Transforming from Tourist to Traveller in Byron Bay

So as all trips should, my trip has taken me down some very unexpected roads.

Road number one: I've become stuck in Byron bay.
No, i haven't run out of money, I've just fallen in love with this sleepy/crazyy town, as well as the hostel I'm staying at. I've decided to abandon the obsession with sight seeing and scrap a few of my plans in order to stay here to focus on what really is the best part of travel, meeting people and having totally unexpected experiences thanks to the new friendships you form. And to really cement my status as a short-term long-termer, I've moved into a tent on the hostel's camping area. Yes, I am a bottom-dweller, and proud of it. I'm in a huge, 8 person tent, with one other person, an awesome gal named Sid from LA. It's more like luxury camping - or it would be if it weren't for the fact that it has been raining torrentially for about 5 days STRAIGHT. But other than the unpleasant dampness of all my clothing, Sid and I are staying high and dry. Well, not actually high, contrary to Byron Bay clichés. You know what I mean.

Finally, it seems that Karma has delivered some traveling Tibetan Monks into my lap here at the Arts Factory, a serendipitous addition to this 'spiritual' journey. We'll see what I discover from them over the next few days!

Road number two: Surfing. I'm a complete convert.
I've spent my whole life saying how I'm not an athletic person, I don't like sports, it's just not me. But taking up surfing has changed my mind completely, and that in itself is one of life's real joys. My first lesson was such a blast, and an amazing ego boost. I stunned myself with my ability to actually get up on the board, as well as overcome the fact that I cannot, CANNOT breath out of my nose underwater (people, I have to hold my nose every time I fall off the board. its embarrassing) and live with inhaling ridiculous amounts of seawater every time I take a nose dive. (often.) Anyways. Lessons 2, 3, and 4 were a WHOLE different story. Suddenly I had to actually catch my OWN waves rather than have someone hold onto my board and push me into the wave at the exactly the right moment. I had to figure out timing, learn how and when to paddle into the wave, and discover that my arms are about as strong as two pieces of spaghetti. Basically, learning to surf feels like battling against everything; the waves, the rip, the undertow, the board, and hardest of all, your own physical and mental weaknesses. But after 30 minutes of discouraging struggle, almost on the point of giving up, you finally catch a wave, ride it to shore, and actually manage to steer the board a bit: Hallelujah, you've hit the jackpot of positive emotions. I think the best part has been learning that I can push right through the discouragement, the disappointment, the frustration, the exhaustion, and come out the other end a happy, enthusiastic ball of energy, ready for anything.

On a side note, my tan is coming along miserably. That may have something to do with the fact that I haven't exactly been laying around at the beach, which really is bad for you anyways. But a growing cluster of freckles seems to be gracing my cheeks and nose, and damn it, I like it.

Oh, and last but not least, I just HAVE to brag about this: I won the pub trivia two weeks in a row. (heance the triumphant picture of me with my week one team.) And I had a completely different team each time. Booyah!

Pictures:

Top - the view from my tent.

Middle - tons of byron friends! top to bottum: my trivia team week one, dancing with dan, sam and camilla at coco's, me and jill and cheeky's, and sid and tom hangin out at the hostel.

Bottum - playing scrabble with Sid in the tent. We both crashed at about 10pm right after this game, how sad are we?! Sid won, by the way.

WWOOFing it up in Murwillumbah

Say that 5 times fast. Or even once. I still can't pronounce it.

When I was back in Canada, I decided that WWOOFing would be a great thing to include as part of this travel experience. I've always been curious about the farming lifestyle, and have been getting really sick of my desk job lately. So I figured; no time like the present to see if this life is for me!

Some of you may be asking yourself what WWOOFing is. It's an acronym that stands for "Willing Workers On Organic Farms." To quote the international WWOOF website;

It started in the UK in 1971, and has since become an international movement that is helping people share more sustainable ways of living. WWOOF is an exchange - in return for volunteer help WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles. WWOOF organisations link individuals wanting to volunteer on organic farms or smallholdings with people who are looking for volunteer help.

I paid my 60$ to join WWOOF Australia for one year, received my book of australia's WWOOF hosts in the mail 2 weeks later, off I set on my trip with my book in my backpack.

Finding a farm to work on was fairly easy. While in Byron I decided now was the time, so I picked out a few interesting farms from the 'area' to contact. 10 emails later, I was in contact with my Hosts, and a day later was sleeping in the 'WWOOFer' room on their farm!

