, although they did have to ask me what it was in Saskatoon.. can't say I blame them, there's no ocean for about 1000km from there :-)

Clare came to meet me in Wellers and then we took a bit of a road trip to see her folks in Taronga. I just couldn't get over it, in one day you drive though like 10 different types of landscapes, flat with sheep, mountains with sheep, farming with sheep, cities with sheep hanging out on the outskirts. It was awesome. Makes sense how they were able to film all of Lord of the Rings there.

On Saturday we played some putt putt, I let the Kiwi's win, didn't want to get them all fired up about how good aussie's are at sport and all that. Then on Sunday on the way back we stopped in at the ski fields to have a look. Now what I am about to say may sound a little blonde, so please allow me to justify. On saturday while we were chilling at the beach, eating thickshakes and playing putt putt, clare got sunburnt. On sunday, when we got in the car to go to Wellington, it was still hot. So I wore my jandles/flipflops/pluggers/thongs. Makes sense right?

Well then we got to the snow.. my first time walking in snow since I was 5. I was so excited. We jumped out of the car and raced up to have a look. And.. it turns out that playing in the snow in jandles is not a good idea.. I very quickly lost all feeling in my feet, and at one point walked off leaving my pluggers behind without noticing. :-)I now realise the error of my ways. One more lesson learnt.. isn't that what they say travelling is about?

Saying goodbye wasn't the easiest thing I have ever done. Geez I miss that girl. She's a bit of an inspirtation that one.

I have decided that I want everyone to come with me. How fun would that be? We could all travel round in a group of 50 or so! So maybe not the most practcal.. but am definately feeling the effects of spending the last 4 months catching up with everyone everywhere, and now looking at the possibility of not being able to travel again for a long time. Ohhh uni.. why must you cost so much???

Ohhh Canada....

So.. I have totally been home for over a week now.. but I've conciously decided not to get all hung up about it, these blogs have definately not been in real time anyway. That being said, it does feel a little odd to write about the rockies in 30 degree Birsbane spring heat (that's right, it's not even summer yet).

Had the best week in Canada with Kim. It was seriously awesome, not sure that I have laughed that much in a long time. That girl is one of the worlds best. We started in Saskatoon (WOW FLAT!) and then went on a bit of a road trip to the mountains. Awesome, amazing, huge, awe inspiring, and flippin tall. Banff was cool, totally what I had imagined Canada to be.

So as not to bore you all, thought I would just throw up a few photos of the highlights, so that you can all see for yourselves.

Ohh and by the way, the stupid surf board made it. It's here with me. Haven't had even the slightest inclination to look at it let alone take it out.. Am hoping that this will come.. it has to come, there is no way that I took this board all this way for nothing :-)

Diary Excerpt - Brasil to Canada '07

When I was in Brasil volunteering in 2003 I bought a surf board, a giant one. I left it there at the time, thinking that it was just going to be too much trouble to take to London.. so now that I am living in Sydney I was thinking that it would be cool to have my baord with me.. It would have been easier if I would have been able to post it from Brasil, but I don't trust their postal system, not a bit.. so it had to come with me.. below is the story of that journey, which unfortunately is not over yet.. I am still in Canada.. still NZ to go.. but we'll take one step at a time.

This day was so traumatic that I think I just have to share it here once and for all, then if anyone ever ask me to explain what happened I can just direct them here, and never have to relive this in the telling again. So here it is, straight from the diary.. think I will leave the bits that don't make sense, think the jet lag might have been doing its work...

4 September, Toronto, Canada, 29 hours travelling

I want to write this down, there has to be a record somewhere of all the crap (edit) that went on.

Cris dropped me at the Rodoviaria, it was so sad to say goodbye again, not sure if I should keep coming here, it is so hard to say goodbye everytime that i have to leave. Maybe it is just better if I stay away... but anyway, by my calculations, if I paid for the bus ticket between Congonhas and Gurrulhos on my card I would have $R 45 for the day. I had some breakfast at the Rodoviaria before I got on the bus, I bought a book, $20 gone.

Caught the bus to Floripa fine, 3 hours, but not major problems. The transfer between the Rodoviaria in Floripa and the airport on the public was fairly traumatic, but more auckward than disasterous. When I went to check in at the airport I was told that the cost to take the surf board was $R100! Almost more than the cost of the ticket! On further inspection I found out that I could send it via cargo for only $R40, I was told that it would catch the same plane as me and that I would be able to pick it up in Sao Paulo at the cargo hold which was walking distance from the airport. So that was what I did. I had to walk around Floripa getting it all sorted, and had to draw more money from the cash point ($5 charge from ANZ - Bless them) but anyway, it was gone. I went and got some lunch, and ran into the Criciuma football team! Which was cool. Got on the GOL plane to Sao Paulo fine, the flight is just 1 hour 20 mins, so you hardly even reach cruising altitude before you start the descent.

