Three Days off work? Helloooo Asia!

What's awesome about living in Darwin o besides the weather, the outdoors, the reptiles, the storms, the national parks, the markets, the small city convieniance?

The fact that Asia is a mere 1.5 hours plane ride away & a weekend journey to Bali costs me less than $200 return. When reality becomes overwhelming I can just take a weekend off and hop on over without disrupting my normal schedule. And Bali has what Darwin doesn't! Surf, Sun, swimmable beaches! Crazy no rules clubs. Monkeys. Who doesn't want monkeys?

Have I mentioned my friend Dominik well when he left I was on the last days of my no alcohol month and therefore we never quite got the Darwin send-off I love to provide. Yet fate would bring us together again as cheap flights to the sunny destination came up and next thing you know I had booked a six day weekend to Bali Paradise! Then last week five suspected terroists who had been planning several attacks in Bali were shot and killed and the security threat for travel to the location increased. But whatever, well the terroists aim for the tourist hot-spots as a couchsurfer I frequent the tourist not-so-much spots and with my previous surfer RohDiana to greet me at the airport the hidden gems of my sister country will be revealed!

Arriving late Wednesday night I have a couple of days to chill in Denpasar area, a big night out Friday & then its off to Padang Bai to get my diving on. Since November when I became SSI certified in vietnam my brain has been ticking over with possible dive locations and I love that some of the most beautful locations are basically just a short boat ride away!

With Weekends like this you need to wonder why Darwin gets voted one of the most unlivable cities in the world! Oh perhaps its because of the extortionate house & petrol prices! Crappy health care & opportunistic crime sprees!

Getting my 4WD on.

I was thinking about my recant love of 4WDing and why it took me so long to appreciate it. You see I've been an automatic driver my whole life even in Canada my Jeep was an auto. But really in North America most cars are automatic.

When I arrived home in Australia with no money, no car I had to borrow my sisters & my mums to get around for the first few months, both manual(Standard) it was a bit of a learning curve. I had the basics down pat having learnt originally many years ago in a manual car but without the practice I rode the clutch too hard & stalled at the lights many times. I brought my first ever standard car a Mazda3 and sicne then have gradually improved my skills.

I borrowed the work car today to do some errands it was a beast of a Nissan 4WD with some pretty crazy power behind it and six speed. As I was in winnellie I had to do a three point turn I slipped into reverse and BAM stalled. So Im sitting in this road in the busy industrial section of Darwin the middle of the day my car is horizontal across the road and I can't for the life of me work out how to get into reverse every time I try it just goes straight into sixth gear and I stall. Cursing myself I end up driving forward over the nature strip to make my turn. Luckily for me nobody tried to come in or out of the street during my little misdemeanour.

Parking the car I had to call my boss who just happens to be awesome at everything asking him how the fuck do I put the car in reverse. Silly question you think? perhaps. But if I couldn't get the car reversed I was going to have to drive through a few buildings to get back to work. I am fairly certain the shop owners would not have taken kindly to that. It turned out that you press down on the gear stick and slide across to get into reverse. Once I had that awesome bit of information under my belt I was good to go.

My 4Wding is rampant with mistakes. I drive to fast, I make stupid decisions everything is a seriously learning curve. Like making sure Heather has her seatbelt on when I go offroad to avoid headbutting the roof. Going off-road in the wetlands is definitely one of the stupidest decision ever. Mud + Car = GG. I nearly rolled the car once when I slipped over a small ledge balancing precariously on two wheels. Another time I decided to go through "the hard part" when I was so fresh to the experience I got stuck. It was as simple as switching to LOW from HiGH 4WD. Now as I take each bit of advice to heart my skills have improved, I learn best from doing rather than reading.

Now as I look at my little Mazda3 I feel inadequete and jealous of the high clearance beasty 4WDs around me. I need to win the lottery and upgrade. I wonder if I can borrow the work car?

A Taste of the Dry

If you look back at some of my living in Canada entries my love for Spring shines out across the pages. Spring in the rockies is something magical. Temperatures are in the low positives, the sun is out & the days are longer. More importantly warmer conditions bring large amount of fresh white powder with bluebird ski hill days that are hard to match.

Darwin doesn't have seasons, you get hot & wet or hot & dry. Both seasons have their positives and negatives but the dry season is when you really fall in love with the natural landscape of my home territory.

