And Most Importantly WHY

Well you all just learned about the WHO, the WHEN, the WHERE but I never fully broke out and said WHY. Why would I drop everything, leave my job and go to some far off land for a 6 month travel. Well, you are about to learn why.

You know when I was sitting in my office almost 10 months ago hating my job I made a decision that I wasn't going to go look for another job right away. I was seriously contemplating if I really wanted to be a surveyor. I was in a rut, and all I could see was mud. I decided I needed time, time to think, time to evaluate, time to change. I looked and saw that starting November 1 I was free from my job and I had everything from November to the end of April all to myself, which is when I saw that Australia was warm in the winter months and that I could get a year working visa for it, and I said "Well looks like I am going to Australia". That was the start of it. I didn't really tell anyone until my sister announced that she was planning a trip down under. I also announced I was thinking about doing a trip to Aussie as well. I never mentioned my timeline of 6 months though, It wasn't until about 2 weeks later when she wanted to book plane tickets and schedules together that I dropped that bombshell. I asked how long she wanted to go for. Sarina (my sister for those of you who don't know her) replied "5 weeks" which is when I mentioned I was thinking about going down for 6 months. At which she completely flew off the handle for a few minutes as that wasn't quite what she was expecting. She was still cursing in disbelief when I walked out of her apartment 1 hour later. In the end she planned her own trip and even hopped over to New Zealand for a couple of weeks, something I won't be able to claim. At about the same time that my sister was re-laying the news that I was planning on being away from home for Christmas to my parents another significant event struck. During the July long weekend I had the first stage of a falling out with some of my high school friends. 2 weeks later I dropped by their house and they never left their computer games the whole time I was there, which was 3 hours. That in the end was a final straw, I decided to simply cut ties with them, as I had grown to far from their computer filled lives. I wanted to do things beyond my computer screen. I haven't talked to any of them since, in fact I don't even think they know I went to Australia as I never told them. If you are one of my friends back home and you are reading this, don't worry, you never pissed me off like this. With this sudden shortening of several friends from an already short list I could feel my rut deepening, and I felt I desperately needed a change of scenery. I felt that I was alone in my world with only my family as anchor, but I knew that I was holding onto that anchor to tightly. I was relying to much on my parents and I felt that I had created this little comfortable box, and that only I could get out of it. I knew I had to take some drastic measures, I had to get way beyond my comfort zone, out of my box, and I needed to let go of the anchor so that I could drive my own boat. When in a storm, you either anchor yourself down, or you point your bow into the wind and start paddling. I love my parents to death, appreciate them for everything they have done, and I want them to know that they have done nothing wrong for me to say this, as I built this box I put myself in, not them. I came down here to change, to develop as myself, to think in new surroundings, to grow, and to break moulds, my moulds. Which is what I am getting at in this blog, breaking moulds.

Talking to people
I used to hate talking to new people. This is an old thing that dates back to grade 5. In grade 5 I moved from Rosebrier (A country school with 10 people in my grade) to Clear Vista (a city school with 60 people in my grade). These were way different schools, and probably the most difficult issue I faced was the class I was put in. I was placed in a special class of only 6 students who were considered by the education board to be "Not fulfilling their potential" as our grades were way lower than what we could achieve. My marks immediately soared, but my social standing collapsed. The new school culture didn't fit me, and most significantly my class was seen by my fellow students as "Near retarded" where we all became instant targets to be teased. I was trying to fight what felt like a whole school worth of bullies, who threw insult after insult, and my new knowledge was useless, and I didn't have the wit to fight them. In the end I tried to ignore them, and was mostly successfull, but after a while even the strongest walls start to chip and crack if enough stones were thrown at them. It was 5 long years in which I was essentially alone except for that small group of friends I made, I never tried to make any others in those years, as I was to used to getting burned every time I reached my hand out to anyone else. I held onto the only thing that never burned me, my family, they were the anchor that never moved. In grade 10 I went to high school, and came into the regular curriculum, I was a normal student in a new school like all the other new grade 10'ers, with one small difference I was still afraid to reach out my hand, I could still feel the cracks in the walls from the stones that had been hurled at it over the last 5 years, I had no confidence. So once again I went through most of high school with the small group of friends who I have just given the boot to. In college I was in a small class of only 27 people and we all got along well enough, but when it was over 2 years later everyone went off to their own corner or the province and that was the end of that. In my job I worked essentially on my own, and didn't need to communicate with many people, which didn't really help much. This is when I decided I had to push myself I needed to go some place where I had to talk to people, where I had to communicate, where I couldn't hide in that part of the box. I came to break this mould, and I think that I have, will I find it again when I get home, who knows.

