As planned, I tossed out my ticket from Melbourne to Sydney and set out to hitchhike from Melbourne to Adelaide. I made it to the highway enterance at the Melbourne airport and was a bit overwealmed by the security (fences and signs etc. Keep in mind I just came from Mexico) and totally thrown off by the left-hand-side driving which I had completely forgotten about. What is more, almost all of the vehicles were buses and taxies. I couldn't find public transport or people driving their cars anywhere. After trudging around in opressive heat for a while without a clear plan [View Full Entry]

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The first story I want to tell about the rainbow gathering is an adventure I went on near to the beginning of my stay. There was a lot of hype going on around how beautiful a certain spot was called The Source. It was apparently beautiful, sacred, almost supernatural. The sight of the Rainbow gathering was at the meeting of two rivers: one river had gone through a small town and a fair bit of farmland and was warm and green with farm efluent. We called it the green river. The river it met with was a bit smaller, much, much [View Full Entry]

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find my pics at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11022&l=c8f31&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12444&l=8869c&id=708372808 I have a lot more, but my camera is now water dammaged so it could be a while begore I figure out how to get the pictures off my memory card and Chris's at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11607&l=e5746&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11616&l=adf9d&id=708372808 Masa also sent us a couple of pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13668&l=a509c&id=708372808 Í think I left off with the storytelling with Chris and my decision to put our plan to rush to the southern tip of Chile on hold in order to visit the international rainbow gathering in Vera Cruz province in Mexico. With the prospect of another wild unknown adventure in [View Full Entry]

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If I have organized them right, my pictures should be at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11021&l=0e24a&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11022&l=c8f31&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12444&l=8869c&id=708372808 And Chris's are at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10955&l=17ba2&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11607&l=e5746&id=708372808 There were a few paculiar things about the $9-each hotel in Mexico city. For one there were several tv stations playing hard core pornography: "Haha hey Chris, look- soft core porn!... oh .... god damn... thats awkward, this isn't not soft core at all. Shouldn't that be on pay per view?" The other thing was the knob in the middle of the wall. It turned out to be a radio knob, without volume and with only two radio stations, both playing [View Full Entry]

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First an appology on how long it has been. I think we both aim to be caught up to our experiences in Oaxaca soon (all positive). My pictures are on Facebook under Chris and my alias: Autostop South http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11020&l=5f5f9&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11021&l=0e24a&id=708372808 and Chris's pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10953&l=afa08&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10955&l=17ba2&id=708372808 From the wonderful tiny town outside of El Dorado we got a ride back towards the major highway to Mazatlan, but our ride overshot it. So rather than doubling back we decided to go on and hitch the secondary highway. While waiting for a ride we saw an army troop trandport truck hanging arround with dozens [View Full Entry]

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My photos (and Chris's) are on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9751&l=186ad&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10166&l=ed80d&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10530&l=2ac8f&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10953&l=afa08&id=708372808 The bussride in from the border to Nogales city limit was exhilerating. The change in atmosphere from the US to Mexico was tangeible. There were large families on the buss, public notices written in paint on the roof. shops and houses were coloured bright, often clashing colours, streets were crooked and the traffic was noisy and, chaotic. We asked a friendly passenger where we should get off given that we wanted to be near the city limit so that we could travel on to Hermesillio. I think that we [View Full Entry]

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I'm going to say that my last attempt as a format change with all the colons was a failure and resume with my normal format. pictures available by pasting the following links into your browser: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8485&l=73eb5&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8492&l=e29f3&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9228&l=f36e0&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9229&l=49d24&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9232&l=1876e&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9751&l=186ad&id=708372808 After The Big Sur Bakery we walked onwards and soon came to a ritzy cafe with lots of luxury SUVs and convertibles with exotic license plates. We took turns talking on the payphones to our families and when it was my turn to hang arround aimlessly I practiced spinning poi with tennis balls inside of red knee socks (so that [View Full Entry]

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I don't think my embedded links worked last time to view my pictures on facebook, so here are the ugly ones you'll have to past into your browser, all the way from Portland to Big sur because I wan't sure where I left off in the last blog: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7638&l=24cad&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7640&l=e0e0e&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7653&l=753af&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7654&l=b893c&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8485&l=73eb5&id=708372808 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8492&l=e29f3&id=708372808 It seems that I have half the trip to blog about, so I'll try a different format (I always say that and never do, I know) Arcata: We arrived at Arcata on a Saturday and got to check out the farmers market which had a really special [View Full Entry]

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It is now safe to say that the trip is propperly under way... In Victoria as I mentioned in the last blog, we stayed with Erin and Steve and got a chance to hang out with them a bit which was really sweet and we got to ride in the coach boat for one of the Royal Vic midweek training sessions, the combination of these two things cemented in my mind that if I wasn't on this crazy trip I would be out at Victoria training through the winter for a Laser campeign with Steve's speedy laser group. We also got [View Full Entry]

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For pictures check out these three facebook links: My pictures (Ian) Chris's first batch of pictures, all in Waterton National Park Chris's Hitchhiking pictures (I hope these links work, the long ugly links that you can past into your browser are at the bottom) Based on time constraints and duplicity with Chris's blog I'll attempt a new blogging style: funny stories, extreme stories and meaningful stories only, still in chronological order but hopefully in this way cutting down on my boring logistics filler. I am also going to disappoint my travelblog readers by not posting my pictures on travelblog.org but rather [View Full Entry]

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