Tête en bas

As we slowly get use to the van, and to each other, we try to do as much road as possible. But the day started late, et there was a couple of stop to do on the road. Eating time, grocery time, eating time again… the landscape is nice, but nothing really different. We ended up stoping the van on a quite rest area. Small camp fire, quiet chat, and starts photography.

As the photographic workshop last saturday went really well, I decided to organize an other one tonight. It was my way of saying “bye” to Melbourne. The theme for this evening was “light painting and fire photography”. As I didn’t have any fire artist close enough, I ended up being at the same time teacher, photograph, and model. That was a nice evening, with a nice group of couchsurfer. And yes, definitely a good way to say “bye” to Melbourne.

Even better, as I decide to eat some inspiring food after that. Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Fries, gravy and cheese. And the menu definitely says “Poutine”. Soon, Quebec will conquer the world!

So… you have a well known brewery, and your next beer will be ready soon. As you’re one of the trendiest place in town, with an amazing decoration in an old warehouse, you could just put a little poster “Quiet American no available”. Yes, that would be simple.

Or you can advertise “Quiet American is coming. First kegs will be on us. Free beers from 4:30 to 6 PM. So, now it’s completely different. Then, if you have couchsurfers spreading the information, you’ll have this gathering of 30 peoples, from everywhere on earth, sharing… hum… a few beers.

When I first so the date of the event, I decided that I was going to drink to celebrate. Or to forget. Sometime, when a shop advertise something free, they have a long waiting list, or they’ll find other way to reduce there cost as much as they can. At the Little Creatures Brewery, they do thing the good way. The good thing about having two hands is that you can hold two beers. I quickly forget that I was suppose to forget something, and just start having fun, talking with people. New peoples, new meeting… I like Melbourne couchsurfing community.

And as if free beer was not enough, they decide to add some free food to!

I wanted to discover the Little Creature drinking hall for a little while. The place is amazing, atmosphere is really nice, and the staff is great. I would be more than happy to go back there!

This evening was also an opportunity to meet Cassie, Rachel, Josh and Indri. We talked about the upcoming road trip. Everything was well, and I do have the feeling that it’s going to be a great experience !

And hey… I suppose I had to try at least once to walk back home because it was to late for the last tram?

Oh… and if you’re wondering if the beer was good… yes, it was. A great one. But I should have write my feeling after the first glass, to have a good description!

Back in Montreal, when I was organizing guided tours, I discovered that walking in a city was a great way for people to get to know each other. When you are in a bar, sharing beers, or in a restaurant, sharing food, or even in a show, listening to music, you’ll stay almost always at the same place. with the same people on your side. You might be in an event with 15 persons, but you’ll probably end up talking to only 4 or 5 of them. Because the other are just to far, and because it’s hard to talk to someone who is behind someone else. But when walking in a city, the shape of the group is always morphing. A red light, and everybody is back together. You can walk at your own speed, and have a one to one conversation for a little while. And then, start talking with someone else.

I love watching people interacting with each other. I love to see how a group react. How everything goes. Others passion me, and I was really exited to organize my first event in Melbourne. The idea was to walk randomly in a neighborhood, in order to discover it, and to take picture. One more time, the choice was quite obvious. I like Richmond. 16 peoples subscribe to the event. 10 come. That’s the way it works with couchsurfing.

And everything was just nice. I had a couple of really nice chat, and definitely meet interesting people. I was also happy to answer to a couple of questions. There will be a second one next week. This time, it will be about light painting and fire photography. Lots of fun coming on !

I wasn’t sure if I was to come back today or tomorrow. I have to be back by 3PM tomorrow, as I’m organizing a couchsurfing event… as hitch hiking is not always very reliable, I was feeling that coming back on friday was safer. And at the same time, Daniel told me that they were planing to drive back to Melbourne today too. So it all sound like a good reason to start packing my stuff…

I was eating my breakfast (I had to replace bread by almond biscuit… that was just perfect with my chocolate spread!) a guy in a surf suit come to me. He seems to be surprised that I didn’t have a car. We talked for a while… I tell him my plan to go to Alice Spring soon (the reader will have more news soon about this). He seems to be very enthusiastic. We keep talking, I take his phone number and email address, wish him a great day, and tell him bye. He’s name is Ben, he is an engineer  and inventor. He drive a van fueled with fried oil, with a solar panel. I’m looking forward seeing him again!

I’m ready to leave. Backpack on my back, I just have a nice little hike to do before I go. Lilly Pilly Gully. It’s the name of a tree we can find in wet forest. We saw a couple of them in Tasmania. I heard that this walk was nice and quiet. And Daniel was also planing to do it. Could be a great timing to meet them again, and see if they are leaving.

