January 2019 – Weird World of M.E.

After the Tree Top Walk in Walpole, we went up to Margaret River, which is a popular area for vineyards and breweries. We visited the Snake + Herring, where you can get reasonably priced wine. After that we went to the Cheeky Monkey Brewery. They make beer and cider, not bad. I recommend the Australian Lager.

I love Australian meat pies! They have every flavor, breakfast pie with egg, cheese, bacon and gravy (the picture), beef and pepper, chicken curry, lamb roast, etc. the options are endless. I definitely recommend giving them a try.

Started off the morning with a walk around the Nornalup inlet. The inlet feeds into the Great Australian Bight. It is a calming place to be. You can see distant hills layered on top of each other. The still water. Trees of every shape and height in all directions.

Here’s a link to a map, if you’re curious about the area of Walpole, WA

Went to the Tree Top Walk in Walpole. It’s beautiful, but scary if you’re not comfortable with heights. The tallest part of the bridge is 40 meters (132ft). The Karri trees, a type of Eucalyptus, can measure well over 70 meters (230ft). You feel so small even when you are in the tree top.

With seven days to go until I leave for Sydney, my WWOOF host family took me for a trip down south. On this trip we made a detour for the popular Gnomesville. Sooo many gnomes!! It was hit by a flood not to long ago and damaged several of the gnomes, but there’s always more being added daily. My Aus fam and I left 3 gnomes ourselves. One was for me and we wrote: Mexican Gnome away from home. I thought that was great.

Next, we made our way down to Walpole where the famous tree top walk is.

I’ve put myself through a lot of self reflection in the last few months. It’s been emotional, to say the least, but I am proud to have gone through it. I’ve learned to handle my feelings better by understanding where my anxieties and insecurities have come from. It was tough accepting my own faults, but I’m better for it having had the space to focus on what matters. I was also dealing with my relationships and sorting out those who I love from those who would do me more harm.

My playlist in Australia:

Brian Hyland- Gypsy Woman

Simon & Garfunkel- El Condor Pasa

The Cars- I’m Not The One

Looking Glass- Brandy

Elise Trouw- Burn

ODESZA- Just a Memory feat. Regina Spektor

Chris Stapleton- Tennessee Whiskey

Helen Reddy- I Am Woman

Tom Misch- It Runs Through Me

Kings of Convenience- Boat Behind

Portugal. The Man- Feel it Still

Tash Sultana- Jungle

Ben Folds Five- The Last Polka

The Black Keys- Weight of Love

Akron/Family- River

Dan Croll- From Nowhere

Cymande- Dove

Beach House- Space Song

Flora Cash- You’re Somebody Else

Queens Of The Stone Age – Make It Wit Chu (Virgin Magnetic Material Remix)

Half Alive- Aawake at Night

Sarah Bareilles- Sweet As Whole

What to do with the wind? I sit in it until I build up a laughter. I stand, bracing the impact, listening to the whispers flying by, tempted to sit back down, knowing better. I let the brewing heat in my chest slip past my lips, my shrill scream turns into a coarse howl. What else can I do, but embrace it all.

My Other is out there, somewhere. I feel it. I know. I have no idea what s/he looks like, yet I see glimpses of my Love in a shy, crooked smile, the wet glint of an eye, an effortless laugh, in the radiating heat of a tender touch, and in the warm, lavender breeze that kisses the back of my neck. Insignificant to most, these gestures are our souls traversing across inexplicable plains. So fragile through the distance that with another word, another look–it all disappears, leaving an emptiness that I can’t satisfy, yet I’ve never felt more whole. In between the waves, I float in the lake that is my life, waiting for the one that won’t ask me why. S/he will join me and together we will look up at the sky present to everything/nothing, but each other.

Pictures of the HUF Farm where I have been WWOOFing. It’s been great watching things grow and bloom.

The Pinnacles in Nambung, WA. Went to catch the sunset, it felt like I was on Mars.

This the Moore Estuary where the Moore River meets the Indian Ocean.

Went to North Coogee beach for Boxing Day. Has an interesting history and scenery, a ship crashed into a lighthouse. The ship is still there for people to scuba dive around.