My hosts are a lovely family of EIGHT! They have 6 children whose ages range between 25 - 10. The farm is basically a self-sustaining operation; they grow veggies and fruit, keep cows, sheep, ducks, geese, turkies, and chickens; all for their own consumption. The only product they market are their Freerange Organic Eggs.

On my first day I was put right to work weeding, hoeing, then planting a new veggie patch. I've never been a gardener, but I must say - looking over the little patch I had taken from rainforest-overgrowth to food-producing-earth made me feel pretty satisfied! Especially the seed planting. One package has SO many seeds, and each tiny little wonder will (theoretically) grow into a large, food producing plant! Amazing.

The afternoon saw me doing some simple woodwork/construction on the Tardis - yes, that Tardis, my Hosts were building as a guest accommodation just beside the main house. I was glad to be of help with that project, and I have come to realize that knowing how to cut freehand curves with a jigsaw isn't the most common skill in the world.

I've also collected eggs from uncooperative chickens, taken a shot at milking the cow - very badly, cleaned out chicken sheds to make fresh compost, weeded, weeded and then weeded some more, made dinner for 10 people - twice - including dessert, done housework and normal chores, and generally learned alot about how the place operates.

One thing that I love here is how nothing is wasted. Once a week a couple family members head out to the local "Brumbys" bakery at closing, and help them empty all the leftover bread into garbage bags. The family picks out and keeps the good stuff for themselves, and the rest becomes chicken / animal feed. Then the animal droppings are made into compost which feeds the veggie patch, and any plate scraps go right back into the cycle as chicken feed. Dried grass and wood-project-shavings become chicken nesting material, and the weeds I pull out of the garden are fed to the cows and rabbits. On top of that the family is very resourceful, making good use of garage-sales to stock their home and workshop.

I also love how productive the family is. The kids are expected to help out, ALOT, every day. In fact, the kids are the ones who make dinner every night. Last sunday I watched a 21 year old girl made a full roast dinner complete with roast lamb, chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots, stuffing-from-scratch, perfect yorkshire puddings, and gravy - and she hardly broke a sweat. The youngest son, a hyperactive boy of 10, makes coffee for his parents in the afternoon every day and brings it out to them on the terrace. The boys help thier dad with various projects, fix the family cars, and do other various chores. There is hardly a spare moment in this house, at least until after dinner at 8pm when they settle in for a bit of TV, reading, or personal time. I find I have lost the patience for TV since I've been here (a miracle!!) I had a day off alone at the house, which I was really looking forwards to, but I wound up doing some cleaning because I was bored and unfocused! I am pretty tired, but a person could get used to this amount of productivity in their life!

All in all, a wonderful experience so far; not really what I expected, as all the best experiences are.

Pictures:
Top Set - the farm, aint it lovely?
Set two - me collecting and weighing eggs to determine thier 'size'
Set Three - The garden I weeded, hoed, and planted (yay!!) then one of the workshop arteas, and the TARDIS
Set Four - Pavlova (yuuum), My first aussie BBQ, and the paella meal I cooked for the family one night.

RELAX: It's Byron Bay

After 3 weeks of travel, all in urban centers, Byron Bay was a pretty drastic change.

Byron Bay is a very small town about 1.5 hours drive south of Brisbane on the "Gold Coast" of Australia, population: 5,609. Add tourists, and the number probably doubles. Okay okay, maybe triples. It is a hugely popular tourist destination, particularly amongst backpackers, probably because it has great beaches, surfing, snorkling and diving, and a disproportionately high number of residents who live 'alternative lifestyles'. Basically, it's a really relaxed and laid back place that transforms into sheer backpacker chaos at night.

My first few days there, I went around the main strip a bunch of times, did some shopping, went to the beach, enjoyed the pool and facilities at the Hostel, went out for dinner, for drinks, for dancing. Then I started to get bored. I wondered if a week was too much for Byron, and I started to feel listless. Then miraculously another few days later, my body and mind must have slowed down to the Byron pace (was it the yoga class I did?) and I didn't feel bored, I just felt happy. I had learned to ride the Byron Wave, go with the flow, enjoy the sun and waves, and not really plan anything. A great feeling! Mind you, it explains why so many people get to Byron, and then don't get any further....