Confidence
This is something I sorely lacked, and something I cannot claim full freedom of. My confidence has really been low since that grade 5 school change. It is something that I just have a hard time kicking out of my phykee. Some things need more than just a coat of paint, some things need all new foundations, and I will have to admit, they may have been laid, but are not yet completed. A good start, but goal not yet completed.

New Ideas
Like anyone who stays in one box to long, you stop looking at the paint on the walls. Things you never thought about, only assumed, and took for face value, suddenly come to you via a different point of view. The things that look real from your window change when you get up close, they take on new understanding, character and meaning. I have re-thought many things since I got down under, and contemplated things I have never really thought about before. It is amazing how looking at a sculpture from another angle changes your view not just of the sculpture, but of the world on which it revolves. The biggest one lately is that I have completely re-evaluated vegetarianism. 3 months ago I wondered how vegetarianism was even possible, how it was possible to to even live your whole life without eating meat? Or more importantly was it even possible to even eat one good tasting and filling meal without using meat. Then again lightning struck and suddenly I experienced the same thing I thought impossible only months before.

Making new friends
Well as mentioned before with the absence of old friends I came to Australia looking to find people who had interests that reached beyond World Of Warcraft. I can safely say Mould Broken.

Independence
This I think is one of the hardest moulds to break, as I have been holding onto the anchor chain rather hard. I needed to let it go, I needed to walk on my own, to prove that I can do it. Of course one part of independence I have really wanted to achieve is more openness when I am pissed off. I seem to have an odd tendency to let people walk over me, and I think it is time. Unfortunately the first unfortunate victim of this about face was probably Christian. Poor bastard.

Well everyone now you all know the why. This was the thing that I have only told 2 people about, not even my family knew. It has been nearly a month since I wrote this, and the reason why I waited so long to post it was to see if I truly did change or if I have fallen back into my old grove. I don't think that I have, but I will admit that I have kind of changed back to my old self a bit, but there are several parts of me that evolved in Australia that have been holding on strong, I am very proud of those parts of me.

I think this will be the last blog on this website at least for a while. When I go on my next trip I will send out another blast, but that may not be for another couple of months. I may start blogging about my new job over at my other blog, theofficeblog, but since I am incredibly busy, and I am no longer sitting around on my ass twiddling my thumbs I find that blogging is a whole lot harder. Anyway thank you all my loyal readers this is Adam, logging off for the last time, Australia fare well, I will see you again, and to the rest of the world, I am coming, be patient.

Love Adam

Since I’ve been home.

