me & geography

Settling in...

2008-10-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

It's always wild moving to a new place, so many expectations and dreams that you've hardly noticed. You've built some imaginary castle in which you plan to live out your day-to-day fantasy life.

Though this is not entirely true of our move to Ireland. I mean our house is a bit like a castle, what with the hillside view of the sweeping hills and the.... well I suppose that's the only thing that's castle-like. But Ireland. Wow. You've tipped us on our heads and left us gasping for breath. But we want more!

In the last week we've discovered, re-discovered and uncovered some possibilities for the next stint of our lives, time flies, spirals too quickly and then slows to a snails pace as the wind whips around the perimeter of our winter hide-away.

The nearby town has accepted us and we feel a part of it already. It's slowly sharing it's jewels with us and this past week we've had several. But the most notable was the Sustainable-Clonakilty meeting we all but stumbled upon on Wednesday evening. A small group of locals, head by one who runs the outrageously well-priced local organic shop, gathered to discuss the fate of their town. They blushed when we applauded them on all that had been achieved so far, the recycling and garbage program keeps most large families down to producing only one large bag every 3 weeks. The fact that they are a fairtrade town, with local fairs and markets and shops flourishing, when the rest of the western world seems to be doing these things only to save face. But that is not enough. This small group aims to make the whole area sustainable. And they've been at work at it for 8 months. They've paired up with a city in Austria who will big-brother them through the process. They go next month. They work quick here.

This little town is proving to challenge the way we live and think and encouraging us to push our limits. They'll be plenty of jobs, though volunteer, trying to collect all the data required to design a sustainable system that will work for Clonakilty, and so perhaps we'll have to survive a bit longer without savings and pour our resources into supporting this movement and gaining from all it is sure to offer.

Through all this, what is only 2 weeks but has already seemed much longer, we've been concentrating our efforts to find what we're meant to be doing as independents and how we want to live as a family. We're working on markets, music and our exploding tree artist co-op collective visions and we're sure that more hints and guidance will come with time. Looking forward to sharing the outcome with more updates soon.

xx A & J

Our new home

2008-09-30T14:05:00.001-07:00

Hello!

We're on the road again, at least we were, but now we're settled again... This time in Ireland. We had a great trip from Canada to England with wedding blessing in Cambridge followed by 'Justin Grounds' tour while visiting with friends along the way. We then drove through Wales spending the day napping in sheep fields and popping into small towns on our way to the ferry terminal at Fishguard to get onto a 2:45am boat last Friday morning.

We awoke 3 hours later to the captain on the intercom telling everyone to get back into their cars and off we went. It was Just's first time to Ireland and the mist over the rolling hills did the trick, he's hooked.

We were meant to come straight to our winter hide away but were told that builders would be working until Sunday morning, and since it's a house-sit, and not costing us more than a few electrical bills, we didn't complain... instead we took the opportunity to visit with my friends Denise and Gary south of Dublin, who I met in Australia and have just had a baby and moved house. We stayed there 2 nights and then made our way here, after giving the bug a tune-up and via visiting an old friend of Just's who now lives in Roscrae and makes Irish pipes (beautiful!) when he's not working as a paramedic, to Inchydoney.

Inchydoney is a tiny village of sorts with no shops but a massive expanse of beach and dunes. Clonakilty is our nearest town, a mere 5 min drive away where you can find all the modern conveniences and pubs, pubs, pubs.

We have spent the last 2 days foraging & munching on blackberries & sea lettuce (way to go Will & Lucy on the book! we've used it to both feed ourselves and avoid death by poison) and swimming in the ocean (wetsuits are a must).

I also had the pleasure of visiting the local guarda (police) station to register to stay more than a month, since i'm married to an EU-er. There was no line, no wait and no forms. Et voila! I can stay a year and work anywhere I please. It was a joy, a credit to the Irish lack-of-red-tape establishment.

So what's next? We've been on the trail for what's to come and it's looking like it will be a great winter, with friendly neighbours and lots of prospects for good work.

Ok, all this from a hotel parking lot located conveniently down the road with WiFi... internet to be setup once the first bill arrives!

Much love to you all and hope this finds you well!
xx A&J

Oregon Rash and Tattoos

2008-06-01T18:28:00.001-07:00

Hello All,

Justin here, typing while Allison makes some dinner. Well we spent a week in McMinnville, Oregon, and there are two stories to tell, both concerning skin.

After a week of being on the road and camping, we got to the Phillips' house, and enjoyed a lovely hot shower, and Allison scrubed her face with exfoliating soap and then toweled down with a nice freshly washed towel. Lovely.
Hmmm, not so lovely, as the towel had been tumble-dried in the machine with a cheap no-name fragrant drying sheet....and little did we know that she was extremely allergic to some chemical in the sheets...Within hours her face was all red and inflammed, and we were wondering what the matter was. However, still puzzled, we got on with washing all our dirty clothes and gave them a good fragrant tumble-dry. Within days, not only Allison's face, but her whole body was covered in terrible red blotchy rash which was itchy and uncomfortable and spreading. We visited the Rite-Aid pharmacy about 5 times, each time getting another brand of cream, none of which did much for the, now very unpleasant, rash. I spent mornings on the internet researching home recipes for soothing balms, including grinding up Vitamin C pills in the coffee grinder and making a paste, which seemed to soothe the skin for a few hours.
After deciding it must be the dryer sheets, we boil washed all the clothes and strung up a makeshift line in the yard to dry them. Allison also wrapped herself in the sleeping bag to avoid any contact with any sheets!

