So here I am, finally traveling down the coast with Ihor. We spent a wonderful week driving in a lovely car by the name of Roger. Roger was very good to us and brought us to all kinds of lovely places...
From the drunken towers of Surfers Paradise to the hidden swiming holes of the western mountains, to body surf, boggie board and surfing lessons.
I can assure you that surfing is not quite that easy and standing on ones board is an act of intricate balance. But mainly, surfing is an experience that involved a lot of breathing... or rather, catching ones breathing. You walk, strugle against a wave, get pushed back, catch your breath, swim, dive under a wave, catch your breath, swim, swim, swim, then you see a wave you want, turn and you have to swim so hard as if your life depended on it [and sometimes if the wave is big enough it does] and then you get caried by the wave, you strugle to stand while not tipping over and before you know it your already under the wave, shuffling about, upside down, feet out of the water, board making loops, now your right side up again, snorting water out of your nose that managed to get in when you weren't looking, and then just when you rub some water off your face with your hands and see, the next wave is alreafy there, this is when you are thuroughly spent, and it feels like you just ran for a mile, but really this is just the first wave so you turn around and try again, and you still haven't managed to catch up with your breath - always a step ahead...
Surfing has apeal, though i can't say yet i am hooked - I think it's something I would need to try at least a few more times before I could really give an opinion. I have a feeling though it's not going to bne my prefered sport, lots of waiting and you get cold - but maybe this is just me needing to get used to things.
We visited a place called Nimbin, which was a rather hyped up little town, just one mini street where you can buy pot from people on the street - coming from San Francisco it just seemed like a really really small version of something all too normal over there. It took for ever to drive to Nimbin, much longer than we thought and if it weren't for this psycho swiming hole that Ihor found for us, a swiming hole where you can jump in from swiming ropes as high as 12 or 15 meters from the water [we jumped from about 3-5 meters maximum], it would have been a gruntled day for sure.
Along the way, we saw some nice felow animals like upclose real life Possums and Pady Melons. We even went to the Koala hospital where we were told in great detail all the various ailments, diseases and accidents that befal Koalas and how basically man loves nothing more than to go mass-hunting for fluffy cuddly teddy bears. Before Koala hunting was made illegal as many as 500,000 Koalas were being killed each month! There are now only about 100,000 Koalas left in Australia, and these numbers are steadily decreasing. It's all so very sad, and I really got the feeling from these creatures that they just aren't going to make it in the wild - there are so many ways in which they are being affected, that but hopefully I am wrong.
Scuba divign in Byron Bay was enjoyable, not as good as the south pacific tropics, but better than in the barrier reef. I saw 3 zeebra marked cat-fish sharks, and a sea turtle! My buddy I was diving with was very dificult though, he paniced at the surface before we went under, used his oxygen tank too quickly, and then he managed to loose me under the water for a good 30 seconds time durring which I had no idea where he was - very frustrating! It's prety important to dive with someone you know is at least capable of having common sense under water - believe me!
Our trip ended in Sydney, you can see that all too often used icon of the Opera house here:
So now here I am, in Sydney. My week with Ihor felt very short, though we did do lots and lots.
Being here has left me with a combined feeling of feeling a bit lost, while also having a strong desire to just be extreemly lazy and do nothing.
I've had a check on my finances, to see how I am doing, and in principle its ok, I can make it another while, I am uncertain if my money will hold up to Japan's final wrath. As it stands I can make it down to Melborne, fly over the New Zealand and then be there until New Years without a major issue; and then after that I will have to re-evaluate my cash and options. The good news if I need money, I can work in Australia or New Zealand since I have work visas.
In terms of life priorities, I want to make sure I complete the things I started, so this means finishing my new music album I've put so much work into already is my top priority - a close second on the list is my prototype audio-hardware device controller which I was lucky enough to have built for me. To complete these projects will require my return to Holland - at least for the duration of the projects, though it's really hard to say more at this point.
I have this 'aimlessly wandering' feeling in the air, which is understandable considering I have been aimlessly wandering... but the only thing I can do is to keep going forward, as I have learned to do the last few months, and so this is where life is pointing me, and so I shall lead it.
The good news is that I have two gigs in New Zealand confirmed... one at the Massive festival on the south island on December 9th, the other at Upcomming festival on the North island for New Years. Additionally I have another place I can play if I just work out the details.
Since walter is long gone from New Zealand, and currently in Singapore or Indonesia I imagine, this means my sets will be solo - this will mean I have to prepare for solo sets while here in Sydney now, so its not all pleasure you see...
:)
Other good news is that I have lots of new photos to show you... so many that my current album was full and I had to start a new one!
Even better news is that I finally got the chance to start uploading my artwork. Since art and vacation don't mix [ahem] I decided to put it into yet another album... bringing my total of online photo albums to a staggering number of 3. This was a quicker solution than building yet another personalized website to store my gems.
Without further ado, the web sites are:
Original photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/schedal
NEW: Fiji pictures
New photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/inforazor
NEW: New Zealand and Australia pipctures
Art photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/seb.chedal.art
NEW: Various peices and series from 2000-2006
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