My Hostel, the Arts Factory Lodge, is what a hippy commune would look like if it were conceived of as a business. They clearly target an 'alternative' clientele, with accommodation choices that include a 10 person teepee, a double decker bus, lagoon-side-'cabins', and a camping area where you can pitch your tent. The Buddah Bar offers music/drinks/food every night, and the on-site movie theatre has blacklights and couches instead of seats. Every morning the volleyball court becomes a Staff-Poi lesson area, and you can also take didgeridoo lessons. At all times, the parking lot is FILLED with camper-vans. This place is quintessential Byron Bay, and once you've slowed down enough to enjoy it, it's a blast.

But, Byron is a backpacker haven, which means it really caters to backpackers and tourists. The main strip, which you can walk the length of in about 10 minutes, has a disproportionate number of travel shops (each with someone outside trying to lull you in with offers of free internet.) There are surf shops where tourists can buy their first pair of boarding shorts, clothing stores selling a huge variety of batik dresses and thai-fisherman-pants, pharmacies for a cheap bottle of water, pie shops for a midday or late night snack, and many bars and clubs.

Curious thing about the nightlife: at midnight most of the bars basically close, and your choice of venue is reduced to three places that are open till 3. In order from most to least classy: LaLaLand, Coocamungas, and Cheeky Monkeys, the last of the three being renowned for the weekly wet tshirt contest, and the 'dancing on the tables' (more like table-shaped steel stages) that takes place within. Sigh. Really cheesy, but hey - its good for a fun time. Except, the bouncers are power-tripping assholes. But hey, what else is new?

Finally, I've officially started abandoning some of my belongings. Meh, that top wasn't very flattering anyways.


Discoveries...

- do YOU know what an esky is?

- Sea kayaking is a blast, and also a dangerous weapon when 'catching a wave'.

- Surfing is SO MUCH FUN! And it's not nearly as hard to stand up on the board as you think it is. Especially with the giant foam boards you learn on.

- Food may be expensive, but the cost of organic food is almost prohibitive!

- You can sing any song to a standard reggae tune.

- Goannas are pretty big, and kinda scary, but basically harmless.

- Night swimming is lovely. But dangerous, apparently. Don't try it at home, kids.

- "Into the wild" is a great movie, and an ever better one if you are traveling or are looking for inspiration to travel.

- Too many sleepless nights WILL catch up with you eventually. *cough cough HACK*

- I can talk to other Canadians more easily than to people from other places in the world. I guess we really do have some common traits...

week three: melbourne

Ahh, Melbourne. Lovely, wonderful Melbourne.

My second week in Australia was a vast improvement over the first. Perhaps I was finally adjusted to the time change and the climate, perhaps I was starting to live a more moderate backpacker lifestyle. Or, and I'm leaning this way, perhaps Melbourne is just a fabulous city full of fabulous people!

Designers, beware: if you come to Melbourne, you may never want to leave. For Melbourne is to australia what Montreal is to Canada; the 'cultural capital'. Full of galleries artists and art students, home to a centrally located and reputable design center, and a thriving design community.

In fact, the city's personality bore a striking resemblance to Montreal's. The population of each city is about identical at 3.5 mil, each city is the smaller sibling of the country's BIG city that is relatively close, geographically speaking (Mtl > To = 5hour drive Syd > Melb = 9hours) and yet NOT the capital city, which would be Canberra. (and Canberra, I'm told, is a small purpose built city - much like our very own Ottawa.) AKA, Melbourne has a superiority complex that is actually a veiled inferiority complex. The city has a main natural feature (the yarra river) that is bordered by many natural parks as it runs through various parts of the city. Finally, Melbourne is home to an avid community of sports fans supporting the local faves: cricket and aussie-rules. (read: go habs go!)

The city feels very modern. Because it is a relatively young city; founded in 1835 with rapid growth due to the goldrush in 1850s, you can clearly see evidence of urban planning in the wide streets, open spaces, and post-1900s architecture that is amazingly well preserved (argh, damn that warm climate!). This is one 'modern' city, complete with trams: love the trams!! I visited the Ian Potter National Gallery of Victoria, housing a great Sydney Nolan temporary exhibit, then - upon recommendation from a boookshop employee in fitzroy - I explored the side alleys just opposite the gallery to discover a stunning display of various styles of graffiti art.