Eventually Tracy came home one day with a tube of 'Miracle Rash Cream' and we jumped on that for a few days, but still little help....only temporary relief. With the USA medical system being so costly and Allison stubbornly refusing medical help, we toughed it out, aiming to get a doctor as soon as we reached good ol' Canada.

By the time we reached Seattle on the Greyhound bus, Allison's eyes had swollen up and she had to lie down with Chamomile tea bags on her eyes . Things were getting desperate. However sure enough we made it to Canada (after much trouble with the border guard, who found us to be 'very suspicious'!) and Allison found some nice steroids and medicated cream, which has started healing her up within hours and stopped the itching....
Phew!

The other skin story is a tattoo story. Reid (our friend in Oregon) does a fine trade in home-made tattoo guns and 3 years ago did a tattoo on me (Justin) making one out of my old electric shaver, a biro tube and one of my guitar strings! So, on returning to Oregon, we decided to get our wedding rings tattooed and came up with a nice little ring design. Saturday afternoon saw Reid pull out his gun and a bottle of ink and (with the pain-killing supplied by gin and lemon through a crazy straw!) we were married indelibly under our skin. (This, of course, happened before the rash spread down Allison's arms and hands!) We called this our Oregon wedding, and grabbed some lemon meringue pie and champagne and had a nice wedding dinner. Now that's a ring that isn't coming off!

Another post with non-skin related details coming soon.
xx J&A

Arrived in McMinnville

2008-05-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hello!
We're safe in the home of Just's friends' just south of Portland... return the VW tomorrow with only one parking ticket damage thus far... (fingers crossed!)
We're here for a week so will be online & skype!
x A&J

Redwoods

2008-05-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

We're now in a town called Crescent City, just south of the border of Oregon. The past few days have been incredible. So much learning and seeing and doing.

I forgot to say in the last post that we had spent the previous morning (last Sunday) looking around San Fransisco we happened upon a traffic jam like no other, the closer we got to the city, the worse it got, and the more costume-clad university types we started seeing... see photo... we decided to take a risk and drive down a blockaded road only to find ourselves in the middle of the biggest post-street party clean up we had seen a while, ambulances, street cleaners and garbage trucks... and more of the cosumers - totally loaded, and it was 11am on a Sunday... we figured it was a end of year uni party and got the heck out of there, luckily the main downtown area was clear... later we found out it was actually a marathon day that has been running every year and has just exploded with crazyiness... wild.

From there we found ourselves climbing a mountain and chatting up a park ranger for discounted camping, which she helped us out with and we have offered a free ticket to Just's seattle show for her boy.

We camped that night in this amazing ravine, with private beach and amazing sunset.

Yesterday we were hunting for this hippy community Just had found when he was here years ago, turns out it's been sold and so instead we drove into the middle of the redwood forest and met a nice Texan who we decided to share a site with... an early start this morning and we've already got 3 hours of driving under our belt and it's 11:30am. Crossing the border today and hoping to pithc our tent on the beach again...
LOTS OF LOVE!!
A&J
ps. the first couple pictures are from our first 2 nights on the route 1, (which we've been driving on this whole time, night 1 on a beach in santa barbara and night 2 in big sur)

Going North

2008-05-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ah. The landscape around here is amazing.
Just and I spent last night camping at the edge of the ocean on this massive rocky bluff with no one else around, except whoever stole one of our bagels from our food store in the middle of the night!

We're rushing our way up the coast so more pictures tomorrow I'm afraid. If you want to find us on a map we stayed just south of Stintons Beach last night and are at Point Area now, sleeping in the redwood forest tonight.

Just to let you know we're here and well!
xo A&J

Driving Driving Driving

2008-05-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Just and I are making our way up the coast, we spent the night last night next to the beach just south of Santa Barbara and are almost at Big Sur where we'll be camping again tonight. We're loving our tent and are happy to have some nice in-between quiet time together.

It's been incredible being back in North America, so many big cars and big RVs towing SUVs... amazing.

No pictures for the moment, just doing a few emails in a little coffee shop and off again.

Lots of love!!!
xx A&J

Joshua Trees

2008-05-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

We left the big city yesterday in the morning and made our way East, out to the Joshua tree desert (via Target of course to pick up a snazzy tent & air mattress).

It was an amazing time to have a bit of peace and quiet and reflect on our move across the sea and look forward to what's coming.... we camped out beside a massive rock formation and climbed to the top for dinner. We are now making our way back to LA for the night and will be heading north on the route 1 tomorrow. Some pictures and a video! x A&J

Melbourne to LA

2008-05-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a long time since I've written anything on this blog but I'm on the road again, and so here we go.

We left Melbourne after almost a year of adventures and new friends. So many beautiful people. A group of our nearest and dearest took us to the airport to send us off, it was a big step, especially for Just who'd been living there for almost three years.

But we were welcomed in LA by open arms and an air mattress to crash on in the afternoon when the jet lag hit. The first two night we stayed with a friend called Sarah in her swish downtown loft and explored the city... some pictures.

Life these days.

2007-07-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

So i've been meaning to post since i've arrived back to melbourne but time and words are fleeting things... big apologies to anyone who has been wondering.

Just and I are living in a little garden flat just outside the city, it is cold and rainy most days but every now and then the sky turns blue and it seems almost like a Canadian summer. We have spent the last month up and around the coast touring Justin's music with lots of adventures and doors opening up for the future. Aside from that days have been filled with projects, i'm helping out with the setup of an artist community turning not-for-profit/community center as well as the running of all things financial and administrative for Just's music and production label... lots of music and lots of new friends.