Hot & Wet season stretches from about October to May. Temperatures rarely drop below 30C even in the middle of the night the pressing heat weighs on you. The storms are incredible with more lightning strikes recorded in the world. I've spoken of my love for a Territory Thunderstorm time & time again. Sleeping into a Sunday morning as the sky stays dark around you is something few really appreciate.

This Sunday morning as I awoke I stretched out on my bed yawning, eyes opened to a gorgeous sunny blue day. The air around me was almost cold around 23C (23C is cold to me ok). It was something hard to comprehend being mid-march I should have woken in a pool of sweat instead it felt like the middle of June. Dry season already? Having my morning coffee watching the birds outside reality dawned on me the wet season was nearly over. I won't lie Inside a little part of me jumped excitedly. That day the weather was a taste of our dry much like a short burst of spring can break a winters cold. in a week monsoons would be back but over the next few months the air would lose its 90% humidity and eternal sunshine would return.

Even though I have a passion for the wet the dry holds just as much excitement for me. The dry is all about the outdoors. I can leave the safe haven of my living room to stretch out and explore the abundant beauty of the Northern Territory. Already my camping interests have been piqued as I ponder what beautiful places await me to visit this year. Sitting round a campfire stars twinkling in the sky, beer in hand & awesome people around me.

If you do ever plan to visit Darwin make it for May - September find out the magic that's my backyard. Experience the REAL outback Australia for yourself.

can I just call you bob?

Accent wise I am horrible. When Heather & I travelled South America I learnt a little spanish before hand. I had the brain to remember the words but speaking it I was horrible. Heather could never remember anything so it was up to me. So I would be sitting there chatting in broken Spanish trying to get my point across whilst the locals stared at me blankly.

Heather understanding what I was saying chimes in with a much more recognisable accent so together with my brains and her elequence we mastered the language. Well not quite but we put in a fair effort.

I had a french surfer whose name was Clement but with a french accent more like "Clamont" I just called him Clem. He was cool with that. I don't care what you call me, as long as you call me ;)

Had a meeting at work today with the people who provide our citrix database that our banking system runs off. The chick was up from somewhere south. She starts talking about out in the communities. Ahh.. how do you pronounce it milagabimbi milagomba..maligamba..

You mean Milingimbi? (pronounced Mil-in-gim-bi)

Yea thats it. She smiled.

It never occured to me how easy it was for me to pronounce indigenous names and how hard it was for other people to get their tongues around. Another southerner who is our business development manager has us all in fits of laughter.

"So I'm heading out to Naguka tomorrow"

Spelt Ngukurr pronounced Nukarr

We wont go into how he pronounces Gapuwiyak or Galiwinku.

I guess it puts into prespective how when you grow up around certain sounds how much more fluid it is.

Leaving Paradise.

If you asked me 10 years ago I would have told you I will be in Darwin forever. If you talked to me four years ago I was thinking about coming back to Darwin but could possibly immigrate to USA. If you had talked to me 3 months ago I was moving to North QLD by June.

Its no secret I'm a Darwin girl. I was born to thrive in the climate. I love a permanent summer, I am enamoured with all the slippery crawling croaking animals that surround me. When the big storms come so does the smile on my face. I am all about it taking five minutes to get anywhere. I love getting out to the bush.

Im a bogan aussie and I really wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather chill and have a beer at the pub in singlet & thongs than get dressed up and head out to a fancy dinner.

But I'm a little complacent in this town and now I'm not sure where I want to go. My life has been crawling for the last year. I've watched the people around me fall in love, get married, buy houses and I still have no idea what my plans are. My bank asked me about my long term goals yesterday and I couldn't think of anything.

My contemplation for moving to a new town has been playing in my mind since NYE which even ended with me applying for jobs elsewhere. Than my work decided they would pay for my uni. I also decided I needed to pay off my car loan as soon as possible & moving could put a damper on my savings. With three jobs, uni, my activism & volunteering its no wonder I haven't moved forward. All I do is work & save but I'm not sure what I'm saving for.

But if I was going to move where would I go? Where does a small town girl end up? Will moving to another small town just put me in exactly the same position. But how does a small-town girl move to a city? I get mad at the 2 minute extra time it takes me to get to work in the mornings because of traffic.

