I Come From a Land Down Under

"Travelling in a fried-out Combie. On a hippie trail, head full of zombie. I met a strange lady, she made me nervous. She took me in and gave me breakfast. And she said 'Do you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you getter take cover.' "

I am back in Stony Plain for a couple of days. Staying at the farm, hanging with my parents. Seen my brothers and one of my sisters. It's been interesting the last couple days. Was up for 40 hours straight while traveling back from Brisbane. Time change is really messing with my system, but the fun continues. I'm headed for Germany in 2 more sleeps. I really am starting to hate airports.

"Buying bread from a man in Burssels. He was 6'4" and full of muscle. I said 'Do you speak-a my language?' He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich. And he said 'I come from a land down under. Where beer does flow and men chunder. Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.' "

Things I learned in the outback...

Vegemite smells worse than it looks, but if you can get past that and the texture, it actually doesn't taste all that bad. It's full of vitamin B, and goes quite well on toast.

I can not be left unattended on beaches unless I have a goal, be it surfing, tanning or swimming. Just walking on the beach presents shiny objects know as sea shells that I for some reason am unable to walk past. I like to pick them up and look at them. The problem is I tend not to put them back down. Very shiny.

How to properly deal with a snake bite. Most snakes fangs are not long enough to reach the blood stream and venom is injected just under the skin, traveling through the endocrine system as apposed to the circulatory system. A tensor bandage, they type of snake involved, and medical attention are a must.

There are bull sharks in most of the rivers, and further north there are also Crocks... use caution when swimming. So long as you are smart, things are fine. If you are dumber than a hamster, then you run into problems.

"Dying in a den in Bombay. With slack jaw, and not much to say. I said to the man 'are you trying to tempt me, Because I come from the land of plenty?' And he said 'Oh you come from a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.' "

I spent some QT with my horses and dog today. I really missed them. My dog went spastic when I got home, and decided that my lap was the place to be. Your legs tend to go numb with 40lbs of dead weight piled onto them. She's such a weirdo. My horses tried to crush me between them. One requires the ability to scratch 3 horses at the same time, or good dodging skills. Both are handy when taking extended leaves of absence from the farm.

But that's pretty much it. I'm still on Australia time and my brain isn't working. I should probably eat something. It's after 15:00 and I haven't had anything yet. Meh, she'll be right.

Lisa Freitag
Silent River Kung Fu, Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada (until tomorrow that is).

I just got back from Brisbane this morning. Naomi and I spent the night at our friend LJ's, and hit the road at 04:45 to drop off the dogs and get her to work on time. I took a taxi from Maroochydoore (where she works) to Mooloolaba (where I'm staying) to save her time. It's all good.

Went and had a nap when I got to the hostel and have been taking it easy today. It's chilly and overcast and I'm not hugely motivated to partake in anything involving water. I'm slowly turning into a giant pansy. Oh well, another winter working outside will thicken up the blood again, and I'll be back to my tough, grumpy self. That is assuming that I come back to Canada to live. I can handle this warm winter thing. Very nice.

We got to Brizzy Friday and I got rained out for my rock climbing (again). Made it all the way to the bottom of the wall with the ropes down and everything. Then the sky opened up and we got a good soaking. This Friday coming up is my last shot at it. I'm really hoping I get to do it, but if not I'll give my ticket to Holly. She really wants to rock climb the Point, so at least my cash won't go to waste. Naome and I had a great time visit with Holly at her B-Day. Really glad I got to chat with her again. Nice talking to someone about back home who knows what you're on about.

Holly is Australian (Brizzy native in fact) but she has spent a couple of summers out at Eden (that's where we met). She knows the people I know and it's just nice to have that connection. I've been COMPLETELY isolated since March, and that's not going to change anytime soon. So yah, nice to have some sort of point of reference with someone.

Naomi and I headed for Willow Bank (Brisbane Skydive Centre) Saturday morning. They had the sky van up from the south and a bunch of our mates were wanting to jump from the Box. Naomi wasn't jumping, and I still had tickets for Toogs, so we just hung out a bit. I've jumped from sky vans before, so not doing it was no big for me. Though I have to admit that you can do some very cool exits from the Box. One of my personal favs is the W.E. Coyote exit. You know when W.E. goes running off a cliff and his legs keep going until he realizes what's in the works, looks down, waves bye-bye and then drops off screen? Well that is a blast! Run out the back of the van, and just keep running until you come off the hill and end up on your back. It's harder than it sounds, but man is it funny. I'll have to get someone to get video next trip to Eloy.

We stuck around Willow Bank for a little while then headed for Toogoolawah. I burned up 2 of my 3 remaining tickets and cashed in the last one. Pulled off a beautiful cross wind landing Sunday (not going to get into the technical of all that) and we headed back for Brisbane. Stopped in at one of her best friends for a couple of hours and had a great visit. Richo is a great guy and I enjoyed meeting him. Then we headed back to LJ's and spent the night there. We watched some movies on TV, cooked chicken fajitas, and went to bed early. You have no idea how much I have missed good mexican food. Austral asia is loaded with fantastic asian and sea food. No Mexican what so ever. I was ready to get physically emotional for a burrito, any burrito. Yo Quiero Taco Bell!