I was staying in Fitzroy, an area full of cool pubs/bars/clubs, retro & designer boutiques, galleries, bookstores, and OF CORSE, young aussie hipsters. My hostel was The Nunnery, a very relaxed place with beautiful old architectural detailing both inside and out, and a slightly older crowd, which made me feel a bit more at home.

Again, met some great people. Aofie, Hazel, and Denise, my hilarious Irish roomies who ruined the next 9 months of Coronation street for me, (Oh heavens, the plot twists!! You won't believe!!!) Then brits Emma and Rachel, who took me in as one of their own. David, the smooth french roommate (ahh, not that smooth, ladies.) Random locals who hit on us at bars with a bizarre mix of bravado and indifference. The feisty irish gal we met at Bar Open, Sonya (seen in the image at R carrying away aofie). The canadian girl we also met at Bar Open who tried to convince me, somewhat successfully, that facebook is a CIA initiative designed to create a detailed database of the worlds youth, complete with lists of their friends and pictures of their vacations. Hmmm.

If you're ever in Melbourne, do check out a bar in St Kilda (somewhat snooty beach area) called The Esplanade Hotel, aka, "The Espy". It's a big old hotel converted into a big bar with 4 stages that are ALL occupied as of 6pm every night. Bored of drum beats? Check out the soul band in the next room! Also, beautiful view of the sunset on the water for a post-beach schooner of beer.

Okok, I know this is getting long, but I just have so much to say about Melbourne!!

Discoveries...

- I have a weakness for cute sundresses and clothing sales (duh) and an as of recently undiscovered talent for packing. (It still closes!!)

- The famous tiny penguins can be seen at Phillips Island, a trip I do recommend, but can ALSO be seen at the pier in St Kilda for 60$ less. AKA, for free. Dont use flash photography, it may kill the penguins. I just used an uber sensitive camera, I swear to god.

- EVERYONE thinks you speak french or ARE french if you come from Montreal / Quebec. I'm not quite sure why this surprises me, but it does.

- Feeding wallabies (in the pic) and kangaroos is awesome, but watch those roos cause they're greedy buggers with sharp-ish nails on their hands.

- Beware the dreaded drop-bear. LOL.

- Watching hundreds of fruit bats fly 10 feet above your head at sunset is wild.

- Do YOU know what a capsicum is?

- Timtams are sooo good, but a curiously messy, melty cookie for such a warm climate.

Smiley

Last night, a memory from sydney came back to me and I thought: I have to share this before I forget it and it is lost forever.

One beautiful day I was walking into downtown sydney from Kings Cross with a fellow traveller, and some older man with a very friendly demeanor started walking along side us, and said to my friend "Your shoelaces are untied." She looks down at her thongs (read: flip flops) and we all have a good laugh.

A couple days later I'm walking along the same street by myself, and he comes along and does the same 'intro', then walks with me for about 10 minutes sharing with me his favorites jokes and his secret to happiness.

He tells me that when he was young, just after WWII he somehow lost his parents and became homeless, and has been ever since, but he's always kept his spirits up, and has always been happy. He tells me you just have to be positive, not take things too seriously, and tell jokes because they make people happy. I think his name was Smiley; he had it on his belt buckle. He took great pride in his name and his buckle.  

Sadly I can only rememebr two of his jokes: 

-"Hey mate, how are you going?"
-"Im putting one foot in front of the other!"

-"Hey mate, y'alright?"
-"Nah, I'm half left."
(I like that one quite a bit.)


Talk about travel experiences giving you a sense of perspective.

Week two: Sydney

My first week in australia was a bit of a whirl-wind experience. Between adjusting to jetlag, frequent hangovers, solo travel, and communal living (shared dorms in hostels), i hardly wound up having enough time to really explore the city! I did make it to Manly beach, Bondi beach, walked around the botanical gardens, saw the opera house (inside and out), shopped in the downtown core, strolled thru chinatown, and thru 'the rocks', and hung out at my hostel, the Pink House, in Kings Cross ("the red light district", but a pretty tame one.)

I would say the highlight of this part of my trip was two things.

First, making friends. I'll admit, I was ridiculously nervous about this. I actually had to call up all my courage the first time I stepped out into the pink-house-terrace in order to befriend complete strangers. But it turned out to be so easy! There were many long-termers at the Pink House, who were friendly enough but tended to stay in their groups. It was the short term stay-ers who were easiest to talk to, we seem to be the most willing to make that oh-so-annoying yet oh-so-neccesary travel small talk.

