I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!

OK!  So I think some pretty exciting things have been happening.  Yesterday, I leisurely woke up around 6:30 or 7 and had some breakfast at the café here in The Arts Factory.  Johnny, the chef is a 28 year old Canadian and part time comedian if you ask me.  He’s a pretty funny guy, which makes for good times when he’s working and same just hanging out around The Factory.  I had a wonderful egg and bacon sandwich; which is actually ham and egg, they don’t have bacon strips like we know them in The States.  (I say “The States” because when people ask where your from, and they don’t just presume you’re from Canada, they’ll know if you say that.  The line I’ve been giving lately to the obvious foreigners is “The States, you know, the united ones.”  I’ve had a few laughs with that, which is something!  Anyway, I was walking back to my tent when Tamar, a Scottish girl who also works in the café tracked me down.  She said she had been looking for me because her cousin is moving out of his tent space and she knew that I was in the market for a bigger tent or different space.  So her cousin has the same size tent as me, maybe even slightly smaller but with a foam bed inside.  The “property” is huge, she said the cost was $50 but she’d take $40.  I told her it’s a deal, $40 and I get a shady property, with a giant tarp already installed over the space.  Now I’ve set up my tent and the other tent side by side for two rooms plus I have a little room to the side of them to set up a little patio of sorts if I want.  It’s not a mansion tent, but I’m movin up in the world, and this will give me a place to sleep and a place to stash stuff/chill in the other tent.

            Flash to this morning, I went up to the front desk just like I do every morning that I don’t have to work and asked if there were any jobs today.  Craig, a 40ish Aussie who’s parents used to own The Factory years ago appeared as if he might have something!  (When Craig’s parents sold The Arts Factory to Nomads, a backpacker company, there was a caveat that he have a job for life at The Factory)  Craig looked in his book and asked me if I had any other skills besides golf, to which my response was that I was working at Rae’s cleaning rooms but the only thing I’ve ever done is about every job at a golf course.  Lets be honest though, it doesn’t take a whole lot to do some of these cleaning and/or fix it jobs around here.  He asked if I’d be willing to drive the “Bus to Town” on some nights from 10pm-4am.  I jumped at that one since it’s a really easy job!  Plus it won’t interfere with my job at Rae’s.  Today, he’s got me started in about an hour (10am) painting a few walls on the inside of the lodge.  So that’ll get me going and into the system which is great.  You get one night stay for every 1.5 hours worked.  Hopefully I can get a few nights a week driving the van and that will take care of my accommodation!  Then I can keep working only 3 days/week at Rae’s and live pretty well.  Hopefully this day continues to get better, as for now, I’m headed up to get a large breakfast in celebration of all of this good news.  I will more than likely post this with additional comments later in the day… ta ta

 Main Beach the other night, beautiful sky!

OK, Crazy Jim's visual update on the beard and hair... It may be about 2 more months before the hair is as long as it was fresh year of college before Davey cut it!

Sweet spider crawling on a drum on Ashley's tent porch!  He was so fast, he scurried away before we knew it.

 My view from inside my new setup, i'll get a picture of my actual setup on the next blog.

Tent 1 is the chill room... Oh yea, I bought a guitar so I could continue the practice I've been trying to do for 6 years now!  Everyone says if you want to learn a skill, this is the place to do it... plus, so many people play guitar and music on the campgrounds!

Living in a tent & some Christmas times

Hey, so 818 page views so far!  I dunno, think it's kinda cool...

It's been 6 days, and they seem to just fly by.  I think blog posts go by the wayside because getting on the Internet is a special occasion around here.  I know I know, I should write the blog offline!  So since moving into Tent City, I've made a few more friends and learned a little bit more about some of the people that I already know.  Three people are now gone and moved on to bigger and better things; we sent off Asha and Jessie today, who are headed towards Sidney and will stop off wherever on the way.  Asha is from Chi-town and has been hobbling around Tent City on crutches since I met her.  Jessie is from Portugal and speaks English fluently; both great gals.

I still don't have any kind of mat to put down in my tent.  So as far as living conditions, things are still the same.  I have however bought $14 worth of food.  I'm interested to see how long I can go without buying food at a restaurant before I go back to the store.  I bought noodles and rice to be complimented 5 cans of tuna for $4.  The tuna is of all different flavors and I also have some sweet chili sauce to compliment the tuna/rice or tuna/noodles.  I just need to start being more conscious of my depleting cash flow until i get my first paycheck from Rae's.  I'm also still inquiring daily at reception about "work for accommodation" and I've also applied for a pay job here at The Factory.  The pay job that I'd be rocking out would be 10 hours/week for the accommodation and the other 20hrs to be paid $17/hr or so... not too bad for working on the same property that you live!

So Christmas happened; just like it did when I was in Florida several years ago, somewhat uneventful.  Although this time I had the Cavazzini Gang to spend with friends!  Christmas Eve, which many of the Germans believed to be Christmas was a blast.  The hostel put on a huge party; it was $20 for all you can eat and they seemed to have an endless supply of champagne ta boot!  Great food prepared by a catering company, and I had the chance to meet a few more people; including a German kid that reminded me of Tim Tebow.  There was live music and even a few of the kids from the hostel got up and jammed; it was pretty cool.  I forget what time the night ended, but I went to my tent and passed the F out.  Woke up Christmas morning and heard about some epic waves at Main Beach.  So, before I walked to Giac and Julie's I walked to Main Beach and sat down to watch the badass surfers for a little while.  It was amazing, I had never seen the water so high!  The waves were super big too, were talking 20+ feet for some of them.