Life here is flying by in a slow-growing-tree kind of way. We've bought a 1971 beetle who we are learning to take good care of despite all the driving she does, she sits out front next to the '74 kombi van who is tired in her old age and we are getting ready to sell. We have bought me a sewing machine for my upcoming 25th and I'm hoping to get crafty again and run a little market stall out in the country where we have also volunteered to sell products for a local charity... so heaven on earth really, very busy and very much exactly where i need to be at the moment.

We will be flying back to the UK and then back for a visit to Canada for September before coming back here for a bunch of months... miss you all and lots of love. xx Allison

Turkey

2007-06-04T03:26:00.000-07:00

A few more pictures of Istanbul, Im not going to write too much, im a bit sleepy. This is the renouned Grand Bazaar.
We took a boat trip along the river that joins Asian and European Istanbul... saw many beautiful Mosques...

Topkapı Palace
The Blue Mosque.
MARMARIS
For the last week Okan and I have been living it up in Marmarıs, on the Mediterrainean coast. We did a bunch of daytrips including a bıt of scuba diving and lots of sun.

Ruins of an ancient monastary.

Marmaris beach.
And you thought Canadians were patriotic, the Turks love their flag more than we do!
It was Okan,s first dive and we had a great day for it. Lots of fishies and great visibilty.

View over Marmarıs city.Okan swimming in a waterfall.
Mud baths!
A 5000 year old tomb.

So Im back in Istanbul for 2 more days to do a bit more exploring and to prepare myself for the long journey back to Melbourne... I can,t wait.
Much love. Allison

Athens to Istanbul

2007-05-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

After the best night train i,ve experıenced to date ı,ve arrıved safetly to Istanbul. I managed to get my own room for the traın and even though ıt was 20 hours ıt went by pretty fast and ı got some good sleep. Immıgratıon and customs at 4am also went super smoothly and wıth my track record that made my trıp. I.m now at my frıend Okan,s house who I met ın a summer French course a few years back. Yesterday we wandered one of the many cıty centres (ıstanbul has about 10 centers and a populatıon of 15 mıllıon) and last nıght we went out for a proper meal wıth hıs sıster and frıends that lasted a bottle of Rakı and about 4 hours. Wıll be here for about 5 days and then the plan ıs to head south for a week. Im doıng my best to learn some Turkısh and learnıng so much about the culture and faıth over here, will be brınıng a lot of ıt home wıth me.

Vıew of the Blue Mosque and a few others.

Coffee at Istanbul,s waterfront. In Europe lookıng across to Asıa.

Was so good to hang out wıth my famıly ın Greece and ı can,t belıeve ıt,s already over. Thanks so much you guys, I had a ball and wıll be home agaın before you know ıt! xo Allıson p.s. please excuse the typıng... turkısh laptop.

Week 3 - Nafpaktos

2007-05-17T10:30:00.001-07:00

We have left the big city behind and headed South to Nafpaktos, the hometown of my sisters landlord from Toronto. She invited us to stay and we are now setup in our own little apartment from where we've been taking our rental out on adventures in the surroudning countryside. This is us with Effie (landlord) and her daughter Rena on the beach about a 5 min walk from our apartment.

Athena sanctuary at Delphi. Yesterday we drove out to Delphi, where Greeks and Romans used to travel to to seek the advice of the oracle. A very hot and beautiful day.
View over Delphi, ruins of the temple where the oracle sat, which was thought to be the center of the earth.
We are here in Nafpaktos until Monday morning when we head back to Athens, mom and dad hop on a plane home and I catch an overnight train to Istanbul to meet my friend Okan for two weeks before heading back to Melbourne! Much love, Allison!!!

Roberts Family Getaway in Greece - Week 2

2007-05-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Santorini
We spent the last 4 days of our island hopping adventure on beautiful Santorini. This is the capital, Fira, this island is thought to be where Atlantis was, it was incredible, all built up along the cliffs with the land saved for farming. The buildings looks like snow when we were approaching by boat...

Our second day we took a boat out to explore a volcano, the one who's erruption would have destroyed Atlantis.
Sunsets at Oia, this was the big thing to do on Santorini and was worth the close-call-almost-running-out-of-gas-on-a-twisty-mountain-road-covered-in-fog adventure that followed.
Bells and views of Pygros, a beautiful little proper Greek town built at the top of a hill.

Ancient Thera, after a big climb we were rewarded with more amzing views and the ruins of the ancient capital thought to be more than 2500 years old.

Athens We had our last 4 days in Athens. Lots of ruins, lots of history, and lots of kebabs. In the background of this picture you can make out the Parthenon up at the Acropolis, which we were about to climb in 35 degree weather...
Temple of Hephastus at the Ancient Agora.
Views from the top of the Acropolis back down over Athens.

Hanging out with friends on the roof of our hotel downtown, that's the Acropolis lit up in the distance.
Changing of the guards.
Shopping in the busy streets of Athens.
After saying goodbye to Sar at the airport the three Roberts' that remained then rented a car and headed south.

Roberts Family Vacation - Week 1

2007-05-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

Day 1: Athens to Mykonos. After meeting mum, dad and Sar, we boarded our cruise ship and set sail. The Roberts family vacation in Greece has officially begun. The ship is great, about 8 floors, 4 decks, 3 pools and massive buffets.
First stop Mykonos for sunset.
More sunsets and a view of our cruise ship in the background... not too shabby eh?