Before all this had happened I had made a plan to go to the TAP office at Gurrulhos and collect the $US100 that they owed me from when they lost my bag when I arrived. I needed to get to Gurrulhos ASAP before the office closed. (to explain - Sao Paulo has two major airports, Gurrulhos - International and Congonhas - Domestic.)

But back to the surf board, when I went to find out the exact location of the cargo hold I was told that there was no way that I could walk - it was too far. They couldn't bring it to me, I had to go there, with all my bags. I could catch a public bus, but they're not so safe for foreigners, especiallywith giant backpacks. So taxi it was. After buying the book in Criciuma and lunch in Floripa I was down to $R20 or so.

So my plan was to get a taxi to the cargo hold, get the taxi man to wait with me, pick up the board, and then get back to Congonhas ASAP so that I could get the bus to Gurrulhos in time to see the TAP people and check in for my flight to Toronto. I checked with the taxi guys, $R15 each way, so being safe (so I thought) I got $R40 out. (another $AU5 for ANZ).

Ok, so I gave the address to the cabbie, explained the situation, he took me to the cargo hold, we chatted from inside the cab with the GOL people for a bit, they said that the board hadn't arrived yet. Not wanting to run up the meter I let the cab go and went inside to investigate.

Turns out that there are two GOL cargo holds in Sao Paulo. I was at the wrong one. By the time they told me the cab had left. So now I was marching down the streets of Sao Paulo with my very western face and a giant backpack. I found the other place ok, but they didn't have my board either.

Turns out that it takes 1.5 hours after the plane has landed for the cargo to be released. First I've heard!

So now it's 5.45, the sun is setting, I'm in some bazzar cargo hold in some industrual area of Sao Paulo with no board, and only 1.5 hours to get to the other airport in time to check into my flight to Toronto. So I started talking options with the guys, I was thinking that they probably go to both airports regularly, could I get a ride? No. Aparently not. It was going to take too long for the guy to load and unload his stuff.

The bus between the airports takes an hour, and leaves only once an hour. If the man at GOL in Congonhas would have told me that it takes 1.5 hours for the cargo to be released I could have taken the time to check teh bus times, but not, no one decided to mention that fact until I got to the 2nd GOL cargo hold.

By 6.20 the board had arrived, and I was in a cab on my way to Gurrulhos direct, there was no way that I was going to be able to make my bus.. there were only 2 slight complications 1. I only had $R30 or so 2. we had one hour and then minutes to make 50 minute drive, should be fine right? But this is Sao Paulo, this city has the same number of people as the whole of Australia and some of the worst traffic jams in the world. The government recently tried to build a metro system. Unfortunately they didn't research so well, and then they started digging they burst water and gas pipes and had roads and even houses falling into the holes in the ground.

So back to our drive, my cab driver was lovely. He did his best to get me there as soon as he could. We chatted along the way, but how do you know when you can trust someone? When we arrived at the airport there was a $R97 fare on the clock. I needed to get cash out from the airport, (another lovely fee from ANZ), but what was I surposed to do with my backpack and board? Could he be trusted to sit in the cab with it and not drive off?

By this time it was 7.50, I was surposed to be at the airport at 7.30. All I could do was make note of his cab number, 864, and the first three digits of his number plate, then I ran to find the cash point, I withdrew $R100 and got back to the taxi stop as fast as I could. He was still there! Praise God! So I gave him the $R100 and went to leave.

While we had been chatting on the LONG drive to the airport he had suggested that I get a receipt for the cab fare for that I could get a refund from GOL. It sounded like a good idea to me. He didn't want me to leave and got back in the car mumbling about something. He started looking for something, I figured that he was checking for a pen so that he could write me a receipt, but when I offered him mine he said it wasn't that. If only it was that easy.

He was looking for his calculator. Aparently there is a 40% additional charge because he had to leave his zone. So what was a $R97 fare now became $R145. I was now about 40 mins late to check into my flight and I still had to negociate with Air Canada about taking the surfboard. What could I do? I didn't have any time to go ang draw more money. Why didn't he tell me about this charge before I went to draw cash? I gave him all that I had, about $R130 and ran to check in. I felt so bad, the guy had been so nice to me, and now I was ripping him off. By what could I do?

I ran to the Air Canada desk, well, as much as you can run with a 20kg backpack, a 5kg dayback, purse and 9ft surfboard. After another $US50 for the board, a long wait through security and immigration I made it to the gate, just. Once we were all on baord the pilot announced that there was a problem with the control tower's radio we were going to have to wait for a while at the gate, so we did, for about an hour and 15. It's normally a 10.5 hour flight to Toronto. But because of the delay in Sao Paulo I've missed my connection to Saskatoon.

