12/01/08
I consider that my travel adventures started from the moment I left Satsanga House (January 7). Free-wheeling and living out of a suitcase means that even though I'm not overseas yet, I'm in transient, gypsy mode!
My first challenge (after the challenge of actually moving out!) was finding somewhere to stay for a week or two on the Sunshine Coast, which I had created space for so I could catch up with everybody before heading to next stop Brissie. I'd planned to stay with a friend, and had just arrived there and crashed on the bed EXHAUSTED from days of moving and a particularly hot and challenging day weeding etc the yard...when I heard a van pull up, and next thing you know, this guy is squirting pesticides around - inside and outside the unit!
So it was time to jump up, grab a few things just for overnight, and hightail it out of there. A bit of overwhelm and a few tears later, I got through that and can see the funny side. I then spent four nights at another place that was appreciated but inconvenient for them and me and only intended to get me out of a pickle.
I tried ringing caravan parks, backpackers, holiday accommodation etc, and it was either booked out, or out of my budget ($1000 a week for a studio...that's peak season for you!) I circulated an email and made some calls. Then I got word through the network of somewhere, that I could have to myself for the best part of a week. The unit proved to be a bit tricky in the chemical department, but I had to stay somewhere and there wasn't much choice at the time! Ah...life. Opportunities abound to stretch and grow!
My original travel plans have changed, due to an unexpected email from the Hangbauhaus in Switzerland, where I had an appointment in March to choose and buy a hang drum. They've had a breakthrough in the development of the instrument and so have changed from 45 models to just one, which means one no longer has to travel to Switzerland - they can ship it.
This is perfect because I wasn't keen on being in Switzerland/Europe at such a cold time, and having a commitment there in March was not sitting well with all my others travel plans.
So the latest is that I'm going to wait to receive it here, have a bit of fun with it and soak it up before putting it into storage and heading overseas. I'm waiting to hear when it will arrive.
In the meantime I intend to spend a week in Brissie for catch ups; a few days up the coast snorkelling on Lady Musgrave Island - and maybe extend that to stay around the Whitsundays a few more days; visit my folks down south and maybe stay a little longer that I first thought possible, and probably head back up to the Sunshine Coast again briefly before heading off to India - where I can now stay till the end of April and hit Europe in the spring.
Aside from the current accommodation muddle, I'm feeling good. Tired still, but loving having been cut loose and looking forward to a fantastic adventure in this '1' year of 2008.
Watch this space!
pre-travel blog
...interesting enough stories to retain on the site!
02/03/08
Well folks, I've been traipsing around visiting family and friends both north and south over the last month, and I am now house sitting a peaceful, lush 10 acres out west of Yandina until March 15. It's a wonderful respite from being assulted by chemicals every day (The owner is into natural/organic plus the acres put plenty of space between here and the neighbours). It also has growing an abundance of fruit, vegies and salad greens, with chooks offering fresh eggs every day - a convenient, fresh, simple and cheap way to live!
My two recent plane trips have refreshed my memory about better ways to travel, as did a night in a backpackers in Sydney where I forgot to ask about stairs when booking...won't forget that again! It's been handy getting a tune up before I leave (it's amazing how much one can forget over 10 years).
I've been taling it pretty quietly, down for the count for a week with a bug...though I'd rather get it out of the way now than deal with it later on my travels.
The hang (musical instrument) I've been waiting for (which is the cause of the delay in my travels) was due to be freighted from Switzerland end of February, but thus far I've not heard from the hangmakers, as expected, to arrange payment and final details. I need to have all that finalised and be sure the hang is on its way (two weeks delivery time) before I lock in any dates/flights, even though I've been sorely tempted to book flights as I keep an eye on good deals!
I'm crossing fingers there's not too much of a delay - my intention was to stay in India for two months (before the start of the wet season in May), which I'd already shortened to one month so I could be here to receive the hang.
What will be, will be!
(If anyone wanted to read earlier blog entries, apologies but I am having a technical glitch with the archive page.)
20/03/08
After some mix ups and delays, the hang is on its way and should arrive next week. I'm going to make sure it's in my hot little hands before locking any travel plans in - I've learned it's wise not to get ahead of myself!
I'm currently house sitting in Bli Bli, and anticipating a low-key Easter given I've had five days so far of very bad neuralgic pain around my head, that the chiropractor, masseur and pain killers haven't been able to entirely get rid of (and it's extremely rare for me to resort to pain killers, but four days and the usual fixes not working was as much as I could take.)