Darwin is one of the most beautiful cities in Australia and I love opening peoples eyes to it. I wonder if I could feel the same love for any other place. Anyway with uni it looks like I am here for another year & a half anyway so might as well enjoy it! So to meet the best host in Darwin you still have at least a year :P What are you waiting for?

Until we are all free none of us are free.

After forfeiting my volleyball finals due to prior commitmants this Saturday it meant we also weren't playing semi finals Monday night. Which meant for the first time in months I was able to finally make it to a Dassan meeting.

Aslyum seekers are a huge political issue in Australia more so in Darwin than any other state as the largest detention centres are here. One of my best friends Simon does the I.T for Serco the contraversial security company that manages the centres. Simon is a great guy almost depressed by his position as he sees first hand how seekers are treated. As I have mentioned below I have huge issues with ignorant people and asylum seekers seem to generate the largest amounts creating a much bigger problem than there actually should be. I am fine with people being either side of the argument but the majority of people against refugees have misinformed ignorant arguments that have been fuelled by biased media and politicians. You can't argue with these kind of people.

Attending the meeting there was an asylum seeker telling his story he had been in detention for 16 months and had only just been granted refugee status 2 months earlier. His english was broken but listening to him retell the frustration and conditions he faced every day waiting for his visa to be granted had me enthralled. Apparently women on average cry 35-60 times a year & men cry 5-7. I don't cry very often I would think less than 10 times a year but listening to him talk I had a complete you can't save the world moment and tears welled in my eyes. And this is just one guy out of hundreds.

I realise how much more open I am to dismissing racial stereotypes with my couchsurfing & travel experience. Don't get me wrong I enjoy life a lot I still party with the best of them but I am torn between worlds right now.
I never thought much about refugees when I was younger I was more interested in drugs, sex & alcohol. I lived each day like it was a party. I was self absorbed. I guess I can't really blame other people with ignorant outlooks on the issues when I used to be one of them.

If everyone would give an hour or two each week or a few dollars a fortnight imagine how much the world could accomplish. I want to keep that happy medium of enjoying my own life but at the same time bettering someone elses

Hero complex or what hah! Anyway there is a protest/rally on Good Friday if your interested in creating better awareness and getting involved would love to hear from you. If you aren't in Darwin there are plenty of options around Australia for support for asylum seekers. If justice for a 20yr tyrant can make viral headlines around the world why can't issues that are affecting hundreds & thousands of people in todays society be brought into focus.

Life in the real Australia.

For those of you who have been seeing my facebook updates than you know all of whats going on right now. I am on my third day in Wadeye an indigenous Australian community about six hours drive from Darwin.

Most of my working life has been directly with indigenous organisations with my job before Traditional Credit Union being the Batchelor Institute. Also growing up in Darwin, Northern Territory indigenous influence surrounds you. I've been out to communities before normally just day trips so this was my first over night adventure.

Port Keats/Wadeye has a bit of a reputation I remember my ex who used to come out here telling me about the locals would tie dogs to stakes at the beach and wait for the tide to come in and drown them. Not to mention it is quite famous for rioting with youths armed with machetes storming the streets and people having to lock themselves into offices until it passes. I've been to wadeye about four times now and never seen anything like this but I was a little hesitant about being on my own overnight especially when I saw the three gates and padlocks on my first accomodation. People might say a lot of random shit about me but one thing they say that is true is, that I never let fear control me.

To be honest I don't know if they say that usually Im informed that im crazy or that I have no fear but its the opposite. I am terrified of everything. For years I had to jump from a foot away to get onto my bed because there could be some mass murderer underneath. But I also live by the philosphy that if you do let fear control you than you could miss out on some of the greatest things in life.

Back to the original topic. To add insult to injury a cyclone was set to form off the coast heading directly for the town. I'm not scared of cyclones, yes I did mention im a Darwin girl. Its got to get above a catagory 2 in order to have me quaking. I actually love a huge storm with the wind whipping around me and the houses shaking. Thunder crashing & lightning illuminating the sky. I love nothing more to be standing at the ocean watching the huge cyclonic waves being pelted at the shore as the salty raindrops stream down my face. So with my boss & General manager a little worried about me stuck out in the direct path I was actually a little excited to take the storm head on. What I was scared of is being stuck in the tiny non interesting town over the weekend.

However I decided to stay and was amused when I discovered that most of the tradesmen also staying in the area had left town terrified. Leaving me with only four tradies to entertain myself with.

But lets get back to community life. I'm not sure what people think of when they think of Indigenous Australian communities. But there is nothing that interesting about them. They are small towns with a larger coloured population ratio to westerners. They have ADSL, stores, schools etc. Old traditions are still present though. For instance when someone dies you can't say the name of the deceased person. Cursing places is taken quite seriously. I heard of one woman who cursed the two food shops, the bank and whatever else in her community. When something is cursed everyone is scared and leaves immediately closing down. Sometimes it can take a few days before they are reopened where they have to be smoked out (taking green leaves on fire through the buildings with chantings.) This isnt because of the curse this is because of the very slow, relaxed, there are more interesting things to do - nature of community members. A similar smoking ceremony also happens when somebodies dies to rid the evil spirits they go through all areas the person has visited. When bodies come into the communities from where ever they died all the companies also seem to be shut down by respect.

The elders are the leaders of the communities and their word is law. This is where an interesting mix of western influence & traditional values seem to intertwine. In traditional days if a man raped a woman he was stabbed through the leg (or it could be the achilles heel) with a spear. This often would either kill him or cripple him for life. Now they get jail. People might think these practices are barbaric but often the thought of punishment can be more deterring of the actual punishment. Its defintely evident with the increased violence and assault cases rampant through-out communities nowadays.

Since I've been here in amongst the crazy weather there was a community meeting. A young couple in a relationship had filmed themselves fornicating on their phones. I'm not sure how the elders came about it but the act "shamed" the community. In western culture the act would maybe shame the parents but more than likely only affect the people involved in teh video. As punishment for the event they banned the entire community from purchasing phone credit. There are signs at all the business saying credit will not be sold for the rest of the month. So this punishment has involved the entire community because of two peoples actions. Firstly this would have no effect in western culture as people would just jump online and purchase their own credit. Plus I dont think western kids would care so much about the global shame. But in Indigenous Communties where family is such a huge deal these two youngsters are likely to never commit the offense again. wow. Also its easy to police since people selling credit again the word of the elders would likely be dismissed from the communties, lose their jobs etc. Its serious stuff.

One sad thing about community life with the western world taking over is that kids seem bored. I don't know if this is because of all the technology available but they aren't interested in learning cultural values and a lot is lost as people pass on. They turn to other things to entertain themselves. Paint & Petrol sniffing is one of these. A horrible past time for people to undertake as it can cause serious brain damage. As kids are destroying their brain cells they turn to violent and destructive behaviour destroying homes. They want to blame the "white man" reality is that it is partly the white mans fault despite how much people want to deny it. But the integration of the two cultures was a complete mess and only in the last 10 years or so real effort has been implemented to correct disastorous results.

Anyway I tried to find a tradie to take me to the beach but apparently its somebodies land and the creek was to high. So I amused myself chatting into the wee hours with a plumber who certainly loved to talk! That also could have been because the wild weather knocked out all the phones so I had no internet access for 24hrs. Thats like being an 80yr old porn star without viagra...

So this plumber had some interesting stories to tell me about life living on communties but the topic of petrol sniffing was rampant and then his extreme disapproval of drugs. He lost his brother to drugs, I asked him how was it an overdose. His brother also a plumber was climbing in a roof cleaning air conditioning and found a bunch of dead pigeons. They had died of some fungal infection of which he breathed in a spore and four days later was braindead. How you can tell someone you just met stuff like this is beyond me but I actually found it incredibly interesting also Im fairly certain drugs had nothing to do with it. He said it was because of the immune system being shot. Who knows. But what I wonder is, did his brother have a great life? He died aged 32 leaving two young kids behind. But was he happy, to know how quickly life can be taken from you so young more people need to be living life.

Now its been a few days since I updated this and I made it back to Darwin safe and sound though the plane ride back was terrifying with it dropping half a metre at times in turbelance. Thankfully it was a short 40 minutes Im not sure how much longer I could have handled it.

Well wadeye thanks for opening my eyes a little more. till next time!

Kony 2012 - yes I did it.

Kony2012. If you don’t know how Kony is by now than you probably live in a hut in the woods with no electricity, no radio. No human contact. Then you wouldn’t have been able to read this so I am going to assume you know who Joseph Kony is.

When the video went viral I wasn’t really aware of what it was and after spending five minutes watching a blonde kid try to blow up a kitchenhand I pressed stop and went off to do something much more interesting – like mow the grass with a pair of nail scissors. It was only when I was brought to attention of an online blog written by a 2nd year college student that I became inspired. Some would say its because I can never back down from an underdog fight (some are probably right) but reality is I hate ignorance. With a passion.

Lets just clarify something. I love viral videos. I love how anyone in this day and age can suddenly become famous by making a 2 minute movie where they cry about the injustice done to Britney Spears. Where a simple statement like “I took an arrow to the knee” is spewed out towards the massives and soon becomes a recognised phase even to those who have never played Skyrim. When a 13yr old girl who clearly has the voice of a baboon farting through a trombone can produce a song that informs everyone what day comes after Friday, and then Saturday. And it makes record sales on itunes.

What I love most about viral fame is that you know its stupid. You watch, you laugh, you share. So it makes sense that advertising companies caught on creating viral masterpieces to sell their products

Than comes Kony2012. I’m not entirely sure why it suddenly got so much attention the video to me was uninteresting. Its my opinion if you want to be successful on the interwebs you have to be more gimmicky. I guess its probably because of all the celebrity interest. We do live in a pop culture society. I realised if I was going to argue against it I probably should watch it. It was touching. No more than a typical 60 minutes segment you chill out to on a Sunday night with a cup of tea. I was definitly more critical of the movie having read the above blog first so I guess my opinion could have been more biased.

What infuriated me was that this become so intensely popular that people were missing the bigger picture. Like a shepherd herds his flock so too did Invisible Children create an army of activism. Suddenly all I could hear and see was how much of a tyrant this Joseph Kony was and how he suddenly had to be brought to justice.

- Kony is a tyrant no doubt about that. But his tyrannical leadership was diminished six years ago and forced into hiding. He does the occasional raid now and then but its merely a blip in the much bigger picture. Why did they suddenly get involved when issues were coming to a resolution
- The video gets everyone worked up, but doesn’t give a solution. From back reading all I could determine was that they were trying to make sure the US government didn’t withdraw the troops deployed to catch him. But why spend a million dollars when there was no mention of the troops being withdrawn.
- The Invisible Children are stirring a pot that could lead to more disastrous results. Spreading the name Kony across the planet isn’t going to catch the man. He is hiding in some remote area most of westernized people would never go near. What it does do is raise psychological concerns for the affected people where even just the mention of his name strikes fear. It could destroy years of rehabilitation efforts not to mention there could be possible retaliation.
- The IC support sending in the army to destroy a man who isn’t even top of the united nations most wanted. Do you never know the people on the list? Do you care? Some of them are arguably more dangerous than this man but hey someone shared a video and now that’s the cause you want to follow.
- Thousands died in the war efforts to bring Saddam & Obama down. Now that they are dead nothing has changed. Terrorism is still rampant with new leaders rising. Focusing energies on ONE man does not result in a solution
- The IC is taking funds away from organisations that are actually doing more than just creating a movie. Do yourself a favour instead of donating so they can make movie #12 why not put your money to an actual beneficial cause?

Ignorance is a huge issue of mine. So many people throw themselves behind causes they know nothing about just because a celebrity tweeted it. The issue about Aslyum seekers in Australia is full of ignorant arguments yet when I try to explain the facts all I get in response is red necks.

Well there is one thing Kony2012 did, it made me so mad that people were giving money to this worthless cause it inspired me to donate more money to worthwhile causes. As I am already an activist for human rights for refugees, a volunteer companion with Camp Quality & I give a regular monthly donation to CANTEEN I’m not entirely sure how many more charities I can get involved in. But the internet has made me so mad that I am now increasing my donations to Kiva a charity that I was involved in a while back after being recommended by a CS friend of mine Leo. It actually focuses on helping people rather than mass hysteria. So every pay $25 goes towards enriching someone who is less fortunate than me.

For a more factual outlook on the Kony2012 issue check out this blog

Snake of DEATH!!!!!!!!

A week or so ago I told you about the children’s python I had been gifted with the intention of taming its aggressive nature.

