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Sorry guys, but my heart now completely belongs to Tasmania (well, Tasmania & New Zealand). Think I would like to stick around this part of the world for a while. Swim over to NZ for a few months, then swim back when I am needing some devil time. I had an amazing time in Sydney and Melbourne but now that I am here I wish I had been here the whole time! There was for sure some great wilderness and scenery on the main land, but you had to head pretty far out of town to get there. In Tassie (and in NZ too), you can walk less than 1 kilometer out of the city and find yourself completely in the bush, surrounded by giant ferns, hiking some random rock face that overlooks a lake (that was my yesterday). PURE HAPPINESS!

I was actually just talking to my friend Rob, who happens to also be a genius, about timing and how much of our life is effected by and dependant on the smallest chance (or fate, or karma, or whatever you want to call it). It has been feeling like I have had horrible timing the last couple days. First the whole fiasco with the ferry, and then I finally arrive in Launceston on a Saturday, hoping to only spend one day since I am on a tight schedule, but buses don't leave on Sundays, so I had to spend one more day here. At first I was frazzled, but then I realized the booked ferry meant I got to spend one more wonderful day in Melbourne and go to a great standup show. The woman who sat next to me was from Ireland and had just retired from being a high school history teacher and principal for 33 years. I was telling her about wanting to teach as well and she told me how wonderful it was and how she was excited for me. And then being stuck in Launceston today meant I got to go on this incredible local wine tasting tour along the Tamar River. The other two guests were Venus and Peter, who are originally from Kenya, but now live in Sydney. We got on the subject of religion (my name usually sparks a religious conversation...people ask where it comes from, I explain it is Tibetan because my parents are Buddhist and the discussion starts from there). We were discussing how in some cultures it is still very common to go to church every Sunday and in others the assumption of Sunday church isn't really there anymore. For instant, in Kenya everyone still goes to church every Sunday, but in Australia and America it is very uncommon to find a consistent goer. Venus was talked about how many people use religion as a comfort and reliance on a higher power, but made a very interesting observation that in larger cultures people have replaced that with government. For instance if you are poor, you look to welfare and if you are unhappy with your community or your place in life, you look to the government to fix the problems. In a place like Kenya where the government is very spread thin and has few resources to make a difference, people still rely on religion as their higher power. Incredibly accurate I think. Anyways, both of them and our driver Bill were wonderful and I got to see some more of stunning Tassie and taste some delicious local wines and I am so glad I got stuck here for one more day.

Everything must happen for a reason, or at least you can always find the good in how things turn out. So far I am pretty happy with where things have brought me thus far, on this trip and in my life in general. Very small choices and random timing has brought me to exactly where I am and at the moment I am very happy with that.

By far my favorite moment of today: within 20 minutes of meeting me, and without me saying anything about loving Tassie, our driver Bill turns to me and says, "I have a feeling you will be moving here permanently someday very soon." Don't know how he knew, but he was right!


Tomorrow morning I am off to Cradle Mountain which is in the northern part of the Western Wilderness and supposed to be THE place for hiking. *haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy sigh*
:)

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