Sunsets over the city.
Streets of Mykonos.

Day 2: Kudasi, Turkey & Pamos.
We stopped in on Turkey Tuesday monring (as you do) and visited the ruins of Ephassus, ancient city from 200-50 BC, this was a highlight for us so far, super beautiful. It was a bit rainy in Patmos and we were only there 2 hours so I'm not posting any pictures.

The 'theater', able to seat 28,000.

Watching someone hand knot a carpet is unbelievable, I thought crocheting took time, these take 6 months to a year to complete.

Day 3: Rhodes
We spent the whole of Wednesday exploring the walled city of Rhodes, it was beautiful, little cobblestone type streets winding into each other, old windmills, old towers and fortresses.

St. Paul's Gate at Rhodes.

Days 4 - 7 - Crete. For the last 4 days we have been exploring Crete. The Palace of Knossos was something to see (2000 BC) as was the cave where Zeus was said to have been born. We rented a car for 3 days, checked out some beaches and had our first bit of proper relaxing.
Knossos, check the views!

This is the climb to the cave Zeus was said to have been born in... waaay back when.

A bit of a road block. We started calling these lovable mountain creature Gheep because we weren't sure if they were sheep or goats....
A well deserved beer after doing a bit of off-roading in our rental... an adventure to say the least but we're all still in one piece!

A market in the capital.

A fort on the North Coast, built by the Turkish in about 1500. The Turkish and Greeks fought over Crete for more than 1200 years.
mmm church bells.
Proof we've been in the Aegean sea.

Lunch by the sea.
Tonight, our last night out in Crete.So, tomorrow we're off to Santorini for 2 days before heading back to Athens to exlpore, we're all doing well and more to come as usual!

A short week in England

2007-04-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

Alright. Well I arrived back to Justin's parents' house in Cambridge last Wednesday. Thursday morning I was greeted by a letter in the door from Ella asking me if I could play photographer for a posh restaurant opening
she had organized for that evening... of course I graciously accepted. It was a fabulous evening complete with fire dancers, free cocktails and live jazz band.

with Ella and Beattie.

a little later in the evening...
Sunday I took the bus to Milton Keynes to spend the day and night with Lucy. She wined and dined me with a picnic in the park to soak up some sunshine and then we headed off to this incredible house our in the country where we made a roast lamb dinner and fed the horses. We met up with a few of her friends and had a good little night out where my dreadies got lots of compliments so I was happy.

Trafalgar Square! (what happened to all the pigeons?)
Monday morning I took the bus again, but this time to London and met up with Jess, once again. We spent the day wandering about London, visited the Tate modern and splurged on lots of yummy food.
After saying goodbye to Jess I visited with Phil and George Tuesday morning and then headed back up to Cambridge. I'll be here till Thursday when I head out to see cousin Martin and family for 3 nights before flying to Greece on Sunday!
Lots of LOVE!

Roadtripping

2007-04-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

Julia and I had an amazing week road tripping the South of Ireland and we very blessed with the most beautiful weather Ireland has seen in April in a long time. First official stop was Galway one of the best little cities i've ever come across.
We met up with Elaine and Jenny, who I met in Darwin last year, for a bit of on-the-fly 'diddly-dee' music and Irish singing.
Galway's infamous prom, the longest in Europe.

After 2 nights in Galway we headed South past the Cliffs of Mohr...

and landed in Ballyferriter, a tiny town right on the West coast, it was so beautiful... and some proof I went into the sea... it was cold enough to keep me out the rest of the trip.

Leaving Balleyferriter we found the ruins of an ancient Monastic settlement from the 6th century, the day was perfect for it, this is the kind of stuff Ireland just oozes.
Early versions of the Celtic cross.

We then kept driving, around the Ring of Kerry, Ireland's most renowed coastal drive.
Daily stops were made to soak the dreadies in saltwater... they were in what I called a 'moody adolescent stage' and have since blossomed into young adulthood, I think the saltwater did the trick.

and came across Staigue Fort, early AD, built simply by piling up rocks and wedging in smaller ones. It was a about 2 miles in from the coastal road and surrounded by sheep.

Oo I just had to take a few pictures of the old Celtic crosses, so many old graveyards and church ruins... so much history.

We spent our other nights sleeping in out of the way little towns, once with family friends of Julia and the other haggling our way into a B&B down by Cork.
Our second to last day was spent exploring Kilkenny and we spent our last night sleeping in this castle-turned-hostel. It was an amazing building surrounded by proper castle walls where we sat inside at night and had a campfire. Not too shabby!
The morning of our last day we explored the Dunsmore Caves, the biggest and best caves in Ireland just North of Kilkenny. The village people had used this cave for protection from weather and Vikings. The history of the place was amazing.

After the caves we returned to Belfast via Dublin to see my friends Denise and Gary again and arrived home Sunday evening. I'm at Julia's until tomorrow night (Wednesday) when I fly back to England. 10 days till the Roberts reunite in Greece!

George Monbiot

2007-04-17T02:25:00.000-07:00

I've loads of pictures from my road trip down south and I will get them up soon, but I've recently been introduced to George Monbiot (check out the site, there is something for everyone) and want to share some of his words. In these articles he writes about obstacles we are now dealing with growing up and living in more affluent countries. Things i've been having lots of chats about lately.