May
Well ever since I got home I have been starting to do work on the farm, as it is now spring here, and with spring comes spring seeding. Of course with spring seeding comes breakdowns and the odd but very tense near disaster, but lets not get ahead of myself. First I must set everything up. The day I landed in Edmonton a massive windstorm rolled though, not a whole lot of damage was done, but I will claim full credit for such an event. When I woke up the next day it started raining, and it kept raining. It rained 3 inches (7.5cm) over the next day and a half, of which I spent most of my time re-adjusting to Canadian time. On the third day at home I started working in the fields, putting in the crop, working the earth. On the fourth day I did the morning maintenance on the air seeder and tractor as well as changing a chain on the air tank. I started the tractor to move it from the fuel tanks to the grain bins so that I could fill it with fertilizer when I noticed a little smoke come off the engine beside the muffler. “Oh well” I thought “Probably a little water or stuff got on the muffler and it was burning it off, something to be expected”. Well I poked my head out of the cab to get a good look just in case. That is when I saw the flames coming out of the engine. I killed the tractor yelled fire to my dad who was working near by. I ran to the combine where I knew there was a fire extinguisher, (my mind suddenly wondered why we didn’t have one in the tractor). I came back running hard towards the tractor that was now smoking ominously like an old pipe smoker standing in a pool of gasoline. I passed dad who was carrying a container that had trapped some rainwater from the earlier downpour we had, I yanked the pin on the extinguisher jumped up onto the tire and fired. The flames went out instantly and I breathed out in relief as we had a combine burn down on us only a couple of years ago. Then I saw sparks, the flames erupted again and I fell off the tire trying to avoid inhaling in any unwanted fumes. I told dad it was an electrical fire and he attacked the batteries until he had removed the battery cables, and that was when the fire finally was extinguished. After close examination we discovered that the only damage to the tractor were 2 battery cables that had short circuited. It could have been a lot worse, as if it had gotten to the fuel line, the whole tractor would have been a write off. Near disaster. Just after we repaired the cables and got the tractor running again it snowed, yes in May. So to recap within a week of coming home I brought fire, water, wind, ice, and I worked the earth. That is pretty much all the elements, and I think I will soon be elevated to "God status" as soon as my application has been processed. Well we are now done seeding and it feels good, until I looked at my list of things I need to do this summer and wonder how the heck I am going to get them all done, especially when I start work in June. Of course one big advantage of my new job is that I will be working from home instead of up in the city, a very big advantage. It feels weird to be starting work after so long, but this was going to happen eventually. I still can't believe that it has been over a month since I got home, and in that time I haven't stopped moving, I have been like a bouncy ball, and only spent a little time with my friends considering, but I am hoping June will be a better month for free time. I was able to take off for the long weekend in May and hang around with some of them, and I had a wonderful time with them, even though it was cold and snowed, but I still had a good time. Of course I should have known mother nature would be cross about me missing Winter and would extract retribution on me by having it snow, not once but 3 times since I got home, which wouldn't be worth mentioning except it is May and the flowers are out. I will let everyone know how work back at my old blog, though it should be noted that I won't be working for the same company. Here is hoping all goes well.

P.S. I will be putting up my last blog soon, and it is by far the most important, so everyone keep your eyes pealed.

Adam

I Saved This For A Rainy Day

May 30

Considering that it is snowing I decided to post this blog that I was saving for a rainy day. It is from the middle of January and was written about a very special place in Western Australia that I discovered, and got the biggest surprise of the trip. Here is the tale of my surprise enjoy.


