THANK YOU! OZ & deadly snakes...

Thank You!

No, you won’t here the lyrics to a 90’s classic from Alanis Morissette.  But, the sentiment of the words ‘Thank You’ can resonate just the same.

Thank you for reading my blog while I’m on this adventure.

Thank you for encouraging me to just DO instead of THINKING about doing.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you to all of the wonderful smiling people that I’ve met here in OZ!

I won’t lie; the theme here has come from a book that I’m only a few chapters into so far.  “365 Thank Yous” is written by John Kralik, a middle-aged lawyer who has seemed to turn things around by understanding what he is really grateful for.  Only 4 chapters in and it seems to be quite the page-turner.  That being said… I’m reading!  So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice!

Since my last blog, I’ve really just been living and saying goodbye to people who have grown to be good friends.  The rain over the last several weeks has really put a damper on the ‘Paradise’ motif of Byron Bay.  Sooooo…. Now the season is dying down and the hotel does not seem to be booking up quite as quickly as it has been.  I’ll be on call for the rest of the week, but not scheduled to work any cleaning shifts since there is a lack of patrons.  It’s a good thing I went to Woolworth’s and bought some PB&J because it’s time to conserve funds again, before Dave arrives in a 1-½ week’s time or so. 

Thank You Elisha, for teaching me your vegetarian ways!  Elisha, one of the beautiful Canadians we had here at The Art’s Factory took it as a small project to feed me and teach me a little bit about how some good veggies can go a long way in a meal.  She isn’t one of those meat hating, angry vegetarians; it was just the way she grew up.  At any rate, she fed me well, and I never got to return the favor, as my veggie skills aren’t quite up to par. ;)

I was able to snag some photos of some recent meals “I’ve had the pleasure to of known.”  I know, I know… You’re saying, “Jim, you’re 26 friggin’ years old and you don’t know how to eat?”  Well, I do know how to eat; it’s just putting it together that remains the issue.  I’m getting better I promise!  It is truly amazing what kinds of meals you will find when you’re eating with people from all over the world!

Elisha left the other day in pursuit of Luminate Music Festival in New Zealand.  There have been many departures as of late, and most of them are headed for NZ to Luminate.  (Pictured... Me, Elisha & Johnny)

Thank You Ami & Oran, for teaching me just a wee bit of Hebrew.  ‘Team Israel,’ as they were so affectionately called was here for about 4 weeks and they are two of the most fun guys I’ve ever met.  Always having smiles on their faces and always waking up everyday for morning surf.  They both play guitar, which was nice when hanging around Ashley’s “Veranda” (as Ami called it so many times).  Remembering names is often trouble around here, as people come and go so quickly.  Ami naturally gave me the nick name Jim Beam; and yelled it loud and proud anytime I was in sight.  What a great spirit, and both of them are absolute blasts to hang out with.

Thank You Ashley, for these fresh sunflower seeds!  I walked passed her tent a couple days before she left for Luminate and was greeted with some fresh seeds, which were AWESOME!  Thank you for posing for the picture, now lets bag ‘em, tag ‘em and make some $!  I kid, I kid.  Ashley’s veranda has been a great meeting place for anyone and everyone to hang out whether she’s there or not; so a big thank you to her generosity.  As mentioned in earlier blogs, Ash is a certified masseuse and yoga instructor; I’ll try to continue to attend Yoga class and maybe a message before I leave.

Thank you Janek, for playing guitar with me when I’m so far behind everyone else in camp.  Janek is from Germany, but speaks as if he’s been in the states for years.  People around here are from such a wide variety of backgrounds that their English speaking skills can vary greatly.  I take a little bit of pleasure out of helping a friend learn a new vocab word or explaining a meaning of what someone else is saying in context.  Recently, Karlitos mentioned how we use the word “Sick” in so many different ways that sometimes he gets lost in the conversation.  Ex. Are you sick?  DUDE, that’s sick!  Ohhhhh man, that’s just sick.  That being said, Janek was always around to play guitar and lend a smile.  He didn’t say a whole lot, but when he did, I felt like it was something worth hearing.  Janek played guitar with Katia these last few weeks as they “busked” in town.  Busking is basically pan handling in the streets of town.  It’s kind of the equivalent to what we see with the drummers outside the Reds and Bengals games, but people can actually make decent money doing it around here.

