Pretty Standard

10pm, Thursday July 21st. Finally said my goodbyes in Broome, and after a day on the road with Sasha our tour guide and just five other people, we've started the journey down to Perth. It feels a bit strange being away from Broome, but I am very excited about the next leg of my trip. Tonight, we're staying on Pardoo Station - a 500,000 acre chunk of land with about 8000 head of cattle roaming about. It's got a really nice vibe to the place - it is inspiring me to return to a cattle station down the road and see what I can get up to for work. The group seems really nice - I am thrilled that there is just six of us! The tour bus holds 20, so I've got a couple rows to myself which is just total luxury. Tomorrow will be a bit of a low key day - we'll be heading into Karijini National Park for 3 nights of camping around in gorges etc. I am really excited to see Karijini - everyone says how amazing it is! After Karijini we'll be heading towards Coral Bay and Exmouth w...

930pm, Friday July 8th. Sitting in my tent at a campsite in northern Western Australia (WA) called Gambanan. It's a beautiful spot Melissa and I kind of happened upon today. The past two nights we've been staying at a pearl farm camping site called Cygnet Bay. It was very nice - definitely frilly princess camping. We had a nice tent and the kitchen was lovely. The ABLUTIONS were also lovely. Does any of my Canadian friends know what the hell ablutions are? They sound like a cross between abortions and blasphemy to me, but they are just... showers. The Ablution Block. Shower/Toilet Block. Very strange if you ask me, but that's how they do in Oz. We had two nights there, and ended up chatting for a while the second night with a really nice gay couple from Sydney named Robbie and Pete. I've got a job at the Irish Pub Cock 'n Bull when I get there if I so wish. The swimming at Cygnet Bay wasn't the best, but it's sure great here at Gambanan! The private little b...

I can hardly believe it's been a month since my last blog post. How terrible! I've been meaning to write to y'all, but all my moments of inspiration have been taken over by the urge to eat or nap. C'est la vie while living in Broome with 2 jobs I suppose... What have I been up to? Well, working at Lustre as a supervisor and at Diver's Tavern serving and bartending. Great fun! Lustre is pretty chill and I'm in the cafe mostly, and Divers is usually pretty intense serving a lot of people on a daily basis. Divers is one of the "happening" places in Broome with lots of cool live acts, and a great chill vibe. All the people I work with at both places are super awesome. My friends include some Germans, Aussies, Frenchies, Canadians, Americans, Irelands (hehe), Brits... list goes on! It will be weird once this little part of my trip comes to an end. I am looking forward to not working anymore and chilling out again, but it is super awesome making m...

Living in Broome, through Broome-time. Blue skys, green palms, and no white clouds to shadow the city or bring specks of rain down upon the nomads, natives, or nudies.     These moments so special - Are they better shared with some significant other, or better to be relished and absorbed alone?   Broome is anything but lack-Lustre, combining the magnificent colours of Mother Nature; Reds, blues, greens, browns, with the energy and vital vibe of her human counterpart.   Come for work, play, swim and sun. Relax and absorb the beauty of this land, for you may leave different than when you arrived - with a little piece of Broome left in your heart.

830am, Thursday May 5th, 2011.  What a big few days!  I arrived in Broome on Saturday from Darwin, where Melissa met me at the airport.  Melissa is really lovely and a lot of fun.  She is putting me up here till I get settled.  Broome is awesome - it's a small pearling town of about 15k people, but in the dry season (may-oct) it gets up to 45k people!  Cable Beach runs alongside Broome and is one of the top beaches in the world!  Beautiful white sand stretches for miles, outlining clear blue water going as far as the eye can see.  Being on the west coast, the sunsets are incredible too.  Melissa often goes for walks on the beach after work, so I've been tagging along.  During our first walk, she said that it's always different and I wondered how the beach, sky and sea could always look so very different.  But now I understand!  Colours, clouds, glossy sand, sun, those little balls the clams make on the beach... Really incredible.  I've been swimming several times (twice...

6pm Wednesday April 20th. Sitting in kitchen patio area at my hostel in Darwin called Chillis. It's right downtown, but that's not saying much as downtown Darwin is quite small. Great nightlife though! Gone out and met a bunch of people last few nights, but going to take it easy now for the next few days. It's Easter weekend so there should be lots of people out and about! (said in an over exaggerated Canadian accent and people love it, eh? It's actually great - people ask where I'm from, I say Canada and mostly everyone is genuinely happy to hear it! "Oh Canada, cool! *big grin*") Another beauty day here today - it's the start of the dry season so the humidity is gone and it's not too hot - just perfect! Today I have done not much of anything, and tomorrow will probably be much the same. And the day after, and the day after that. Yesterday was a busy(ish) day - I got a fair amount accomplished. I sent out some mail and postcards - this required ge...

And, thanks for the chili pepper. On the bright side of that pretty awful experience, at least now I know I'm not dreaming, and this place is real. The story goes like this: Currently 7am April 15th sitting in "The Porch Cafe" in Sanur, Bali, watching all the scooters go by. It's my Dad's birthday today - Happy Birthday Dad! We arrived in Bali from Timika yesterday afternoon about 4:30pm, popped next door to the airport and had a Bintang beer (or two). We then headed back to where Gordon had us booked in at a little place called Flashbacks behind a cafe called The Porch in Sanur. Kuta is the main party town in Bali where all the backpackers and tourists go, but Sanur is more quiet and less hustle and bustle. The rooms are rustic little cabins/huts surrounded by lush greenery. I love it here. I digress... After changing into my black dress we head to a nearby bar by the beach for a mojito and some dinner. I love the Balinese artwork here - so my style! We're ch...