Monday, April 26, 2010

Sydney

This leg of the journey had started a little rough. My hostel was a disaster (lets not get me started) and I wasn't having a good time. Funny how life takes care of you, even when you aren't expecting it.

I was supposed to stay with a friend from back home while here in Syd, but I was arriving 2 days before her. So I booked a hostel for those two days and figured the rest was history. Turned out that she was going to be sharing a hotel with her work mates and I had to find my own place for the rest of the trip. No worries, Just figured I would extend my stay at the hostel. That lasted until I saw the place. Needless to say I was on the internet right quick and found a deal on a hotel.

HUGE UPGRADE! I was worried about the conditions but am so pleased with the change. I'm a short walk from the harbour, the botanical gardens and the Opera House. The room only has 2 single beds, but they are actually comfortable and my back doesn't hurt for the first time in days. I'm no longer in a dodgy area of town and I don't have flat mates waking me up in the middle of the night after they are finished clubbing. SAWHEEEEET!!!!!!!!

The adventure is just beginning here, and I am looking forward to it. Keep you posted.

Lisa Freitag
Silent River Kung Fu, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Thursday, April 22, 2010

She lay dying while we sleep

I snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef today. Yesterday I took an eco tour through the Daintree Rainforest, which included a river cruise crock spotting (we saw several including a She with 4 babies... seen for the first time by our guide...very lucky and rare sighting according to him)

The Rainforest is the oldest on the planet (over 100 million yrs) and still has plants that date back before the dinosaurs, living and thriving in the forest. Sadly the forest is a fraction of it's former size, and though strong measures are being taken to try to rebuild what can be, Not all the damage will Ever be repaired.

Today I swam the Reef. Beautiful and unique, the largest living thing on this planet and the only living thing that can be seen from space is becoming nothing more than a memory. Pictures of brilliant colours spark our imaginations, and though there are amazing things to see, the amount of dead coral is startling and the damage to these brown dying sea creatures is all too apparent. It's breath taking and heart breaking all at the same time.

The earth is our home and we have both actively and inactively sentenced her to death. A very slow painful death. She lay dying while we sleep

Lisa Freitag

Silent River Kung Fu, Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Living the Dream, Surviving the Nightmare

I'm back in Brizzy, and things are going okay. Planning my next move as it were. The Rock is very impressive, and the upshot of tramping the 9.5k Valley of the Winds trek is it's very lightly traveled. I didn't find it all that hard, granted there were a couple of spots that you were almost on all fours to make up the side, but it was still great. Something I would have done a second time, had I an extra day.

The 3ish hours (allowing for pics and video) of alone time was just what I needed, a reset I've been looking forward to. I was able to clear my head and do some good old physical work. Always makes you feel better to push a bit. My flat mate turned out to be really great and she and I have gotten on quite well. We are friends on facecrack and when I get to Europe she has invited me to stay at her house in Switzerland (should my travels allow). In turn she and her husband have an open invite from me should they ever get Canada bound.

Back here in Brizzy, I'm staying with a friend I met in Toogoolawah. Again she has an open invite to come out and I really hope she takes me up on it.

I'm going to be headed to Cairns, and to Sydney at some point. Again in the process of planning my next move. I'm helping my friend here move this weekend (she's headed to the sunshine coast, so there's surfing in my very near future).

It's not all just giggles, but life rarely is. I'm a little disappointed with the whole UBBT thing right now. Just had a meeting for our team 7 and I'm coming away from it on a less than positive note. It was tricky listening on the skype connection as it was cutting in and out (made it hard to follow) and it quit all together a couple of times. More so, it's the same old story. The blogging is a problem. Sorry guys, but I have not pity for you missing getting something up. I've blogged in airports, walked 30 minutes down an highway each way with semi's wizzing past to get something up. I could have shaved 5 mins off the highway walk if I went through the bush, but I've seen too many poisonous snakes in the lawns to tramp through the bush. I've spent a small fortune on internet access and still every week something hits that internet. Regardless of what country I'm in, or where I'm at in it.

Bottom line? Cram your excuses and just do it. You decided to take on this challenge of your own free will, so get off your butt and make something happen. We are supposed to be a team, and though I'm half a planet away, I'm still trying to lead by example. I'm not a perfect example and it's very hard pulling together when you are literally all alone, but nothing worth doing is easy. Make a choice, take consistent action, and quit making excuses... they don't mean anything to anyone else, do they really mean anything to you?

But I gota go.

Lisa Freitag, Silent River Kung Fu, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Saturday, April 10, 2010

The Rock

Ning seems to be taking a nap and I can't log onto it for love nor money... stupid computers! Who's idea was that anyway?

Moving on... I have arrived at Uluru and have to say that I am very disappointed and offended with the culture here. I don't really know what I was expecting... I'm staying at a resort... I should have been ready for the dredges of humanity to rear it's ugly head. This has to be one of the most expensive places I've ever been to. The food and trinkets are extremely over priced (even by tourist town standards), food is insane, and as an example Corona is over $10/unit. You can bet your behind I'm not going to pay that for something to drink even if I was so inclined! Not to mention that every one seems interested only in their own desires and have no concern for the environment, other people, or anything else for that matter.

The Rock is Impressive. It's a 3 hour hike around the base of it.. average 4 miles an hour walking speed and it's about 12miles around. The Valley of the Wind hike is also a good 3 hours and is rated difficult.. I'll be challenging that tomorrow. Major thunderstorms have kept me indoors this afternoon and this evening. I did make sunrise on the rock this morning and did some hiking in the gorges and around the park.

Only to have it reaffirmed that you can't let people out unsupervised. Signs that say "sacred ground... please stay on the paths and don't climb on the rocks" may as well have said.. "bunnies have pink noses"

People are so rude. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture with out a sea of people jamming in or walking in front of you? People letting their little yard apes run rampant over everything and anything... even the elderly people crossing the barriers to get a close up shot of a butterfly (or something) when there are a billion of them fluttering around.

