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Monthly Archives: September 2009

Whats different about Aussieland?

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Some things that I have noticed are different here, is the big emphasis on water conservation. I think it is amazing that the government is really trying to get people to use less water, and I think all developed countries should do that, because no matter if we live in a desert or not, the world’s supply of water isn’t infinite, and we should all be cognizant of that. The government talks about taking 4 minute showers, and bathtubs are almost non-existent. Who needs bathtubs when we have beaches at every corner here?

Something else I have noticed is that they have amazing tea bars here. T-bar is the name of the place, and they are like little tea saloons, really coool, really fun, teas of all different shapes and sizes.

I will add on to this post, later, when I have some more data. Cheerio!

In Alice Springs

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I have a confession to make: I dont think I am being a very good vagabonder. I dont plan out my trips very well. I like to do things sometimes on the spur of the moment, and they dont usually work out as I wished. I ate at a restaurant yesterday and the food wasn’t even that good. I dont follow my own budget, and I waste money, which is bad.

I wanted to go on the Uluru tour 3 days, around the rock and the Kings Canyon, but due to unforeseen circumstances ( like it being a weekend and everything being booked up), I would have to wait either 2 days in Alice Springs, or go off to Darwin right away and see Uluru after my farm job is done. I decided on the latter, but then I cursed myself all day, for being bad at this travelling business. Me, always being a perfectionist, wants to do everything always perfectly.

I am liking it here in Alice Springs, it is so hot, around 36 degrees Celcius, and the hostel is pretty nice. There are a lot of people from Japan here, and from Eastern Europe, which is cool. I am at least trying to make an effort to meet more people, instead of being the anti-social loner, I usually am, so that is definitely a plus on my side. I am also getting better at the buying food at the grocery store, rather than going to a restaurant all the time, so thats really a plus on my side.

I am staying at the YHA again, which is great, $45 for two nights. I want to go see how Darwin is and then after that, I will decide on the farm job for a few months, maximum 3 or fly off to Indonesia, depending on my mood. If I do the 3 months job, though, I will be able to extend my working holiday by a year, which would be very helpful indeed when I will need to save up  some money next year, after travelling all year long. A lot of people have been telling me that the weather in Darwin will be horrendously hot, and farm work will be extremely arduous, but I think I can handle the heat. We shall see. Never say never is my motto.

I also gave away some of my clothes, a sweater, two tanktops and a few socks and a tight, to a good will centre, so that someone else can use it. Because I for surely bought too many clothes. I really need to unload some more stuff, but I dont want to. I know I will eventually have to do it, and at that point there will be no choice. My bus leaves in 3 hours, its 4 pm here, and my bus is at 730pm. It is a 21 hour long journey, so I have to buy some food, like 3 sandwiches, and 2-3 fruits, for the journey, becuase I am certainly not buying food on the journey no matter what anyone else says.

And I reach Darwin at 510pm on a Sunday, so lets see how that goes. I will write soon. Wish me luck!

In Adelaide

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Sorry about not keeping you guys posted on my travels, it has been seriously hectic. I don’t know how people manage to post every single day when they are travelling. First of all, internet access is bloody expensive in Australia, and second of all, there is really  no time, unless I sacrifice on my sleep. Yeah, I know it only takes a few minutes to post something up, especially when you  have already written it down in your notebook, but still.

On a happy note, I have been writing a lot, journaling and writing short stories. On the sad note, Australia is sooooo expensive. I can’t believe how expensive it actually is. Its almost the same as travelling in Canada. I have decided to go to Asia a bit earlier than I anticipated, so I can use the bulk of my money travelling in Asia, and then when I run out of money, there, I am going to come back here, and use my working holiday visa. I have to figure out until when I have to use this work visa. That would be great.

I have been in Sydney and in Melbourne, and I have to agree with a lot of other people, when I say, I like Melbourne better than Sydney. Sydney I thought was a bit overrated. It is absolutely beautiful with the harbor and the ferries chugging along in orange and black. The Operahouse is absolutely beautiful in the sunshine, with the white glinting as the sun’s rays fall on it. The people are friendly as hell and on a girlish note, the guys are absolutely gorgeous and taallll, I love it.

But Melbourne has this city charm, combined with old buildings that I cannot seem to get over. It is absolutely ‘charming’. Thats the only word for it. If I had to do a working holiday, I would chooose Melbourne, if not a fruit-picking thing, which is top on my list of things Iwant to do.