I arrived at the Cavazzini's mid-morning and we headed out for a walk on a beach down the road, the waves still awesome.  I met Giac's parents and they were great, especially his mother's cooking.  Seems like anytime I'm over there, it's a ridiculous meal.  I had some more shellfish and continue to be just fine.  We had Christmas evening unwrapping presents, which I was surprised and happy to have a few too.  I had a bunch of knickknack stuff that Flinn undoubtedly picked up at the camping store.  There was definitely a theme to my gifts, and it was welcomed since I need all the help I can get in Tent City!  It reminded me of my own Mother; she has a tendency to give gifts in themes or sets.  I was surely thinking all of Christmas day that I'll never have the kind of Christmas I truly know to be a "Simminger Christmas" again.  Whether we were at "the old house" (Asbury Hills Dr. on the other side of Beechmont) or the Lancelot house, the story was always the same.  Patrick and I would... wait, scratch that.  I would wake up first and go run into Pat's room and wake him up.  As a small kid, I'd jump around and wake him up quite abruptly.  As I got older I realised that it was more advantageous to slowly wake him up.  Either way, we couldn't go downstairs to see the presents because Santa had put out the Wine Table bar stools blocking the stairs.  C'mon Santa, don't you know we're ready to see our mounds and mounds of presents?  (there were definitely a few years in there where we didn't see a whole lot of carpet in the family room)  We had to first go in a crack Dad's fingers to wake him up; a skill that I crafted and relieved Patty Boy of his duties at some point.  (just like mowing the lawn of course)  Anyway, once we got the go ahead, we went downstairs and put on some coffee for Father; one the few days that he has a cup.  Usually, we were able to get the folks to come downstairs by 10:30; although it seemed much later because the anticipation was killing us!  Throw the breakfast casserole's in the oven and now it's present opening time... That's my real Christmas morning in a nutshell; good thing we managed to take a decent amount of pictures over the years.
Oh well...

Oh yea, I skyped with my fam on the 23rd.  It was pretty cool to see them all at once doing the same thing I know them to do every year.  My cousin Johnny and his wife Jamie were in town with their two kids.  Johnny wasn't terribly enthralled with the beard; says he's a clean shaving kind of guy.  I think he realises I'm off my rocker anyway.  Danny and Dold were also present, as were Jeff and Becca.  Speaking of Jeff, I've currently got headphones on without any music while I type this.  A little trick I picked up in Hoboken.  And if I mouth the words I'm typing, it just looks like I'm singing along with the track.  The skype was cool though, but after a couple minutes it seemed like they didn't really care and it was like I was just hanging out with Dold at the kitchen table.

Took my first shower in the hostel yesterday.  Yeaaaaa, it had been a while but whatever, is what it is.  Have I mentioned that you can turn off each outlet individually in OZ?  It's really cool, and I bet it saves a ton of energy just stopping the flow of electricity into the outlet... those are just some oddball things

PEACE & LOVE

The Arts Factory - My new home

Well, I'm quite sorry that it's been a few days since the last update.  It seemed like this week has just flown by at epic speeds.  The weekend was lovely, and I'm pretty sure that I spent it either surfing or walking about town.  I would say that I started the week for my first day of work on Monday.  Lorianne, one of the hotel managers and who I have come to find out is also the owner's girlfriend, had called me Sunday morning to tell me that I was to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for the first two weeks.  The first day of work I arrived at Raes about 10 minutes to 11am and was put right to work following around Gabby, a wonderful lady who is a vet in the biz.  I began to learn the routines that they follow and the correct way to get things just right in the rooms.  Every room is different, and at $600/night they have the expectation of being top notch.  Would I pay $600?  Of course not, I've definitely stayed in nicer places than this.  I think the name and owner have a lot to do with its reputation.  At any rate, the day went until about 5pm and I will say that the lower back got absolutely killed.  It was a little better on day 2 & 3 getting used to bending over and whatnot; but still some hard labor by my standards!

On day 2, I worked with Casey; a cool chick from New Jersey close to the Hoboken area.  It's a good thing I had visited my cousin Becca a few months ago; because at least I had an idea of where she was coming from.  She had commented only an hour into our work that it was nice to talk to an American where she can use "inches" as a reference point and other idiosyncrasies that us Americans do differently than the rest of the world.  We chatted and worked, and she was able to give me the ins and outs from a 20-something point of view.  It was actually quite funny at one point, she got so excited when we went into one room that had left plenty of croissants and toast uneaten.  She snagged a croissant right up and stuffed it with the quickness.  I had to snicker at her a little bit, but she smirked back and said it's one benefit to cleaning other people's shit!  That being said, she was able to get into her story a bit more while we worked the rest of the day and afterwords for a couple brewskies that were left over in a room as well!  Casey had moved with her family to Hong Kong after she graduated from University of Boulder.  She's backpacked around China, Japan, Thailand and oh yea, she's a Phish Head.  For those not in the know, it's similar to a Dead Head but they follow around the band Phish.  She's been to over 50 Phish shows and has even taken breaks in her backpacking adventures to fly back to NYC for a few Madison Square Garden shows in the past.  So I was getting her jist, and we talked more only for me to find out that she's been living in a tent for 3 or 4 months!  I won't lie, my jaw kinda dropped.  But as she explained it more, it actually sounded not too shabby.  I told her that I was in need of a place to live very shortly, as Giac and Julie's house was quite full and Giac's cousin was to arrive on Wednesday; thus I'd need to vacate the room and find accommodation.  I am so thankful that they were able to let me stay with them for 2 full weeks while I got my feet firmly placed on the ground!  We went from work back to The Arts Factory, the hostel where she was staying and had met so many friends during her time there.  I was there on talent show Tuesday; so there were a few acts that were amazingly impressive.  Many of which can be seen on YouTube if you click here...  I met a few of her friends who were living only a few tents over and hung out on their "porch" for a little while.  There are big tents, little tents, tall tents and short tents; it's actually quite amazing.  A little Tent City, with separate little nooks here and there; very reminiscent of "Occupy Wall Street."  The main difference here is that Arts Factory people are just occupying life and nature somewhat off the grid.  After spending the evening there meeting quite a few people, I had pretty much made up my mind that this may have been what I was looking for the whole time.  It combines my thirst to live off bare minimums and puts me in a situation where I meet new people and do new things constantly.

