![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Please note: This is the beginning of a journal started on the road last Monday. This is the first time I’ve had on the computer since we returned, so please forgive the massive core dump of a week’s worth of postings all at once. Thanks for your understanding. I so appreciate everyone’s continued interest in my life and times, I really hope you enjoy these postings. This one is a really long one. Might I be so bold as to suggest a lovely cup of steaming, fragrant tea, a plump pillow, and a warm throw blanket as you cuddle up to the computer to read this opus. Happy reading.
6 Jan. 02
George and I are planning to do a little travelling to find our perfect, Eugene-like home. Our goal is to visit cities, towns and suburbs until we find the one that most feels like home. We are travelling with one backpack each and our two carry-on back-pack/roller wheel suitcases. We are very mobile and we have decided to call these adventures "Vagabonding." I shall publish our adventures in sequence when we return to Sydney. Unfortunately, I don't have internet access on my Pocket PC outside of America so I can't just update the journal each night. I'm writing them all down as they happen and I'll upload them all when I return. Not the best method, but the best option available to me in the moment.
So, this morning we packed our bags, hopped on a train and headed south to the city of Wollongong on our first vagabonding stop. This is the third largest city in the state of New South Wales (Sydney and Newcastle are first and second, respectively).
We debarked the train and began walking through the city. We stopped at a small coffee shop called the Green Frog (how can you go wrong with a great name like that?) and listed all our requirements for the ideal living environment and then walked through the town.
The List:
-DSL capability
-organic & veggie food
-D&D, gaming store
-bike paths
-art supply store
-jewellery &/or bead supply store
-ceramics centre/supplies/firing kiln
-tea salon
-quality coffee shop
-SCA and gaming community
By the time we walked back to the hotel after dinner, we had checked off all of them except a tea salon. (There was one that called itself a tea salon tucked in behind a church but it was closed until the 13th of this month and I couldn't see in the frosted windows.)
We also concluded that if Wollongong proper didn't have what we needed, then the suburbs around it did. This is a very promising looking city. We found a gaming store, a bead shop, alternative therapies, an organic grocer... the list goes on. The people were great. In one little side street we found a bead shop and a WarHammer gaming shop right next door to each other. Needless to say, we decided to divide and conquer. I was shopping and chatting with the woman who owned the bead shop (her name was Carol and her assistant was Denise), gathering information about the area, what I could and couldn't be expected to find here and other bits of info. She was wonderful. She even told me she was about to put the kettle on and offered me a cup of tea. I bought a few beads and then found George next door engaged in a game with one of the staff. The two gentlemen there (Ross and Nathan) were animated and full of excitement and information. Nathan even told us about the local SCA chapter. We left the shop just about bursting with happiness.
We did some more walking and investigating. We found a hotel room for the evening then took a walk on the beach. We had supper and walked some more. All in all, a very successful day.
Who knows what the morrow will bring? Stay tuned and find out.
Same Carol time, same Carol channel.
7 Jan. 2002
We woke this morning, had breakfast at a great music cafe stocked with plush couches, tables, chairs, music CD's, musical instruments scattered about for sale and for playing with, some really awesome Italian coffee and friendly staff with great smiles.
Next we went to have massages at this great alternative shop we had stopped in briefly yesterday. The woman who owns the shop had told me that there were lots of like-minded people in this community and, when I moved there, she would love to introduce me to all the great groups like yoga, natural childbirth... all kinds of stuff. The massages were so therapeutic. After spending the last year working so hard to bring myself into a healthy, peaceful state through fasting, colonics, massages, and other methods, I discovered that I managed to mess myself up right good in the past month since I left Eugene. All my muscle knots are back, all my tension is back, and my body isn't running at peak capacity, especially since the antibiotic episode. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
We boarded the train and headed further south to Kiama, another beach community in a more rural setting. We hadn't counted on there being such a huge rush of vacationers here midweek. We ended up walking around for almost 3 hours before some hotel manager finally took pity on us and gave us the phone numbers of all the Bed & Breakfasts in the area. We called around and finally found one with one room available. Needless to say, we grabbed it. The only catch was that we had to stay a minimum of two nights. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and then hailed a taxi to the B&B.
It was a way out of town on some windy thin roads so I'm glad we didn't try to walk it in the dark. We arrived and our host and hostess, Rudi & Sabine, were waiting to greet us. He showed us around the place and then brought us to the Lovebirds Suite. It's absolutely lovely. The bathroom is enormous complete with a spa bathtub. We spent some quality time steaming up the bathroom and playing in the bath bubbles by candlelight. What a pity we ~have~ to stay two nights. *mock sigh* Such torture! So much torture, I may not have the stamina to go back to Sydney and may just have to stay a few years to rehabilitate... Well, one could hope.
I await the morning to see what our environs here look like. More adventures on the way... I think I like this vagabonding thing... A girl could get used to massages and spa bathtubs.
*yawn* I'm going to curl up next to my honey and fall asleep to the sounds of Enya playing on the stereo. Life is good!
8 Jan, 02
Today we had a leisurely sleep in then a big, beautiful breakfast curtesy of our host and hostess,
Rudi and Sabine. We conversed with some really nice people that also stayed at the B&B during breakfast, and then George and I went for a stroll through the neighbourhood. We passed a house with some big grey hairy dogs and a couple of tiny white hairy dogs jumping about the backyard. The woman was outside gardening so we asked if the little white ones were Maltese. They were, and of course, conversation ensued. The large grey ones were Scottish Bearded Collies who happened to be prize winning show dogs. After a lovely conversation and meeting several neighbours -- and a few of the dogs -- we continued on our walk.
Our host, Rudi, had graciously offered to give us a lift into town in time for the high tide so we could see the blow hole here in Kiama. This area was formed by lava flow and the blow hole is clearly a lava tube that eroded through. It is situated over the water so when the tide is high and the winds create the right waves, there is a giant rush of water through this reverse funnel. The tide was high but the waves lacked umph so the show was mild. We walked through town, had lunch, walked over to the beach and I waded across a very rough black sand beach. Actually, it probably looked like I limped across it. The rocks and shells were so course, it was painful on my poor, sensitive feet *pouty bottom lip*. The shells that I found, though, were very cool. They are just tiny little things of black and white so they would blend into the lava formations just under the water's surface. How very clever Nature is. I wonder how long it takes for the little animals to adjust their shell camouflage to the new rock base every time a new lava flows into the area? I imagine there is some adjustment period and a couple of generations pass before the change takes place. The shift from black rock to browner eroded sand is very gradual so the change back shouldn't be so dramatic. I still spied a few brownish shells about the beach as well, so they must still have appropriate cover.
Anyhow, we were siting under a tree at the beach when the thunder and clouds rolled in. My experience with Australian rainstorms has been that they come upon you quite suddenly and quickly go from a few big drops to an overturned bucket of huge big drops very quickly. It is a very thorough and soaking rain that may not last more than 10-20 minutes but it will drench you straight through. We decided to head for cover in a coffee shop. The squall dumped a 15 minute cascade of rain, but the wind storm that accompanied it apparently did damage from the south straight up the coast to Sydney before it went out to sea. We made it back to the B&B and spent the evening soaking in the tub, reading local magazines and munching on mixed nuts.
Tomorrow, we head north.
9 Jan, 2002
This morning we had a leisurely bubble bath in the spa tub before we headed to breakfast. Then we packed up and our host, Rudi, gave us a lift to the train station. We debarked in Thirroul, a town about midway between Sydney and Wollongong. We had heard that Thirroul was a happening, artsy little town and I was anxious to see it. The plan was to get off in Thirroul, check out the town, walk across the town a little further south, and stay at a Bed & Breakfast we booked in Bulli, the next town south.
