Aussie Camping Adventure

In the five years I've been living in Australia I've come a long way in creating myself as an Australian. But there was one thing missing: an Aussie camping trip! For the past few years I have been longing to sleep in a tent and roast marshmallows over a camp fire. Unfortunately for me, I haven't had particularly camping inclined friends. So while I've gone on a few road trips now, they've always involved staying in buildings with electricity, plumbing, and beds.

Fortunately for me, I met my girlfriend, hence forth referred to as 'Foxy'. Foxy loves road trips and camping, so when I told her I was serious about wanting to go camping over brunch one morning, within 2 hours we had our trip planned and booked! Since I can't even remember the last time I went camping we decided to go to a caravan park instead of just rocking up to the bush like she's used to. At the recommendation of some of my friends, we settled on Cumberland river on the Great Ocean Road.

The thing about camping is, you need a car. While Foxy has a car, she doesn't have her licence. And while I have my licence, I've hardly driven in the past 5 years, had never driven in Melbourne, and had quite limited experience driving on the left. Look, we did alright! Both the people and the car made it there and back without injury, bar a few frazzled nerves. Let's just say, driving at night is much harder than I remember it. Driving down the Great Ocean Road at night is terrifying. I'm glad that most of the driving we did was during the bright, sunny, clear-skied day!

We hit the road late Friday morning and headed off for what was both my first Aussie camping adventure and me and Foxy's first weekend away together. The drive down the Great Ocean Road is truly beautiful, and it is actually a fun drive too - if you like windy roads. By the time we left on Sunday I was really enjoying making my way around those tight bends. I'm not going to lie, I really do enjoy driving and it was damn good to be behind the wheel of a car again! Even if I was pretty nervous.

Great shark! On the Great Ocean Road.

We got to the campground in the afternoon, and were very pleased to discover that not only did our campsite have a beautiful view, but it was also probably the shadiest site in the campground. Foxy got the tent up, with me attempting to be helpful. She'd picked us up a 6 person tent, so we had heaps of room (relatively speaking), and I've got a nifty air mattress, so we were pretty darn comfortable! Once we'd gotten ourselves set up, we cracked open a couple beers and enjoyed the serenity. At least until we discovered that we were camping next to a large group of dads with a disproportionate number of daughters, all under the age of 7. The dad two sites over from us was particularly crap, as were his bratty daughters who kept wandering into our campsite to play and then looked at us like wtf were we doing there... *shutter*

Tent up = beer o'clock!

After we had gotten ourselves settled we popped over across the road for some quality beach time. The beach was good! The sand was soft and not too hot, the waves were crashing in impressively, there were neat rocks to explore on, and we were right where the river met the ocean. That evening we drove into nearby Lorne for dinner, followed by ice cream. Then it was back to the campground for our first night in the tent.

Beach time!

We lucked out and got really amazing weather. The nights were cool but not too cold, the mornings were slightly overcast with a cool breeze, but then the sun would break through the clouds and the rest of the day would be sunny and just hot enough to be enjoyable summer weather. We weren't the only ones who fluked out on the good weather though! It turns out Saturday afternoon we had front row seats to a wedding! As many of you know, I'm not exactly a fan of weddings. But I enjoyed this one. Everyone was really friendly and relaxed. We had a chat with the groom and the uncle as they set up the decorations for the ceremony in the morning and they were really lovely and encouraged us to come watch the wedding (the uncle referred to children as short monsters, instantly winning us over).

How's the serenity?

The campground is on a bushwalking trail to some waterfalls. I think there's a few different falls you can go to, depending on how far you want to hike. We decided to check out Cumberland Falls, which was approximately a 9km return trip. Planning to have a swim in the rock pools and a picnic lunch, we packed up my backpack with supplies and headed off. This bushwalk involved a fair bit of river hopping, which I was quite happy about as I enjoy scampering over rocks. Foxy was less keen on that part of it, but by the time we came back she was making her way across the rocks like a champ!

We had been left with the impression that the trail was fairly easy and well marked. For the most part that was true, but there were certainly a few places where we had no idea where the trail was, and the bit right before the falls involved more intense rock clambering that we'd signed on for. In the end, we didn't have a picnic or go for a swim, so the pack was a bit of a nuisance. But now we know for next time.

Cumberland Falls

I'd been going on about how I wanted to see some Australian wildlife, and may or may not have said "This trip won't be complete unless I see a marsupial." (Which we did - we saw some kangaroos while driving into Lorne.) On the hike we came across heaps of lizards. I am a fan of reptiles, so I was pretty happy about that. Although, this being Australia, I was a bit disappointed that the lizards weren't gigantic. So after one of our river crossings on the way back, when I saw a large reptilian head on the other side of some rocks, I was pretty keen to get up close and personal with a big ass lizard!

IT WAS NOT A LIZARD!!! I stepped over the rock and found myself standing right beside an impressively sized snake. Now, I like snakes, a lot. But as Foxy put it, "The 5th most poisonous snake in Australia will still kill you."

I quickly backed up to the other side of the rocks while calling out "SNAKE! It's a snake!" With Foxy behind me going "Get back! Get back!" For its part, the snake slithered off back into the bush where it was safe from pestering humans trodding on it. All it wanted was to sun itself on the nice, warm rocks.

There were some people coming up the track, so I thought I'd be useful and yelled out that there was a snake up ahead. Apparently this was not a helpful thing to do. When they reached us - a group of barefooted, bare chested men and teenage boys - we informed them that there had been a snake and it had gone back into the bush.

One of the boys asked what it looked like and Foxy said "It was black with a yellow belly."

"Ah, a yellow-bellied black snake." The boy replied.

Classic Australiana.

Relaying this story to Hubby, he informed me that there is no such thing as a yellow-bellied black snake. With a bit of Googling I discovered that what we stumbled across was actually a tiger snake which is one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Well then!

Our walk went quite quickly after that and we found ourselves back at our campsite in no time. We got stuck into our lunch and watched as the wedding got into full swing. We'd been informed that the bridal car was something to watch out for, and sure enough, they rocked up in a baby blue combie. We both quite enjoyed watching the wedding from our campsite, not only because of the wedding, but because all these other people came and stood beside our campsite to watch from what could be considered a respectful distance. And while they stood around and had a geeze, we got to hear all the goss about the couple and about the campground. For two people who love people watching, this was the perfect way to spend the afternoon!

The Bridal Combie

Once the wedding had cleared off we headed back over to the beach to get in a bit of an ocean swim. The waves were crashing and the rip was pulling and it was just so damn refreshing! We had a bit of a play in the rocks again and then headed back to the campground for a shower before driving back into Lorne for dinner.