"What the corporate or institutional world wants you to do is the complete opposite of what you want to do. It wants a reliable tool, someone who can think, but not for herself: who can think instead for the institution...

Even intelligent, purposeful people almost immediately lose their way in such worlds. They become so busy meeting the needs of their employers and surviving in the hostile world into which they have been thrust that they have no time or energy left to develop the career path they really wanted to follow. And you have to develop it: it simply will not happen by itself...

(This does not mean) that you shouldn’t take “work experience” in the institutions whose worldview you do not accept if it’s available, and where there are essential skills you feel you can learn at their expense. But you must retain absolute clarity about the limits of this exercise, and you must leave the moment you’ve learnt what you need to learn (usually after just a few months) and the firm starts taking more from you than you are taking from it. How many times have I heard students about to start work for a corporation claim that they will spend just two or three years earning the money they need, then leave and pursue the career of their choice? How many times have I caught up with those people several years later, to discover that they have acquired a lifestyle, a car and a mortgage to match their salary, and that their initial ideals have faded to the haziest of memories, which they now dismiss as a post-adolescent fantasy? How many times have I watched free people give up their freedom?"
see article

"The gulf between what we are told we should be and what we are is growing. As children’s expectations lose contact with reality, they are torn between their inner lives of fame and fortune and the humdrum reality their minds no longer inhabit. Advertising (and the businesses supported by it) is not the clattering of the stick in the swill bucket that Orwell perceived as much as the carrot that keeps the donkey moving. You are never allowed to come close enough to eat, however hard you pull. An economy driven by dissatisfaction could scarcely fail to cultivate mental illness."
see article

I think this is meaning so much to me at the moment because I've a) been tackling my own issues of what I want to do with my life, b) I've been hanging out with so many teachers, who I envy because their work is so needed and their path seems so clearly laid out and c) I've been hearing so many people talk about how quickly life passes, how easy it is to get sucked in to doing something just to get by, how we really need to make sure we enjoy life, that we fight to find our proper calling.

Armagh

2007-04-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Friday and Saturday I spent visiting Lisa and her Kiwi Aaron in Markethill, Armagh. Susan met Lisa in New Zeland and then introduced her to me in Sydney last year and we met up again in Perth. Saturday we drove to the East Coast to the Mourne Mountains and Newcastle. This is rock is called 'Giant's Rock'.

We stopped at this harbour and were greeted by a pair of what we think were sea lions, could me wrong, but they were beautiful and quite massive. In the background you can see the Mourne Mountains.

Views of the Mourne Mountains, this rock wall stretches 22 miles across the mountains, the great wall of ireland.

Lisa, Aaron and I before heading out to a charity quiz night.

Sunday morning Julia from Belfast picked me up and we drove West to Enniskillen where we spent the night with two girls she had travelled with in Australia, this morning we drove South into the Republic of Ireland and are now in Galway for two days exploring and meeting up with a couple friends I met in Darwin. This is the castle next door to Elaine's house that she had told me about on our travels, she used to play here when she was little, this horse just wanders around the ruins all by itself... beautiful place.

The North Coast

2007-04-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Monday Julia, HT and I went up to the North coast for a bit of exploring. Before long we found ourselves at the BEAUTIFUL Giant's Causway. Legend is that two giants, one here and one on the coast Scotland threw rocks across the channel at each other and this was the result. A sea of hexagonal rocks. I love rocks. I loved this place.

What remains of a little church we stumbled upon... a favorite photo shoot, felt much like the old ship wreck on Fraser Island.
Dunluce Castle, very very nice and old.

Musseden Temple... located on the edge of a cliff in the middle of a sheep field (which we crossed unharmed (mum you would'a loved it)). I used to be a library, part of a Bishop's property, we also roamed around the ruins of his house.

HT is leaving me tomorrow to head back to our homeland :( It has been so amazing being able to spend time with her these last 3 weeks, a broadway musical really, wouldn't have had it any other way! T-MO you're the best!!!

Julia and I are headed South for a week after I visit Lisa in Armagh this weekend (who I met in Oz) and so lots more to come... i'm back here around the 17th and flying out of Ireland back to England on the 18th. Lots of love!

Around Belfast

2007-04-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

The fabulous Dunn family who've been putting up with me the last few weeks.
<-- Irene, Andrew and Elizabeth
Graeme (who, by the look on his face, would rather be eating a kebab at 3am) Mrs. Dunn (our hostess with the mostess and HT)

and resident celebrity Roy

Some more pictures of new friends and old friends around Belfast.

Home Sweet Home.

Beaches and Parks

2007-03-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon and Saturday Heather and I took long walks. The first was through the sea-side town of Bangor with Richard and Claire (Richard's cousin and her financee).

Building dams and collecting shells at Bangor beach.

Saturday was a long walk to lady Dixon Park where Heather and I did things like lie in the grass and rearrange nature.

Plans now are to have a 9-day road trip with Julia after Heather leaves here next Friday and then back to Cambrige April 18th... ooo the adventure continues!

The Troubles

2007-03-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Julia, Heather and I spent the morning on a Black Taxi tour, learning a bit more about 'the troubles' by getting a tour of the some of the areas of Belfast that are still divided and covered in murals. For a little background 'the troubles' refers to the time between 1970 to the mid-90s when Catholic militant groups were fighing to reunite Ireland while Protestant groups were trying to keep Northern Ireland's Brittish rule. In this time many innocent people were killed, the country is still struggling to heal from all the damage done.
We visited Catholic and Protestant communities still divided by a 'peace wall' and gates that close the road between after dark. The messages on murals are similar on both sides, tributes to heroes and successes, prayers that history won't repeat itself and for troubles to end in other parts of the world...
gates to keep kids from causing more trouble after dark...