One guy walked out into the middle of the bush with back packs and tripod to take pics with enough equipment to film fargo.. only to get in an argument with the ranger who told him to get out of there. Some kids were digging up rocks and plants right in front of their parents and again.. not supposed to do that.

Then we get to the litter... There are smoking cans EVERYWHERE so one does not have to throw their butts on the ground... sadly, only the smokers have difficulty finding them. Lids to disposable water bottles are abundant and lets not get started to the lack of recycling that tourists are famous for.

If you want to travel to a place of beauty... make sure you don't look down. That's were the real impact takes place.

On to the Rock's energy. I was looking forward to just sitting alone and doing some meditation. So far I've managed to get about 5 minutes total where I'm not swamped by people. Loud, mammals who are interested in nothing but their own desires.

But I digress... Back to the energy... It really seems no different than any other place on the planet. Some places have very strong, unique energy, and I was expecting Uluru to be one of them. Far as I can tell, I was wrong... and very disappointed. I'm headed back out tomorrow, hopefully I'll find myself with some more time and space to connect and will feel the magnetic energy. Maybe not... it could be just a rock.

The up shot was I had the hostel room to myself last night. It appears I've gotten at least one more flatmate, possibly two. I knew that was the chance I was taking to get a place at $40/night as apposed to $160/night (with out a bathroom) or over $200/night for a proper hotel room. Hopefully my new flat mate won't make me insane. But I'm not overly hopeful.


I guess that's the rant for tonight. I'll try to get back on ning now. Hopefully it's back on line

Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Uluru

I just got back to Brisbane tonight. Tina and I had a great road trip. I didn't do everything I wanted to do, nor did Tina, but we got in all the main ones. We even got in a 10 point skydive this morning. It was a lot of fun. Had to pack fast and hit the road to make my flight back to Brisbane, but it was all good.

Tomorrow begins the journey I have been waiting for my whole life to make. Tomorrow I fly to Ayres Rock (Uluru). This is a place (thought up to now I have never set foot on) I have always felt a very deep spiritual connection to. So far, my experiences have been wonderful, but as with everything else in my life, has been muted by the dark places that haunt my mind. Perhaps the healing energy and peace of this sacred stone will help quiet my mind and allow me to ground and centre.

Since I was a child, I have studied Uluru. I have spoken to locals who strongly believe that everyone should experience sunrise and sunset on the Rock at least once in their lifetime. In their words "It's pure magic". Tomorrow begins my 4 day retreat into the heart of this country. My journey to the Rock.

I will try to sleep tonight, but somehow I think it will be an excercise in futility.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Monday, April 5, 2010

South Island

Okay, so sorry about the last post... It was kind of a get something up before the window closes, kamikaze internet strike. Hopefully that explains the spelling mistakes.

As it turned out, I got to the zoo on the north island the next day and didn't make it out quadding. A little disappointing, but I have a quad at home, and the Rockies are only 3 hours away.

Thanks to hanging with Tina, my Aussie is practically gone. Back to talking like a Canuck, for the most part, she is picking up a bit of the Kiwi, and I still have a shade of the Aussie. Meh, a week back home and there will be no difference.

So we camped the first night of our trip in the Caitlins, slept in a parking lot (we have a campervan) literally steps from the beach. We got up and watched the sunrise over the cliffs, and spent the morning collecting sea shells by the sea shore. But we didn't sell any (hahahahaha).

We drove out to the petrified forest in the Caitlins and the New Zealand version of Niagra Falls... don't ask. Then up to the Fiords at Te Anau. In Te Anau we took a cruise trip out to the Tasmanian Sea (spotted some sea lions on a rock) some great waterfalls coming down off the cliffs, and had a captain that was a blast... completely off his rocker. This is where we met the first set of stranded fellow travellers.

5 young men from the US had not noticed all the signs that there was no gas up in the fiords. Last gas station was an hour away back in Te Anau. So they were pretty much stuffed. They asked the captain to ask the other cruisers if anyone had spare fuel, and Tina and I felt that it was the right thing to do. So we tried to siphon some gas out of our van for them, but that didn't go so well. (we gave on of the boys milk as he was looking pretty green). Turns out there is a screen in the tank so it can't be siphoned. Who knew. We decided to follow them back to town, as we had heard there was a hunting camp where they might be able to get some. As it turned out their luck was in and they managed to get enough to get back. They bought us lunch... sweet kids.

Today I went on the Canyon swing www.canyonswing.co.nz and that was fun. I wore my camera helmet and got some good footage of zipping down the cliffs. I think, I haven't downloaded the footage yet and had a go of editing it. I'll get on that at some point. Electric is harder to come by than internet, so I've been saving battery power every chance I get.

The second strandee we happened across was earlier tonight. We were looking for a camp site where we could (if possible) free park. On the winding "mountain" roads of Queenstown, we spotted a young french guy with a blow out, and by the looks of it, he was having a rough time of changing the flat. So we whipped about and went back to see if there was anything we could do. His jack was useless beyond reason, and cell service was totally non existent. So we drove him back into town, and dropped him at a hostel. He has my cell # and we told him we would be in town until around noon tomorrow. If he needed help, he could text us and we would do what we could.

So far so good I guess. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Lisa Freitag

Silent River Kung Fu, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Queenstown

Tina and I have been on the road for a couple of days, round the south end of the south island.
It's been great. done lots of stuff, but can't chat long as I'm' on my way to the canyon swing for a 220k ride in about 8 minutes.

no worries, once I have time and access there will be video

Cheers

Lisa

Silent River Kung Fu, Queenstown, South Island New Zealand