And then, after dinner, we came back to our campsite for a special treat. S'MORES!!!!! Honestly, this was the real reason I wanted to go camping. I hadn't had s'mores in years, and it had been even longer since I'd had them the traditional way: marshmallows roasted in a camp fire. I'd brought graham crackers and jet puffed marshmallows back from Canada on my last trip out there and had been eagerly awaiting an opportunity to get myself around a camp fire to bust them out.

We were at a bit of a disadvantage with roasting the marshmallows as we didn't have a proper stick to put them on and were using bamboo skewers instead. This meant that we had to be pretty close to the fire, which meant we got faces full of smoke. So there were none of the golden brown artisan marshmallows of my youth, but we made due. I was very happy to get to share the wonderous glory of s'mores with Foxy. You can't get graham crackers in Australia, so they're not really a thing here. It would be a source of much sadness for them, if only they knew what they were missing out on.

S'MORES!!!!!

Once we had stuffed ourselves with s'mores it was off to bed, where sleep was interrupted by obnoxious teenage boys and a coughing/crying baby. Sunday morning we were greeted with the familiar sounds of shrieking children, signalling that it was time for us to get up and pack up the campsite and make our way back to Melbourne. We made a good team getting everything sorted and it wasn't long before we were ready to hit the road again. We stopped in Lorne one last time for brunch (at the most Melbourne-esque cafe we could find) and then joined the scores of weekend holidayers making their way back to the city. I was a much more confident driver by this point, and the drive home was pretty uneventful, the highlight being us taking a more direct route than suggested by the GPS and listening to her mispronounced 'recalculating'.

All in all, my first Aussie camping adventure was a big success! I got to drive, I saw some marsupials, I slept in a tent, I didn't get eaten alive by bugs (though I did coat myself in a fair bit of DEET), I had a close encounter with a snake, I got to make motherfucking S'MORES!, I built a camp fire, I swam in the ocean, I went on a bushwalk, and most importantly, I got to spend an amazing weekend away with Foxy. I can't wait to do it all again!

Kissing Sydney

Have you ever met someone and just clicked with them, forming a friendship before you even really know much of anything about one another? I've made a heap of friends like that recently. It may seem like the kind of connection that is superficial and won't last, but when you click with someone so easily, maintaining a friendship with them is really quite easy. Case in point, my friend T. We met 7.5 years ago when we were both studying in Amsterdam and have stayed in touch over the years. In one of those funny coincidences that make me think the world is not such a big place, she moved to Sydney not all that long after I moved to Melbourne. As I never seem to travel anymore, we try to catch up whenever she's in Melbourne. When she was down in November, she invited me to come up to Sydney for Mardi Gras and stay with her. I booked my flight the next day.

On New Years Eve I declared 2012 the kissing year and was issued a challenge to kiss 52 girls in 52 weeks. This was turning out to be easier said than done. By the beginning of February I hadn't kissed anyone; not even hubby! One night I was out at a queer club with Trouble and she made a comment about how it was obvious we weren't together as we were both checking everyone else out. So I grabbed her and pashed her and declared it a date (a running joke between us). The kissing picked up from there, but still, when March rolled around I'd only reached 4/52. Drastic actions were needed if I was ever going to reach my goal! And I knew just the thing...

T was marching in the parade with Scarlet Alliance and Gender Agenda, promoting sex worker rights; something that I am very much in favour of. She invited me to march with them, but initially I decided to be a big lameypants and said I wanted to just watch the parade this year as I'd never seen it before. But we went out for dinner with some of her friends on Friday and they informed me that when you march in the parade you spend several hours in this holding area where everyone lines up and it's a big ass party. Quite frankly, that sounded like a helluva lot more fun than standing around on some street corner all night. So I marched! And boy am I ever glad that I did!! In that one night I managed to pash 31 girls; all but 3 of whom were a direct result of my marching in the parade.

Having decided to march, I of course needed something outrageous to wear. Our group had a decriminalise sex work theme, so some people were wearing orange jumpsuits and shackles, some were dressed as sexy cops, and everyone else was dressed in red. And then there was me...

The outfit certainly got me lots of attention, especially the eyelashes! Girls kept stopping me and asking to take a picture with me, to which I replied "Sure, but it will cost you a kiss." Most of those kisses were really conservative ones - on the cheek or a peck on the lips - and did not count as part of my tally. Had they, my total of girls kissed would be significantly higher. That pre-parade area was insane! For awhile there it was like everywhere I turned I was kissing someone.

But it wasn't all about the kissing. I met heaps of lovely people who would just come over and have a friendly chat. My favourite non pashed randoms that I met were the Snow Queen and King (both women, obviously) who I met in a queue for the loo. It was absolutely pissing down rain and they were both standing under a massive umbrella, so I stood under it with them and we struck up a friendly conversation. They were marching with the Jews, and had I been Jewish I apparently would have made excellent marriage material (no, I did not tell them that I'm both anti-religion and anti-marriage).

We were in the pre-parade holding area for at least 3 hours before we started marching (possibly longer as we were bringing up the rear) and it was pouring rain. We were marching with red umbrellas, which was fortunate, but I still got completely drenched. And you know, since I was wearing a white t-shirt that had been completely soaked through, the only sensible thing to do really was to ditch the bra... And of course, after mixing champagne and vodka, the next logical move was to flash the drag kings...

My strategy for kissing girls was basically to run up to anyone who looked kissable and made eye contact with me for more than 5 seconds and pash them. It made the march super fun! Sometimes women were screaming from the sidelines for me to come over and kiss them. It was awesome!!
After the parade we went to a party at the Red Rattler called Oi!! Monsta Gras. That people would be dressed up like monsters had not even crossed my mind, so when I walked in, I was blown away by all the amazing costumes. And, like any good queer party, I ran into people I knew and a couple gay guys fell in love with me. It was a pretty awesome party. I mean, I was grinding with The Hulk and I pashed a unicorn! But more on that later.

As the night went on, it got harder and harder for me to find girls to pash. This seemed counter intuitive; usually as the night goes on, lips get looser. But then I saw myself in the mirror and suddenly I understood why!

We made it home at about 4am, which, given T lives in Manly, was about 3 hours earlier than I actually had expected to be home by. And, true to form, I woke up at 7am the next morning. And by next I mean same. There was nothing for it but to go wander down to the beach, get some Ben and Jerry's for breakfast, grab a coffee and get a pedicure. I know, it's a rough life!


Well, I'm sure you're all dying to get the goss on these 31 girls that I pashed. There is no way that I could possibly recall them all - like I said, it was a lot of me running into the crowd, making out with random people, then running back - but I can give you a Greatest Hits summary!