The peace wall that divides and will continue to do so until the people express a common desire to have it taken down.

Blustery Belfast

2007-03-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

The weather here is nuts. You'll go out on a sunny morning and before you reach the bus stop it's hailing, by the time the bus arrives it's raining and by the time you mount the bus it's blue skies again. The wildest weather i've come across anywhere.

I'm staying with Heather at her boyfriend's grandma's house (Nanny Dunn), who has proven to be quite the host, the house is always full of family or at least grandkids staying over after a big night out.
Heather and I have been meeting up with Julia (who i met in Canada a few years ago)and spending days exploring Belfast as well as nearby cities and castles.
I'll likely be here another 2 weeks and we'll taking in some of the more cultural highlights, doing the renouned 'black taxi' tour of the Protestant/Catholic areas tomorrow, learning a bit more about the Troubles. Also looking forward to heading a bit further North and West, haven't seen proper Irish countryside yet, can't wait to get my first real glimpse of some rolling hills.

It's so nice to have a home base again, seems like everywhere I go i'm being looked after, with time to breathe and daydream, and there've been lots of 'em. I'm looking forward to many possibilities for the next few months, lots of good things growing. Lots of love. xo A

Days in Dublin

2007-03-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

Stayed for 2 nights with Denise and Gary in Dublin. They were amazing, met them in Sydney. However, I dont' have a picture of them since we had planned to meet them for a birthday drink after I met up with Heather the last day but due to the crazy Dublin traffic

(the worst i've come across so far) it ended in a rush to meet them to collect my bags at the bus station before scurrying off to Belfast.

The two days I did spend in Dublin were great, a very busy city, thick with history. I had the first day to wander on my own and then met Heather who came down from Belfast to meet me.

Family Ties

2007-03-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

Twas so good to meet and re-meet some of my more distant relatives. Was Brenda's 70th surprise birthday, so the timing was perfect. Everyone was so lovely, look forward to seeing them all again.

Plans and Reflections

2007-03-09T02:14:00.000-08:00

I'm back in the UK at my cousin Jessica's house in London; heading to Ireland Tuesday to visit a bunch of friends, primarily Heather from home who will be in Belfast. Will be in Ireland for 6 weeks without much internet. This weekend am visiting with family in the South, got a ride up and took the ferry (left at 3am yesterday, arrived 4pm... eech) with my cousin Jim from France.

I'm slowly digesting the last 6 weeks, the second section of this journey. After Johnny's in Villers, I took the train back to Taize for 10 days, 6 of which I spent in silence living with 7 other girls. Taize is a community founded by monks, I'd say about 40 live there permanently, that has been going more than 40 years. The busiest time is Easter till autumn on with as many as 10,000 people staying there for days, weeks or months at a time, about 500 were there with me and two of the girls I stayed with in silence have been there since Septembe It's a place that leaves you encouraged creatively and spiritually, feeling the importance of individuality, simplicity and community. The way the community approached 'religion' has a way of removing all the bullshit that I (and many others) have struggled with for so long, welcoming everyone with open arms and focusing on the true nature of 'God' - Love... Hard to explain in just a few words, but meeting so many people who are so lovely and down to earth was incredible, and so many new places to visit along the way! An incredible experience I will cherish forever, the perfect place to start out this adventure.

I left Taize and caught rides with some really kind strangers (sounds better than 'hitch-hiking, eh mum?) back across to Jim and Jane's where I stayed a few nights before coming up here. Looking forward to Ireland, really feeling like it's meant to be, so many beautiful people to visit, some of which I haven't seen in years and years! Peas and love! xxxxx Allison (ps. apologies for the lack of pictures)

Villers le Lac

2007-02-23T02:56:00.000-08:00

I am now getting ready to leave Villers le Lac, a small french village about 5 min from the Swiss border known for its waterfalls and views. I've spent my time here staying with my friend Johnny, who I met waiting for a plane in Brisbane last year, a fabulous pastry chef and amazing host. He and his family have let me grace them with my presence for a week and I am very thankful for it, its beautiful here and i've spent my days split between France and Swizertland touring around and soaking up lots of nature (and pastries). That first picture is taken from the top of a closed ski hill (they,ve only had 2 days of ski season here) with Villers le Lac in the back ground.

Next week I will be in Taize severed from the internet and stewing in silence.
Monday Johnny drove Marie, his girlfriend, and I to see all the different natural attractions of the area, criss crossing back and forth between Switzerland and France.
Wednesday I spent the afternoon working at the patissery with Johnny and his girlfriend making chocolate and other yummy treats. A bit of a take-your-foreigner-to-work day.
Yesterday I walked all over Chaux de Fonds, a little self guided tour of sorts, initially ended up in this little Swiss town to see work by the architect 'Le Corbusier' who I did a project on in school but ended up more interested in the stained glass scattered all over the city.
a synoguge in Chaux de Fonds, one of the biggest in Switzerland, built 1896

my favorite stanied glass of the day --->

Villa-Turque - Le Corbusier designed this home for his parents, he's famous for it, not really my style though.

found this one in a church, very dark but very pretty.