Generally feeling pretty flat at the moment, sitting it out, sick of being in limbo and not feeling up for anything much. This, too, shall pass!
The hang will be a very welcome source of upliftment - it's exciting to think it's somewhere in transit and has my name on it :o)
Wishing one and all a lovely Easter - and some yummy organic, fair trade chockie!
04/04/08
The hang finally arrived today! Woo hoo! ...and already it is weaving its magic. (There's a story in all this, but I'll leave it for another day).
The super quick snapshot is that I'm still staying in Bli Bli and even though the hang is now here, I'm not yet locking in arrangments for my overseas trip - for a different reason than the hang, there's a delay...I can only go with the flow! Watch this space :o)
12/04/08
The hang and I are getting acquainted, and in such a short space of time it has proved to be as amazing and special as I remembered from my encounter with one over two years ago. It has also created some special experiences for others who have got to share in its magic so far. It has already been part of a sound healing event and more are planned. (The effect of combining it with alchemy singing bowls is mind blowing!) It feels like it is taking on a life of its own and I get to have the privilege of going along for the ride. I've not had any need yet to add pics to this blog, but with the hang now, I will organise some soon.
I'm still in Bli Bli, traipsing between Bli Bli and Brissie. Plans to travel are still in suspended animation. As much as I have the intention to go and everything has been geared for it, all the signs and synchronicity indicate 'not yet'. I have a bit of an inkling what the delay is about, but really, at this stage, all I can do is stay in flow and let time reveal all. Limbo is not a place I relish being in, but I am in total trust. I know it will all make sense when I look back on it.
I'll be somewhere else by the end of the month, but I have no idea where that will be. It's an adventurous lesson in living one day at a time! I know I'm where I'm meant to be and that it's leading to something/somewhere special, which is nice to keep in mind :o)
So, that be the latest :o)
08/05/08
Overseas travel now scheduled for September (long story). I am renting a house on acreage at Black Mountain (just west of Cooroy). It’s on the property of some friends, who are a short cooee away. It’s all eco and the house has got a great vibe so I’m feeling very nurtured here. It’ll be great to stay put in one place for a while after being an itinerant since January 7.
The scenery is gorgeous from the sunny deck, the world feels a hundred miles away, and I’m back into a comfy bed! (No small thing after some 3 months!) There was a wallaby grazing about 20 metres from the house yesterday morning.
The hang has been taking me on quite a journey, and I’ve only had it 4 weeks! It’s getting more interesting…
I would like to embellish, but I had a lovely massage this afternoon and it feels like I’m doing well to get anything on here at all!
Finally got some pics organised though, so that’s something at least :o)
The star of the show finally makes an appearance!
The view in all these pics is of the pond (above). Middle pic above is meditation room, far left, office den, left, swing seat on the deck. Life's tough!
29/05/08
Wow! I mentioned the hang is taking me on quite a journey...it feels more like it's changing my life direction. What is flowing in to me is quite surprising. I haven't gone looking for these adventures, they have come and found me. A couple of weeks ago I took the hang to the Eumundi markets to show it to Krusey (from 'Beat Me Drums' and it ended up with a bit of a crowd around it. Tomorrow night I've been invited to play the hang at a small event, and then on June 9, I'll be playing it at a larger, public venue in an event I'm putting together with some amazing 'sisters of sound' (follow the link from the top of the home page, or the bottom of the hang page). So the last 10 days have been filled with planning this event that popped into existence very unexpectedly and at short notice!
Yesterday I went into the recording studio with Gabrielle (Hart), playing the hang during a guided meditation that will be on one of her CDs. We did it in one take, and it felt really beautiful. I've booked to go back and record the hang on its own for a CD.
Aside from that I'm relishing the gorgeous deck here that allows me plenty of delicious winter sun. It's such a blessing that it has transcended my dislike of winter - and that is truly saying something (those who know me are probably picking their jaws up off the floor right now!)
24/06/08
Cold winter nights are being more than compensated for by yummy sunny days and the gorgeous deck on which to soak it up. Lots of fascinating evolution happening in my life - beyond what I could possibly even begin to attempt to explain in a blog. If all goes according to plan I'll be heading overseas in September, and within that plan, India has dropped off the list of places to go (part of the fascinating evolution). Egypt, Jordan, Switzerland and Italy still have a green tick, with the UK a question mark. I looked into the intentional community/eco village currently underway here on the Sunshine Coast, and while it totally fits my vision/what I've been seeking for years, and everything about it is great, I've been guided not to go down that particular path. Quite a surprise, but I am open to looking back later, with hindsight and appreciating that the path I ended up on turned out to be an even better one.