#5: The Boys
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they weren't meant to count BUT it was Mardi Gras and everyone's a little bit queer anyways, right? Both the boys I pashed were marching with us... as were several of the girls, but I'll get to that! After some random pashing in the pre-parade area I was complaining about how conservatively people were kissing me, and a guy from the Australian Sex Party offered to give me a real kiss - the kind you see naval officers give their girlfriends when they return home for shore leave. That didn't count at first, but after the third time I figured he could be an honorary girl. Same with the pirate. Goodness he was gorgeous! Tall, dark and handsome in an effeminate way, and totally straight. And very confused as to why I - as a lesbian - was giving him a free pass to kiss me. Desire is a funny thing and kissing is a lot of fun! There's no need for it to be anything more.

#4: The Unicorn
At the after party, I had wandered up to a couple of girls on the dance floor and was trying to convince one of them - or probably all of them - to pash me. I recall that I was focused on the one who was not dressed up as anything, who then informed me that while she wasn't going to pash me, her friend - the unicorn - would be most happy to oblige. I looked at her friend and said "I've never pashed a unicorn before." To which she shrugged and gave me a kiss, with just a bit of sneaky tongue. I didn't realize it was sneaky tongue until after we stopped kissing and this blue haired woman was staring at us going WTF?! I am interested in many things; causing lesbian drama is not one of them! I gave her friend shit and apologised to the girlfriend and walked away. Still, I figured pashing a unicorn has got to be good luck...

#3: The $20 Kiss
This was just beyond outrageous! One of T's friends said that she'd help me with my pashing numbers but couldn't because she's in a relationship. Fair enough. But then, as the night went on, they came to an agreement that she could kiss me if I paid her $20 for it. I was just like "Dude, you're barking up the wrong tree if you think I'm going to pay $20 for a kiss!" She kept going on about how amazing a kisser she is and how at a loss I was, and I was not budging about the money, so we were at a stalemate. But then! T, highly amused by the whole situation, bought me a $20 kiss with her friend!!! It was... a very vigorous kiss. Personally, I like tongue to be more hinted at than made explicit. We felt differently about this. The bite at the end was pretty hot though.

#2: Special Guest Appearance
I have another friend who is from Melbourne but has moved to Sydney and I was hoping to catch up with her over the weekend. I called her up and let her know I'd be marching in the parade and she said she'd be my cheer squad. We both had plans to go to the same party after the parade, so I figured I'd see her there. I tried to keep an eye out for her during the parade, but I figured I must have missed her. Then, all of a sudden, as I was just walking along, pulling our suitcase and having a break from the pashing, she jumped the barrier, ran into the parade, and pashed me! It was pretty hot! Given that was all I ended up seeing of her during my trip, I'd say we made the most of our time!

#1: The Mardi Gras Miracle
So as I said before, I pashed a few of the people who were marching with us. There was this one girl who I had seen before we left the Scarlett Alliance office that I thought was pretty cute and was a bit shy to go up to (I am a lot more forward with people when I know all I want is a kiss). As we were waiting for the parade to start we were sitting on the sidewalk, in the ran, having a chat and I told her about my kissing challenge. She said "Well, I'll pash you." And we proceeded to have a very nice kiss that left us both smiling. We resumed our conversation and discovered that we were both planning on going to the same after party. Then I got a call from T and I had to run off and try to find her. As the evening progressed, I still had this kiss on my mind. So when we returned to actually get lined up to march, I went up to her and pashed her again. She informed me that if I was to continue doing that it would really make her night. Unfortunately, I was being a bit too in the moment and that was the last I saw of her! I had not even thought to exchange numbers to ensure we were able to meet up later. This did not play too heavily on my mind on the Saturday, but come Sunday, I had regret!

Sunday afternoon there were various post Mardi Gras parties happening around the city. T and I made plans to meet up with some of her friends at a party in Newtown. We were all pretty exhausted and even though the party was pumping, the rain was still pouring down, and the dance floor was outside. So we decided to head off and get some food and hope that the rain would let up. It did, and we returned, but none of us were really all that keen to stay. So we decided to have one drink and hit the dance floor and then head off. I was dancing away when a familiar face walked past - one of the guys who had been marching with us, and was friends with the girl I had pashed! At first I just smiled at him, but then the logical part of my brain gave me a thunk and I asked him if he could either give me this girl's number or give her mine. He gave me her's and I promptly sent her a text. We weren't able to meet up again whilst I was in Sydney, but she has plans to come down to Melbourne, and I have a date! You see? Pashing a unicorn is good luck!!

Christmas KABOOM!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Much to my surprise, this is actually my fourth Christmas in Melbourne. I'm always surprised at how long I've been living here now. I remember when I first got here, the new Royal Children's Hospital was just starting to be built and was set to open in 2011. I thought that opening day was a lifetime away, but the Queen was just here the other month to officially open it's doors.

I also remember when I first moved here being told what I believed to be a tall story about how one year it snowed in Melbourne on Christmas Day. Yeah, right! It doesn't snow here in winter; there's no way it would snow in summer! Perhaps not, but if you look at some of the pictures of Melbourne this afternoon you wouldn't know it! Apparently someone decided to take one of the polar ice caps and just chuck it down on Melbourne. That's certainly what it sounded like in my apartment earlier anyways! There were some pretty big chunks coming down; unfortunately, as I live in a concrete jungle most of those big chunks broke up into smaller chunks as they hit the ground, so my pictures don't do the storm justice.

I've managed to do pretty well over the past four years, developing a community and a family away from my family. But this was the first year that I found myself without Christmas plans. Well, 'found myself' is a bit deceiving - it was a bit more deliberate than that.

My first Christmas here I was invited to spend the day with the family of a woman from my uni, who is now one of my thesis supervisors. It was a really nice Christmas, and I ended up staying overnight and for a good part of Boxing Day too! My second Christmas I made plans to have an 'orphan's Christmas' with a friend who was not able make it up to Sydney to see her family. We had a picnic lunch in Carlton Gardens and it ended up just being a really lovely afternoon. My third Christmas here my original plans *ahem* fell through, but I was taken in by my first flatmate - who is something of a big sister to me (though a very absentee one at the moment, for she seems to have disappeared off the earth). That Christmas ended up being really enjoyable and relaxing; though it helped that the next morning I was boarding a plane to Hawaii.

This year I thought I'd just see what the various people in my life were up to and just let whatever happened happen. And what happened is that most people I know here weren't orphaned for Christmas this year. Now, I'm sure that if I'd really wanted to I could have gotten myself invited over for someone's Christmas lunch. But I didn't want to. I wish I could be spending Christmas with my family this year, but that's just not possible - and spending it with someone else's family really just isn't all that appealing. When I realized I was facing Christmas alone - unless I started making the rounds with my best puppy dog eyes - I instead decided to embrace having the day to myself. And I'm glad that I did!