much love and will post again in a week or so xxx

Lucern § Lausanne

2007-02-20T23:48:00.008-08:00

Thursday night I stepped off the train in Lucern to find myself in the middle of their monster carnival... to scare away the winter. Met Andre, my scuba buddy in Western Australia, quickly dropped my stuff at his apartment and walked to the old city center for a quick drink... that quickly turned into a night of dancing in the streets surrounded by fully costumed brass and percussion bands playing songs like Aerosmith's Crazy, they were all incredible. The amazing thing was that everyone homemakes their costumes, famillies and friends all dressed to match, there we people with bird cages, paint buckets and full shower stalls on their heads, whole bands dressed like devils, and lots of knights and carabanna type colours. I was introduced to cafe-schnapps (yum) and met a bunch of Andres friends, spending the night immersed in Swiss German. I didn't take any pictures, they wouldn't have done justice, but if you can picture any old city crammed shoulder to shoulder, everyone in full creative costume, bands setup around every corner so that the only way to move was to dance, through the streets, up and down stairs... that was my proper introduction to Swiss-German festivities.

Friday Andre and I woke up early for a day trip to Lausanne, about 2hrs away to pick up some of his old stuff for his new apartment, spent the afternoon exploring a bit, Lausanne is beautiful with an old city center, complete with 700 year old Cathedral and Lake that stretches out to touch the mountains.

Saturday brought snowboarding for my first time. These are the moutains in the distance, took a cable car up to the resort town and after a few hours of lessons, Andre left to join Andia and Lukas on the big-kid hills and I was on my own. It was incredible, beautiful and my bum still hurts 3 days later...

Saturday night, we had a well deserved Raquelette feast, the focus being lots of broiled cheese and potates, and for desert we went out dancing...

Sunday Andre took Lukas and I out for a bit of a tour and then Lukas dropped me off at a train station on his way home to Fribourg where I then met up with Johnny who I am staying with this week in France, about 5 min from the Swiss border.

Zurich with Liz

2007-02-14T23:50:00.000-08:00

So for the last three nights i've stayed with Liz in Zurich and explored the very beautiful city. Liz, for those who don't know, is also from King, a good friend of Sarah's and is here working for another two years working on the waste treatment, turning pee into fertilizer and will be doing consulting for water system installations all over the world. I'm going to post a whole bunch of pics here, because i really loved Zurich and think all my pictures turned out great, and to the last two posts where I couldn't post pictures before. I have been touring churches so i've posted my favorite two bits of stained glass... my favorite being the second one with the organ in front of it.

Had a Valentine's Day girls only ice cream party last night so I have proof that I am with Liz. I am off to Lucern today and then headed back to France early next week. xoxo

what the Bern?

2007-02-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

so after about 4 hours in taize i had been offered a ride into swizerland... so keeping my arms wide open to changes in my plans i accepted... stayed the night in taize and took part in two incredible services before heading onwards sunday morning... rode up here through the beautiful french and swiss countryside with 2 german boys and a swiss girl... a great adventure including running out of gas on the swiss highway (pics to come later). i,m safe in Bern staying here for a night at a new friends place, this amazing apartment with little old fashiopned stoves in all the rooms, then hope to head to zurich and lucern to visit friends before heading back to taize via a friends house on the border. so plan reversal but loving it thus far... loved taize and cant wait to get back. more love xxx

Max taking full responsibility for running out of gas on the autoban

getting darker...help finally arrived a hour or so later.

Layla, my gracious host in Bern... and check out her kitchen, the log burner in the corner...

Walking beside the river that runs to Bern you will find a makeshift zoo. It was pretty cool, bisons, wild boar, birds, these mountain goats and supposedly bears. It's made right into the landscape and it doesn't cost a thing.

The parliment house on the hill... apparently it goes deep into the hill for military purposes...

more shots of the capital city.

to taize by thumb.

2007-02-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

I have arrived safe after my first, and very successful hitch hike across France.
Jim and Jane dropped me off and i only had to wait about 20 min in the rain before i was picked up by a very nice bulgarian truck driver named boris who lives in Spain. we spent our '4 hors together speqking spanish, a bit of french, a bit of english, a bit of bulgarian and a bit of polish,,, he had rosary beads hanging fro, his rearview mirror and was a great guy with kids my age at home in bulgaria,,, we had a goumet lunch from his ice box at a truck stop,, I wish i could post pics but i cqnt and this keyboard is funny. Boris drove me all the way across to the turnoff for Clunny where i had another ride ready before he left into town and then a third to her with a woman who has been co,ing for years...

i am here, apologies foy lying to mum and dad, there was a change of plans and i cme a day early so i cant call tonight.... so you dont have to stress im here!!! tricky tricky!!! so posting via email and wont be online ,uch this week, but thanks again jim and jane, i made it and it all looks wonderful. the rain has stopped, theres sun on the hills and stained glass in the widows,,, much love Allison

A picnic lunch with Boris

First impressions of Taize... beautiful old bells that ring out into rolling hills

Rancho Relaxo, this time in France.

2007-02-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

These quiet places seem to pull me in and hold me. Now that i'm heading out i'm seeing a lot of similarities between my time spent here and when I was at the orchard in Melbourne... it's been another amazing stay at a quiet out of the way house surrounded by fruit trees, lots of thinking and preparing for what's ahead. Thanks so much Jim and Jane for putting me up and putting up with me. Some sniceless pictures!

My four gracious hosts, Jim, Jane...

...Purdy and Hector...

Same view as from the last post, this one without all the snow... it disappeared in about 3 days...

The thing about ranching is that when the sun shines, there's work to be done.... Jane working in the orchard...