Flash to Wednesday... I left work with Casey and we stopped by Giac and Julie's to pick up my stuff.  That was all she wrote; I had my backpack with the essentials and left one other bag at the house determined to just check in at the Arts Factory and see what happens.  The campgrounds were full, so I checked into a dorm room where there were 5 bunk beds and at least 3 or 4 different countries represented in the room.  (the German names seem to be the hardest so far)  The dorms are $31/night, so I was hoping that I'd be able to find a campsite in the next few days.  To live on the campgrounds it's only $17/night, but if you do odd jobs around the hostel they will deduct from your rent and could give you free accommodation for 10hrs of work per week.  Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!  I hung out with a few of Casey's friends last night, without her, so that was actually even better since she'll be leaving to go on a "festival run" for a while then maybe off to Thailand; she isn't sure.  But introducing myself and making new friends and acquaintances will be of the utmost importance when moving into Tent City.

I woke up today and went to Ashley's yoga class.  Ashley is from Philly and has been living at the Arts Factory for 6 months or so.  She is a licenced message therapist and yoga instructor ta boot.  I think she's 24 or so and seems to be a pretty cool hippie chick.  This was my first yoga class EVER!  I must say that it was very challenging and fun too.  It lasted almost an hour and was grueling to say the least.  It was free but donations are accepted; I used my 1st timers special to slip out without donating. (don't judge me)  After finishing yoga I went up to the front desk of the hostel to check to see if there were camp ground openings and there were.  Jasper, a kid born and raised here in Byron told me to just pitch the tent in the spot and come back and let him know so he can give me a # block to set by my tent.  It's been a fairly hot day, maybe even up to 80; and I still have no idea what that is in Celsius.  I was setting up my tent, when the neighbor in a half tent/half camper introduced herself.  I forget her name already, but she's moving out so no worries.  She mentioned that I may not be in a legal tent space, but I explained that it seemed that Jasper said it would be fine.  She didn't care too much, but went on to introduce me to her boyfriend Duncan.  She was from England and has been here for about a year, it seemed like Duncan was from Canada and had been here a bit longer.  (There are tons of Canadians here, and I've been accused of being one a half dozen times)  I was invited to their porch for some tea, and had a chat with the two of them and their friends Achilles and Jake; a couple of Aussies.

After tea I finished up pitching my tent, thinking about my buddy Dave all the while doing it.  There are certain times when I reminisce in my head about people and things back home... Cue In My Life by The Beatles.  Anyway, I put the tent up and through my things in and realised that it may take some getting used to, or at least an air mattress.  Some of these people have some tent mansions that they've grown over the months and months staying here.  I've just got a little studio tent.  I'm pretty much set up and here I am typing this right now.  That being said, let me fill you in on some other events of the week that I missed.

I tried shellfish for the first time in 15 years!  For some reason it seemed that I developed an allergy to shellfish when I was 10 or 11 years old.  I remember it specifically the first time because it was the Crosstown Shootout night and we were at my Aunt's old house "Castle Gray Skull."  The other night Julie and I thought, better now than never; and she and Gwen whipped up ANOTHER fantastic meal.  Take a look at the pictures to prove it

I've gone surfing a couple more times and did alright.  If I do want to get good, I will definitely need to go a few times a week; it's basically just like golf, especially in the group instruction that I had for two days.  Oh yea, speaking of golf... I also bought a very cool terry cloth bucket hat that reminded me of one of the veteran Golf Pros that I work with back home.  It's blue, not white like his, but it keeps the sun out of my face on my walk to work!

Real quick on some people I've met.  Gulami, is a Turkish dude who spent part of his youth in France plays a wicked instrument that is very closely related to the sitar.  It reminds me of George Harrison each time he plays; it's actually very beautiful.  Gulami played music for the entire yoga session this morning, it was like having a live soundtrack which was great!  I'll try to profile one or two people that I meet for each blog so that you can somewhat experience these amazing people with great stories.  Click here if you would like to hear a little bit of Sitar that sounds very similar to what Jermani was playing last night and this morning!!!