So, another queue through customs, and then at the connects desk with my bags and board on my back because they can't connect them themselves and I need to take them through security, and now I'm currently on standby for a flight at 12.15 and failing that, I am definately booked on one at 4.30.

They say that either way my bags will come with me. I have decided not to believe what they say anymore. First thing I wanted to do was call Kim to let her know that I was not going to be on the early flight. I was hoping that my mobile was going to work here, but aparently Canada is another of the countries that it prefers not to operate.

So I had to draw money so I could use the public phone. I tried for $C100 - Insufficient Funds.. $C40 - I was in. And talk about blessed, when I went to find a shop so I could change the notes to coins what did I find but a Starbucks! Hurrah!

Change in hand I found a phone, after a few tries of my own I had to call the operator. Aparently even though the phone says that you need to dial 0 first, you do not. If you dial a 0 first you connect yourself to Hungary. It cost me $C5 to call Kim and say that I was not on my flight and that I was going to be there either at 1.40 or 5.30.

So here I am, tired, smelley, hungry, poor and with the most giant pimple persisting to grow right under my nose.

On the bright side, 1. I am going to see Kim today, 2. I am stuck in an airport in the first world while I wait, 3. As much as I hate it at the moment, I have my surfboard with me 4. I am about to, hopefully, get on a cute little plane with external propellers 5. Although there is no TAP office here, there is one in SY, so when I finally get home and get in touch with them, I will have $US100 to spend.


Toronto - 31 Hours Travelling.

Counldn't get onto the 12.10 flight. It was full. What are the chances of everyone turning up for a flight? Good aparently.
Think I should go and call Kim and tell her that I am not going to be there till later. Got to love the 9 hour wait in the airport. I am going to go and see if they can give me a food voucher or something. Man I am hungry.

This trip is going to take me 36 hours - 15 hours fly time, 2 bus rides, 3 planes, 2 taxi's, 2 times through immigration, 6 security checks, and 1 5am phone call to Kim (opps, didn't realise that there was a time difference!!)

Fotos from Brasil..

Have been to Brasil 3 times now, and each time I swear that I am going to take some photos that will show what the country is really like. Turns out, well from my experience anyway, that that is not at all possible. Kim and I went to the Rockies yesterday, and it was exactly the same thing... you stand there, looking at the most amazing mountain range, take a snap, and then realize that there is no way that a little 2D photo is ever going to be able to show others the wonder. It's just like a crappy 50c post card.

But, all that said, I did take some photos, and even if they don't show it all, they do give a bit of an idea of the country that I love.

So from the top.. 1st.. my beautiful nephew 2nd.. Lia, Du e Leonardo 3rd.. Cris, Henrique, Paula and I 4th.. the area around Abadeus where I volunteered last time I was there (more to come on that)

Actually, speaking of more to come, there is a lot more to say about the time I spent in Brazil, but that will come in time.

Photos from Cananda coming soon too.. Coming into Brisbane on the 17th after a stop in Welly to see Clarey..

xxo

So your not that attached to stuff hey?

There once was a time (up until last week actually) when I would have told you that material things didn´t matter to me, and that I was happy to live with whatever I had at the time, that I had learnt to be content with what God had given me and that I was not striving for more.
Then.. the police stole my bag. 6 days in the same pair of jeans and suddenly the story was a little different. I wanted my stuff.

Anyway, after many many phone calls and my first arguement in Portuguese it was finally delivered on Friday, too late for me to go to the first part of the guaduation ball, but all the same, at least I got to go in the end.

Turns out that there was nothing in the bag that they didn´t like, they were just doing it to be annoying. In the end they didn´t even open it. So all my flash backs to movies like Bridget Jones were totally unnecessary.

So the plan for the moment is to go to Rio Grande do Sul this week, and go and meet my nephew. Then another week in Criciuma and I am off to Canada! then New Zealand, and then home. Geez it´s gone fast. A diary and a half worth so far :-)

I made it to Brazil! But my bag on the other hand...

Ola Gente!

Hurrah for Brazil! Made it, and love it here already. It sounds right, it looks right, it smells right (as in it smells totally wrong, but that´s the right wrong.. if you know what I mean) , even the food is just right! I LOVE THIS PLACE!

My bag on the other hand, doesn´t. I have come here 3 times now, and 2 out of 3 times my bag has decided to either stay where we were, or go on a holiday elsewhere. Lucky this time I was prepared, and even luckier this time I have travel insurance with no excess. All that being said you must please excuse me, I am going shopping :-)

Going to my `home´town this morning, will update in a bit. Love to all.