Me earning my keep by keeping the pups in.

A walk with Purdy

The ranch from a distance.

Village of St. Dizier

Lunch on the terrace

Snicey France.

2007-02-03T22:21:00.000-08:00

Week one in France has passed and the weather is changing rapidly...

I arrived in France with Jane (my cousin Jim's wife) to a mountain of snow and ice, or 'snice' if you prefer. A mostly uneventful drive back from the airport turned adventure when we slipped on some snice and barrelled into a snow bank (right in front of a river, to add some excitement). With the help of many a eager french men we pushed the car back onto the road and got'er going again, back-tracked into town and covered ourselves in cold muddy snice trying to will the snow tires onto the front wheels, bonding and proudly succeeding. We arrived home shortly thereafter to a frustrated Jim on his 5th day without power. A few more days without power passed with lots of candles and chatting... a great get-to-know-your-long-lost-relatives kind of atmosphere.

The weather has since started to dry up and so the electricity has been on (and only sometimes off) ever since. My days consist mostly of trips into nearby towns, countryside exploring whilst dog walking, reading and other quiet countryside-ish activities... taking it easy and getting my mind (and dreadies) ready to head out again.

Two pics of what the view from the house was like the first week I was here. I am now on day 9 and will take some more soon for a fun juxtaposition.

Planning to head out this week to Taize in eastern France and visit friends in France and switzerland thereafter.

A map of where I am and where i'll be (probably have to click on it to see better)

headed north, heading south.

2007-01-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe I've already been gone a month though I've packed in enough to have been gone for three. We followed up our trip to London with a week stint that took us North through York, Durham, Newcastle and Edinburgh back South to visit some of my family in Lincolnshire (who were amazing but I'm very sorry to say I was too busy catching up to take pictures). I've also managed to catch up with Lucy and Lou from my Australian adventures last year which was fabulous. Justin headed west to Vancouver this morning and will hit LA for a few days on his way back 'home' to Melbourne. Tomorrow I head off to France where I will be greeted by my third cousins and, it seems, piles of snow. I've had to change my flight from today to tomorrow as the airport I was going to had closed down and Jim and Jane had lost electricity... so, off to a good start, let the real backpacking begin.

Aysgarth all-boys school... Just was invited to do a talk so we stayed in this amazing old house (where I had my very own massive room with ensuite old-fashion bathtub that I took full advantage of), had breakfast with the boys the following morning and explored the grounds.

York's main Cathedral... York was a lovely town but we were only there a short time so I don't have all that much to say about it.

Durham - Standing with Douglas Davis (Just's prof) looking across at the Cathedral and castle that the university was built around... also the setting for the first Harry Potter... and I thought Western's campus was beautiful...

A look across to Lindisfarn, a holy island that is home to an ancient Celtic monastery... we obviously didn't make it across. The road across is flooded most of the day this time of year.

Looking off North-East coast of England on a very windy day.

Just and little sis Marie-Claire at Edinburgh Castle. Fell in love with this city.

What better way to kill time during sound checks and between gigs than to tie knots in your hair... bring on the dreadies! (Ian and Just in Newcastle)

Newcastle's Angel of the North. Nessie left Scotland with us and acted as second captain next to TomTom, the amazing Sat-Nav, that made the twisty, round-about ridden roads of England close to stress-free. Only on one stretch of highway did TomTom start screaming at us to take sharp lefts and turn around as he seemed to think we were driving through a field... we forgive you TomTom.

This is the main river that runs through Cambridge, where people go 'punting' what we in Canada would call running-out-of-gas-in-your-fishing-boat-and-having-to-push-along-off-the-bottom-using-a-big-stick. Picture taken from inside a warm pub on a favourite day.

Lucy and Just in King's College, Cambridge.

My favourite picture thus far taken in Comberton around the corner from Justin’s house.

On a walk with Ella and her two dogs Booze and Freebie… now sporting a head full of knots.

Self-explanatory. ------->

More dreadies! <----

All my love & will update again soon... please send me your good wishes, i'm a bit nervous for this next step... xxx A

first weeks of wandering

2007-01-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

I'm here in the UK alive and well. After some customs drama that made me 2 hrs late getting through immigration (apparently I don't look like I could possibly afford to travel for any period of time) I arrived in Cambridge having to hit the ground running with lots of champagne toasts and Christmas and New Year's feasts. Not going to write much now as I'm about to go out but wanted to just post a few pics to prove i'm here. I've mostly been meeting heaps of people and wandering about Cambridge and London as well as helping out with Just's tour which is going oh so very well. Heading up North the end of the week and looking forward to moving South and then East the end of the month. Plans still TBD.

Cambridge on a very beautiful winter day, can't complain, no need for a winter coat.

Cambridge University church. Cambridge is this absolutely charming little town with a river that runs through it, perfect for a little wander.
Just's second gig - London - was an absolute success (and a sellout). Had quite a bit of drama all week trying to get the cds (Allison doing what she does best on the phone) but they turned up at about 10pm and no one was the wiser.
<-- Meeting up with Jess (my cousin) in London for some cider and Thai food, such a great visit abnd looking forward to seeing her at least once more before I head on.

Right now I'm feeling very thankful to have been welcomed so warmly into Justin's home and not feeling so far from my own. I've been experiencing the entire spectrum of emotions and am sure this will continue throughout the next 8 months as I try to dig deeper and let myself be led wherever it is i'm meant to be going. Look forward to taking more pictures soon to share. Much love!