January 15, 2010

Well, we have spent the last couple of days in a little place called Boyup Brook, a little town of about 800 people. And I would like to say somethings about this place. It is incredibly cool, and here is why. First off we came into town and hit the tourist information center that is run by local volunteers. The first person we meet is Jaquie Chambers (More about her in a minute). We asked if there was any work in the area, and she called up her granddaughter who sure enough needed some work done the next morning on her garden. So we killed part of the day walking around town and mostly just wondering. The town isn't big, but it has an overabundance of very cool sculptures. That night we camped down by the river at a place called Jays Bridge, free camping, where I got attacked and bitten by three very, very large ants called Bull Ants. These suckers are the most painful bites I have ever gotten. Two days later I still have welts from them. Anyway, we did some gardening for Lauren the next morning, Chris used a weed whacker, and I trimmed the hedge......with a chain saw. And yes mom, I was careful and it felt great to be doing some work for the first time in months, well, since we tore apart the car outside of Mundare. That afternoon, upon a recommendation by Lauren, we hit Harvey Dickson's Country Music Center. We were shown around the place by a guy named Tom (called Pom by his friends because he was originally from London) and shown the three different parts of the center. To be a bit more accurate I should mention what the three parts looked like from the outside. It looked like a old tin house, a pile of wood/rock/dirt, and lastly a rusting tin shed surrounded by junk. So first we entered the old house originally built 1884 by the first Dickson to come to the area. The house was surprisingly cool considering it was like 40 in the sun. We discovered a couple of old antiques from different time periods, and well, this. We found the room packed full of Elvis and Johnny Cash records as well as enough memorabilia to sink the Titianic. This room was full of records, memorabilia, and other stuff that was of Elvis. This guy loves Elvis, I was really surprised as I never expected this. We went across the road to the pile of stuff and discovered it was actually a rodeo arena complete with cool wood guitar men and eve a outdoor concert stage. I was becoming more and more impressed by the minute, and that was before the grand finally. While Chris and I went wondering around the rodeo area taking pictures of different stuff, our guide said he would meet us back at the front gate when we were ready to see the last shed. About 5 minutes later he met us at the gate, gave us a cold beer, and we entered into the indoor stage. This is where my jaw finally stopped hanging and bounced off the dirt floor. What we walked into was a true blue county stage, including dirt floor, made from true local bull shit. In fact one part of this stage area is called the Bullshit Pit. I love this place, old things are hanging from the celling, parts, hubcaps, bottles, sand sculptures of Johnny Cash and Elvis and old toys. I loved listening to the stories told by Tom, even though they were complete and utter bullshit, they were entertaining, and that was important. There were also these guys. (More about them later).We came back the next night and sat down with Tom, Hugo, and even Harvey himself joined us for a beer in the "Bullshit Pit". That night everyone took turn letting the bull fly, and when Huley pulled out the home brew, and the tales got taller. It was a good Friday night, and Harvey, who built all this, and who told me that he did this because he never grew up. He always had a good imagination, and he never let it go, and after I saw what he had built and created, I believe him, that, I think was one of the few things he said that night that wasn't bullshit. The rodeo grounds, the old house, the wood art, the character of the place and most importantly Harvey Dickson himself make this place a must see if you ever come to Western Australia. The night I sat down with Harvey, Tom the Pom, and Huley in the shadows of the stage within the bullshit pit, was one to remember. The morning before we got drunk in the bullshit pit we stopped by and saw Sandy and Jaquie Chambers. Jaquie was the lady we first met at the visitors center, but the reason we stopped in was that Lauren, their granddaughter who we did some yard work for, said that we should. Well Sandy it turns out is the artist in residence, and boy is he an artist. He did all of these for the town, and these two sand sculptures of Elvis and Johnny Cash that was given to his good friend Harvey Dickson. Sandy and his wife are originally from England, but moved to Australia with their 4 children 46 years ago. He originally started a building business to feed his family but transferred the business to his son so he could return to his passion to be an artist. They invited us into their home and they showed us around for a while, I kissed a camel, and we had a wonderful conversation for over 3 hours as Sandy showed us some pictures of his old work, he made some amazing sand sculptures that litter the town as well as 2 very special ones he made for his good friend Harvey Dickson of Elvis and Johnny Cash, (as seen earlier) and holograms (Nudes are his specialty). It was a really wonderful conversation we had, they had so many cool stories, Jacquie even made us some sandwiches for lunch, which was amazing. Sandy can do anything as an artist, when we showed up he was working on a 30m mural for the agricultural society, this guy does everything. We hit Boyup Brook with the expectation of staying for a couple of hours, and we stayed 3 wonderful days. I will remember Boyup Brook for the people I met Sandy, Jacquie, Harvey and the crew. The statues and works of art Sandy gave to the town will be nothing compared to what I will remember of the people who created them, I will remember the town for the people who called it home. I love this town, oh ya, this place also has a 5m diving board, one more thing that I love.

I'm not done yet

If you think I am done blogging, you are flat wrong. Here is why, I still have several posts to get up, and the reason these posts are late is
a) I have been really busy
b) I have been getting out more
c) I haven't had internet for a while, several weeks actually

but I do have several important blogs comming up, and I am hoping to have it up soon. No promises though, i would probably break it anyway. Well me go bed now, 2:30 in morning trying to get these suckers up.