That's all folks!  Once again please post if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
Jim Bob

Friday 16/12/11 in the Hinterlands of NSW

I woke up Friday morning quite refreshed; as has been the case every night since being here.  Having a complete day to kind of do whatever, I thought it would be nice to head a little more inland and explore the Nimbin and Tweed Shire region.  I was able to grab one of the last seats on the "Happy Coach," which is a bus that leaves Byron Bay and heads to Killen Falls, passes through a small town on the way to Nimbin, NSW.

Killen falls was somewhat lackluster but it was a good stop to make on the way and it gave me a chance to talk to a few of the other kids on the tour.  The age of the 35 people on the bus must have ranged from 18-30, maybe older since everyone looks young around here.  While at Killen I talked with a girl about my age who was on the last leg of her journey in Australia.  Nichola is from South Hampton, England and she had been in Sydney working as a waitress for the last 3 months or so where before she had traveled from Perth and Melbourne as well.  She was quiet, but very nice and we talked about Australia and the reasons we both had decided to come here.  As she travels up the coast, She'll end up hopping over to New Zealand before heading back to the UK.  She was previously in hospitality since being out of school, did quite well at it but will see if she likes anything different when she gets home.


We left Killen falls and road for another 25 minutes or so before we stopped at what I would call a rest stop, or road house.  There was a Christmas/souvenir shop as well as a pub/restaurant that both have a very brown old wooden look to them.  The barkeep was quite nice serving most of the bus' riders (glass) bottled coke's while we used the restrooms and hung out in the small beer garden.  I took the opportunity to get myself a Tooheys Old and a roast beef sandwich.  The much needed lunch was nice and I ate while four or five of us just talked about where we were from and where we had been so far in OZ.  Laura, from Holland was a sales rep and party planner of sorts.  She's been traveling Australia for 3 months or so and has another month left before she'll return.  Although she says that she can resume her old job if she wants, she'll be looking around for more lucrative sales jobs even in Western Australia where mining is a huge industry.

We hopped back on the Happy Coach where Taylor, our driver informed us that we had about 30 minutes until we arrived in Nimbin.  Taylor is a classic hippie chick, probably in her late 30's or early 40's just happy to be showing us newbies around.  I was the last one on the bus, and sat down next to a guy (Chris) who is an American/Englishman hybrid.  He was born in San Diego to English parents and lived there till he was 7.  They moved back to England once before coming back to the states when he was to attend high school.  He stayed through high school and moved back to England for university, didn't like it so he's finishing university down here at University of Queensland in Brisbane.  He's just on a school break and is off on a mini-adventure while he's got the time and money.  (told me he works 3 small jobs while in school up in Brisbane)  Brisbane is known to be one of the most costly cities in the world.  As we chit chatted back and forth we were both in awe of how beautiful the countryside was.  It was awesome to see the rock formations and all of the green as we passed by farms and over hills into green pastures.  Chris said it reminded him a lot of England/Scotland area; I thought it was like driving through the beaten paths of Kentucky.

We arrived in Nimbin, where it appeared to be somewhat run-down; just as Julie had described.  Nimbin was originally a town of timber cutters and farmers that grew to be known as a dairy village through the middle of the 20th century.  Nimbin's culture changed dramatically in 1973 when the "Australian Student's Union" decided to hold the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin Valley.  As I understand it, the festival was your standard hippie festival celebrating an 'alternative' lifestyle experience for hippies and drop-outs from all over Australia.  Most of the festival's visitors returned to cities and regular lives, but a small number of them remained happy with what they had found in Nimbin.  The city then became the unofficial capital for the alternative lifestyle and environmental movement.

I wish I could say that the town still had the magic as described in the Nimbin Museum which was located in the center of town.  The ideology and streetscapes had the kind of feel that you would expect; but for the most part the people there seemed to survive off of the tourists that come in and out daily.  I met a few nice volunteers that worked in a few of the shops, which sold a variety of souvenirs, cannabis themed everything, and an idea of peace.  I was actually impressed when I saw the fire house down the street "Nimbin Volunteer Brigade."  So maybe this town did have the right idea?  Naa, the big problem I saw, was that if the tourists left, they'd have no income coming into the town.  I saw a few old school hippies out working on some sort of art & crafts, but I also ran into several "alternative lifestyle salesmen" who weren't much older than myself offering the tourists pretty much anything under the sun.  Of course me being, well me, I had at least get a little bit of a 411 from one of the guys "peddling" that seemed to be about my age.  There were now cameras installed on the streets, which if anything else makes the place even more dirty.  But I did strike up a mini conversation and asked him if he was from around here, in which he responded that he was from Nimbin; although he didn't look it with his short hair and bball jersey.  Since it seemed there was so much competition on the streets I asked him if everyone was competing or if everyone just donated to a big pool at the end of the day.  Being in this town of peace and love, I thought there may have been a small chance that was the case...  Of course not, he kinda begrudgingly said there was competition; but it seemed to me that there were maybe small groups or teams that worked together.  At any rate, it was pretty skeevy and not a real live and love atmosphere that one would hope for.  It made me wonder what the kids are like that grow up there.  I saw plenty of long haired pre-teens at the skate park and walking around town, some coming in to one of the shops after school while I was getting a coffee.  Imagine what a kid who grows up in Nimbin thinks of a place like Mayberry or the conservative bible belt of the States?  Talk about some culture shock when meet the people of the world who think THEY'RE the weird ones!