Out at Toogs, I met Chris Gay (Mr. CRW). He's a world famous skydiver with the CRW competitions and an old friend of Lyal's. It was great chatting with him for a few minutes. Super nice guy! You know it's so cool to meet someone who is really great in their discipline. They are always the ones who are the most humble. I asked one of the guys doing the CRW how the course was going and he made a point of letting me know that he wasn't on a course, he had been doing CRW for years. That cracked me up. He's a great guy too, but it's just so funny that they can't just say "yah, she be right". Where as the guys that are truly great don't feel the need to justify themselves. I find that so refreshing and something to aspire to. Chris also singed off my cross wind landing, that was Some Cool! I've collected some great signatures in my log book. Chris Gay, Doug Fourth, Lyal Waddell (as well as all the Plaid Jackets and Tropical Fish), a bunch of guys from Arizona Airspeed... the list goes on, and will hopefully continue. Call me a nerd, but I think it's pretty awesome.

Don't really know what else to say... I'm headed for Germany on June second, that's only 9 more sleeps. My time in Australia is pretty much burnt. Where did it go? I still have a list as long as my arm that I haven't even gotten to. Three months is not enough. I guess I'll just have to come back.

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

Warm, what a good feeling

I've been back in Mooloolaba for a few days now, and have been having a nice relaxed time. Tasmania was fantastic. I got to pet a Tasmanian Devil (she was sooo cute) and drove around seeing some beautiful country side and meeting wonderful people. I went to the platypus house and got up close and personal with some platypus and echidna's. The platypus were behind glass but were very active and the guide was most informative. Did you know that the male platypus is the only venomous mammal? The echidnas were very friendly and would climb up onto your feet and have a look at you. extremely cool animals.

Yesterday I went on a day trip with my flatmate Lucy. The hostel makes a trip to the Eumundi Markets, which are held on Wednesdays and Sundays. So off we went. The markets are a large out door farmers market set up and they had some cool stuff. I'm not much of a shopper but it was a nice way to kill the morning. Then off to the Glasshouse Mountains. There we went to the Garden Falls and swam in the billabong at the base of one of the falls. Man was that cold! Had my instinct to prevent drowning not been as strong, I would have screamed a string of profanities when I hit that water that would have made a sailor blush. Good thing the water was deep, as I got myself composed by time I broke surface. I headed straight for the sunny rocks to get out and warm up. Unfortunately the sunny rocks were on the opposite bank from where I could get back out, so in I went again to make the other shore. In nice and slow this time and swimming for all I was worth!

Today Lucy and I are going to the river paddle boarding and then kayaking this afternoon. Tomorrow Naomi and I are going paddle boarding again (or surfing, what ever) then the three of us are headed back down to Brisbane to do some rock climbing, and possibly bike the river bank. That evening my friend Holly is having her Birthday Party at South Bank on the river. I've been here almost 3 months and haven't been able to get together with Holly yet. How silly is that? So I'll be getting together with her tomorrow night.

Saturday morning Naomi and I are headed back out to Toogoolawah for some skydiving. We'll spend the night out there and then come back up here Sunday night. After that... I'll just see what happens.

Blue skys

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

Tasmania

K so here's a blog post from Tasmania... TADA!

I got in to Launceston yesterday and headed for the coast. Made it to St. Helen on the South end of the Bay of Fire last night before I decided it was time to crash. Slept in a camp ground in my car (froze my noody while I was at it, had to wake up every 3ish hours to start the car and warm it up inside). Got up bright and early (ugh) and went for a 3 hour hike up the coast. Got some good picks and drove along the ocean for a couple hours. So worth it.

On the way back, took a different inland route to Launceston and found a great lil pub/diner. It was called The Pub in the Paddock.... and it literally was in the middle of a cattle field (and they had a pet pig as a mascot). It was just too good not to stop. Had a piece of warm chocolate cake with seriously awesome ice cream and a drink. It was a true Outback experience. The people were fantastic and the dining room had an old brick fireplace with waves of heat coming out of it from the fire. The wooden tables were shined with in an inch of existence as were the hardwood floors. It was just magic, and I loved it. Now if I could only get it into my suitcase and bring it home.

So I'm back in Launceston tonight, and am headed for the Zoo tomorrow. They have Devil feedings through out the day, and photo ops. Yah, I so gota get in on that. Petting a Tasmanian Devil? Talk about once in a life time. If only I can resist the urge to go pblablllubladplulllblah pllllllllllh while holding the lil critter. Pretty sure I'll get bitten if I don't, but it would be a true Bugs Bunny moment.

K, gota find a place to sleep for tonight... maybe a hostel, as they cost about the same as a camp ground, and I've less chance of waking up with ice on my nose.

Lisa Freitag
Silent River Kung Fu, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

PS for those who didn't know, Tasmania is a province of Australia not a separate country. Aussie's say it's the Newfoundland of Australia, and they are right... totally Newfie!