So, we left the train station and the most promising looking street headed east toward the ocean. We followed it through a very small business section, then through a residential section, finally reaching the sea without ever having witnessed anything artsier than a small bookstore cafe named "Oskar's Wild Bookstore Cafe." Very disappointing. We walked along the beach, ate at a burger joint that had *surprise, surprise* a vegetarian burger. It wasn't that great, but it filled the void and we walked through some more residential areas along the shore until we came to the genesis of the Thirroul to Wollongong bike/pedestrian path. This path follows the shore all the way south into Wollongong. Very exciting!
We reached Bulli and found the B&B. We settled in nicely and George promptly fell asleep. I sat out on the deck reading some magazines while he had his nap. At first, I sat in my tee shirt and shorts in the shade. The squall from yesterday had cooled the temperature by at least 10°F and the wind was still strong, so I became uncomfortably cold. I went in and donned my jacket, but I still felt cooler than comfortable. I ended up moving my chair into the sun *gasp*. Carol, the shadow jumping forest dweller, voluntarily sat in the sun.
***Please Note: The powers that be should not take this as a sign that the world is about to end. Nor may they take this as an open invitation to commit rash acts under the assumption that if the world is about to end anyway, why not earn more profit and cause a bit more chaos on the way out.
Carol's Disclaimer: I will not take personal responsibility for any oddities that occur coincidently because I voluntarily exposed my tender, Caucasian flesh to Australian sunlight. I maintain that these occurrences are outside of my control and I never intended to bring them about with my action. I, therefore, feel I am just in being devoid of legal, moral and karmic responsibility. Thank you. We may now return to the narrative.***
When George awoke, it was time for supper. We spoke to Tony, our host, and we discovered that we missed the entire town of Thirroul by heading the wrong direction out of the station. Maybe we'll walk back there tomorrow.
We walked up to the village of Bulli and I had my first taste of Australian pizza. This may seem insignificant, but there is some history behind it. When George first came to America, before I knew him, he made the comment to Flex that American pizza was inferior to Australian pizza because America only gave you tomato sauce, pepperoni and cheese while Australian pepperoni pizza was heaped with chunks of veggies as well. Since coming to Australia, George has mentioned many times that we needed to stop for Australian pizza and take a picture so Flex could see all the toppings on the pizza here. Finally, tonight, we have a picture. If I can figure out how to link a photo, I'll even display it here. We'll see. The pizza was good, it had a thin crust with lots of toppings, it was wood fired and very tasty. I personally prefer Chicago style pizza with the thick, soft crusts, but this pizza was still very good.
*Note, I couldn't figure this picture thing out. I'm working on it. It's not easy being technically challenged.*
So, now we are back at our room. George is already sleeping again and I think I’ll join him soon. Tomorrow, we leave Bulli and end up back in Sydney by night. I'm not sure we know exactly what we are doing tomorrow during the day ... It shall be a surprise for you to read tomorrow.
10 Jan. 2002
This morning we rose, ate a leisurely breakfast of leftover pizza, fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. I also made some cheap coffee taste pretty good by cold pressing it in a French Press last night. This coffee was thoroughly enjoyed by myself sitting on a deck, feet up, magazine in lap, with the birds in the tree beside me and the ocean lapping upon the beach just across the road from me. *sigh* I could learn to live like this.
George and I packed up and went back to Thirroul to see if we could find the rest of this town. We did, but it wasn’t much. For a town described as rather alternative, I was disappointed. We had a bite to eat at the Oskar’s Wild Bookstore Café. This was actually quite lovely. We each had a different foccacia vegetarian sandwich that we shared, a freshly pressed carrot juice and a pot of Blue Mountain loose-leaf tea. The tea was pretty good. I wouldn’t want to buy a pound of it, but it was light years better than the tea bag stuff I’ve had to content myself with while on the road. Next time, I’m packing my own tea and tea ball. Every place we have stayed has had a method of boiling water and a cup. Funny, I had thought about bringing the tea, but I didn’t want to carry more than was absolutely necessary since we were pretty much wearing our shells on our backs. Every thing we brought had to be carried or rolled behind us.
We walked about town a little more, then we went to the train station and headed back to Sydney.
Thus ended our first vagabonding journey. We are thinking of heading west to the Blue Mountains and then to the North Coast in two more vagabonding trips before we return to Eugene. We’ll see how it goes.
11 Jan, 2002
Today I am finally going to meet Adam. Adam is the sixth cousin on A-Ma’s side. He is about the same age as George and they were quite close. George and I took the train into Sydney Central and walked to Adam’s shop. He is extremely creative and is blessed with the family business sense as well. He has a beautiful shop full of terrific homewares. He started by making his own picture frames, then he went to Buddhist prayer books, silk cushions, and a variety of other homewares that he either made himself or designed and had another artisan create the pieces. He has a great eye for style and design. His works are advertised in Vogue and many other home magazines all over the world.
After a tour of his shop, George, myself, Adam and his partner, Lawrence, all went to a completely vegetarian Dim Sum lunch (that makes two, count ‘em, two, vegetarian Dim Sum restaurants in Sydney that I know of… how absolutely scrumptious). We then went to Centennial Park, rented bicycles and rode around the park. George and I rented a pink tandem bike and the boys rented regular “bush bikes”. We started our tandem ride with me in the front. It was an old fashioned bike with no gears and back-pedal brakes. It was a wobbly start, but we did pretty well. After a couple of laps, George and I switched and he was in the lead. It is so hard to be the back seat position when you are used to commuting on your own bike and being in charge. The rear position has no steering ability and the pedals are in sync so if I George stops peddling, my pedals don’t move and it throws the body off. I had always wanted to try a tandem and now that I have, I don’t think I want to buy one.
The boys wanted to stop for gelato (an Italian ice cream made from skim milk instead of cream) so I stayed with the bikes under a tree until they returned. During this time, I saw an old duck sitting under a bench. I slowly approached him and sat beside him. I started talking to him and giving him Reiki. He was very old and not feeling entirely well. When the boys returned, I left to sit with them while they ate their gelatos.
After another lap or two, we returned the bikes and went for coffee on the beach. We sat and talked for quite some time. Adam had invited us to a live jazz show and we went back to his flat while he got blankets and a jacket. On our way to the jazz show, the vote was passed that the boys would rather eat than listen to jazz, so we went for Italian. We had a great evening. I’m looking forward to more great outings with Adam.
6 Jan. 02
George and I are planning to do a little travelling to find our perfect, Eugene-like home. Our goal is to visit cities, towns and suburbs until we find the one that most feels like home. We are travelling with one backpack each and our two carry-on back-pack/roller wheel suitcases. We are very mobile and we have decided to call these adventures "Vagabonding." I shall publish our adventures in sequence when we return to Sydney. Unfortunately, I don't have internet access on my Pocket PC outside of America so I can't just update the journal each night. I'm writing them all down as they happen and I'll upload them all when I return. Not the best method, but the best option available to me in the moment.
So, this morning we packed our bags, hopped on a train and headed south to the city of Wollongong on our first vagabonding stop. This is the third largest city in the state of New South Wales (Sydney and Newcastle are first and second, respectively).
We debarked the train and began walking through the city. We stopped at a small coffee shop called the Green Frog (how can you go wrong with a great name like that?) and listed all our requirements for the ideal living environment and then walked through the town.
The List:
-DSL capability
-organic & veggie food
-D&D, gaming store
-bike paths
-art supply store
-jewellery &/or bead supply store
-ceramics centre/supplies/firing kiln
-tea salon
-quality coffee shop
-SCA and gaming community
By the time we walked back to the hotel after dinner, we had checked off all of them except a tea salon. (There was one that called itself a tea salon tucked in behind a church but it was closed until the 13th of this month and I couldn't see in the frosted windows.)
We also concluded that if Wollongong proper didn't have what we needed, then the suburbs around it did. This is a very promising looking city. We found a gaming store, a bead shop, alternative therapies, an organic grocer... the list goes on. The people were great. In one little side street we found a bead shop and a WarHammer gaming shop right next door to each other. Needless to say, we decided to divide and conquer. I was shopping and chatting with the woman who owned the bead shop (her name was Carol and her assistant was Denise), gathering information about the area, what I could and couldn't be expected to find here and other bits of info. She was wonderful. She even told me she was about to put the kettle on and offered me a cup of tea. I bought a few beads and then found George next door engaged in a game with one of the staff. The two gentlemen there (Ross and Nathan) were animated and full of excitement and information. Nathan even told us about the local SCA chapter. We left the shop just about bursting with happiness.