The ride back was once again extremely beautiful countryside.  It seemed that everyone was tired from the day and the bus was pretty quiet aside from the tunes coming from the mix cd that Taylor had brought for the ride.  We heard a large variety of music, and definitely more of the classic rock tunes that I'm used to; which was nice.  I apologise for not getting any pictures of the countryside, it was hard to do where I was sitting on the bus to get any good ones!

I got dropped off at the dive shop where Giac and a few of the other Sundive guys were hanging out at the end of their day sharing some brewkies.  We headed back to the house where we cleaned up and headed out to Wategos beach for a little BBQ.  Once again, even packed as a picnic, the dinner was outstanding.  We started with some cheese and crackers, while we continually realised we had forgotten the meat at home.  It was pretty funny, because we then realised we had forgotten something else at the house as well!  Giac and Dell went back to the house which was only 5 min drive away each time.  We had salad as well as Italian and Roo sausage with all the fixings of a good meal.  Dinner time at a good hour means bed at a good hour as well!  I got to sleep around 10:30 which seemed quite late down here, as usual... Thus, another good night sleep.

I got a Job!

I guess the days do go by quite fast here... It feels like just yesterday that I was "blogging" about surfing and whatnot.  Lets see, Tuesday was pretty friggin' rad because I got to go on my first snorkel expedition EVER!!!  After a relatively quiet morning, Giaco informed Julie that it was an exponentially nice day out at the rocks (Julian Rocks).  I had planned on going out to distribute a few CV's (resume's) to some of the local hostels to see if they needed any help for pay or accommodation.  That being said, YES I'LL GO FOR A SNORKEL!!!  Although I have been waiting to go for a true scuba dive, I still need to get a doctor's approval for my F-ing asthma!  (thanks Mom & Dad)  Julie and I arrived at Sundive to pure craziness; the morning boat had just come in from a dive and the divers and instructors were all unloading themselves and the gear.  I got my wetsuit on and patiently waited for departure.  We arrived at The Pass, which we previously came to the first day I arrived to check out the surfers.  It took a few minutes to unload the boat, jump on, and navigate through the surfers tryin' to catch some waves.  (this process is extremely dangerous and Sundive's skippers are surfers from the area that know the waves quite well)  We got out to the rocks and without much instruction, I was told to just jump in and stay within a hundred meters or so from the boat and not to touch the rocks.  Touching the rocks can hurt the ecosystem and natural environment of the sea life.  Immediately after jumping in, I was astonished by what you could actually see from the surface!  The goggles DO give you a sense of being a bit closer, but it was amazing to see how many fish were simply a few feet below me.  Without getting too detailed about the things I saw, I'll highlight the coolest fish.  I swam around quite a bit, but at one point about 20 minutes in, I saw a fish that appeared to be a small shark.  I just couldn't tell; so I asked Prince Rob (dive instructor) and Julie after the dive and they confirmed it was a Wobbegong Shark.  This was pretty amazing and I knew it at the time, so I definitely stayed with him for a while hoping he would swim off the rocks I found him on.  He didn't, but it was still a great find anyway!  Click here, to check out Giac's Wobbegong Shark bite on his arse!  I found numerous beautiful fish with many different colours that will probably be glorified in future blogs.  The next big find came about 10 minutes before the end of the dive trip.  I happened upon Prince Rob & Julie diving about 10-15 feet below me.  They signed to me that they had found something, it happened to be a Manta Ray!  I had seen one earlier in the dive, but this one was HUGE.  This Manta must have been 10 feet wing to wing, it was absolutely amazing!  I definitely hung around for this one right up until the end.  Apparently Prince Rob and Julie had three of them at one point surrounding them as they watched in aww!  Click here, and you can see a video taken by one of the other divers my vary trip!  She video'd the exact Manta Ray that I saw; it's amazing.

That was our Tuesday adventure and it was absolutely amazing.  So much so, that I want to do an actual scuba dive more than anything.  We had homemade burritos on Tuesday night; Julie continues to outdue herself night after night!  We always have salad, and the food is usually organic/locally grown.  Night after night it's like eating in a high end restaurant.  When I find a place of my own, I'll be sure to continue to come over to "House de Cavazzini" for dinner!
Wednesday, yesterday Giac and Julie's friends arrived from Scotland.  They are in the process of a move from Scotland to Byron Bay; and will be staying here at the house for a bit until they find a house of their own.  They are great people, and it's great to meet more of their friends with wonderful stories of their previous times in Australia and Scotland.  We had a pretty relaxed day and went to The Beach Hotel for a beer before heading back to the house for dinner.  Julie with the help of Gwen prepared a wonderful fish dinner, and a great salad.  We had a great meal and great conversation; it reminded me of the usual dinner with my folks.  It's the experience that counts; good food and great conversation equals a quality meal!  Dell had brought some Scottish Whiskey (Talisker), which we indulged in a glass after dinner.  This was a departure from Giac and I's usual Crown Royal we'd been enjoying each night since my arrival.  I don't know much about whiskey, but luckily my father has good taste or I'd never know what's good to get.  At any rate, the Talisker was quite good and a bit more bite than the Crown.

We got to bed at a reasonable time as usual.  I was able to wake up about 7am, the latest I've awoken since arriving in Australia.  I headed out to Cheeky Monkey's to drop off a CV about 9:30.  I spoke with a women who referred me to the manager who'd be arriving at 12:30; although she would give him my CV.  After leaving there, I headed to the weekly Farmer's Market to check out what they had to offer.  It was amazing that there were maybe 40 stalls and every one was basically different foods to offer.  There was even a local Byron Bay winery that had a stall; I didn't have a chance to buy a bottle today, but I'm sure to in the future!

Flash to arriving back at the house and post "unscheduled nap;" I got a phone call from Rae's on Watego's.  This was one of the places that I had applied to work a day or two earlier.  This was a job for either a cleaner or waiter, as it's a boutique hotel with a high falootin restaurant attached.  They asked if I would be willing to come in for a "trial run" at 3pm; of course I abliged.  I arrived there in my khaki's and white dress shirt that I had borrowed from Giac; 10 minutes early of course.  The job was for cleaner, which was just fine.  (I'm not much of a server as those who knew me in my Tommy's Pizza days)  I was assigned to shadow and help out the current cleaner on duty, Barbara.  Barbara was from Spain and had been living in Byron Shire for 14 years; she seemed to be in her 40's.  She was quite the pleasant lady and showed me the ropes, unbeknownst to her, she also showed me 1/2 of her "tramp stamp" on the small of her back.  It was a flowery sort of tattoo, and although I wasn't attracted to her by any means, it was definitely an eye catcher.  Anyway, we worked on the pool area and tidy'd up a bit around there.  Then we moved on to the already cleaned Room 1, and put some finishing touches on the room as the there would be some guests arriving shortly.  I was only there for an hour and a half before all the work had been completed.  I spoke again with LoriAnne at the conclusion of my "shift"where she said that I had done well and she would contact me on Sunday regarding a schedule.  My expected wage is $20/hr, which is quite modest around here; but no worries as a job is a job is a job and I'll take anything that's willing to pay me to stay here!  I walked back to the house from Rae's and gave the news to the gang.  Now, here we are as I sit at the dinette table awaiting the next amazing meal, in which it appears Gwen is spearheading.  Chicken meal with corn and some homemade salsa of sorts.  As I said to Giac the other night, "You're really living the life!"  He responded with "The grass is always greener, but yes, I am."

If I had gone any further without blogging I would undoubtedly forgotton some stuff; sorry it's been a few days.  btw, go ahead and click on these new ads that have appeared on the site!  There is some great information regarding trips to Australia and whatnot, and I think the more people that check them out the better?  Anyway I can get some $, right?  Also, check out Giac's video from today's scuba dive!  It's totally sweet how they interact with the Loggerhead Turtle...

Rainbow and Lawn Bowling at the Sundive Xmas party on Monday!!!  Lawn Bowling isn't just for old people, folks!  Apparently, as long as you have a beer in your hand it's the real deal!  (it was actually a faint "double rainbow"; WHAT DOES IT MEAN)

Surf's Up!

Hmm, well it seems that I've got a bit of thinking to do.  3 days of "happenings" need to be explained, and most of you know that my short term memory could use a little boost as it is!  On Friday, I went for my first healthy outing.  Meaning I went for a run up towards the beach; ya know, get the heart pumping and all.  I'm trying to get over this whole "organs bouncing up and down idea."  I'm sure I only came up with that theory as a result of not wanting to go running.  Anyway, I ran to the beach and did some stretches there after which I walked towards Main Beach (north) towards town.  Arriving in town I decided it was just best to start popping in to different shops here and there to check out what they had to offer.  I was actually walking fairly aimlessly around town, still not knowing the layout.  During the course of my stroll I was constantly people watching.  The people here are so friendly, but above all they are all different.  Not in the way that everyone looks and acts different; just different than the "Nati norm."  Many might call it a hippie culture, but that's only part of what Byron Bay has to offer.  (and by offer, I mean asylum to those who don't feel it necessary to live in a "building" or wear "clean" clothes)  To each is own, ya know?  Many others are of course, the backpackers.  In theory, I could be lumped into this crowd.  But I haven't quite pegged down the goings on of the backpackers.  There are aprox. 6 hostels in town, which means there is quite an abundance of young people out on the streets any given day.  Many backpackers seem to be students and/or wanderers of adventure and good times.  I can't really peg down the locals just yet; people who are from other countries but have been here for years have such an Aussie accent as far as I can tell.

After arriving back at Giac and Julie's we decided to go up to Lake Ainsworth just about 15 minutes south I believe.  The lake was great and Lulu the dog was able to dive in and swim around with Giac and I.  JFlinn fun fact about Lake Ainsworth: The lake is quite dark in color because it is surrounded by tea trees; which give it such a dark "dye" when the leaves fall into the lake.  Looking at your skin while swimming around, it almost has a burnt orange look to it.  Apparently, it is also good for your skin.  We arrived back at the house and hung out for a while.  A friend/coworker from Sundive came over for dinner; which was nice to have company and meet another friend of theirs.  Their friend Liz proved to be quite the conversationalist and a completely down to earth chick.  We moved outside onto the back patio for dinner, where we ate one of the best vegetarian meals I've ever had.  That's not to say that I've had very many, but still, a fantastic meal.  What was it? Hmm, spinach and tomatoes and fetta cheese that was seared I think; and some other good stuff in there as well.  I know, I should have paid closer attention for you foodies out there.  A little wine and great conversation went a long way because I was pretty tuckered out when dinner was over; mind you it was only 10pm or so.
Oh yea, at some point in time on Friday we went up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse.  We parked down at Wategos, a small community that has the reputation for being quite wealthy.  Many well-to-do holidayers stay in Wategos, and apparently is quite posh.  The houses are quite large with amazing views of the beaches and ocean.
We walked up to the lighthouse, which proved to be challenging for the ol' quads.  A great lighthouse with a great view.  Unfortunately it began to rain pretty hard while we were up at the top.  It was very nice of one of the Sundive guys to drive up, scoop us up and drop us back at the car!