Well the last Friday I attempted to hold him for the first time, I had a couple of beers (ok I had a lot of beers) and then reached my hand into the cage to grasp him. Well lets be honest he grasped me. His little head went flying towards my outstretched fingers sharp teeth latching themselves deep into my thumb and constricting his body in a death grip around it. After the initial sting of my thumb being treated as a delicious morsel I was now stuck with the dilemma of a 10cm python firmly latched onto my hand. I grasped his head in an attempt to persuade him to let go which just had him latch on stronger, constrict TIGHTER.

I left him for a good while hoping he might soon realise I was to big even for his super awesome jaw dislocation powers and let go of his own accord but time soon showed, he had a taste for blood and he was not giving up.

So I did what any person would do to detach a snake from their hands. I held him underwater giving him the option of life without me as a meal or drowning with my blood on his fangs.
He chose life like any good snake would.

Now perhaps realisation had hit that I probably wasn’t food, The snake of death as I had so aptly called him suddenly became the snake of cuddly teddybears & marshmallows. His so called aggressive nature diminished. He was a baby, the poor snake was probably just so under fed he was permanently hungry.

My couchsurfer Sam from England was excited to hold the little guy and took him from me. He struck out a few times but settled quite calmly after that into her hands. Sadly being the first time I had gotten drunk in a month I didn’t watch when she put him away and then when I woke up the next day ready to feed him the cage was empty. Snake of Opportunity had escaped.

My surfer was distraught to say the least but I consoled her as it was really just bad luck and partially my fault for not checking the cage. A similar event did occur when my American surfer Daniel put away my prized possession Dj and yet for some reason assumed the cage should remain open. Luckily for the quick eyes of my mother or my baby could have been lost to me forever. This is why I have a rule that the snakes can’t be touched unless I’m home. If these sort of things can happen whilst im home imagine the ignorance that could happen whilst im away! People just don’t understand the escapist nature of snakes. Not only can they push lids up to several times their body weight they can fit through gaps that look way to small for them.

So Sam & I dug desperately around the area the snake was lost hoping to get lucky and find his hiding place but reality was the area so full of shit and the snake of evasion was so tiny after half an hour of fruitless digging we surrendered to the fact he was gone forever.

So the snake of nimbleness went missing on Saturday imagine my surprise today! (Wednesday) when I get a call that Snake of Houdini had been rediscovered. Sam had returned from surfing another hosts place and was rifling through her bags near her bed when she discovered the tiny little bastard all curled up with no place to go. So stay tuned for further updates on Snake of....

Talking to myself

Sometimes I wonder if I am just writing this blog to myself since I have a total of two comments. I guess I never made this blog to be famous it was to document some of my more interesting travel experiences. Making it public just gave me purpose (and large amounts of censorship)

However just recantly an article of mine was posted on the couchsurfing webpage with a referral to my blog. Since then my Couchsurfing inbox has been filled with messages from people around the world. People who enjoy ready my blog and want to let me know it. I'm not going to lie being loved is kind of awesome.

Than I just recantly discovered that blogspot has a kind of tracking system which lets me see how people are coming to my blog. Most interesting is the search terms that have been used

german girls - I like to think someone has a genuine interest in the cultural aspect of german girls and didn't forget the word naked when they typed in their search request. I really can't think of any other reason to search german girls..

couch surfing darwin - I guess this is pretty self explanatory. I live in Darwin & I couchsurf.


couch surfing revelstoke - This brings me back to to an amazing weekend I had in revvy with one of my favourite Kiwis!!!


couchsurfing dating - Well couchsurfing definitely isn't a dating site!


couchsurfing group darwin - once again no explanation needed.


couchsurfing in a relationship - Now I start to think that couchsurfers all have one track minds.

couchsurfing threesome - There was never any post about a threesome I had with two german girls that has since been deleted. No. Seriously.

erk agh - Who the hell searches for "erk arg" I am now going to spit out random word combinations in my posts in order to attract those sort of people. Ashk beeerg


gunlom - Gunlom is fucking awesome!


house of sin, couchsurfing, melbourne - This could be some kind of government conspiracy. Maybe the House of Sin are really aliens and the FBI is investigating anyone who comes in contact with them.

So there you go the most current search terms that have led people to my blog. Well played google, well played.