Janek and Katia are headed south and will try to busk their way to Melbourne, where I believe Katia is from.  She plays the sax, which is much different than most buskers playing guitar or drums.  I met Katia here at The Arts Factory, but she also worked at Sundive for Giac and Julie, while she was here in town.  She has many dives under her belt (no pun intended), and always expressed her enjoyment for working at Sundive.  I believe Katia is just 19, and is taking advantage of exploring at such a young age; cheers!

Also pictured is an “evening picnic” that happens every twice in a while.  This one happened to be celebrating Jeff and Pia’s birthdays.  A sort of “pot luck” event, I brought some carrots, banana chips and an assortment of grapes.  We had plenty to eat, and what great company!

Thank you spiders and unidentifiable insects.  You continue to amaze me with the types of marks you leave on my porcelain skin.  This was a good one to wake up with about a week ago; it’s about gone now.  I really don’t worry about bites, but there are some doozies around here.  I will say that the biggest spider’s I’ve seen so far are the Huntsman’s, and they’re harmless.  Also pictured is a King Toad, I think.  This was a pretty good-sized one that showed up at The Café here in the hostel.  

This is what it has looked like over the passed couple of weeks!

Thank You Ryan, for providing the campsite with so much awesome drumming since I’ve been here.  Ryan is from Canada and has been here at The Arts Factory for the past 10 months or so I think.  He drummed during all of the talent shows and also some gigs at Buddha Bar next door with other musicians.  He’s going to Sydney for a couple of days before his flight leaves to go back home… I don’t think he was quite ready to leave, and figure him to be traveling much more after being home.

Thank you Malou, for being in such great spirits all of the time!  Malou is from Denmark and was supposed to leave for Luminate yesterday; unfortunately she wasn’t able to board the plane because she didn’t have a return ticket to OZ.  She’ll try again today with a return ticket she purchased and hitchhike from the airport to the festival once she’s in NZ.  

Random Art time!  This young gentleman from Japan was just sitting in the Café as we got back from the quarry.  He was painting some of the most beautiful images, most all coming from his imagination.  Pictured is one of the paintings he’s been working on the last few days!  Way to go Arts Factory for being so artistic, ehhhh?

The rock quarry we went to yesterday.  Just a couple miles outside of town, this quarry provides some pretty high rock jumping.  After assessing the pros and cons of jumping from the highest spot I determined that the next level down was more my speed.  Joe, Hugh and Celeste all jumped from the highest point and have reaped a little pain today; I’m quite happy that I enjoyed the experience but also was realistic on what kind of traveler insurance I have!!!  This jump may have been about ¾ of the jump off the bridge at Norris Lake in TN.  The only thing that really concerns me here is trying to jump out far enough that you are sure there are no rocks below the water!

Thank You Michelle, for teaching me to crochet!  Michelle, from Seattle, has been making yarn hats for many friends in the hostel.  They’ve turned out really well, and it seems like something to do when your aren’t doing anything.  You can sit, have a conversation with someone, and be creating at the same time!  Michelle is a Math major from University of Washington and won’t be done traveling for a little while now.  What a great spirit, and nice to have another American around to share some US culture and/or understand some crazy expressions we seem to use.

Thank You Gulami!!!!!  WOW, what a great person to have met.  Gulami is probably already back in Holland by now; where he’s planned to play music for the next 7 months with many other musician friends he knows.  He has lived in Holland before, so nothing new to this world traveler.  But, as Gulami always said… “I started traveling late, you all are very lucky to be traveling at your young age!”  I have a pretty good feeling that I’ll run into Gulami somewhere down the road.