We did some more walking and investigating. We found a hotel room for the evening then took a walk on the beach. We had supper and walked some more. All in all, a very successful day.
Who knows what the morrow will bring? Stay tuned and find out.
Same Carol time, same Carol channel.
7 Jan. 2002
We woke this morning, had breakfast at a great music cafe stocked with plush couches, tables, chairs, music CD's, musical instruments scattered about for sale and for playing with, some really awesome Italian coffee and friendly staff with great smiles.
Next we went to have massages at this great alternative shop we had stopped in briefly yesterday. The woman who owns the shop had told me that there were lots of like-minded people in this community and, when I moved there, she would love to introduce me to all the great groups like yoga, natural childbirth... all kinds of stuff. The massages were so therapeutic. After spending the last year working so hard to bring myself into a healthy, peaceful state through fasting, colonics, massages, and other methods, I discovered that I managed to mess myself up right good in the past month since I left Eugene. All my muscle knots are back, all my tension is back, and my body isn't running at peak capacity, especially since the antibiotic episode. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
We boarded the train and headed further south to Kiama, another beach community in a more rural setting. We hadn't counted on there being such a huge rush of vacationers here midweek. We ended up walking around for almost 3 hours before some hotel manager finally took pity on us and gave us the phone numbers of all the Bed & Breakfasts in the area. We called around and finally found one with one room available. Needless to say, we grabbed it. The only catch was that we had to stay a minimum of two nights. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant and then hailed a taxi to the B&B.
It was a way out of town on some windy thin roads so I'm glad we didn't try to walk it in the dark. We arrived and our host and hostess, Rudi & Sabine, were waiting to greet us. He showed us around the place and then brought us to the Lovebirds Suite. It's absolutely lovely. The bathroom is enormous complete with a spa bathtub. We spent some quality time steaming up the bathroom and playing in the bath bubbles by candlelight. What a pity we ~have~ to stay two nights. *mock sigh* Such torture! So much torture, I may not have the stamina to go back to Sydney and may just have to stay a few years to rehabilitate... Well, one could hope.
I await the morning to see what our environs here look like. More adventures on the way... I think I like this vagabonding thing... A girl could get used to massages and spa bathtubs.
*yawn* I'm going to curl up next to my honey and fall asleep to the sounds of Enya playing on the stereo. Life is good!
8 Jan, 02
Today we had a leisurely sleep in then a big, beautiful breakfast curtesy of our host and hostess,
Rudi and Sabine. We conversed with some really nice people that also stayed at the B&B during breakfast, and then George and I went for a stroll through the neighbourhood. We passed a house with some big grey hairy dogs and a couple of tiny white hairy dogs jumping about the backyard. The woman was outside gardening so we asked if the little white ones were Maltese. They were, and of course, conversation ensued. The large grey ones were Scottish Bearded Collies who happened to be prize winning show dogs. After a lovely conversation and meeting several neighbours -- and a few of the dogs -- we continued on our walk.
Our host, Rudi, had graciously offered to give us a lift into town in time for the high tide so we could see the blow hole here in Kiama. This area was formed by lava flow and the blow hole is clearly a lava tube that eroded through. It is situated over the water so when the tide is high and the winds create the right waves, there is a giant rush of water through this reverse funnel. The tide was high but the waves lacked umph so the show was mild. We walked through town, had lunch, walked over to the beach and I waded across a very rough black sand beach. Actually, it probably looked like I limped across it. The rocks and shells were so course, it was painful on my poor, sensitive feet *pouty bottom lip*. The shells that I found, though, were very cool. They are just tiny little things of black and white so they would blend into the lava formations just under the water's surface. How very clever Nature is. I wonder how long it takes for the little animals to adjust their shell camouflage to the new rock base every time a new lava flows into the area? I imagine there is some adjustment period and a couple of generations pass before the change takes place. The shift from black rock to browner eroded sand is very gradual so the change back shouldn't be so dramatic. I still spied a few brownish shells about the beach as well, so they must still have appropriate cover.