Travel small-talk is much like regular small-talk, only the questions are as follows;
Where are you from?
How long are you in australia / sydney?
Where have you been so far?
Where are you going next?

This will be followed by a series of questions related to how you answer those first four, such as: Oh, you've been to Adelaide! Where did you stay? and so on and so forth. And, much like normal life small-talk, it has become incredibly tedious to me already. But, a necessary evil.

The second best part of my week in Sydney was the Mardi Gras parade. Its name is a bit of a misnomer; it doesn't actually take place on or near fat tuesday, it's actually Sydney's pride parade! Like how the pride parade used to be in Montreal, it's quite a big parade, and since it is legal to drink in public in most places in Australia, it's teeming with drunk people of all ages wearing colourful clothes, wigs, elaborate costumes, or hardly anything at all! And of corse, part 2 was enhanced by part 1; the new friends with whom I was witnessing this wild event. And these people are some of the best people I have met so far on this trip; Rob (toronto), Becky and Matt (living in england), and Jo and Amenha (england, the ones in the wigs...).

One thing I quickly began to realize; I am unlikely to meet that many australians on this trip. But I WILL meet a ton of people from england, ireland, and then to a lesser extent germany, france, scotland, scandanavian countries, USA, japan...

Discoveries...
Food is crazy expensive, but you can get these wicked little sushi rolls for like 2-3$ a pop on any block. This is PERFECT traveller food; relatively healthy, cheap, filling, and you can eat it on the go!

Food may be expensive, but this is only due to the fact that most of the food comes from within Australia, and the people working on the farms and in the entire system are paid QUITE WELL. I heard min wage here is something like 12$. A local in Byron Bay told me that Australia doesn't have a huge poor working class like you see in North America. Take that, land of the free!!

Back to sushi: SUSHI TRAIN! Restaurants that have a continual conveyer belt of sushi going in a circle, you pick a plate or two or three, and after eating, you pay according to a color coordination system (blue plates = 2.50, green ones 3.00 and so on...)

Kinokuniya! THE MOST AWESOME BOOKSTORE EVER! So many awesome design, art, and architecture books, and then a whole Japanese books section, which is perfect for my love of japanese craft books, and definitely warrants a revisit before I leave back to Canada... so very, very rad.

Why did I bring running shoes?!! And two pairs of Jeans?! It's bloody hot in this country! Tops, shorts, and 'thongs' are all you need. and one nice pair of shoes for going out. Not kidding, this place has a stricter dress code than all of Montreal.

Australian women, at least in Sydney, are very well dressed, wear alot of dresses, and put me and my backpacker wardrobe to SHAME. So, teehee, I bought some clothes, which miraculously fit into my already-full backpack.

Week One: Vancouver

What a pleasant shock it was to arrive in vancouver, where it was sunny and warm for my entire visit. The very first thing I noticed was the mountains - i know, they're kindof hard to miss, but I was amazed by the incredible beauty and presence of the mountains which are SO close, right beside the city! I can see why vancouver residents are so into nature-based activities. When you wake up every day to the sight of those mountains, it's probably hard to resist the urge to escape to that dewey, grand wilderness.


The second thing I noticed was that my backpack was really heavy, and my bony hips were being rubbed sore. Damn it.

I was staying in a lovely old house in a richer part of town, and had the friendliest hosts! It was a bit bizarre, however, to stay with people; I felt compelled to inform them of my timetable (if I even had one...), my plans, etc. Not exactly the travel-independence I was looking forwards to. But it had its upsides; becoming a pseduo-regular at a local cafe that serves the yummiest italian lunches, having like-mided people to watch the oscars with, getting the local insider knowledge of the best cheap sushi place in town... the list goes on.

It was in vancouver that I spent a bit of time thinking about my philosophy of what-is-art after a conversation on that topic with one of my hosts, Michel. I told him that art, to me, is something that allows you to experience someone else's view of the world as if it were your own - it must open your eyes to a new perspective, one that you never before had even contemplated the existence of. Later that day as I walked around a lovely residential area in west-vancouver, I realized that travel is exactly the same thing. Does that make travel art? Lucky that I happen to be reading Alain de Botton's "The Art of Travel." Perhaps it will give me some answers.