more pearls of wisdom from your favourite travelling philosopher.... at least i hope i'm your favourite? how many other travelling philosophers do you know eh??
* possums are much cuter alive than flat.
* possums are much cuter alive than flat.
* if you find yourself on an island, with no shot glasses, then empty film cannisters brought along to hold the tour's cigarette butts will act as a good double. be sure not to use a cannister that has already been used to hold butts.
* everywhere we go recently, rain seems to follow us. i regularly find myself humming the refrain to the Travis song, as we discover rain in surprising places- Brisbane, Hervey Bay, Sydney, Johannesburg, Durban. and we are heading to Zambia in time for the 'Green Season', so frankly, i'm expecting quite a lot more torrential rain. dont be too jealous folks at home- its pissing down over here too!
* waiting for a bus in the rain in Sydney is pretty much as miserable as waiting for a bus in the rain in London. the one benefit was that in London, whilst waiting at a bus stop, i was normally waiting to go to work. in Sydney i was more likely to have a pressing appointment with a koala or a glass of wine.
* Sydney Opera House is stunning... and in 3 bits, which i never before knew.
* don't drink straight shots, or film cannisters, of Bundaberg rum. that way danger lies.
*whilst sauntering down woodland walkways at midnight, in the dark, if you should encounter a highly poisonous snake in your path, slithering on its merry way, then you will probably react much more calmly and sensibly if you are nicely rat-arsed.
* after a 3 1/2 hour traffic jam a KFC drive through has never looked sweeter.
* if you want to complete a people pyramid, you would be better off putting a tall guy in the middle, rather than a small weak girl. she probably wont be able to support the final person, and you will have to leave your pyramid without a tip.
* if a German man called Hans gives you directions, and says "Oh, it is maybe a zeventy minute nice valk across the beach" you will probably be trekking up mountains for at least an hour and a half.
* Australia is the only country in the world that has more deadly snakes than non-deadly snakes. and also lots of pretty nasty spiders.
* koalas have 2 thumbs (on each hand, otherwise its not a very interesting fact!).
*kangaroos are the only animals i have ever seen, other than humans, with the ability to prop oneself up on its elbows. they look remarkable, rather like how i imagine Sean Connery would look, propped against a bar on the pull.
* savoury waffles are ok, but not brilliant. sweet ones are still ace.
* mosquitos are the new sandfly.
* Australians have a real love of big things at the side of the road. we saw a big prawn, a big pineapple and a big bannana. these things are lovingly entered into the Lonely Plant index as 'big things', so i guess that is the best way to describe them.
* after a month of sensible home cooking and abstemious eating in NZ, since landing in Australia we have feasted on Macdonalds, KFC (twice), Dominos, Pizza Hut, Nandos, Debonairs Pizza, kebabs, takeaway thai and an all you can eat chinese buffet. it has been a good month..... we were going to attempt to do "Macdonalds, Macdonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut" all in one day, but perhaps we will have to do that in Jo'burg on the way home....
* if a little vervet monkey sits on your television, and you put the mute button on and off again, it will lean over and try to grab the mute icon off the screen when it appears.
* i think i've found the Primark of the Southern Hemisphere. its called Valley Girl. almost all my new clothes that i've bought on the road have come from there.
* we do not have luck with goon bags of wine. the first we bought made me very hungover, the second we bought exploded in the back of the car, and the third we bought broke our laptop. from here on in, only expensive bottled wine thank you!
*most of the time, ice cream makes everything, even grazed knees, better.
*similarly ice cream related, nothing unites a group of relative strangers like a 'Magnum stop'
* blue powerade is passe. i now heart pineapple fanta. mm-mm.....
* the bats you see in Australia are massive, and so cool. like massive flying stereotypes straight out of a B-list horror movie, they are so cliched they almost dont look real.
* without a laptop we were totally lost. almost sad how technology has become such a necessary part of our life that we cant live without it for more than a couple of days.
* if you ever get the opportunity, doing bunny ears behind a sleepy koala whilst a picture is being taken is most fun. i would highly recommend it.
and now, this travelling philosopher is about to head into the bush for 3 months, and to some extent into the unknown. yes, i may have been to our destination before, but as a guest and not a host, and i can only imagine the difference is monumental. i don't know how much time i will get at a computer, or what the opportunity to blog will be like, so it seems sensible to sign off now for the time being, in case the opportunities are zero.
we fly tomorrow, and via Jo'burg, and then Lusaka, and then Mfuwe, we will be arriving at the lodge where we are to work for their 'green season'. i'm excited, and a little nervous. i'm sad to be leaving the 'travelling lifestyle' behind, but also looking forward to being able to stop, take stock, settle down and get my teeth into something, and make myself a wee bit of a home somewhere.
as we step towards the second stage of our time away, i feel quite a different person to when we left the UK, when, though desperately keen to leave London i was frankly shell shocked by the move and terrified at what lay ahead. who knows what the next 3 months will bring, but after the past 2 months i'm somehow much less daunted by change, much less worried about new experiences and places, and i feel ready to catch whatever the world can throw at me. with the husband by my side i've realised that exciting needn't be scary.
so, perhaps just for a few weeks, but perhaps until February, let me bid you farewell, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year and just Happy living.
and keep making life exciting, every day.
kisses!