Sunshine Coast

So I'm back on the Sunny Coast, and just chillin'. Spent most of the last 3 days on the beach, swimming, tanning, surfing... Lazy days in the sun. I could get very used to this, very quickly. Tomorrow I fly to Tasmania for some camping on the Fire Coast. I pick up my rental car and head for the beach. I might spend some time in land, but at least one sunset and sunrise over the Tasman Sea.

My friend that I met here Naomi and I have been spending a lot of time together since i've been back up north. We went for walks with her dogs on the beach and then for supper the last two nights. Tonight we are going to head in to town and get a movie. Don't know which one but I don't really care either. Just having a good time hanging with her.

She is coming to visit me in Canada in January. I kinda chuckled at that, but she wants to go to the Rockies skiing, and then to the Invasion in Eloy. We are both really excited about that happening. She's one of the few people that I have gotten attached to this quickly. We're pretty close and I'm going to miss her hard core when I leave. But I still have a couple of weeks here and we are going to make the most of it.

My surfing lesson went well this morning, and my instructor reminds me of one of my mates back home... if my mate were about 15 years older. I had to keep resisting the urge to call him Blair. I have been noticing that with a lot of my friends. Maybe I'm just thinking of them, but there are a lot of doubles over here. The pilot in Toogoolawah is a vertically challenged, good looking 23 year old blonde. The pilot back home is a vertically challenged, good looking 24 year old blonde, and they actually have similar facial structure as well. My friend Kim and I have seen probably 6 people that could be from back home. Some are dead ringers, right down to mannerisms and speaking patterns. It's cool, and a little creepy.

K well I'm out of things to write. I'll get something up when I get back from Tas, but right now the beach calls, and it would be rude to keep 'er waiting.

Lisa Freitag
Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia

Adelaide

So I'm in Adelaide, and I really don't feel like blogging. I've managed to keep on top of it thus far, and am nothing if not driven. So here goes.

I miss my dog.

Adelaide is a very cool city. It's got a very small town feel with the comforts of a city. It has the largest in door shops in the southern hemisphere. It has Australia's only giant pandas. I've been walking to the city centre quite often which is about a 8 km (probably more, I haven't figured it out yet) round trip. I went to see Iron Man 2 yesterday... meh, was alright.

I miss my horses

I went swimming with wild dolphins on Saturday morning and in the afternoon went to the indoor gun range and cracked off 120 rounds. Fired a .9mm, .45mm, .357mag, .44mag, and as the arms instructor called it "big daddy" the 50cal Desert Eagle. I thought about having a go at the 12 gage rifle, but it was another 25 bucks for 10 rounds and I wasn't sure I wanted to put my shoulder through that type of punishment and then do pushups. For those wondering I'm a good shot, if a little rusty, and the Desert Eagle and I will be seeing more of each other when I get home. Me likey!

I miss my truck

Back in Sydney I scuba dived with nurse sharks... very cool. Was going to plan a dive with Great White Sharks, but would have had to fly out to another part of the coast, spend the $500 bucks for the dive and then wait 24 hours before flying back... so that's 2 flights, three nights stay, and a nice big chunk of change for the white's. Not that they weren't worth it, but perhaps another time when the hours are working with me. For those wondering about the time delay, you can't fly with in at least 24 hours of scuba diving because nitrogen can't escape from your body while under and if you fly you get altitude sickness... that can be fatal. Sifu Hayes knows more about it than I do, so if I've given not 100% accurate definition he can straighten it out.

I miss my family

I've been to the major Zoos on the east coast (minus Melbourne, haven't been to that city at all). I got to see a duckbilled platypus at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Worthy highlight. They are truly amazing. I've held a Koala and taken pictures of everything and anything. I rented a scooter today and drove out of the city into the hills and had a look at wine country. Very pretty, but the "mountains" are no Rockies.

I miss my friends

Been staying in touch with everyone as much as I can. I'm off again tomorrow, another flight. I'm getting tired of airports, but them's the breaks. I had a hotel in Sydney for a few days and I unpacked... you have no idea how excited I was about that. Anyone who's backpacked knows that as much fun as it can be, it is very tiring living out of a duffel on your back like a turtle. Maybe I'm just getting old and should have done this years ago when sleeping in a room the size of a postage stamp with 3 other people who like to be up all night wouldn't have made me insane. Funny, us grumpy old farts like to sleep... go figure?

But that's it. I'm going to have some supper and hit the sack. Got an early flight in the morning and we know how much I like getting up early. Who's idea was mornings anyway? They need a slap!

Lisa Freitag
Silent River Kung Fu, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

Adelaide

I'm in the south state of South Australia, in the city of Adelaide. It is a great city and the small town feel is really amazing. My friend Tina's brother in law has been showing me around. I'm having a really good time and am looking forward to swimming with wild dolphins tomorrow.

While in Sydney I scuba dived with nurse sharks (they were huge) and it was completely indescribable. There are some tours to go in a shark cage with great whites, and depending on how much it is, I'll do that as well.

But I should go, Michael is taking me to the local pool and then he'll probably pick me up and go for dinner again tonight. My turn to pay and I'm not accepting "no worries I got it" again.

Lisa Freitag
Silent River Kung Fu, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia