WOW, so much has changed since we last spoke. Ha! Since you last read from me and since I last wrote to you. Where do I even begin? I guess at the beginning.

Previously I was having some major stress in my new job and sadly, it didn’t work out, I decided to leave. I still have some regrets over this decision as it wasn’t all bad, in fact there was a lot of good. I loved most of my classes and it was great teaching Dance again. Perhaps I will find another job teaching Dance again soon. Anyhow, it was complicated and all a bit weird, and rather than resolving issues, I was pushed to the edge of the cliff and encourage to jump. Being the impulsive person that I am, I jumped. Life is a mystery, life is a journey, and now the slate is clean again for another new adventure.

I decided to do a transfer car from Darwin to Adelaide. I know, completely random. And trust me it felt completely off task. But I did it anyway, feel the fear and do it anyway right!? Lol! I picked up this beast of a camper in pretty bad condition, and really started to second guess every decision I had made in the past 4 days. What was going on?? I should have been in class teaching dance at that minute, not picking up a dilapidated, beat up old sad camper. Well here I was, and that is what I did. It had a giant crack in the windscreen, probably illegal, nothing was clean, in fact it was all quite gross. The worst part was the fact it drove only 400km per tank, making it a way more expensive expedition than intended. It was also really high, and I struggled to drive it on the highways with the strong interior desert winds; I really had to hold on tight whenever a road train would whoosh past me. But on a bright note it was a pretty cool adventure seeing many interesting towns and beautiful nature through the interior of Australia.

My life break lasted 3 weeks, and wow was it great to decompress. I highly recommend a life break to everyone. It is not very often we get to just press pause on our ‘must do’s’ and hit ‘play’ on all the cool shit we actually just want to do in our lives. Kind of like a permanent holiday, being a lady of leisure suits me! Honestly though it was also good to get back to work and start earning money again!

The first night on my trip I landed in Katherine. I had been there before, so I was happy to settle into my caravan park that I had been to previously. I chatted to a lovely lady that night, in her early 70’s, also a teacher, she was very independent and driving up from Victoria and touring around. I imagine I will be like that in my later years, an inspiration! I swam leisurely in the park pool and took a small walk to the hot springs for a quick evening dip.

The next day I set out for Tennant Creek. I had a friend of a friend to visit in this town, so that worked out well. I made it to the caravan park by 5pm or so, driving all day in ‘Bradley the beast’ was tiring, and my butt was sore from sitting on it all day, not a feeling I like at all! My new friend kindly drove me around to all different parts of Tennant, the lookout, the dam, and the pebbles, small boulder like rocks, which looked awesome. We then went out for dinner which was great. Afterwards she treated me to some home made chocolate cake and ice cream, really topping off a great one night only experience in Tennant.

My third day I continued to point south for Alice Springs, and made it there by mid afternoon, in time to go and do a few touristy things. I went to the reptile centre, which was great, and then highlight for me was visiting the Desert wildlife park. I loved it there! Beautiful bird enclosures, with loads of colourful birds of all varieties, and lots of magical wildflower displays too. My favourite was the poached egg wildflower!

That evening I met a really nice couple from Switzerland. They were quite an inspiration of a good relationship too, their body language mirroring, and their comfort and ease with one another was a pleasure to watch. They had been together over 25 years, and enjoyed lots of activities together including loads of outdoor pursuits like hiking, cycling and road trips. They made me realise the importance of meeting someone with mutual interests. Turns out their daughter was living south of Perth and knows another friend of mine, the world is a small place, and we are all connected.

My fourth day I headed for Coober Pedy. This was a longer drive and very windy! It was quite challenging holding the van on the road to be honest, and I was getting a bit over it all by this day. C.Pedy is an opal mining town and one of the biggest in Australia. On approach you see all these little and big mounds of sand, all man made, digging for gem joy!

Early October…

Ok where did I leave off? Coober Pedy! What a shit hole that place was! I was happy to leave it in the morning and then legged it all the way to Adelaide the next day, covering just over 900km in Bradley the beast. It was great to arrive into Adelaide and spend some time with my extended family. I took lots of walks, did lots of reading, slept, decompressed and generally found my zen again.

The highlight for me, on top of seeing all my Adelaide peeps, was taking a beautiful walk up into Morialta Falls. Magic green country, bright popping yellow wattles, and towering ghost gums, native bird life swooping and sweeping and gleefully chirping, it can turn any frown upside down!

Before I knew it, I was flying back to Darwin to face the weather, quite literally, the wet season is coming. Although plan A had not quite gone to plan, I was determined to make Darwin work at least a little while longer, I wasn’t quite ready to leave this hot mess of a place just yet. I was happy expanding my social circle and was being way more active and creative than I had been in Perth. BUT I AM RESTLESS AS F**K so anything is possible. Arghh.

Now I am on holidays and I have so much free time my racey little brain is skipping ahead of itself once again. I am trying to calm myself down and not jump to conclusions, but. But. But. But. But. We will see what happens for just a little while longer here. I feel like I have been sent to Darwin for some reason or another, and apart from the time to explore and relax and spend more time on fun activities, the reason has not been made clear yet. Such is life. It’s all pretty fucking unclear sometimes, why anything happens really. I think the most important thing is to just make the most of everyday and be open to anything. Open to new possibilities and think positive. Okay time to do some painting!

Some achievements:

~ I gave up TV since being in Darwin. YES! In my current home, the aerial doesn’t work, brilliant! I have so much more free time.

~ I took Facebook app off my phone. I have saved myself from hours of time mindlessly scrolling through rubbish. Great! And I highly recommend it. I still like accessing facey, as its good to know for events and a little bit of snooping, but just not too much!

~ I have been doing art everyday, and loving it.

~ I have continued with the gratitude practise everyday too, just writing down everything you are grateful for everyday shifts your mindset to the positive.

~ I wrote a million letters recently to friends all around the world. I eagerly await their replies in my letterbox everyday.

Oh, and I broke my no drinking ban. I know. Sad face. But its okay, I was ready to lighten up on myself again and I have not gone crazy, just a few here and there. 9 months was quite the achievement. I will no doubt return to sobriety down the track because it is great.

Okay thats all you get in one blog. I think close to 1500 words is enough!

Anita 🙂