Saturday I decided to ride the bike a mile or two out to Byron Bay Golf Club.  It was extremely busy and they are also preparing for a Legends Championship.  I spoke to the golf professional very quickly about the possibility of working/volunteering at the club.  It was good anyhow to introduce myself as a PGA Professional in town and give him my CV.  I rode back into town and did a bit more exploring, but to my surprise it was human rights day at railway park/environment centre.  I pulled the bike over and sat in the grass for an hour or so and listened to protesters voice their mind/opinions and got the opportunity to listen to some great tunes ta boot.  One of the guys playing music was pretty good, and had written what I would call some decent protest songs.  After getting back to the house and hanging for a bit, we headed over to The Rails for some drinks with the boys.  A little while there then we moved over to The Beach Hotel for a few more drinks and a different atmosphere.  Fun fact: The Beach Hotel was bought long ago by Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) for only a few million $; then sold years later for $65 million!!!  We came back to the house and Julie put together a fantastic pasta dish; it's becoming apparent that she's a great cook.  So tired, we stayed up till 11pm! (not sarcasm, I've been wiped out each day)
Black Dog Surfing!  Loved it so much, I'm signed up for lesson 2 tomorrow morning!  Tam, the owner's sister was actually out in the water while we were surfing to take pictures of all the students.  She was great along with the two instructors, Mark and Dom.  I'm confident and hopeful that tomorrow's lesson goes as well as today's 3 hours of pure fun.  FYI- the class was $65 and totally worth it!  I would probably value the lesson at $80 at least.  Tomorrow's is only $45 for even more water time and less talking, so it was a no-brainer.


That seems it for now, check ya later dudes

Cincinnati to Byron Bay in "2 days"

Hello, from Byron Bay!
I suppose I should start from the beginning of this trip, which could be around 1pm Monday the 5th.  I was basically packed and ready to go, just kind of wrapping up the details and making sure I wasn't forgetting anything.  (you'll always forget something)  Of course, Big Bob was running through his own checklist of things to remember when going out of town as well.  They were leaving on Tuesday for Hawaii and were also in "mode" for leaving on an extended trip.  Yes, I was stressing quite a bit; only because I had someone talking at me from every direction.  Don't get me wrong, I was more than appreciative of all of the help received from the folks.  I successfully packed up a majority of my T-shirts, shorts and socks/underwear.  Not so much on the nicer "going out" clothes, as JFlinn informed me it'd be rare to wear such attire.  I did however, wear my brown corduroy sport coat on the plane and during the trip.  It was the only one I brought and I'm sure I won't wear it much, but c'mon I've gotta have at least one of the beautiful six in my closet!
After a long delay for over-fueling the plane, we finally took off for LAX from CVG about an hour and half late.  "It was a good thing you have a five hour layover" said Big Bob.  Agreed, so one 4 hour flight down and now a 14 hour flight to go.  LAX was good while I was there, I had a pretty good customer service moment at the currency exchange that is worth mentioning.  Arriving in the international terminal 3, I decided to just go ahead and exchange my cash in LA since JFlinn had mentioned there would be a substantial surcharge in Brisbane.  The surcharge in LA was only $5.50 or so.  After a little small talk with the gentlemen behind the bullet-proof glass, I had asked if he would do me a favor.  I had two Delta Drink Vouchers left from my flight, since the flight attendant on the CVG-LAX flight had only made me use one for my order of cocktails.  I gave him both the vouchers and asked if he would pass them to someone making a Delta connection, preferably someone around our age who wouldn't normally get the benefit of a drink back in coach.  He said that wouldn't be a problem, and that he appreciated my generosity in giving him the opportunity to give someone else a good customer service "moment of truth".  He offered to strike my surcharge and just gave me the currency exchange to AUD dollars for free.  Isn't that how the world is supposed to work?  Of course I took his information down and plan on writing an email to his company/supervisor stating my pleasant experience.
Anyway, I boarded the VAustralia 777 for the 14hr stint.  Upon boarding, I was quite impressed with the design inside the plane and decently comfortable seating.  It just so happened that I was seated in the same aisle with a gentlemen that I had stood in line with and chatted up, his name was Daniel and he was probably in his late 20's.  Great to have someone in my age bracket to quip back and forth with during the long flight.  Turned out that for the 2nd flight in a row, I had an open middle seat!  What luck!!!  Daniel was from the Gold Coast, which is about an hour north of Byron Bay.  We chatted here and there during the trip talking about various things American/Australian.  At any rate, the flight in general was phenomenal.  It honestly felt like they attempted First Class service for the commoners.  The service and atmosphere was comfortable and entertaining; besides the two crying babies who were battling for attention of course!  One of them, who had one of the biggest noggins I've ever seen felt it necessary to scream for the final 30 minutes of the flight.  While that could have made for an interesting entrance into Australia, I decided to take things into my own hands (or ears) and absolutely blast Sgt. Pepper's from beginning to end through my headphones.  (insert everlasting smile during this 40 minute album)  So that is how I entered OZ, to the soundscapes of one of the greatest albums of all time.
Arriving into BNE was fine, although once I snagged my bags off the conveyor belt it was quite the line to pass through security.  After waiting for what was only probably 30 min or so, I was able to go directly through to the exit with my luggage and duty free liquor in hand.  Bombay Sapphire & Crown Royal, both for $50USD was quite the steal when a bottle of BS only 3/4 of the size would have cost $55AUS by itself!   (Thank you Cousin Becca, your xmas visa card was well spent as my initial contribution to the Cavazzini household)
It was amazing to see how many people were waiting outside the baggage area for their friends and family.  This may have been the first time that I actually had someone waiting my arrival that wasn't just in a car outside!  JFlinn was waiting patiently with a smile and if at any point of time this trip became real, it was then.  Or maybe it was when we got in her car and the steering wheel was on the passenger's side?
After quite a bit of chitchatting on the drive to Byron, we arrived to Her and Giac's beautiful home only a 5 minute walk from town.  Giac was at the house to welcome us, and not long after we arrived we headed out to the local Green Garage for a takeaway sandwich; they also have quite the large selection of fruits and veggies in which I can only assume is locally grown! Afterwords we headed to town to check out Sundive, Giac and Julie's dive shop to take a look around and meet the team.  All of the dive guys/gals were super cool and welcoming.  My introduction as a newbie to town didn't seem unusual to anybody, as they have many visitors come through all of the time.  The next question was how long was I staying; almost as if to say, should we learn your name?  I think my undetermined timetable and hometown relation to JFlinn told them I was going to be around quite a bit.  I'm sure I'll get to know the peeps more as time goes on.
After checking in at Sundive, we headed out to the beach.  We went to "The Pass," which is where Sundive and the other local dive company launch the dive boats out into the ocean.  From there we could see many surfers and the Byron Bay Lighthouse up on the hill in the distance.  It was one of the most peaceful places and I can imagine myself going to this area of the beach many more times.  While chatting about the surfers, waves and the different nuances of the surf lifestyle I asked about one of the body boarders I saw heading out for some waves.  Then I was informed about what they say down here about the body boarders.  "What's the worst thing about being a body boarder?  Telling your mom you're gay." I guess maybe it's the same thing back home when one thinks of someone driving an automatic transmission sports car?  Either way, pretty funny...


We came home, dusted the sand off and headed out to The Rails restaurant/bar.  The outside had a Hofbrau feel to it with the rows of wooden picnic tables set up and a walk-up order area for food.  We went inside to the bar area and had a few brews with a few of Giac and Julie's friends.  Australian beer is good so far, for the few that I've had.  Nothing that peaks my interests though, as of yet.  We got home and watched the Saints/Tigers game from SNF.  They've got NFL package and tivo most of the games... AWESOME!  I made it through the 1st quarter and found myself head bobbing, so hit the hay around 9pm.  I woke up this morning around 7:45, so I'd say that's a victory!  Jet-lag was successfully slapped in the face, so thanks but no thanks all of you weak-minded individuals who can't handle your mind/body/spirit.

That's the story as of now.  peace & love

I digress

Well, here we are!  My first thought is that I'm sitting here writing my first "blog" while I should probably be packing for the trip of my life thus far.  Oh yea, I put blog in quotes because it's a rather odd word and I wonder who came up with it and it's meaning.  I used to write in a journal semi-frequently, but that seems frivolous since I want to share my thoughts and experiences with those who know me. Some may care about what I've got going on "down under," and some may just need another website to surf while bored at work.  Either way, I'm happy to oblige.
digress [daɪˈgrɛs]

vb (intr)

1. to depart from the main subject in speech or writing

2. to wander from one's path or main direction

1. FYI, I'm a chronic interrupter.  It's a horrible habit, but most of all I tend to interrupt myself
2. This is why I'm here today

In the case of my departure, I'll refer to the #2.  I've made the decision to go and wander for a while.  Instead of just going through daily life bitching and moaning about what will come in the future, I wanted to take at least one step towards making something happen.  I heard a very inspiring quote a few years ago while watching the film "Into the Wild."  I know, I know it was a very good book before it hit the big screen.  I'm a movie guy, so bare with me.  Anyway, the quote was "The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences."  I've always appreciated that sentiment, but haven't necessarily lived that way.  As someone from Cincinnati, Ohio it can be very easy to get in the groove.  At some point during 2011 it became apparent that I could very easily fall into the groove and find myself 10 years from now doing the same things without ever really leaving my bubble that is The Nati.  Sure, if I die tomorrow I wouldn't be disappointed with what I've done so far.  But, let's try and make my story a bit more interesting!

I want to thank everyone from work for coming out the other night to send me off.  My four years at The Mill were awesome and I feel like I've grown so much since starting there in 2008.  One of the Tee Masters said he thought they had hired Doogie Howser when he first met me.  I imagine he wasn't the only one when a fresh faced 23 year old came aboard to learn the management of 30 employees. (team members)  I know that I left with tons more experience, and hopefully a bit more maturity as well!

What a great "cupcake cake" made by one of my esteemed colleagues and great friend!
I hope all of the people I've had the pleasure to have known at the HCPD realize what fun I had working with them.  I'll definitely miss chatting up my regulars on Sunday mornings and the league guys I've known well.

I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch of people I haven't talked to in a while at Oak Tavern tomorrow night.  It should be a rockin' good time and ALL are welcome to attend.  Also, I promise I'll get better at this blogging thing!