night
Adam

Canadian Ground

April 28

I struck the Vancouver airport with the energy of a tired dog who saw a big stick and wanted to play with it, but didn't have the energy to do more than feel happy. I hung around the airport for three hours after clearing security as well as customs and waited for the flight to Edmonton. I got chatting with a guy from Montreal for a couple of hours before going and sitting by my plane. It was here that looking out my window at my last flying chariot home that I noticed something that looked oddly familiar. It was then that I realised I was watching my surf board was rolling up the ramp into the cargo hold, the same surf board I sent home 4 days earlier via air Canada freight. Small world hu? Well I caught my plane and on decent into Edmonton I started to notice the familiar landmarks and I could feel the combination of success and exhaustion. I had been up for 25 hours and I had a long time to go before I could hit the sack. I touched ground and got off the flight aiming my weary body towards the arrival gate where I found my excited mother hovering inches above the floor. I spotted her before she spotted me and this allowed me to hug the wall and only pop out mearly feet from her and watched the surprise and joy spread across her face. This joy pushed my exhaustion away for a moment as I received 6 months worth of hugs from an excited mother. My sister joined in the hug for a short moment and then the tank got a hold of me. The tank is my little brother, who weighs about 115kg (30kg more than me), stands a head taller than me, and is built like a Clydesdale horse, grabs me in a bear hug and lifts me like a rag doll into the air backpack and all before putting me back down. He did this to remind me that during my 6 month absence he hadn't gotten any weaker, or smaller. Dad sat and waited for everyone to finish fussing over me, or manhandling in my brothers case before giving me a hug. I picked up my gear from the luggage conveyor (giving the heaviest bag to my brother) and headed towards the car. We dropped by to see my grandmother but exhaustion was rolling over me in waves and I eventually called an end to the day and we headed home. I only made one stop, at the graveyard to see where my Aunt Mae who died just after Christmas now lay. It was hard, to stand there knowing that she is gone and I had missed her funeral. My mother gave me another hug as she knew what was going through my head, even if I couldn't say so out loud. Leaving town heading towards the farm I felt relief at seeing the familiar sights that guard the return home like the gateposts to an estate. I slept for about an hour before supper and then had a very good meal courtesy of my dad. I haven't done a whole lot the last couple of days since I have been home, mostly going through my mail, making some phone calls, and getting my car re-insured so that I can drive again and regain some independence. It is weird being home again, some of the old habits I thought I lost seemed to start to re-emerge. I am not sure what it means, and I am not sure if I think they are bad. I cannot say that I am surprised that I have reverted a bit to my old ways, you are partially a creature of your surroundings. I think that is all for now, more still to come, as there is more to say, will try to spread it out.

Adam

Top and not so top places

April 27

Well I am now on the plane, a plane packed full of old ladies about to go on a 1 month tour of BC. I caught the 7:00 shuttle to the airport (No easy task) checked in, got through security, and then spent the next 2 hours twiddling my thumbs. It feels good to be leaving Sydney, I am ready to go home. I thought it would be weird to leave Australia only 2 months ago, now it feels right. I came to Australia and the best thing to do now would be go through the list and hit my favorit spots, and my not so favorite spots.


Favorite natural features
-ninggaloo reef
-Karinjini
-sunsets on the Nulabour
-The stars in

Top Cultural features
-Boyup Brook (but you don't know about that one do you, but it is comming)
-Wood statues in Tasmania
-ANZAC day
-Didgeree doo shops in darwin and Cairns
-Hutt River

Favorite moments
-time spent with everyone in Margret River
-Dancing in Cairns
-Pulling into Jane and Gerards Driveway
-Christmas in Adelaide
-Playing my didge with Mark and Nico out on the road
-Beach Volleyball in the Prongrup
-breaking down the barriers I had built over the last several years

Places I would rather get hit in the head in Broome again than go here again
-Tasmania
-Areys Rock
-Chris's empty bank account

Top Surprises
-Boyup Brook
-Ninggalo
-Chainsaw wood Carvings
-Jane and Gerards house
-Ninggaloo (yes I know this is on twice)
-Karinjini


Well I know there is more, but I am tired now, will edit and add stuff later, maybe

Packing

April 26

Well I just finished the act that signals the end of the journey. I packed, something that is incredibly difficult to do at the end as you suddenly realize how much junk I have collected over the last 6 months. Then it comes time to separate the junk that goes and the junk that goes home, which sounds way harder than you think. This is about the same time you realize your bag is way too small. So you realize that your initial pile of stuff to go home has to be sorted through again until it fits in the bag. Or in my case pull out a second bag and fill it, or to be more precise I shrunk my air mattress down to as small as it goes and then shoved the rest of my leftover stuff into it. I love being resourceful. Thus I finished packing and sat stunned realizing that in 15 hours I am going home, and in a bit over 35 I will be home. I hung around the hostel, checked my flight as I hadn't looked to see if it was still flying since I got my ticket over 6 months ago. I sat down and chatted with a couple other people in the hostel finishing off the last of my beer as it would go bad if I left it here anyway, and I wasn't going to bring that home. I stayed up until 1:30 chatting with Steve before I packed it in, and that is the end of my last day in Australia. I have to be up in 5 hours, so that is all from Bondi, next blog will probably be up in the air. I just checked the last time I put up a blog and went WHOOPS. I am kind of embarrassed that I am over a month behind on my blogs, which means I will be home a long time before I get my final blogs up. When I do finally get them up it is like going back in time. My last blog from OZ feels kind of weak, but I will probably have a better blog on the plane.
That’s all

Adam