There’s no blue van at the parking… but I meet them a little bit after that, and they confirm that they will be leaving soon. I can find them in the parking. I do the walk quickly. There’s nothing really inspiring there. Except this group of old people, with whom I have a great little chat.

I still can’t find the blue van when I’m back to the parking. Don’t really know what to do… are they already gone? Lets start walking… maybe someone will take me. Or maybe they will arrive…

I’ve been walking for a little bit more than 10 minutes when the first car stops. In ten minutes, I saw less than 10 cars. The way back, a succession of nice meeting, confirm me that hitch hiking in Victoria is as easy than it is in Tasmania.

It started with this surfer, in his fifties, who gave me a 30 kilometers ride, and tell me that I should go to Fish Creek, not to Foster.

Then, there was this farmer, in his forties. He told me than Foster was better, because it’s on the highway. He is going to Foster, but is ready to make a little detour to Fish Creek for me. Foster and the highway sounds good for me.

Then, it was this old woman, who apologies for taking me only up hill, because she was not going any further. But she offered me two amazing mini muffins. And wished me good luck. And concluded by “god bless you”.

The young guy, who stopped a little while after, blow in a Breathalyser 5 minutes after I get onboard. If it might worried some, it didn’t worry me. Because the thing didn’t start biping. And the car didn’t explose. So he was probably clean. Anyway… the beer bottle, on the front seat, were all full.

The next guy was a sikh. When I sat in his car, he told me that his friend advised him not to stop for stranger. That was not safe. But he doesn’t believe that. He’s sikh, and according to the sikh faith, God is everywhere, in everyone, as he explained to me later. So, I can guess than God is in me to. Now, I’m asking you this question: if you see God, hitch hiking on the side of the road, you’ll give him a ride, right?

He dropped me, after a really interesting religious chat, at a train station, where I was able to catch a train to go back to Megan and Tao house. Really happy by this small three days adventure.

I was supposed to have a good night, in order to wake up early, and in good shape. But the wind has been blowing. Without stopping. All night. And my tent has this bad habits of shaking and being really noisy in the wind. I almost didn’t sleep, and when I feel good enough to start moving, it was past 10 already.

The Prom remind me Freycinet in Tasmania. Nice peninsula, with a few mountains/hills for the view, a couple of awesome bay, and a long overnight hike. The one I was supposed to do. Unfortunately, it means a 21 kilometers hike for today. Knowing that the sunset is at 5:30PM, I definitely didn’t have the time to do it. After a little while, trying to find what to do, I decide to take my backpack. I’ll sleep… hum… somewhere.

The walk start following Norman Bay beach, where the campground is.

After the beach, the path start going up. Just a little. Because of Mount Oberon. Nice little mountain over the peninsula. It’s usually possible to hike to the summit, but because of massive flood last year, there is a couple of closed path in the Prom. I keep on walking.

My backpack is to heavy. I don’t understand why. I feel a lack of energy and motivation. Those, I know why. Would definitely have enjoy a few more hours sleeping… so I take my time and, when I arrive at Little Oberon Bay, I even take a little break, to enjoy the beach.

I’m not sure. I don’t really want to go any further. I know that I won’t have the time/energy to go where I was planning. If I go further, it means that all I’ll be able to do tomorrow is to walk my way back. I choose a compromise. I leave my backpack behind a rock, et walk up to the next beach. I’ll come back later, sleeping again in the main campground, so that I have sometime tomorrow to explore other part of the park. I like this option.

I like Oberon Bay, a few kilometers after Little Oberon Bay. The weather, despite of the grey sky and the fog, give amazing effect. I know it won’t look good on a picture, so I take all my time to enjoy. It’s cold. I don’t mind. I like it.

Happy of that little extra hike, I walk back, take my bag, and come back to the campground. The Prom is nice but, according to me, far away to be as amazing as Freycinet. But yes, it was just a short preview, under a bad weather. In a perfect world, I’d have to come back for 5 or 6 days in the area…

It’s still quite early, and I have some time to walk around the campground. There’s a nice little river, with a nice little bridge. I sit on a rock, on the other side, to play the flute. Until I realize that, in the sand bellow me, there’s lots of mini crabs, walking everywhere. So cute !

Sunset… I take a few extra photo. The light is just perfect, and the beach is a great place to enjoy it. In the background, mount Oberon remind me mount Freycinet. I really hope I’ll be able to see the view from the top one day…

I stop by Daniel and his girlfriend again. They are quite surprised to see me, as I was supposed to sleep far away from here. We talk for a little while. Time passes slowly. Clouds are gone. Stars starts shining. I wish them a good night, in order to eat some food, and take a couple of picture. And hopefully, after that, get some sleep. There’s no more wind. It will definitely help.

The sky is perfect. Absolutely clear. The result is amazing. I’m happy.