While I absolutely love Christmas in summer, it has a habit of sneaking up on me without me really realising. Especially since my family is so far away, so I don't have any of that prep work and planning to deal with. I put up some decorations around the apartment last week, and yesterday I broke out the Christmas music and baked a mountain of ginger snap cookies.

It was hot with humidity yesterday, and me having the oven on in our tiny apartment all afternoon was not exactly making either of us more comfortable. But, I had the tunes blaring and was singing and dancing along like, well, someone on a crazy sugar high, so I didn't mind the heat. I don't really know what the point of me making all these cookies was, given that nobody's really around to share them with. I made Coach take a bag of them with her this morning, but I've still got a mountain of them! A delicious, sugary, mountain...

Christmas is a time for watching movies, so once the cookies were finished Coach and I sat down and watched In America, which is not a Christmas movie, but has that same sentiment and is much more beautiful than probably any Christmas movie I've ever seen (though I've never see It's a Beautiful Life or whatever it's called).

Now, I have this Christmas tradition where I do not sleep at all on Christmas Eve. I actually out grew this a good ten years ago, but by that point I'd trained my family to be woken up at some ungodly hour so well that none of them are able to sleep past 6am and I hardly got any sleep anyways. True to form, I had trouble sleeping last night. I woke up a bit before 4am and went online for a bit - my Mom actually emailed me shortly after 4am to ask if I was up yet, which made me laugh. I did manage to fall back asleep though, to the sounds of low, grumbly thunder and dense rain on the tin roof. I didn't get up until 8:30, and was pretty dazed to find Coach already up and about - usually I've got heaps of time to wake up before I interact with anyone!

I made myself a coffee with eggnog in my special Christmas coffee mug (which, yes, I did bring out from Canada with me), waved off Coach and her brother, then got my computer up and called my Mom on Skype. There was some family over when I called, so I talked to all of them for a bit but it was too crazy so Mom said she'd call me back, and I went and got dressed, made breakfast, and put together a massive fruit salad for my picnic that afternoon. I talked to Mom for an hour, then let her go so I could get on with my own adventures before the severe weather warning came into effect.

I packed up my picnic basket, grabbed Greta, and headed off! I didn't really have a destination in mind; I just wanted to ride around and get some more practice while the roads were pretty empty. I decided I'd check out the Upfield bike path, since it kinda scares me and is the closest bike path to me. Turns out it connects with the Capital City Trail I normally ride on, so it's not actually that necessary for me to use it if I'm going south. Since I was on the Capital City Trail, I figured I'd head east and see what lay beyond Nicholson Street - the furthest I'd ever gone on that path. Pretty soon I was riding along the streets of North Fitzroy, which is handy to know. Or will be handy to know when I get comfortable with riding at night!

I got a bit turned around when I found myself at Rundall Station, which lead to me getting some experience with roundabouts! Ah, remember the days when I could only ride in a straight line? So much has changed since then! I made my way onto the Merri Creek bike trail and decided to head north and gradually make my way home. Again, I got confused about where the bike path was, so I went up St. George's Road...further than I needed to! And that's when it started to really rain. So I pulled over into Batman Park (not that Batman) and took refuge under a tree until the rain died down. It seemed as good a place as any for a picnic, and certainly at least the old man hanging out by the toilets drinking seemed to agree. I was going to offer him some of my cookies, but he was keeping a respectful distance and I decided I didn't really want to strick up a conversation with a random old man drinking out of a suitcase in a park on his own on Christmas Day.

The rain didn't last too long, and once it cleared up I made my way westward. I'd used my picnic time to look up a map on my phone and saw that if I continued down the street I was on I'd reconnect with the Merri Creek bike path again, so that's what I did. By this point the sun was out and it was getting nice and hot. Merri Creek is really pretty, so I decided to ride along it just a little bit more than I needed to to get home and take some pictures.

I made my way back home along the roads, which were empty. I even rode through all the intersections this time - though I'm still not sure how confident I'd be to do that with cars driving alongside me. Some people are idiots, and I don't really fancy putting myself at their mercy. I'm all about taking sensible risks. Like, I've realised my life will be a lot easier when I learn to stand up while cycling. So I spent some time this afternoon practicing. I can now stand up while I'm gliding, and it won't be much longer before I'm peddling as well.

Greta and I had a great time riding around the city. We were out for 2 hours, riding for most of it! I am becoming completely addicted to bike riding - figures! Once the crazy storms let up I think I'll figure out the best route into the city so that I can start riding into uni, seeing as that was the whole point of me buying a bike. Though given my adventures today and going to the gym yesterday, I may not be able to move for the next couple of days!! Ah well, not much stops me these days. I wanted to go out again this afternoon, but when I realised the weather warning was serious I changed my mind and watched Fargo for the first time instead (also an appropriate non-Christmas Christmassy movie, it it's way).

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, and that you get to spend it doing the things that you want to do.

1001 Reasons

There's always 1001 reasons not to do something...

It's no secret that I've been on a pretty massive journey of self discovery and self transformation as of late. Over the past few months though, I've felt like all the 'theory' has been coming into practice. I've been trying to think about how to phrase it, and as I was confidently riding Greta home from a little trip to Carlton, I came up with it! But I will get to that.

I've been trying to really actively do new things and say yes to new experiences lately. It's involved a lot of listening to myself and taking chances. The events of the past few months have made me realise that you just never know what's going to happen in life, so you'd better make the most of it while you can. And so I have been!

Doing new things sounds simple enough, but the thing is, people are really great at talking themselves out of doing stuff. There's always 1001 reasons not to do something, so if you are going to do something new, the first step is to stop looking at the reasons (excuses) not to.

For instance, for awhile now I've been walking half way to/from uni through North Melbourne. It's a beautiful walk and I find it very relaxing. At the end of a stressful day it's a great way to unwind. At the start of the day it's a great way to just take some time for myself. Since doing the 10k for the Melbourne Marathon, I haven't had much motivation to run. I've gone for a handful of runs in the park, but without something to train towards, pushing through the pain and boredom of running in circles isn't the most appealing option. I often do things out of a curiosity to see what I am capable of, but even that was not be motivation for me; after all, I went from never running in June to running a 10k in October, I'm pretty freggin' capable!

Often on my walks I thought that it would be perfect to run home from uni. It's about 6k, the first half through North Melbourne, the second half through Royal Park. The problem was, there was 1001 reasons for me not to: I have a ton of books to carry home from uni, I'd have to change my clothes, it's getting really hot out, etc etc etc. To my credit, I was working out solutions to these problems. But it still involved me putting the actual running off for some other day.

