I want adventure. To new frontiers

I want an adventure. To new frontiers.

When you take all the western countries that are not all the different from Australia, and all the countries that speak English. Also subtract all the exotic tourist destinations that are now engulfed with the creature comforts of those English speaking countries that resemble Australia. And when you take all the places that I have explored though fellow travellers adventure stories I was a bit down at the thought that there was nowhere left for me to explore for myself. In this time of global community and instant communication I hunger to discover new frontiers.

So the plan had been to spend a month in Mali, Africa with one of my best friends who lives there part time. Working as a field research assistant; collecting people dreams and aspirations’ as to how they want to pull themselves and their country out of poverty. Sounds pretty perfect right?

Well it did to me because as a child I dreamed of being an explorer, cutting my way though jungles with just a back pack and wide imagination. So maybe that’s my I was surprisingly unfazed when 3 weeks before departure my guide/ friend/ local expert had to push her portion of our trip back 2 weeks, a luxury among many that I didn’t have.

After a day of letting my imagnation run wild with all the marvellous possibilities of the places I could go and consulting some friends I decided there was nothing better to do than push forward and fly solo in Mali.

Tomorrow I am off to Africa, my first time in a 3rd world country, living where I don’t speak the first or second language. I have briefly met the principle of the local school in Kalabankoro and have faith that he will honour his word and take care of me. I have a body full of travel vaccines, a backpack full of things I hope will be the right things for the life I am about to live and I have a calm feeling which’s powers is not to be underestimated.

Reading travel warning about the place I will be next time I am not living in an airport is an interesting way to spend my last night, warm and safe at home. Mali presents real life dangers, such as kid napping, that my current experience is only though on line research and I don’t wish for it to grow.

Despite serious warnings I can’t help but expect to be blown away by the beauty of the humanity I find as I go off to live real life Mali style.

I am excited and I am nervous and right now I feel like I am winning:)

I once heard a wise friends of mine Ash say “unless you are in mortal danger; fear is your bodies way of telling you you are about to grow.”... So here I go!

Good Advice Dear Ella, Cheers xx

my advice:
listen to music
laugh
write
wake to morning sun
draw
oppshop
skate
take photos
read
sit in a park
surf
dance around
eat
ride kid bikes
sing
keep a pen nearby
get on stage
drive
listen to the rain
love

Flaunt It!

As I watched live the rescue of the trapped Chilean miners my mind flicked back to August 5^th when they became trapped to see if it was a standout day in my life. Straight away I could pin point that day and my mind raced forward thinking of all that I had done, seen and experienced from that day to this. It was instantly clear that I could never calculate the true value of the life I had lived in those couple of months. In the 69 days that the men were trapped ....meters underground, among many other things, I had spent a month working with a circus in Edinburgh, seen the sights of London, Paris, Shanghai and Melbourne and flown on a trapeze. I had hugged my loved ones, played with my dogs and was presently surprised to bump into old friends.

 When talking about it with my friend Alex it was elements of my daily life that I do just because I can; go for a run or soak in some sunshine etc that weighed heaviest on my mind. I do these things often and I do them just because I can, sometimes in the case of going for a run- I do them begrudgingly. As a white woman I put in considerable effort recognise and appreciate things that I could easily take for granted. I have learnt to value every exchange with my loved ones and the following cliché’s and that I can follow and achieve goals that I set for myself. Alex joked that I was ‘Flaunting It’ by going for a run when the miners couldn’t- in the moment I didn’t even want to be doing it. So it got me thinking about all the things that I do flaunt- travel, just because I can. Calling my friends, just because I can. Reading, just because I can. I soon realised that the bank of things that I could potentially flaunt is HUGE and my imagination ran wild about all the things I could do and share and become if only I flaunted what I had on offer to me a little more.

All of this is a nice idea of course but I often struggle with the motivation to do good things for myself. My beautiful friend Zoë (master world explorer) recently returned to Australia with a spinal cord injury leaving her paralysed from the waist down. I have no doubt that Zoë along with her friends and family will be flaunting all that she has in order to get the strength and mobility she seeks. And I have the same capacity to flaunt what I have and grow...so I figure I should.

I think that I am going to look in to creating an International Flaunt It Day.

International Flaunt It Day- Flaunt what you are blessed with.

Or International Flaunt It Day- do good things just because you can.

I’ll get back to you when I find a date...

Till then I will be working on appreciating all that I do have and flaunting it...for the best of course J

P.S Dear Zoe sending you love every day and will now add to that a thank you for your motivation.

Making It Happen- Starting Sport

Have you ever stared in awe at a skier getting some seriously big air in the terrain park? Sat and watched a surfer, wondering what it feels like to ride a wave? Gazed out the window of a smelly bus at a cyclist whizzing past you at peak hour? Everyone has to start somewhere – but how do you take the first step?

This article (link below)  popped up in my Yahoo window and I think it has great concepts to make life work. Let your imagination wonder to see how you can become what you want. I have ticked the Skiing, also throwing myself into living in the snow; currently working on the running and surfing isn't too far down the desire list :)

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/banzai/snow/feature/-/8182053/getting-started-the-first-steps-in-sport/

AH the treasures to be found discarded in other peoples' store rooms :)

A Tourist in my own back yard

I love travelling; and when I had to return to Australia for an extended period of time this year there was no way I was going to give up the lifestyle I love. Travelling is not just for new places- there is a world of magic still to be discovered in your own back yard.

I had this moment hanging out at Garth’s house down the coast. It was a step away from my everyday Australian life but such an awesome quintessential Australian experience. It reminded me of the glorious pay off for making the most of what I have.

Love for the Ones You Miss

Last Thursday night I was at a pub celebrating a dear friend’s birthday when Katie walked in, handed me a small stack of colored scrap paper with messages scribbled on them and bull dog clipped together and turned to leave. The front page simply said "Some reminders that home always loves and misses you love Katie xxx"

It was a strange line to read in Australia. I am yet to feel ‘home’-that peacefully sense of belonging that I have discovered through my travels, in my homeland.

Sometime in the last year and a half, during my most recent time overseas my former work place, The Reach Foundation (http://www.reach.org.au/),  had run a session on ‘Love for the ones you miss’- a simple concept that produced magic. Reach is a rapidly evolving culture of cool and I reside myself to the thought that I fade to a memory when I am away. But in my hand was gold for my sole; an insight into the long-lasting impact that I had made unknowingly.

A message, memory or some love on a scrap of paper, written I don’t know how long before it made it to me instantly became a highlight of my travels even though at the time I was back in Australia and comfortably nestled back within my friendship group.

That was Thursday night and by the end I of the weekend I had discovered that there are a few of my friends that need some love and support that I couldn’t have imagined. And I was reminded that sharing with someone what they mean to you never goes unneeded.  And you will probably never know the great and lasting impact that you really make.

Liana's Fridge

I woke up to this message on my dear friend's fridge after a slumber party- what a way to start the day.