Anyhow, we were siting under a tree at the beach when the thunder and clouds rolled in. My experience with Australian rainstorms has been that they come upon you quite suddenly and quickly go from a few big drops to an overturned bucket of huge big drops very quickly. It is a very thorough and soaking rain that may not last more than 10-20 minutes but it will drench you straight through. We decided to head for cover in a coffee shop. The squall dumped a 15 minute cascade of rain, but the wind storm that accompanied it apparently did damage from the south straight up the coast to Sydney before it went out to sea. We made it back to the B&B and spent the evening soaking in the tub, reading local magazines and munching on mixed nuts.
Tomorrow, we head north.
9 Jan, 2002
This morning we had a leisurely bubble bath in the spa tub before we headed to breakfast. Then we packed up and our host, Rudi, gave us a lift to the train station. We debarked in Thirroul, a town about midway between Sydney and Wollongong. We had heard that Thirroul was a happening, artsy little town and I was anxious to see it. The plan was to get off in Thirroul, check out the town, walk across the town a little further south, and stay at a Bed & Breakfast we booked in Bulli, the next town south.
So, we left the train station and the most promising looking street headed east toward the ocean. We followed it through a very small business section, then through a residential section, finally reaching the sea without ever having witnessed anything artsier than a small bookstore cafe named "Oskar's Wild Bookstore Cafe." Very disappointing. We walked along the beach, ate at a burger joint that had *surprise, surprise* a vegetarian burger. It wasn't that great, but it filled the void and we walked through some more residential areas along the shore until we came to the genesis of the Thirroul to Wollongong bike/pedestrian path. This path follows the shore all the way south into Wollongong. Very exciting!
We reached Bulli and found the B&B. We settled in nicely and George promptly fell asleep. I sat out on the deck reading some magazines while he had his nap. At first, I sat in my tee shirt and shorts in the shade. The squall from yesterday had cooled the temperature by at least 10°F and the wind was still strong, so I became uncomfortably cold. I went in and donned my jacket, but I still felt cooler than comfortable. I ended up moving my chair into the sun *gasp*. Carol, the shadow jumping forest dweller, voluntarily sat in the sun.
***Please Note: The powers that be should not take this as a sign that the world is about to end. Nor may they take this as an open invitation to commit rash acts under the assumption that if the world is about to end anyway, why not earn more profit and cause a bit more chaos on the way out.
Carol's Disclaimer: I will not take personal responsibility for any oddities that occur coincidently because I voluntarily exposed my tender, Caucasian flesh to Australian sunlight. I maintain that these occurrences are outside of my control and I never intended to bring them about with my action. I, therefore, feel I am just in being devoid of legal, moral and karmic responsibility. Thank you. We may now return to the narrative.***
When George awoke, it was time for supper. We spoke to Tony, our host, and we discovered that we missed the entire town of Thirroul by heading the wrong direction out of the station. Maybe we'll walk back there tomorrow.
We walked up to the village of Bulli and I had my first taste of Australian pizza. This may seem insignificant, but there is some history behind it. When George first came to America, before I knew him, he made the comment to Flex that American pizza was inferior to Australian pizza because America only gave you tomato sauce, pepperoni and cheese while Australian pepperoni pizza was heaped with chunks of veggies as well. Since coming to Australia, George has mentioned many times that we needed to stop for Australian pizza and take a picture so Flex could see all the toppings on the pizza here. Finally, tonight, we have a picture. If I can figure out how to link a photo, I'll even display it here. We'll see. The pizza was good, it had a thin crust with lots of toppings, it was wood fired and very tasty. I personally prefer Chicago style pizza with the thick, soft crusts, but this pizza was still very good.