* everywhere we go recently, rain seems to follow us. i regularly find myself humming the refrain to the Travis song, as we discover rain in surprising places- Brisbane, Hervey Bay, Sydney, Johannesburg, Durban. and we are heading to Zambia in time for the 'Green Season', so frankly, i'm expecting quite a lot more torrential rain. dont be too jealous folks at home- its pissing down over here too!
* waiting for a bus in the rain in Sydney is pretty much as miserable as waiting for a bus in the rain in London. the one benefit was that in London, whilst waiting at a bus stop, i was normally waiting to go to work. in Sydney i was more likely to have a pressing appointment with a koala or a glass of wine.
* Sydney Opera House is stunning... and in 3 bits, which i never before knew.
* don't drink straight shots, or film cannisters, of Bundaberg rum. that way danger lies.
*whilst sauntering down woodland walkways at midnight, in the dark, if you should encounter a highly poisonous snake in your path, slithering on its merry way, then you will probably react much more calmly and sensibly if you are nicely rat-arsed.
* after a 3 1/2 hour traffic jam a KFC drive through has never looked sweeter.
* if you want to complete a people pyramid, you would be better off putting a tall guy in the middle, rather than a small weak girl. she probably wont be able to support the final person, and you will have to leave your pyramid without a tip.
* if a German man called Hans gives you directions, and says "Oh, it is maybe a zeventy minute nice valk across the beach" you will probably be trekking up mountains for at least an hour and a half.
* Australia is the only country in the world that has more deadly snakes than non-deadly snakes. and also lots of pretty nasty spiders.
* koalas have 2 thumbs (on each hand, otherwise its not a very interesting fact!).
*kangaroos are the only animals i have ever seen, other than humans, with the ability to prop oneself up on its elbows. they look remarkable, rather like how i imagine Sean Connery would look, propped against a bar on the pull.
* savoury waffles are ok, but not brilliant. sweet ones are still ace.
* mosquitos are the new sandfly.
* Australians have a real love of big things at the side of the road. we saw a big prawn, a big pineapple and a big bannana. these things are lovingly entered into the Lonely Plant index as 'big things', so i guess that is the best way to describe them.
* after a month of sensible home cooking and abstemious eating in NZ, since landing in Australia we have feasted on Macdonalds, KFC (twice), Dominos, Pizza Hut, Nandos, Debonairs Pizza, kebabs, takeaway thai and an all you can eat chinese buffet. it has been a good month..... we were going to attempt to do "Macdonalds, Macdonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut" all in one day, but perhaps we will have to do that in Jo'burg on the way home....
* if a little vervet monkey sits on your television, and you put the mute button on and off again, it will lean over and try to grab the mute icon off the screen when it appears.
* i think i've found the Primark of the Southern Hemisphere. its called Valley Girl. almost all my new clothes that i've bought on the road have come from there.
* we do not have luck with goon bags of wine. the first we bought made me very hungover, the second we bought exploded in the back of the car, and the third we bought broke our laptop. from here on in, only expensive bottled wine thank you!
*most of the time, ice cream makes everything, even grazed knees, better.
*similarly ice cream related, nothing unites a group of relative strangers like a 'Magnum stop'
* blue powerade is passe. i now heart pineapple fanta. mm-mm.....
* the bats you see in Australia are massive, and so cool. like massive flying stereotypes straight out of a B-list horror movie, they are so cliched they almost dont look real.
* without a laptop we were totally lost. almost sad how technology has become such a necessary part of our life that we cant live without it for more than a couple of days.
* if you ever get the opportunity, doing bunny ears behind a sleepy koala whilst a picture is being taken is most fun. i would highly recommend it.
and now, this travelling philosopher is about to head into the bush for 3 months, and to some extent into the unknown. yes, i may have been to our destination before, but as a guest and not a host, and i can only imagine the difference is monumental. i don't know how much time i will get at a computer, or what the opportunity to blog will be like, so it seems sensible to sign off now for the time being, in case the opportunities are zero.
we fly tomorrow, and via Jo'burg, and then Lusaka, and then Mfuwe, we will be arriving at the lodge where we are to work for their 'green season'. i'm excited, and a little nervous. i'm sad to be leaving the 'travelling lifestyle' behind, but also looking forward to being able to stop, take stock, settle down and get my teeth into something, and make myself a wee bit of a home somewhere.
as we step towards the second stage of our time away, i feel quite a different person to when we left the UK, when, though desperately keen to leave London i was frankly shell shocked by the move and terrified at what lay ahead. who knows what the next 3 months will bring, but after the past 2 months i'm somehow much less daunted by change, much less worried about new experiences and places, and i feel ready to catch whatever the world can throw at me. with the husband by my side i've realised that exciting needn't be scary.
so, perhaps just for a few weeks, but perhaps until February, let me bid you farewell, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year and just Happy living.
and keep making life exciting, every day.
kisses!
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