I walk back to my tent. Hear some noise inside. Open it.

I don’t know why wild animals in Australia like my breakfast so much. Maybe it’s easier for them to open a plastic bag with bread, than a beef can… I guess…

Anyway… if possum is a easy to frighten animal, the wombat is placid, and will ignore you. He was happy eating my bread, and didn’t care moving from where he was. And a wombat is a pretty heavy animal! I tried to push him… with no success… I didn’t want to go… and when you see there claws, you want to be a little bit careful. I don’t really want to fight with him. I just want to sleep…

After a little while, Mister Wombat finally decide to go. Well… there’s no more bread. Only can. No reason for him to stay I suppose. Virginie was laughing at me because of the possum. She now has an other reason…

Anyway… I have my tent just for me. Time for me to jump in my sleeping bag and fall asleep with no problem!

The day starts slowly. I have a hard time putting everything together to start moving. But finally, I manage to be active at the end of the morning. Backpack on my back, I walk to the train station. This is going to be quite a long ride. Starting with 2 hours of train, in order to reach the furthest suburb of Melbourne, and from here, hitch hike the next 160 kilometers.

Going through the never ending suburb of Melbourne is all but inspiring. But the train finally arrives in Pakhenam, its terminus. My backpack is a little bit to heavy. I don’t know why, but I’ll have to deal with it. I start walking. That’s the very first time I’m hitch hiking on the mainland, and I’m wondering if it will be as easy as it was in Tasmania. The first car to stop, less than 10 minutes after I started walking, make me think that it’s going to be an easy ride, even if he just gives me a 15 kilometers ride. The second vehicle won’t even stop: he was already parked on the side of the road. A blue van flashes his lights as I’m trying to understand which way I had to go. Daniel, the driver, tells me that they are going… to Wilson Promontory. His girlfriend, an other name that I forget, is just doing a quick stop at the bakery. Ten minutes later, we’re back on the road, via the touristic drive. Seating in the back on the van, I can’t really talk with them. I’m to far. Can’t really take photos either. It’s not a problem. I still have a few exchange, and I just enjoy the landscape. They are coming from Darwin area. They are both german-australian. In holiday in Victoria for a few weeks before flying back to the northern territory.

We arrive at the Prom just on time to see a nice sunset and catch a few pictures.

Wilson Promontory is one of the favorite place of lots of Melbournian. They are proud of the Prom, and talk a lot about it. And I was quite curious to see what it looks like. Being close to the city make the Proms a very popular place, and the park offers a giant 450 places campground. But off season, during the week, it just mean that you’ve got plenty of room just for you, and that you might eventually heard your neighbor if he starts screaming. That’s perfect. Daniel and his girlfriend find a little spot for the van, and invite me to come back later to spend the evening with them. It’s quite windy down there, so I decide to try to find a place sheltered by the tree.

When the tent is ready, I take 5 minutes to catch the last sun light on the beach.

And I go back to the travelers in the blue van. They welcome me with a glass of wine, and we spend a short evening talking about all and nothing. Small, simple little moment, as I like them. At some point, they say that they are planning to go back to Melbourne in two or three days. Just a perfect timing for me!

Little bit later, I’m rolled in my warm sleeping back, on my thin air mattress, under a shaking tent. It’s not even 8PM, but I’m tired, and I’m planning to fall asleep early, as I have quite a long day planed for tomorrow !

I like it a lot when I’m staying at a place where the people are happy to let me cook. It’s a nice opportunity to experiment, and try new random recipe, improvised from what I can find in the fridge.

I’m really happy with the result of this one. Chicken drumsticks in a white wine and nuts (peanut, cashew, almond) sauce. Served with tomatoes “à la provençale” and Quinoa. And I just discovered that the hazel nut taste you have in Quinoa just fits very well with the nuts sauce. I’ll definitely have to look at that from closer!

Fry some garlic with some ginger, in olive oil and butter. Add grounded almonds and onions. Then, add some maple sirup, to help the onions to caramelize, and some peanut butter. As I didn’t have enough peanut butter, I just add some cashew butter to. Complete with some white wine, add the chicken, salt, paprika and cumin seed. Cover with a lead. Wait. Eat.

“Confest is a life changing event”. I heard that a few time already. Well.. I heard a lot of things about Confest, and I was really interest to participate in one of the “hippiest festival in Australia”. I’m not really a hippie myself, but there usually a lot of interesting thing to discover and to learn in these kind of festival. Meeting new people, sharing new way of life, new philosophy, new idea, all that are definitely part of the reasons I love traveling. My first and only experience for those kind of event was Burning Man. It definitely changed my life. In a way I won’t even try to describe.

Confest happen twice a year. For Easter long week end and for New Year Eve. In the middle of nowhere (which can be almost everywhere when traveling in Australia). I went there with a lot of expectation. And came back with some sadness and disappointment.