And then, a couple weeks ago, I just said fuck it. You wanna run home from uni, just make it happen. So I did! I have been playing social netball Wednesdays at lunch (if you don't know what netball is, neither do I, and all I can tell you about it is that it is the most absurd sport I've ever seen) so I was already bringing in my running gear on those days. And surely I could just leave the books at home for one night? All I really needed was my phone, my wallet and my keys, and I have a bum bag for running with those anyways.

So, a couple Wednesdays ago, I just did it! I had thought that the run was going to be mostly downhill - it's not. The first time I did it was killer. Turns out, there's a big difference between going for a run first thing in the morning in October and going for a run in the late afternoon in December - a 10-15 degree difference!! By the time I get home I'm drenched in sweat and exhausted. But it feels so good to just have a cold shower, pop on my pajamas, and spend the evening relaxing. It turns out, all those reasons not to do it were pretty insignificant. I've run home twice now, and the second time was much better. It's a really good challenge, and it's practical, so I plan to continue doing this once a week - provided it's not too hot. Sometimes reasons not to do something AREN'T excuses!!

Another big new thing that I've been up to is riding Greta. We've been getting along much, much better as of late. Over the weekend I went for a bike ride with my new friend - whom I shall refer to as Trouble - and her bike, Sabina. Sabina and Greta really hit it off, and I know Greta is excited to go play with her again! :) Trouble and I have also really hit it off, but that's another story for another time and probably another place!

Since I'm feeling more confident, I've been wanting to just get out and ride places more. Now that I'm on Christmas holidays, I figured I'd ride down to Carlton today and do a bit of shopping. I was nervous about going that far, but determined to just do it. I also wanted to ride on the road for a change, get a bit more practice riding in traffic. So this afternoon I got my stuff together and went to get Greta. I'd had some problems with her tyres over the weekend, and when I checked the back one, it was completely flat. Turns out, I'd split the tube!

At first this sent me into quite the panic. I don't know anything about bikes and I had no idea what would be involved in fixing this problem. I was upset because both my plans for that afternoon and my plans for Christmas Day were suddenly changed. But after sending a few frantic text messages, Hubby came through and advised me it was something that was easily fixed. So I took Greta down the the bike shop around the corner and $20 later, good as new!

And so off I went! I rode along the street until I got to the bike path, then took the bike path through Royal Park to the zoo, rode around the zoo, then popped out a side street and made my way along the Melbourne Cemetary, where I rather randomly ran into one of my friends from uni! All of this was new to me: I'd never been down these paths before, I didn't know what to expect around the next corner. And while I was nervous about it, this is where that shift comes in:

It's not about having confidence in my ability to do something, but having confidence in my ability to be OK if things go wrong.

I'm still a beginner at riding a bike, and I know that sometimes I'll get freaked out or lose control. But by trusting that I can manage whatever comes up along the way, I can just get on with living my life. Whatever happens, I can deal. Knowing this has made me much calmer about, well, everything. It makes saying yes to new experiences a lot easier, given that I'm not worrying about what might go wrong along the way (within reason, obviously).

My ride with Greta today ended up being really great! It didn't take very long to get down to Carlton, and it didn't take long to get home either. I took a different route home, riding up Rathdowne St to Capital Trail. I rode on the street, along side the cars, stopping and starting at the traffic lights. And I was fine! Not only that, but when I got to Park St, the Taco Truck was set up and people were wandering down to have a picnic along the bike path. So I rode over, parked Greta, and bought myself a chicken taco - which was pretty darn tasty! Afterwards I continued on the bike path, and I was actually able to make it all the way up the steep hill that every other time I've gone on I've had to stop and walk part way up. I didn't actually have to stop at any point, and was able to weave my way between pedestrians, oncoming bikes, and road traffic without incident. I'm feeling pretty darn confident to ride all over town now!

After all, whatever happens along the way, I'll deal.

Tik Tok

The party don't start til I walk in...

Remember sleep? *sigh* I have this vague memory of a time in my life where I could sleep well and truly past 7am. Now I count myself lucky to make it past 6. It's the thesis, mostly. It's going really super well right now, which means that I'm being haunted by university professors and writing phantom chapters in my dreams. Then I wake up and haunt researchers and write varying levels of esoteric notes on my theory. I recently dug myself into quite a hole, then read an article from a sociology professor at the University of Calgary (who's class I almost took but didn't) that is helping me to dig myself out of this hole. This hole digging metaphor is strange.

By the way, I've pretty much gone crazy.

And you know what's a fun thing to do whilst you're teetering on the edge of sanity? Make Big Life Decisions!!! If you think I'm being sarcastic, I'm not. Life is a journey, and when I'm walking that genius/insane line, that's when I tend to decide on something that takes my journey in some new, unexpected direction. It keeps things interesting. I'm a lot more decisive when I'm in this frame of mind, probably because I don't have the head space to over analyze things. I go with my gut a lot more. Perhaps this is why I am pursuing a career in academia, so I can occupy this mental space more often.

It wasn't my thesis that chased away the sleep and had me wide awake by 5:30am today though. Nope. I'm like a kid at Christmas right now. Why? Because today I am buying my very first bike!!!!

Yesterday as I was walking from the tram to the pool (for a glorious swim) I passed a show with a beautiful vintage style bike in the window...and a sign saying "From $199." I raised $200 from my run, and since I didn't end up getting the hair cut I had budgeted for, I've got some extra cash at the moment. So I checked out their website and saw that there's a sale on just this week, and I figured, why not? My flatmate is going to help me pick up the bike later this morning, since I don't actually know how to ride a bike. I'm very excited about the possibilities having a bike will open up for me. Even though, undoubtedly, there is going to be a fair bit of falling, possibly some road rash, and maybe even a few tears.

I think I shall call her Greta...

Happy Oziversary!

Can you believe it? It's 3 years ago today that I rocked up on Australia's shores. Three years! I can hardly believe it. It doesn't feel like it's been three years. That's the longest I've lived anywhere in the past 8 years.

I remember my first day in Melbourne as if it was yesterday. The weather was much better than it is today. It was hot! I got off the plane from Korea (via Singapore) in my winter coat and thought I was going to die it was so hot! And I had like 8 bags. The university airport transportation people had to put me in a van of my own. I had made arrangements to stay in student accommodations at a hotel on Bell St in Preston. It was a long ways from everywhere and I spent my first day sorting through my luggage, getting my internet set up, and figuring out where the heck I was so that I could figure out where the heck I needed to go. Good times.