Meanwhile there are some green work possibilities brewing (I'm open to either temporary/short projects and/or taking on things I can do from overseas and/or setting up some work for when I get back).
Also the hang continues to get out and about. I was tracked down and asked to play at a winter festival at the local Steiner school, and I have since received and heard Gabrielle Hart's meditation CD with the hang (and me!) in the background, I have booked recording time next month to put my own CD together, and of course there was our Sacred Sound Spa event on June 9. It was pretty 'spesh' and there are stories in that which are really beyond the scope of this blog (twice in one blog entry...what's going on!? ;o)
Suffice to say it was full of grace, deliciousness, flow, trust, gentleness and heart, and the audience of some 95 people were appreciative. We had a video done, and once I've seen it, I will look into getting a web edit of a short piece to put on You Tube. There's a bit of a reflection on the night via a link on the hang page as well.
So now I'm off to Brisbane for a few days for the Mind Body Spirit Festival, which I am sure will be amazing and yum...
Sacred Sound Spa: an interweaving of hang, Alchemy Crystal Singing Bowls and HartSong (Gabrielle Hart), Tibetan and Japanese singing bowls and voice (Carmen Warrington) and Soprano Saxophone (Fiona Burnett). A delicious evening to enhance peace and wellbeing.
02/07/08
Well, there is no possible way I can even begin to describe how incredible this last week has been. On a scale of 1 to 10, it has been a 10 out of 10, and that's with 'amazing' coming it at 3 out of 10, and 'astonishing' coming in at 4 out of 10! It is really beyond the scope of this blog for me to try to explain it, so suffice to say my world has changed and I am now happily travelling on a new path - one I have been seeking for what feels like an eternity. The next few months are going to be incredible.
The hang journey forms just one slice of the pie of amazingness, and I have added an update to the hang page that covers only a portion of the hang part of the bigger amazingness :o) Yes, what that means is that you are only getting a fraction of the story, but it's truly the best I can do just now. The update on the hang page relates to the Mind Body Spirit Festival that was on in Brisbane last weekend, and it has been incorporated into the mid-section of the page. A bit messy, but it will do for the time being until I organise a mini site for the hang.
Well, I'm going to have to leave you 'hanging' (!) as I need to have some down time to integrate, and recover from, one of the biggest weeks of my life (thus far)!
23/07/08
Well, further to what I alluded to in my last update, here I am, with a big chunk of a BIG story that I can now tell. Quite a lovely one too, so best I get to it :o)
Over the last few months my intuition has cranked up heaps, which seems to be part of my accelerated process (and that’s another whole, fascinating story). It has certainly also been interesting, and it has proved to be a wonderful guidance.
Soon after I received the hang I had an intuition that the hang would also lead me to my new man (I had already had an intuition before the hang arrived that it would completely change my life and call a lot in).
Also, while I had planned to start travelling after the hang arrived, once it did I got guidance from Spirit that I would meet my man in winter. So I decided I soooooo wasn’t going anywhere! (I only mentioned it to a couple of people because energetically the sense I have is that the more you talk about something that hasn’t manifested yet, the more you dilute it…and I didn’t want that!) I also had a sense that my man would be travelling with me, so I needed to wait for him to get here first. Meanwhile, there were a couple of other good reasons for me not to have left these shores so soon, so it’s all been good (apart from the winter bit, said the cold frog… :o)
Gabrielle (dear friend who does intuitive readings) also told me that my new man (on my recently chosen new path) and I together would be a sacred union with a big role to play to make this world a better place. (Seeing as she had a bit of an insider perspective, I also shared with her all my intuitions ahead of when they came about.)
In late June I went to the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Brisbane, to help Gabrielle (who was performing with her Alchemy crystal bowls), but I also took the hang with me as I had an intuition that I would be on stage.
On the first day of the festival I was asked to fill in a spot on each of the three days of the Festival because one of the main acts had to pull out at the last minute. This meant I would need to stay on an extra day, as I had intended to leave on the Saturday to be able to attend a friend’s birthday party on the Sunshine Coast. (However, I had already had an intuition that I would be staying longer so packed extra things to cater for that!)
Anyway, a few days before the festival, I got an intuition that I would meet my new man on the Sunday, and while I was on stage on the Sunday, just near the end of my time on stage, I felt the energy of my new man nearby. Of course I kept my focus on my playing, but I had a huge smile on my face!
After I came off stage and people were around me asking about the hang, there was a man there who I had a feeling about, who I chatted briefly with after everyone else had left, but then he had to go on stage (to play the native American Indian flute). So we exchanged business cards.
If I had not been there playing the hang, our paths would not have crossed, but as it has turned out, he is my new man. I sat back to let it unfold, and to give him space to choose it, which he certainly did…courting me with intent! The upshot is, he’s a very special and beautiful soul and he and I are incredibly well suited for each other. (I believe this is the relationship I have been searching for all my life.) And he’s definitely for keeps (aside from my own deep knowing about that, and his, Spirit’s let me know that too). He totally blows me away and then some…everything I ever wished for and more. (Pinch me!)
We also have begun to get a little bit of an insight into a huge role we are to play together, but really it’s yet to unfold and we anticipate it will blow us away.
There is more to the story (also amazing), but this is just the brass tacks to get everyone up to speed :o)
Howzat for amazing…? His name is Sahayak (pronounced Sha-hi-yak), which is a name that was given to him by Sri Chinmoy. It is Sanskrit and means ‘to serve’.
Sahayak didn’t get to hear this huge, amazing story straight away, as I wanted to be sure he was making his own, clear choice, and he came to his own conclusions pretty quickly. (And once he got to hear the story a couple of weeks later, he loved it!)
I could offer a whole profile on him, but I’d rather let that unfold over time, not only through this blog, but also expanding into other areas of this website. (‘Inspiration unlimited’ very much applies to him also.)
And yes, he and I will be heading overseas together soon (September), and indications are that it will be for six months. So this blog will soon be used for what it was intended for all along (only seven months later than first planned :o)
More incredible story to unfold…I’ll let you know once it has happened!
Where to start...all so amazing! Here I can share with you a nice double mug shot of Sahayak and me that we whipped up on the weekend, and one I took of Sahayak down by the billabong (at the place I've been staying at Black Mountain) with one of his beautiful flutes. We are rapt that we are both photographers, so we each now get to have someone around to take nice pics of us...the usual scenario for a photographer is they take lots of nice pics for everyone else and don't get to have any themselves. What a bonus...yay!
18/01/08
Well...another temporary place of accommodation for a few days (fortunately chemically safe though complete with two flights of internal stairs to cart all my gear up and down, just to keep my back happy!) then off to Brissie Monday until Friday, then back on the Coast for the Australia Day long weekend, then off to visit the folks down south for a couple of weeks...and then back up to the Coast for...a month or six weeks!
Word has come in that they'll ship the hang end of February and it will take two weeks. I'll then want to soak it up for a bit, so I'm leaving a bit of time for that.
Also, my plans to travel to the Whitsundays and Lady Musgrave Island have been delayed until the tail end of March.
So, off to do the rounds of friends and family for the next three weeks.
So there you have it...the only constant is change. Watch this space :o)
17/08/08
At last the travel plans are locked down! (Some may have wondered if they'd ever see the day...) Another great reason for there to have been a delay is that Sahayak is coming with me :o) We are now based in New Farm (Brisbane) in a house sit until we leave on September 2, with the first stop being a week somewhere in South East Asia - a surprise for my birthday (September 6). Sahayak has been plotting and planning that one, and we are both enjoying that.
From there, we fly to Zurich on September 10, to stay with a friend of mine there. We also have an appointment to visit the hangbauhaus in Bern (where my hang was made) so that will be something special.
Then from there, around September 20, we go overland to Italy, where we'll spend a couple of weeks wandering around the region I was born (Piemonte) and take in the festival of the truffle. We'll also likely visit Damanhur - a spiritual community known for their amazing 'Temples of Humankind'. There's also rellies to catch up with.
Then we'll spend a couple fo weeks in the Tuscany/Umbria region, also catching up with two different sets of friends.
Then on October 20 we will go to Torri Superiore - an ecovillage on the Italian Riviera. We'll stay there for at least a month, with the intention to stay longer if they like us and we like them!
From then on, we plan to wing it - allowing for synchronicity and flow, and people we are yet to meet who may well influence our plans. Somewhere in amongst all that there'll be a trip to Egypt and Jordan.
So, the countdown is on...yay!