Sadness? Why? Hard to explain… I found in Burning Man a temple for creativity, originality and imagination. A place where idea were blooming. At Confest, most of the workshop were about the same themes. Open your heart, be in harmony with yourself, yoga, healthy food… I have no problem with all that. I like hippies, I like there way of life. But I find sad that they always want to be in the same box. As if there was only one alternative life style. As if there was only one way to be in peace and in harmony with yourself. Do half an hour a day of yoga, eat balanced food, forget meet, meditate, connect with your inside you. I find all that so complicate! Can’t we be in peace without doing all that? Am I so much unbalanced? I was feeling the total opposite…

I like smiling to stranger. I like being happy with me, et I do find really sad to see that other person need someone to tell them “smile to other, be happy, love your fellows”. Maybe because it seems so natural for me… I don’t need someone to repeat for one hour that I’m awesome. I already know that. Presumptuous? Maybe a little…

It reminds me an experience I had, not so long ago. Someone who told me “you should says nice thing to people, they will stop to talk to you, and then it will be easier for you to sell your produce”. I feel exactly the same way… “You are at Confest, you have to love everybody, and you have to tell them”. No. I’m sorry. I won’t. And want to tell others how I feel when I want to. Not because I’m at Confest. For the same reason, telling a compliment to someone suddenly lose all its natural aspect. “He’s so good. He likes me. He’s so much into Confest spirit”. Non. I’m not into Confest spirit. I’m me. And only me. But it seems that you don’t want to see that. You just want to see me in a box.

All those cliches annoyed me a lot. Because altogether, their were way to much. I finally understand what annoyed me the most on sunday evening. There was those two young girls, doing light poise. They were not specially good, but they were having so much fun and pleasure! It was simple, fun, funny. And it made me realize that it was the first time I was seeing people playful. Having fun. Until now, I had just seen people being so serious trying to be perfect hippies! They had to be in contact with there inner themselves, they had to smile to everyone, they had to cuddle with stranger… so much complicate constraints, when I was just looking for simple exchange… I was just looking for fun… to enjoy my self a simple way… all that was way to serious for me. As if everybody has its own todo list to experience a perfect Confest. Everybody in the same box…

Don’t make me say what I did not say. I liked my Confest, and I took it as an opportunity to do a couple of experience. I went to a spontaneous quire (which was at a specific time, strange concept) who showed me how a crowd can be a great musical instrument. I participate to a “corridor of love”. I don’t remember the exact name… people form two raws, making a tunnel, that other people cross, closing there eyes. While you’re walking, strangers keep telling you that they love you. Really interesting and strange experience, as so many voice seems to be so true… perfect tons, beautiful voice… we just want to open our eyes, to stop, and meet this stranger. Until we realize that all that is only artificial. For be, it’s just a way to banalize love, to remove all its meaning, “I love you” becoming just a few word that anyone can tell to anyone else. I don’t want a stranger to love me. I want a stranger to be interest by me, to want to learn and exchange with me. To want to know who I am… I won’t say anything about parents who bring there child to those kind of experiences… I just saw kids who were looking bad, unhappy and oppressed…

I think one of my mane disappointment came from the complete lack of didgeridoo. The only one I heard during the 4 days of Confest… was mine. No, in Australia like everywhere else, hippies play djembe. I don’t have anything about the drum. After all, I love playing djembe to. But I was feeling that, in Australia, in the middle of people who want to be in touch with earth, with there roots, there was nothing more natural than a didgeridoo… ironically, while I was doing my best to have my didge heard in a drum circle, someone come to tell me “sorry, we would like to have to other drums where you’re sitting”. I almost told him that I was playing music to, explaining him that the instrument I was playing was a better one than an african drums to be played here… I didn’t see any reason to say that, and preferred to leave, disillusioned. Drumer were taking themselves to seriously too.

Conclusion came to me on the last day, while I was attending a workshop just before leaving. “Fairy tales and how to use them to heal personal wounds”. The workshop, really interesting by the way, finished with a visualization exercise, in order to see our inner monster, and talk to him. It works pretty well. Definitely better than I was expecting. I was really surprise to discover that my inner monster was an picture from my childhood, picture that I had forgotten a long time ago. But its message was quite simple “I left quite a while ago, you’re in peace with yourself”.

Maybe all the problem lays in this only sentence. I’m in peace and in harmony with myself. I found a balance that needs no yoga, no meditation, no forcing smiles. My smiles are natural, because I’m naturally in peace. I’m free. I’m traveling following the wind, the opportunity, going at my own pace. I’m a hippie with no material bounds, who likes others. My inner smile is auto fueled. I’m me. I’m happy. And I love sharing my happiness.