Blogs from Orange, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

There we were in a taxi in Buenos Aires looking out the window as we do. Then I started screaming...well not quite screaming...but I was leaning forward begging the driver...louder than he was probably used to. It's not as if one of the front wheels was coming off like that time in Beijing...nor like the taxi overtaking around blind wet mud corners in Zigong. Nor the tone I screamed at the soldier who boarded our bus in Tanzania who demanded my camera at gunpoint, "You are not stealing my camera." This was unbridled excitement...like our guide in Uzbekistan yelling "Luli..Luli" whenever a gypsy cart went by. "Turn it up please...more...more...more"...my pleas getting louder and louder as he turned the radio knob. Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" belting out in a taxi in Buenos Aires...who'd have thought!!!! ... read more

Orange workaway stay 6th July-15th July. Digging, baby kangaroo and snow! We had an amazing first volunteering experience helping develop a farm property to accommodate visitors who will eventually sleep in the vintage train carriage that mysteriously founds its way onto the site from its origin in Sydney over 100km away! We were fortunate to meet a brilliant group of people from France, England and Scotland who were also staying with our host family and we had many interesting nights around the table eating a variety of meals cooked by all those staying. The family were very kind to us and we also were very lucky to be sharing the house with a rescue kangaroo whose mother had sadly been run over, sadly a common occurrence on Australian roads. Fortunately Baxter was thriving by the time ... read more

This was my last big trip before I turned the big 3-0. And today, as I have crossed over into another decade of life, I celebrate by reflecting on the last three months. The following are some of my musings from this trip. Enjoy! One never plays tourist in their own city! Before I departed Australia on this trip, I had signed up for a photography course through the New York Institute of Photography. It was part of my attempt to get out of my rut. In Yosemite National Park I finally ventured into putting my camera onto manual under the guidance of the photo walk leader. In each national park after that, I tried my best to keep an eye ... read more

It was a new year, and my old travelling buddy, Lucy, was in town, so what better excuse to take to the road? The selected destination was Orange, about 3 ½ hours west of Sydney, in an area famous for wine and food. Sounded perfect to me! I was quite small when I heard that there was a town called Orange, and as a child I thought that this was extraordinary – a town named after a fruit? Turns out however that Orange was named after a Prince, William of Orange in fact. NSW has no shortage of suitable destinations for a summer road trip, but my childhood fascination with a strange sounding town, and my adult appreciation for wine and food, saw that Orange made the top of the list of potential destinations. The road ... read more

It's currently 6:30pm and I am happy. Why? Because the sun is still up and it's deliciously warm. I don't have to wear a coat. I can let my little toes be free in sandles. Spring is here and I've never been more glad. In the northern hemisphere, seasonal affective disorder, SAD, is common enough to be common knowledge. But a northern hemisphere inhabitant would assume that inhabitants in "sunny" Australia would not suffer from such seasonal mood swings. I figured that too. The first few times I experienced Aussie winters, I was shocked at the lack of proper heating and insulation, and thus shocked at the single digit temperatures (Celcius, below 50F) that it would commonly reach inside buildings. Aren't buildings meant to protect you from the elements? One of which being extreme temperatures? But ... read more