Others can help you observe things
Be in the moment
State facts
Enjoy your environment
Reflect on your journey
View your surroundings
Aattentively watch as the world goes by
Test a theory
I see—you see—remember it may be different
Opinions do vary
Notice the differences—celebrate the similarities.
#A-Z Challenge
Nimbin is the hippy capital of Australia. Although I have known this for many decades it was not until last month that I got to experience what that meant for myself. I was surprised. Tolerance for individualism was everywhere—two woman were verbally fighting loudly in the park. Nobody cared. It was normal.
“They have been at it all morning” said the local shopkeeper.
“Really” we replied.
” It is common for people around here to have rants. Some are just longer than others” she replied very matter of factly.
This set the scene for the rest of our visit.
The Nimbin community developed its identity in 1973 when it hosted Australia’s Aquarius festival celebrating alternate living choices and the arts. It attracted students, hippies, visionaries from all over Australia many of whom stayed on after the Aquarius Festival making Nimbin their home continuing to follow these dreams and ideology.
Names around the village describe its history well.
Forty years later the areas is still internationally renown for its alternative lifestyle culture. Marijuana reform has played a large role in the community over the decades. Today they are strongly fighting to legalise medical marijuana through their annual law reform rally—MardiGrass—held in early May.
“May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you and, the pure light within you guide your way home.” Aquarius festival anthem
#A – Z Challenge
Opened in 1912 the Lithgow Small Arms Factory was Australia’s first precision mass production factory. The Small Arms Factory was commissioned out of a need to make sure Australia was safe from invasion. Little did they know that world war would break out in two years creating a major demand for their product—Short Magazine Lee Enfield Rifles for the Australian military.
Building the Small Arms Factory at Lithgow changed the lives of the town and many people as it brought employment and housing to the area. I was excited to visit this factory as my father had only recently told me that my grandfather had found employment there when he was a boy. Despite the family connection, it was not until I spent a morning in their fascinating museum that I realised the true important of Lithgow’s Small Arms Factory on Australia’s history. The museum built on the site of the original factory is manned by very knowledgeable volunteers—many of whom had previously worked in the factory and had many interesting stories to tell. We got lucky because it was a quiet morning the volunteers were happy to chat for half an hour and I was grateful to get some insight into my grandfathers life.
Between the wars the Lithgow Small Arms Factory produced an incredible array of commercial products and in their spare time worked on inventing new technologies and devices.
Kangaroos are unique Australian animals people everywhere fall in love with. They are cute particularly the young ones. Wrestling is a natural instinct to kangaroos and I have seen many an unsuspecting visitor get caught off-guard as the kangaroo they were just feeding, decides to practice their boxing skills on them. The kangaroo photos below of a friendly pet kangaroo were taken in a restaurant and animal sanctuary.
In non city areas kangaroos are sometimes in plague proportions and they can be very dangerous hopping across highways and roads. Kangaroos are the most common animal to be hit with over 7,000 accidents being caused by them each year. The most dangerous time is sunrise and sunset as they are out and about looking for food. The two video give different insights into kangaroos behaviours, habits and how they live in our big wide country.
An inukshuk is a human-shaped man-made stone landmark built by the Inuit people of the Artic region. Traditionally they are built to assure the newcomer to the area that they are on the right path and point to good local hunting places or other food sources.
Inukshuks are made by using whatever rocks or stones are around and balancing them on top of each other in the traditional shape of a human with one arm longer and pointing in the direction needed.
All inukshuks are unique.
Last month my husband and I were surprised to find an inukshuk made in the creek at Minyon Falls. He was special and brought a smile to our faces as we remembered our recent trip to Canada.
#A-Z Challenge
Today I am combing Poetry 101 Rehab: Home with H in A – Z April Blogging Challenge. My two choices this week are:
Acrostic
Home is more than bricks and mortar
Opening doors to many
Memories, mistakes and special moments
Especially keeping us safe and secure
Enjambment
My home is my castle, it
reflects my personality and
doesn’t fit a mould.
There are certain things always
travelling with me wherever I
make my new home.
http://maraeastern.com/2015/04/06/poetry-101-rehab-home/
#A-Z Challenge
Last month while on a road trip around northern New South Wales I saw a goanna in the wild for the first time. My husband and I had pulled into the car park at Minyon Falls when I excitedly noticed the large goanna in the middle of the picnic area. She appeared to be pregnant and was not disturbed at all by the people keeping their distance and taking her photo. It was a great experience to see such a beautiful creature in her natural environment. We were actually doubly blessed that day as we saw a smaller goanna on the path back from the falls however this one was nervous and scurried into the bush at the sight of people.
Goannas are the common name for Australia’s monitor lizards. There are about 25 species in Australia. Ours was a Lace Monitor, the second largest species growing up to 2 metres— the size of ours.
Goannas
The true irony of us finding—Joanna the Goanna—was only the day before friends of ours were telling us about a showdown in their back garden between a snake and a goanna. Result goanna 1 snake 0. Now we understand why. The snake wouldn’t have had a chance.
You get some incredibly, amazingly, wonderfully fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
I am assuming from this prompt that the incredibly, amazingly, wonderful fantastic news is mine to tell—if not I would keep their secret.
If it is mine, initially I would say thank you to my angels and spend some time enjoying the moment—connecting with everything I was feeling in my body and head. The more exciting my news—the more I would plan my sharing. Super exciting news requires time for self rejoicing, planning, dreaming and working out what it means before sharing my news with the world including my immediate family.
Once I had worked through my news, I would plan a special dinner that evening for the family and share my news with them in person. I love to see the responses on their faces particularly if the news related to something I know they thought I truly was dreaming about. I tend to be the believer in the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction and not everyone shares my thoughts. I love examples of it working in my life.
Once we had celebrated—with a fancy champagne—my husband and I would work out a plan to share my news with the rest of the family—parents and siblings. This would mostly involve ringing them individually or sending a text if time poor although sometimes a road trip may be in order to tell them personally.
Only after all of these options had been completed and if I decided my news was suitable for a public billboard would I post a status update to Facebook. My personal boundaries stop me announcing anything and everything to the world without careful consideration.
Through blogging I have become more comfortable with my online presence however I don’t want any surprises. If appropriate, to complete my celebrations and take it to a new level I would write a blog post and see where that takes me.The advantage of celebrating through a blog post is that you get to celebrate many times over as people read the blog posts in their own time.
Bring on the fantastic news—I love to celebrate.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious/
#A-Z Challenge
Casa Loma is a beautiful, ornate full size castle built by Sir Henry Pellant and completed in 1914. Overlooking Toronto Canada—the castle is situated on 5 acres of land— taking 300 men, 3 years to build. It was the largest private residence in Canada and it is steeped in history. Unfortunately due to changes in their financial circumstances Sir Henry and his lovely wife Lady Mary were only able to live in their spectacular home for 10 years.
Beauty, grandeur and opulence are displayed in every room. No expense was spared on the creation of this historic building and it is a true testament to its owner and Edwardian times. Our visit was at Christmas and they were celebrating 100 years of Christmas at Casa Loma—including traditional carolers. It is the most impressive home I have ever seen.
Possibly our favourite part of exploring this amazing castle complete with its secret tunnels was having traditional hot chocolate and our first s’mores on the balcony. We were in heaven. The only thing that would have improved our day was if there was snow on the ground. You win some, you lose some.
#AtoZChallenge
Although Australian I choose to drink wine not beer. It wasn’t until our recent trip to Canada that I began to learn about beer. At lunchtime on New Years Eve in Montreal my husband and I had lunch at The 3 Brewers Microbrewery and decided to try a beer float. Our beer float consisted of 6 beers all made on site:
I was excited. This was a new experience for me, the beers were beautifully presented and looked appertising—something I would have never consider possible before. And now for the test—what were my thoughts. I tried all beers in order as they looked to get stronger as they went.
White – I enjoyed this unusual beer. It was light with a gingery feel and had a pleasant after taste. I could definitely trial a larger glass later.
Blonde – I had tried blonde beers before so the taste wasn’t unusual. It was wheaty and fruity and whilst pleasant it wasn’t my favourite.
Amber – Described by the microbrewery ” as a specialty found nowhere else” I did enjoy this beer. It had a light, caramel flavour that went particularly well with my lunch—Beef and Mushroom Poutine.
Brown – This was my least favourite beer. I found it a strong, malty flavour that I felt took over. It was interesting to try.
Christmas Cheer – Made only for the month of December this beer was very enjoyable. It had a fun, light, festive taste. The flavours did remind me of Christmas. It was one of my favourites.
Portobello – This beer was dark and strong. Surprisingly, I didn’t find it bitter like other strong beers so I did enjoy it although only in small quantities.
It was a fun, practical learning experience and I am glad I took the risk. I will gaining more beer knowledge as the opportunity presents.
#AtoZChallenge