I have also learnt a lesson in overland travels. Do not take a overnight bus or train. You will lose out on precious scenery that you would have seen if you were travelling during the day. In addition, damn, the bus was cold. I froze my ass off. I am going to look for some microfiber fleecy compact blankets that I can fold up small, but is nice and warm. You know me, I get cold really easy.

I love the transit system in every city I have beeen in till now, they are really easy to understand, and they take you almost everywhere and anywhere in the city. They can be a bit pricey, with the prices running from $6.80 (Melbourne) to $8.30 (Adelaide) for a daily ticket, but once you have that ticket, you can get on and off as many times as you want, which is a great deal for a tourist.

I also found it helpful that there are many people in Melbourne guide uniforms in red, standing around, ready to answer any questions you might have. It is mostly volunteers, but they are helpful and really friendly, ready to answer the million questions I have about everything.

On a vagabonding note, I have found it is rather easy to vagabond, I am happy, reallly happy travelling on my own. I have found the kind of freedom that is hard to find with a travel partner or a tour group. I would rather be able to do what I want, when I want.

I will talk to you soon, I will add in some more stuff. By the way, I totally overpacked, and I gotta get rid of some stuff, maybe I will do that in Darwin.

Backpack

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I absolutely love carrying the backpack. I feel like it gives me some sort of power. It gives me an edginess that I have never ever had and it makes me part of the in crowd. I have always been part of the nerdy crowd, so being part of the in crowd for once, is absolutely ult. Sometimes I feel like I don’t belong with the backpackers, but then I look around at the backpackers in the hostels where I have stayed, and none of them really fit a mould. There were some German girls and guys in my room, and 3 Irish girls, at St.Kilda’s hostel. The only thing that could be said, that was common in them, was that they are all white. But that sort of thing (race, I mean), doesn’t really seem to count, until it really counts. I mean to say, that you never really notice or think about race, until someone is really racist or someone points out the color of another person, for some reason. And then suddenly you realize, that oh yeah, he/she is not of the same color as you. Anyway, it is true that everyone is a bit racist, towards some other color, no matter, how unracist they might be.

Blog goals reached for August

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I have reached my goals for this blog for end of August. I wanted a 100 posts written and I have. I wanted 300 views and I have more than 300. I wanted 5 comments and I have 7, which is great.

My goals for this blog for September will be less ambitious, as I will not have computer access every single day of the week, due to travelling. I want to have at least 10 blog posts written and a 100 views added in the month of September. Lets see what happens.

I also want to get a travel-writing gig for the month of September. Inshallah!

Packing continues…

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I am packing away for the trip, the good thing is that I only have really limited space. When I say I have limited space, I mean, I have very little space. I really think backpacking is seriously made for men and girls who don’t like dressing up. Not that there’s anything wrong with those two categories of people. They just need less frills and fancies. For example, I am sure they wouldn’t consider face wash and foot cream to be two staples to take on a vagabonding stint. Yes, I know, I’m sure I will throw it out after carrying it around for 2 months and not using it, that is why, this is just the first draft of packing.

Do you do that? DO you have three or four versions of your packing, three or four different iterations that you try out every few days to see what feels good, what feels better, what feels more comfortable. I do that. I have packed my bag three times already and the more I pack, the more comfortable I feel with the items that I am carrying. I am really happy with the stuff that I have decided to take. But I am even more happy with the items that I have decided not to take, like my laptop and an SLR camera. I have always loved photography in that really amateur way, that I love the romance behind it, but not the work. I was seriously considering buying a Sony DSLR camera that was going for $400 USD. Which is pretty cheap for a camera. But then I remembered, I get embarrassed and also irritated when I spend more of my time taking pictures, then actually enjoying the views in front of me.

Don’t you hate that as well? When people spend more time taking pictures and videos to enjoy when they get home, so they end up not spending any time actually enjoying the sights that are actually in front of them? Those Japanese tourist groups come to mind. They are just the cutest when they are roaming around, I really wonder if they actually watch the hours of footage that they have managed to capture. I know that we haven’t ever watched any of the videos that we have made at birthday parties and family picnics.