It wasn't long after I arrived here that I came to the conclusion I wanted to stay. There's been little question in my mind over the past three years that Melbourne is the place I want to call home on a permanent basis. But lately I am starting to question that. I still love Melbourne very, very much, and I can't think of anywhere else that I'd want to call home, but... I haven't been everywhere else.

Before I moved to Australia, I travelled pretty voraciously; Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe... But once I got to Australia, the travelling pretty much stopped. A trip to Queensland, a couple trips to Hawaii, and a trip back to Calgary have been it for me. For some people this may seem like a lot; but for me, it's remarkably not. For the most part, this has been because I'm poor. I don't have the money to take off on a trip to Sri Lanka, no matter how cheap the airfare gets. But another part of it is that I needed a break, especially since most of the travelling I did was on my own. After visiting an old, dear friend in Korea, and having such an amazing time getting to travel with someone, my motivation to make those little trips I'd normally take on my own - finances be damned - was hard to summon up.

Lately though, I've been getting itchy feet. This year I am faced with the reality that I will not be a student for the rest of my life, and given that I am living in Australia on a student visa, that means my future is pretty wide open. I've always said the plan is to stay on in Australia (and specifically in Melbourne) and get my permanent residency. That hasn't exactly changed (and no, there is absolutely no way that I will be moving back to Canada), it's more that I no longer have that intense desire to just stay put. Maybe I don't want to live in Australia forever. But I need somewhere to call home and I'd still it rather be Melbourne than anywhere else. Just maybe not forever and ever.

When I was in Hawaii I found myself thinking "I could live in the states, if I knew it was temporary and that I would then be returning to Australia." And since I've been back from Hawaii, I've been missing the vibe of being on an island that comes from being on an island that doesn't also double as a continent. It's true that I've made a good life for myself here in Melbourne, but I've become really aware of the fact that sooner rather than later the circumstances that form the foundation of this life (my PhD) will change. There's gonna be an earthquake, and I have no idea if it will be big or small.

Three years after moving here, I find that I am ready for a change. I don't know what I'll do when I finish my PhD, but I'm a firm believer that if you keep your eyes peeled, opportunities will come around that can lead you to some pretty unexpected places. That is, after all, how I ended up here in the first place.

Riding Off Into The Sunset

And so we come, as we inevitably must, to the end of my Hawaiian adventure. Good times were had, memories were made, revelations were had, along with some shots of tequila and whiskey. But before I board that plane, I've still got a full day of fun to have!

In the morning the parents drove Maya and I to the north of the island where we got booted and suited up, then saddled up for some mountain horseback riding.

I hadn't been on a horse in about 7 years, so I was pretty excited to be getting back in the saddle. Though, I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about it after I got out of the saddle and onto an airplane for a day...

Maya got to ride on a lovely mare called Miley, and I, well I got Billy. Billy had other ideas about how he wanted to be spending his day, and it certainly didn't involve going on another goddamn trail ride!

Off we set into the lushious green hills, Billy at a crawling pace, grabbing mouthfuls of grass at every possible opportunity, despite my best efforts to stop him. So far this ride was exactly how I remember it from my old horse Ryann: stubborn horse that doesn't want to do what you're telling it to do, and a sense of assignation to said horse. Billy even looked like Ryann! The only real difference was this time I was closer to the ground.

We were riding through a privately owned farm, and at one point we had to stop so that some horses could be moved from one paddock to another. The horses were herded by use of a truck, and we even got to see the owner riding around on one of those 4-wheel ATV things with her two dogs standing on the back.

The ride went on pretty smoothly, and at various times Billy did actually pick up the pace. This was usually because our guide came riding up behind him making to whip him, but still. Maya and I were both having a great time, taking in the beautiful scenery and laughing into the rather intense wind.

Then we came to a steepish hill, and Billy just stopped. He wasn't moving for anything. And as I sat there, watching everyone else pick their way down the hill while I tried to get Billy to budge, I suddenly found myself straddling his side instead of his back. My saddle had slipped. "I'm falling!!!" I yelled out, which, got the guide's attention pretty fast. He turned around and came back for me, and I, faced with the possibility of hanging upside down under Billy's legs, or falling onto the rocky grass, did a rather graceful backwards soumersault out of the saddle and onto the ground. Our guide was very relieved that I was both fine and in good spirits. As I told him, I'm used to falling off a much bigger horse.

He got Billy's saddle back up and on, nice and tight, and then helped me get back on. This time, though still reluctantly, Billy didn't refuse to move. Billy and I actually got on much better after my tumble. I think having the saddle on properly put him at ease, and the fact that he stopped to make sure my fall was as safe as possible made me a lot more trusting of his judgement. From then on in it was smooth, but slow, sailing.

There were four of us on this ride, plus the guide, and everyone had at least some riding experience. So when Maya asked if we could go back to the ranch via this huge hill, our guide was quite happy to take us on that detour. Billy was less happy about it and refused to go as far up the hill as everyone else had gone. Much to my surprise, when the ranch did come into view he didn't suddenly pick up the pace and start running back. Perhaps he was just a really Hawaiian horse.

When we got back to the ranch and went into the paddock, Maya suddenly turned into Dr. Doolittle: all the horses were following her.

Well, OK, they were following Miley back. But still, it was pretty cute! We got off our horses and said our goodbyes. Then we pulled ourselves out of our boots and jackets and waited for the parents to come pick us up. They arrived with snacks, and pretty quickly Maya and I were devouring a box of goldfish crackers.

My flight wasn't until the evening, so we still had some time that afternoon to hit up the beach one last time. We decided to just go to the one nearest our condo as we didn't want to over estimate how much time we had. It was really nice to get to take one last dip in the ocean before I flew off. I was especially glad I could stretch out in the water after our ride!

After the beach it was back to the condo where I jumped in the shower, then finished packing, then loaded up the llama with my now bulging suitcase to take to the van. We made a pit stop at the shops near us so I could buy a pair of shoes I fancied. This ended up being more of a pit stop than I'd anticipated, so Dad sent the boys off to get themselves some ice cream. Initially I said no to getting some for myself, but when I went over to meet them, I soon found myself with a massive cone of chocolate ice cream with Reece's Pieces and coconut. I, I don't know how that happened...

We drove into Kona and I juggled eating my massive ice cream with getting as many pictures loaded up onto my computer as I could before my battery died. Which it did pretty much as soon as we got to the airport. Once I was checked in to my flight to Honolulu we hit the van and headed for dinner. At Denny's. Where they were out of veggie burgers and the weird Denny's waiter attempted to flirt with me.

Saying our goodbyes at the airport was epic. There were tears, and hugs, and one more hug hugs, and more one more hug hugs, and more tears. I tried to crack a joke by going "See you in a week!" because I thought it would be funny if we were having this ridiculously emotional goodbye and I was going to see them again really soon. But no one got the joke. Oh well! I think I'm hilarious and I'm pretty sure that's all that matters.

Eventually I made it through the security check point and the rest of the family headed off while I boarded my flight and flew off into the sunset. It was just about to be a really uneventful flight when I noticed that we were circling over Honolulu instead of landing. Our captain informed us that the Honolulu airport was currently shut down for all air traffic as President Obama was boarding Air Force One. So, I practically met the President.

We circled and circled and circled some more. Then the captain informed us we were running out of fuel and as Mr. Obama had not yet actually gotten on to his stinking plane, we would be turning around and flying into Maui so that we could refuel. We got about half way to Maui when the captain announced that Air Force One had achieved take off and Honolulu was once again open for air traffic. So we turned around again and finally landed in Honolulu.

My flight to Sydney wasn't until the morning, so I spent the night at an airport hotel. It was quite late by the time I finally got in to Honolulu and I had to leave at like 5:30am or something ridiculous for my flight to Sydney, so it was pretty much straight to bed for me when I got to the hotel. I didn't even get to enjoy their breakfast buffet, as it didn't open until 6am. I was happy to discover that Starbucks sells oatmeal, especially since I was flying on JetStar, where I paid $5US for a small package of cheese and crackers.

I found the flight to Sydney perfectly fine, but heaps of other people did not share my opinion. Their rental in-flight entertainment units were pretty much all broken, so only people who had pre-booked and had children got one. I had already decided that my in-flight entertainment would be a book, so when I got a free pair of headphones so I could watch the movies they were screening, it was a bonus. I watched Eat, Pray, Love, which hardly made any sense and definitely wouldn't have made a lick of sense if you hadn't read the book.

At any rate, after a long day of flying, I made it back home to Melbourne. I flew into Avalon, which is pretty much in Geelong... and made me realize why people sometimes give me funny looks when I say I barrack for the Cats. Well, one of the reasons. WHATEVER DUDES!

It was nice to get home and get to sleep in my own bed again. I was sad that the vacation had come to an end, but I also felt energized and ready to take on the challenges of 2011. And when I went to see my chiropractor, even he thought I was looking a world better than I had at the end of the year.

So what lesson have I learnt for 2011? Fall off a horse more often.

Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Day

Only two more Hawaii blogs to go! Unfortunately, they're not writing themselves. Neither is my PhD. Jerks! We'll get there soon enough.

On our second last day we had an early rise before we were shipped up to the north end of the island for a bit more adventure tourism: Zip Lining! (Of Flying Fox if you prefer) As we shook the sleep from our eyes, we also got harnessed up to go swinging through the trees.

Maya didn't have any shorts that came down to her knees, so she borrowed a pair of Mary's pants. And thus she was dubbed Jane Goodall.

Once we were all geared up, we were loaded into an old military vehicle and taken on a high speed, off road adventure.

The ride was super fun, and that was just the start! We made our way into the forest and were soon at the base of the first line. Now, I should probably mention that I only had a vague idea of what I'd gotten myself into. It seemed like something that would be pretty cool, but I didn't consider the possibility that it might be, oh, say, terrifying?

The first line was just a short run, not too far off the ground, to give us a feel of what we had signed ourselves up for. It seemed simple enough: walk off the platform, sit back in the harness, hold on to the rope, and glide on over to the other side.

I don't know about you, but I don't spend a lot of time suspended in mid-air. And while I trusted in the equiptment completely, the idea of being suspended in the air definitely was a freaky one for me. But that wasn't even the worst! Stopping really freaked me out! I was going so fast down the line that ever time I came to the end, it seemed like a violent collision was the only way I was going to stop. Thankfully, every time, I was wrong. And eventually, I even started to enjoy myself.

Of course, as soon as I became comfortable with stopping, they completely changed the process. For the first four runs we started on a wooden platform and landed on a wooden platform. But after that, we were landing on a gravel path! We pretty much had to hit the ground running, and continue up the hill with the momentum of our harness. The implication of this, of course, was that we'd be facing the runway when we came in for a landing...

Up until that point, steering hadn't been something I'd needed to be particularly worried about. For the record, my bum only hit the ground for a second, and then I bounced up and was on my feet and running. Pat earned the title of Butt Dragon for his landing.

Once we had gotten the 'little runs' out of the way, it was time to stop and refuel with some snacks before we conquered the longer, higher, faster runs. There was a little picnic set up for us at the 'Mac Nut Hut', where they had an old nut cracker and fresh macadamia nuts, along with the best trail mix I have ever ate! They encouraged us to take whatever was left over, so I took the remaining 3 bags of trail mix for my flight home. I only ended up eating 2 bags, and unfortunately had to surrender the 3rd to customs upon my return. I did consider just eating it in front of them whilst they took my shoes off to be sanitized.

Our guides had quite the sense of humour and did everything they could to mess with us. So as we headed out to our next challenge after our snack break, they hid in the bushes and made boar sounds as Maya and I walked past. I seriously thought that we were about to get charged by a wild boar, and judging by how high Maya leapt, so did she!

Next up was a walk across the suspension bridge. It was quite high up, on a wire frame, and involved walking across a plank of wood.

Apparently this was the thing that freaked people out the most. But for me, this was the funnest part. I love suspension bridges! And we were harnessed onto it, so it wasn't like we would have gone very far if we'd slipped. Maybe it was that I was in control of getting myself to the other side, instead of just waiting for impact. Whatever the case, it was heaps of fun and when I got to the other end I wanted to go back and do it all again. The funniest thing was that the guides were stomping on the bridge to make it shake. I didn't realize this until I got to the very end and saw a foot stomp down on the bridge. Maya came behind me, and John was behind her. Every time our guide would stomp on the bridge, she turned around and gave John a dirty look. Sibling love, ain't it grand?

The last few runs were AMAZING! We were soaring over the tops of waterfalls and looking out to the ocean. We got to walk the plank and even jump off a cliff!!! Jumping off that cliff and soaring high through the air, I finally let go of the rope and just glided. And it really sunk in for me that if I could do that, I could do anything.

So we came to the end of the runs and were all pumped beyond belief. We hopped back into the jeep and went soaring through the mud and back into town.

On the way back our guides told us about this awesome black sand beach that was a short drive and hike away from where we were, and the four of us decided this was something we must do. But first, the parents had found a cute little tiki restaurant for us to have lunch in in town.

Now, guys! Oh my god! This was so exciting!! Guess what I found when we were exploring the town, Hawi, after lunch? THE LESBIANS! I got to give them the secret hand shake and everything, it was great! I did not let the fact that I was drenched in sweat and mud hold me back one iota.

We all had an exciting time in Hawi. The shops were actually quite good, completely aside from my multiple lesbian sightings (and they weren't even together!) and I think we all came away with some souvineers. And then we badgered the parents into taking us to this black sand beach. They protested, because that's there job. But we were relentless (because that's our job) and eventually won. As I stated before, we're all glad that's the way it played out.

The hike down was a little more intensive than we had expected, but it wasn't too bad. Mary was a total champion, doing the hike with a back injury. The trail got quite steep, rocky, and muddy in more than a couple places. It was totally worth the hike though. I mean, there's beautiful and then there's freggin' breath taking!

We all had an incredible time exploring this beach and playing in the black sand. Maya caught some tiny black crab, Pat stuck his feet in the ocean, John smiled, and I made a sand angle.

It was a day full of fun filled adventure and family bonding, just like every day of this trip. But I'm sure it's a day that we'll remember for many years to come.

Something Spectacular to Start the Year

I'm not really sure what time we got back to the condo after our New Year's libations, but it was probably around 1:30am. Apparently the boys crawled into bed and fell promptly asleep. Maya and I did not do this. We stayed up talking until she passed out around 4am.

Somehow, miraculously given how jam packed our vacation schedules were, we managed to not have anything scheduled for the next morning. John and Pat were booked in to go deep sea fishing, but that wasn't until noon, so we all had a bit of recovery time. Since Maya and I didn't have to be anywhere until much later in the afternoon, we decided to spend a few hours at the beach near our condo. It was great to just lay in the sun for a bit, and stretch out in the water.

We had something pretty spectacular planned for that evening, so after the beach, a quick shower, and a snack, we packed ourselves into the van and headed back to Kona to pick up the boys. We only had a short time between picking up the boys and our next activity, so we headed to Wendy's for dinner. THANKFULLY there was a Thai place nearby where Maya and I were able to grab something of the non burger variety. Though yes, I did sneak in a Frostie from Wendy's.

What we had in store that evening was night snorkeling with Manta Rays! Yeah, I know, that's a pretty freggin' spectacular way to start off the year!

We headed back to the now very familiar docks and got geared up into our wet suits. I had never worn a wet suit before, and um, they ain't so easy to get on! Fortunately, we had THE LLAMA there to help us out. After getting into his wet suit, John got to do the rounds and zip the rest of us up. I don't remember exactly at what point of the trip Maya dubbed John the llama, but I do know it stuck. And by the end of the trip, the llama was not so happy about this.

We all boarded the boat, with the four of us kids heading right up front and centre of the boat. We got to watch the sun go down as we got geared up with snorkels and flippers and made the short trip out to out manta ray sighting spot.

On this tour there was a guy from National Geographic who was filming the manta rays for some TV program about how this was the awesomest thing to do in Hawaii. So he talked to us about the manta rays and how there was nothing to worry about with them, and not to try and touch them. He asked those of us who were taking pictures, which Pat and I were, to hold our cameras in close to us when we did so, as the electromagnetic field of the camera and of our hands reaching out could be confronting for the manta rays. And you know what he told us that probably would have saved me years of dolphin related trauma? He told us that our snorkel masks would make the manta rays look bigger than they are, and that they would likely look like they were coming straight for us. But rest assured, they are not!

***



It was early 2001 and I was on vacation in Zanzibar with my family. Zanzibar remains the most spectacularly beautiful place I have ever visited, and one day I will return there. And if my life ever turns to complete shit, I am packing up and moving there to heard cattle or fish or pick fruit or whatever. But not all my memories of Zanzibar are happy ones. Maya was big into dolphins, and swimming with the dolphins was one of the things you could do through the resort we were staying at. And so we did. We were driven out to a beach about an hour from our hotel (it might not have been that far had there been actual roads) and were packed into a rickety boat, given some snorkel gear, and off we went!

We were taken out into the ocean depths until our crew spotted the very wild dolphins. "Quickly! Quickly!" We were pushed off the boat and into the water. And what should I see when I open my eyes? Six MASSIVE dolphins swimming straight at me!!! I screamed, the dolphins laughed, it was all very humiliating. And of course, them being totally wild, they had a whole ocean to swim around in. This meant when they swam off too far, we had to haul ourselves back into the rickety boat from the water while it sped after the dolphins, where we would yet again be pushed out into the wilderness to be these evil creatures play things. Oh god! The memories!

***

Our manta ray crew had come up with this rather ingenious device to prevent us from having scaring memories of our time with the manta rays. They had made this floatational device with lights rigged up to it (the lights being to attract the food for the manta rays), and we were instructed to swim out to it, grab on, and stick a pool noodle under our ankles so that we don't kick the manta rays as they swim underneath us. This device also prevented us from creating a mosh pit in the water.

Once we had been briefed it was time to get in the water! It didn't take long for the first manta ray to show up, and rest assured, it was pretty freggin' spectacular! She seemed to be in a playful mood, doing loopdy loops and swimming right up close to us. I'm pretty sure she grazed me and John's legs at one point. We saw two manta rays, one with a wing span of 6 feet, and one with a wing span of 8 feet. We also saw lots of needle fish chomping away on all the plankton floating in the water around us. Words don't really do the experience justice, so here is my only picture!

The white spotty bits are plankton, and the rest is manta ray. Her eyes are on either side of the picture, and those flappy whiteish bits are her mouth. I had my camera right up against my body when I took this picture, so yes, she's pretty darn close!

The reason this is my only picture is because shortly after taking it, my camera decided that it had seen everything it needed to see in this life time and made it's way to the big shutter in the sky. What was really weird was that Pat's very new digital camera decided to do the same thing. The family seemed pretty convinced that this was due to the mysterious electromagnetic field emitted by the manta rays, but GUYS! That's crazy! Our cameras did not die because of the beauty or the electromagnetic fields of the manta rays. They died because they got water in the bits that aren't water resistant. I have a vague sense that when, in the heat of the moment, my camera froze up, I may have popped the battery casing open to force restart it. I, I wish I could say I know better than to do something like that. But the truth is, I probably don't.

So yes, I no longer have a digital camera. Since the camera I did have was a free one I'm not too broken up about it. I'm glad that it didn't break until I got that awesome shot of the manta ray, towards the end of my vacation. I do wish that I had brought my film camera with me. I debated taking it and honestly am not too sure why I decided not to bother with it. Oh well, live and learn. Fortunately, our memory cards were both fine and compatible with the parents' camera, so we were still able to take gazillions of pictures of the rest of the trip. Which I will tell you more about soon!