Up Next

By Kathleen

So now the clock is ticking, Fiz is leaving in two days! Which means I’ve been in a  rush, finding out places to live and jobs and such. I think I’ve applied to more jobs in the last five days than I have ever in my life… combined. I’m told 2-3 weeks is about how long I should expect to wait to land something. Finding roommates is a new and interesting challenge. Some people don’t get back to you others have keywords in their listings that are red-flags. I look for alternative sounding names and words and steer away from things like “ rent includes Foxtel”. I’ve heard back from a few places so we’ll see if that gets me anywhere.

This is all new to me, so its pretty exciting and bit unnerving all at the same time. Being away from each other is going to be a new travel challenge but one that I feel confident will work out. The real question now is where I’ll be.

Melbourne is tantalizing. Maybe my views of it are a bit rosy because it was our first western city after all that drama in India, or perhaps its because it’s alternative and musical and artistic, similar in some ways to home. One of my best Aussie friends lives there and of course… there is the permaculture, hippies and restaurants that are by donation in old convents.

Sydney is also wonderful though. The city is beautiful, the weather is warmer and here I have a place to crash for at least a few weeks. Across the street is a pair of warehouse communes that hold music nights and parties, down the road a tattoo artist and up the street a guy who makes his living renovating historic homes while his wife writes.

Both offer possibility both offer adventure and friendship. Let the dice roll.

The Tipping Point

By Kathleen

The last two weeks have been grueling. I’ll spare you the details but lets just say that the amount of fuel we each had left in our tank was badly depleted by the course. It was one of those things. All permaculture courses are intense, I’m convinced it has something to do with thinking s holistically for two weeks straight, you start to see everything with Permaculture glasses, even yourself and it usually prompts people into action of some sort.
The same is true of this course.

For Fiz, who’s been dragging, these last two weeks were the tipping point. We all need to know our limits and respect them. Being in a couple means bending and flowing with your partner, but sometimes we reach the limits of our ability keep going.

Thus, it has been decided, seeing as I wish to carry on traveling and Fiz wishes to go home that it makes the most sense for us to do so. We’ll be paying the price of not being able to see each other everyday but this is something probably best not to compromise on.

So for all you readers at home, Fiz will be headed your way next week. For those of you who wish to keep reading, I’ll be staying here and blogging about my solo adventures in Australia.

At the moment we are on the VLine train headed form Melbourne back up to Sydeny, where we will kick it with friends and enjoy a week in the warmth before Fiz heads on home. Then… well I don’t know.

Permaculture Blues

By Kathleen   

Permaculture is a special thing, it is at its heart about the interconnectedness of all life on Earth and on balancing those individual systems together for the common good. Putting on your “Permaculture glasses” means that you are looking at the world as an interconnected unit, and keeping the principles of Permaculture in mind. Every time I have had been involved with a class or a course or a workshop on or about Permaculture, strange things have happened to my brain.

This course has been no different, furniture is being moved in my head, I’m taking out old habits, examining their worthiness and keeping or discarding them. This course has been a bit challenging for me. Not for the obvious reasons, like sitting all day after being used to 9 hr work days outside, or getting my academic brain back on after being on the road for a while. It’s more subtle than that. It’s the frustration that occurs when you want to go deeper into something and are for whatever reason, prevented from doing so. It’s the excess energy that builds when you are excited but have no way of expressing it. It makes you a little crazy.

Still it is good for the mind to review basic principles again before getting into the main design of things next week. The land we are on is quite pretty, a campus of a Steiner school complete with natural buildings and gardens, compared to Panya it seems weirdly clean. But the food is good and so is the company.

Still don’t know what is happening with our car. Our buyer turned out to be a scammer and we haven’t had any more bites yet. Hopefully we’ll be able to move it quickly. But hey, I’m letting it go. It all works out in the end.

From Sydney to Here

By Kathleen

We’ve been taking up all our blog space with our woes of the car. Right now with the Permaculture course on, I don’t have too much to say… or so much to say but none of it terribly relevant. So in order to not bore your pants off. Here’s some photos of our drive up to Sydney, where we over-nighted at a small quaint town with the name of Moss Vale and stumbled upon a magnificent waterfall. And some photos of Sydney, where we thoroughly enjoyed our hip surroundings and our car met its demise. Enjoy!

Looking into Kangaroo Valley

Unexpected waterfall!

This is the lovely couple who is renting us some space.

Eulogy for a Sweet Commodor

Jammin' at Christmas

By Kathleen

Commodore, your have been with us now for four months, through thick, dusty, Tatura, on smooth, paved roads. I remember when we first got you, you had some issues sure, but what is on the inside counts more than your baby-sea-foam-green exterior, and inside you were huge.

I remember that first drive up the Hume Highway, making it from Melbourne to Kempsey in three days to get to the blueberry farm and a job. You seemed a little sick even then, but we nursed you along.

I remember sleeping in you for the first time and freezing my ass off because cars really don’t have great insulation. Illegal parking on Christmas day and getting you fixed up in Shepp. I thought you were better then but I guess not.

Now you are sitting in a driveway in Sydney. You were our plane ticket home and now you are a pile of metal.

So dear sweet commodore, I put you to, rest… well not exactly. I put you for sale on Gumtree.

Until further notice we will be in Australia.

Now to get to the Permaculture course that like 1000k away in Geelong…

We'll miss you Commodore!

How the Cross Change Us

This coming Palm Sunday we will begin a new series called "How the Cross Changes Us".  The series will feature six  stories that ask six questions, all of which are answered by the cross.   We will find these answers by looking at the teaching of 1 Corinthians 15, one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible.  This is a great time to invite friends and family.

How the Cross Changes Us Promo from Council Road Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Oh Car...

By Fiz

We were supposed to leave Sydney today… but our car was having issues.  We found out yesterday that it had spilled a bit of transmission fluid after the drive from Melbourne.   With the help of our wonderful host Krisy, who is quite the car aficionado, we searched for a leak, and found oil leaking into our radiator.  We also discovered that the very fine dust of Tatura had caked every surface in our engine, everything.

So we went to her local auto shop, where she gets a decent discount, and bought 1.) coolant concentrate for 10 L 2.) 5 L of engine oil and 3.) a bottle of liquid that you pour into your radiator that stops leaks. 

    We got back to her place and spent the rest of the day flushing out our radiator, trying to keep the radiator water from boiling with the sealant, replacing the coolant, and topping up our oil.

After everything was said and done, Krisy asked her neighbor across the street to come have a look-see at our handy work.  He thought it was good that we cleaned out the radiator and fan belt, but he also told us that after long drives, if there is too much transmission fluid it bubbles out of the transmission when the vehicle cools down, hence the puddle that got us all stressed out in the first place. 

He also said that women are very sensitive to sounds, and that strange sounds make them anxious. But cars just make funny sounds, so ignore them. 

Personally I feel like that is poor advice. I mean, if a woman comes up to me and tells me it sounds like my car is going to explode, I’m gonna get the hell out of it and run.

Since being in Australia we have learned so much about cars.  It seems that any DIYO work on cars is common knowledge out in the outback.  They even have beginner car care classes for women.  Since being here we have picked up quite a bit of car know how. 

At any rate, we finished as the sun was going down, so we will depart along the coast for Melbourne tomorrow morning.