Analysis Paralysis

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I used to scoff at those people who couldn’t decide what to invest their money into and because of that, they didn’t invest at all. No decision is after all a decision as well. But I am going through the same analysis paralysis. I was very strong in my decision that I wanted to invest into the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund 2050, but as soon as I started speaking to the financial planner, he started giving me all of this information. Now I’m completely confused. I was so confident about the Target Fund, as it does the asset allocation on its own, its aggressive in the beginning and it gets less aggressive as we go on. Its something to do with ‘Set it and Forget it’ philosophy.

That could make you a bit complacent, that is true. But isnt’ that the truth that people will not and do not want to spend time thinking about money. I will be gone for a few years, and I do not want to be thinking about my mutual funds in that time. I know its not about making a mistake. People always think that any decision about money is final, that is unfallible, that you cannot remake it. I dont want to be one of those people. I want to make this decision, learn from it and then tweak it as need be.

I like the looks of the fund, I really do. I have read tens of dozens of books on finance and investing, and I believe I would know a bit more than the average investor about mutual funds. I trust my judgement, I think its important for me to trust my judgement. I shouldn’t let others tell me that Ido not know what I am talking about. Will I regret this decision later? I think I will regret it more if I do not make a decision and catch myself in an analysis-paralysis scenario.

I think I am going to go along with the fund and that is my final decision. Is it the million dollar question?

Teeth cleaning while travelling?

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You know that feeling you have in your mouth, around your teeth and gums, the shiny, clean feeling that you get after going to the dentist, the feeling that your gums have been a bit abused by all those weird-looking tools, the feeling that you never, ever want to eat again, so you dont ruin your teeth – well, I have that feeling right now.

I got my teeth cleaned today and I’m so glad, that I did it, cos she said, that because of the wire that I have (the only remnant from braces), there is a lot of accumulation of plaque. Ugh, I hate it. My mouth is the kind of mouth, she says happily, that doesn’t get any cavities ever, because of all the minerals in it. But for that exact same reason, it is more prone to plaque. I dont know which I would prefer more, plaque or cavities. Neither of course would be better.

Thinking about my cleaning today, I wondered how I would get my teeth cleaned over the 2 year (or however long) travelling stint. Will I be going to random dentists on the road? What about sanitary napkins? How would I dispose of them in random places, where I do not find any garbage cans around? What about payment for stuff? Where would it go? They can’t send a cheque to my home address, because I will have no particular spot that I will be staying at. What about…?

The questions go on and on. Obviously, I am overthinking a bit, because I am not going to a place where there aren’t any other human beings with the same needs as me. I’m going to places where I will be able to talk to other people and figure out what they are doing for the many human needs that we have accumulated over the centuries. I mean, seriously, I bet people even 200 years ago didn’t have to floss every night before bed, but then they didn’t have any teeth left by the time they died in the late 30s as well.

I want to make sure that I answer all of the weird questions that I’m sure you would ask when you go travelling – but there is no place where you can find that answer. I want to makes sure that I write about everything, even the mundane and silly, especially the mundane and silly, so everyone who has these questions, can get them answered. Like, your teacher in 4th grade told you, there are no stupid questions, as someone else in the audience probably has the same question as you.

Personality issues

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I have a weird personality. I have a bad temper and I am temperamental and I am not a good person when I am mad. I behaved so badly today with a really good friend of the family. Why do I get into one of those crazy moods, where I cannot control what I am saying? Once I get into the mode of yelling, I do not quell the flow of words from my mouth. I keep on talking without controlling myself. Its bad. I know no one is perfect, I’m after all human.

But why do I always have to hurt my family and friends with one of my rage sessions. Do I have rage issues? Do I need to see a psychiatrist. I don’t think so, I never get physically violent, I just get very verbally abusive.

On a different note, I haven’t even finished packing or anything, and I am leaving in 5 days. Eek!

Mad

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I’m mad at the moment. I am getting gipped from two people, for money that they owe me. And they are not even small sums, that I could forget about for a few days, until they can raise it. They are big amounts that I want as soon as possible. It just makes me mad, because I try to be so good, about giving money to people right on time. How dare they think that they can’t pay me back on time? I’m so mad. My company to whom I have contributed properly for the past few months, is now refusing that the amount could be quite so high. How could they be so stupid? Well, obviously, I will not let them get away with this, it will not be so, and I will never let it be so.

This is so different from how I dealt with things when I was younger. I would think, oh well, I mean, I’m sure they know what they are doing. Never do I trust anyone else about my money anymore. I know best about my money, and no one else cares about my money as much as I do.