*Note, I couldn't figure this picture thing out. I'm working on it. It's not easy being technically challenged.*
So, now we are back at our room. George is already sleeping again and I think I’ll join him soon. Tomorrow, we leave Bulli and end up back in Sydney by night. I'm not sure we know exactly what we are doing tomorrow during the day ... It shall be a surprise for you to read tomorrow.
10 Jan. 2002
This morning we rose, ate a leisurely breakfast of leftover pizza, fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. I also made some cheap coffee taste pretty good by cold pressing it in a French Press last night. This coffee was thoroughly enjoyed by myself sitting on a deck, feet up, magazine in lap, with the birds in the tree beside me and the ocean lapping upon the beach just across the road from me. *sigh* I could learn to live like this.
George and I packed up and went back to Thirroul to see if we could find the rest of this town. We did, but it wasn’t much. For a town described as rather alternative, I was disappointed. We had a bite to eat at the Oskar’s Wild Bookstore Café. This was actually quite lovely. We each had a different foccacia vegetarian sandwich that we shared, a freshly pressed carrot juice and a pot of Blue Mountain loose-leaf tea. The tea was pretty good. I wouldn’t want to buy a pound of it, but it was light years better than the tea bag stuff I’ve had to content myself with while on the road. Next time, I’m packing my own tea and tea ball. Every place we have stayed has had a method of boiling water and a cup. Funny, I had thought about bringing the tea, but I didn’t want to carry more than was absolutely necessary since we were pretty much wearing our shells on our backs. Every thing we brought had to be carried or rolled behind us.
We walked about town a little more, then we went to the train station and headed back to Sydney.
Thus ended our first vagabonding journey. We are thinking of heading west to the Blue Mountains and then to the North Coast in two more vagabonding trips before we return to Eugene. We’ll see how it goes.
11 Jan, 2002
Today I am finally going to meet Adam. Adam is the sixth cousin on A-Ma’s side. He is about the same age as George and they were quite close. George and I took the train into Sydney Central and walked to Adam’s shop. He is extremely creative and is blessed with the family business sense as well. He has a beautiful shop full of terrific homewares. He started by making his own picture frames, then he went to Buddhist prayer books, silk cushions, and a variety of other homewares that he either made himself or designed and had another artisan create the pieces. He has a great eye for style and design. His works are advertised in Vogue and many other home magazines all over the world.
After a tour of his shop, George, myself, Adam and his partner, Lawrence, all went to a completely vegetarian Dim Sum lunch (that makes two, count ‘em, two, vegetarian Dim Sum restaurants in Sydney that I know of… how absolutely scrumptious). We then went to Centennial Park, rented bicycles and rode around the park. George and I rented a pink tandem bike and the boys rented regular “bush bikes”. We started our tandem ride with me in the front. It was an old fashioned bike with no gears and back-pedal brakes. It was a wobbly start, but we did pretty well. After a couple of laps, George and I switched and he was in the lead. It is so hard to be the back seat position when you are used to commuting on your own bike and being in charge. The rear position has no steering ability and the pedals are in sync so if I George stops peddling, my pedals don’t move and it throws the body off. I had always wanted to try a tandem and now that I have, I don’t think I want to buy one.
The boys wanted to stop for gelato (an Italian ice cream made from skim milk instead of cream) so I stayed with the bikes under a tree until they returned. During this time, I saw an old duck sitting under a bench. I slowly approached him and sat beside him. I started talking to him and giving him Reiki. He was very old and not feeling entirely well. When the boys returned, I left to sit with them while they ate their gelatos.
After another lap or two, we returned the bikes and went for coffee on the beach. We sat and talked for quite some time. Adam had invited us to a live jazz show and we went back to his flat while he got blankets and a jacket. On our way to the jazz show, the vote was passed that the boys would rather eat than listen to jazz, so we went for Italian. We had a great evening. I’m looking forward to more great outings with Adam.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
Re:
I'm still catching up reading all the LJ posts, but it seems you like your classes. I'm very glad! Have lots of fun! Learn oodles! Conquer the world!
From:
no subject
From:
Re: