25 April 2011

Can, Ont - 12

Inside of Outside

Morning with ORCKA course. Learned 2x4 a new way. Back to BA. Moved rafts. Got a mission from Steve. Sunny! Spring is here. Dug two posts out and raked coals and straw@Ropes Course. Dinner. Love Vince's curry. Sauna. Hottest one yet. Registered for UBC, kinda. Ohio almost moved out on me for being an absent roommate.

Can, Ont - 11

Inside of Outside

Cleaned ropes and helmets all morning. Burger lunch and Barry's Bay with Vince. Got a watch and sharpies and sunnies. Fixed a barrel harness. Went to Steve's for a chat. Beautiful deck time and debrief Aus and Utah with Trev. Tom is here! More burgers and chill with Trev. Sign language is back.

Can, Ont - 10

Inside of Outside

People arriving! Rob! Ohio! Great to see people. ORCKA folks too. Trailers today. Tires and ropes and other stuff. Went for a paddle with Emma and Trev. Cold! Ran the middle chute. That was fun. Nearly pulled my skirt. Didn't. Donkey is here! with long hair.

Can, Ont - 9

Inside of Outside

Details, details. So many details. Inhaled lots of melted plastic. Snow all over. Beautiful. Good to see some snow. Emma! So good to see her. And Jeff too! Finished memorizing Boston. Looked for a house.

Can, Ont - 8

Inside of Outside

More boats. Look for lost boat. Not lost. Prepped Ranch. Prepped Vehicle Kits. SC Kits. Paperwork. Feel like I need to do more. So much to do. Chilled in the evening with Trev. Sauna and cooling off in the snow. Watched the Wire.

Can, Ont - 7

Inside of Outside

Office, office. Got outside! Did some physical labour. Moved lots of boats. Drove AD home. Forgot to fill gas. Had to go back. Hannah's is same. Got some choc soy milk. Sewed my fave shirt. NEY. Blog.

Can, Ont - 6

Inside of Outside

Another office day. So much office time. Got heaps done though. Manual finished. Sched finished-ish. Went for a paddle. High water. Cold! Brain freeze. Ice still on the river edge. Reorganizing stuff.

24 April 2011

Can, Ont - 5

Inside of Outside

First Aid stuff. More paperwork. Guitar with Trev in the evening is great. Watched The Invention of Lying. Strange to work 9-5 at Boundless. My body thinks its in Australia.

Can, Ont - 4

Inside of Outside

Paperwork work. Lots of it. Planning. Prep. Living at Ranch is great when no one's around. Still trying to catch up on life.

Can, Ont - 3

Inside of Outside

1st day of work. Boundless is . . . same, different. Good to see AD, Gus, Loaf, ML. ADs for dinner. Rook is a great driver at 2 years. The addition looks great. Lots of windows.

Canada, Ontario, Day 2

Inside of Outside

Wake at a ridiculous hour. Unpack some. Pack some. Sleep. Sleep. Wake. Pack some more. Pick up car with Gramps. Stop by to see Kev and girls and F and F, and Grandma. Drive to Boundless. Always driving. See Trev! Sleep. Sleep.

Canada, Ontario, Day 1

Inside of Outside

Parents at Buffalo. Good to see them. Home drive. So tired. Start laundry and sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Wake. Do stuff. Made a ring with dad. Sleep.

Aus 81

Inside of Outside

Another early morning. To the airport. Leaving Australia. It's been good. Delayed flight. Missing hubcap. Flight attendants were matchmaking. Flew to LA. Missed connection. Flew to Chicago. Spent the night. Got to hang out with Katie! Very good to see her after several years.

Aus 80

Inside of Outside

Early, early morning goodbyes. Bittersweet. Sad to drive away from Mittagundi. Drove to Bendigo. Dropped off hired car, and went to B and C's. Very grateful.

Aus 79

Inside of Outside

Great morning. Played hide and seek with little kids. Went to the movies and arcade with the whole crew. Played video games and ate cheesecake. Drove back to Mitta. Best hot shower ever. Love wood fired showers.

Aus 78

Inside of Outside

Drive to Wangaratta. Oops. Left all my stuff at Typo. Music Festival with the whole crew. Sweet walk and fun in the creek. Naked man strainer. Waited for an hour for a burrito. So nice to rest my head. Ran a relay race with Becc. Good music, but best dancing with a DJ after the bands.

Aus 77

Inside of Outside

One more Hakka. Farewell to boys. Pack up and clean. Drive to Mitta. Chill. Watch the Lion King, and a warm cold night.

Aus 76

Inside of Outside

Journey day. Across the lake. Stop at rope swing. Hike. Cross the creek. Hike some more. Lunch by the river. Made an awesome rock tower. Creek walk for some. Hakka for all. Back to creek. Back to lake. Back to swing. Back to Typo. Learned how to play Aussie Footie.

Aus 75

Inside of Outside

Joinery day and blacksmith. Boys loved them both. They made cool stuff. I made Jarrah wood guitar picks. Don't work very well. Watched a movie under the stars. Beautiful. Learned how to play Rugby.

Aus 74

Inside of Outside

Chores. Went to the lake to canoe, fish, play. Boys rangy. Group chat. Better. Started learning a Hakka. Clare told Tavale it's my birthday, so everyone shook my hand today.

Aus 73

Inside of Outside

Rode with Tavale to pick up guys. Rope? License plate? Hours later . . . Played I spy with high school boys. Ping pong all the time. Welcome chat. Swimming hole frickin' cold. Drove to Paradise Falls. Shit show. Literally.

Aus 72

Inside of Outside

Early morning hike to breakfast at Langfords. Jane, Raku and Becc all showed up. Drove to Tawonga and de-issued, then to train and best lunch ever by Raku. Spent afternoon with Bec in Albury. Went to the movies! Drove to Typo and got settled. Longest wood-fired shower ever.

Aus 71

Inside of Outside

Beautiful, beautiful high plains. Great weather. Ate lunch in a tree. Hiked / Ran to the top of Mt. Nelse. Some grumps. Camped by the Octopus tree. Played Sardines and ate couscous. End of trip chat. Took Sampson for a walk under the stars.

Aus 70

Inside of Outside

Woke guys with pterodactyl noises. Final pack-up, photo, and walk out. Another quick hike. Made camp hours before sunset. Word games by fire. Played celebration, funniest game ever. Also song wars. Sampson is good. Bec and I spent time with him in the evening.

Aus 69

Inside of Outside

Rafted with Bec, Becc, and Mike. Did safety talk. Mike wrapped a raft. Guys had a great day. Waterfights galore. Sun everywhere. Bec and Becc failed to get me out of my raft, but close. Jane gave me a beautiful rock. Learning how to juggle long skinny things. Birthday goodbye party at Ians! Blindfolded, kidnapped, and awesome food. Cake, lion suit, piano playing, and a pylon. Amazing.

Aus 68

Inside of Outside

Day out with Tavale and the Yea school guys. Rafted this time. Surfed a long raft-y thing. Tackled Kim into the river. Got tackled back. Drove back to Mitta. Tired of driving. Stargazed with Jane. Good night.

Aus 67

Inside of Outside

Day of Abseiling. Spent most of day playing mind and word games. Got the blokes hooked. Practiced twirling my stick. Getting pretty good. Awesome view of valley and river. Drove back to Alex and car slept.

Aus 66

Inside of Outside

Porridge so common now I forget to mention. Farm day! Chopped wood with blokes, then made morning tea and lunch. Spilled hot tea on my ankle. Ouch. Huge blister. Made pasta salad lunch. Afternoon in the orchard. Pokémon themed mafia.

Aus 65

Inside of Outside

Hung Becc's pack in a tree. More hiking. Jumped the creek. More silence. More stick twirling. Pack so heavy. Stopped by a stream for a water fight. Saw a cool bidirectional bug. Bread is awesome. Walked into Mitta to warm welcome. Had to run to the dunny. Dinner and relax. And mafia.

Aus 64

Inside of Outside

Chocolate chip pancakes with a stranger for breakfast. Picked up by the crew and headed to Wild Horse Creek to hike. No horse though. Stick twirling begins. Silent hikers, but fast. Lunch spot and the carrot war begins. Evening of bowl frisbee and mafia.

Aus 63

Inside of Outside

Day with Tavale and the Alex school guys. Good crew. They rafted. I canoed. Laughed. Splashed. Fun times. Stopped at OEG. Saw Laura! Had to get past the secretary though. Drove back to Mt. Beauty.

Aus 62

Inside of Outside

Prep in the morning. Most everybody left. Lunch with Jacinta by the dam. Taught Party not to follow my car past gate. Drove almost to Alexandra and slept in the car by the side of the road. So much driving.

Aus 61

Inside of Outside

Spent the day in Mt. Beauty. Chilled in the laundromat. Back to Mitta. Rode Sampson and Phil bareback. Sampson is great. Phil is stubborn.

22 April 2011

Aus 60

Inside of Outside

Built a bridge with Raku. Used Jarrah wood by accident. Kept a piece. Cleaned the showers and drying room with Jane. Got a tour of Ian's and Sean's from Jane. Beautiful over there, esp. Ian's. Drove to Tawonga to hang out with Arby at Arby's. Awesome. Dancing, tomato sauce fights, chilling on the roof. Raku climbed a huge pine. Inspiring. Toby . . .

Aus 59

Inside of Outside

Meeting and debrief. Spent some time with Bec and the horses in the rain. Drinks at the weekender.

Aus 58

Inside of Outside

Early wake to meet Jane with creamed rice. So good. Hiking as the full moon set. Tawonga deissue. Albury drop-off. Day in town. Kind of boring. Japanese nuclear not exploded. Back for clean up and celebration with Falafel dinner. Gave Bec. W. a butterfly wing.

Aus 57

Inside of Outside

Sat on Sampson last night. He seemed interested, curious, ready. Woke cold. Started fire and drinks. Saddled Sampson. Long, beautiful walk. Good language and talk with X. Insired by G. Puzzles and riddles more. Climbed / walked up Mt. Nelse. Octopus tree is magical and beautiful. Awesome thank-you ceremony with Raku. Sat an Sampson again. Can't wait to ride him. Mentioned cool clear Mtn. streams?

Aus 56

Inside of Outside

Pack for hike and helped Bec get Sampson ready. Miss working with horses. Like Sampson better than Phil after hiking with him all day. He was a champ. The girls too. G. struggled a bit on the hills. Lots of riddles and good chats. Ruins is a beautiful campsite. So much food. Leading a hike might be as artful as guiding a river?

Aus 55

Inside of Outside

Rafting the Mitta. Quite small, but humbling. Realized I'm not a good as I thought @ technical maneuvers in a raft. Fun day though. Lots of splash, tackle, bump, etc. Bec W is awesome. Like her a lot. Haha. Careless and tipped us out while she was guiding.

Aus 54

Inside of Outside

Spent most of the day making a dog bed with C. Quite proud of it. Hope she is too. Spoke with Keira. Drove all the way back to Mitta. Felt like coming home. Fog in the High plans made it agonizingly slow. Found Arby sleeping on the gear shed verandah. Joined him.

Aus 53

Inside of Outside

At Typo. Good to see the crew. Bit of prep. Made all the beds colour co-ordinated. 5 girls showed up. Much different from Mitta girls. Great girls though. Breakdown, but girls sorted it themselves.

Aus 52

Inside of Outside

Worked on the Pantry. Architraves. Good times. Drove to Whitfield. High plains beautiful but foggy. Found out about Japan. Drove to Typo. Called Mom, Dad, Matthew. All's well, except nuclear possibility. Slept in the office. Listened to Sunwrae. Beautiful.

Aus 51

Inside of Outside

Love the pace at Mitta. Movement, but not frenetic. Might change with larger group. Woke. Porridge. Bowl frisbee. Stinky octo-plant. Hiked. Refreshing Mtn. Streams. Got to know Phil better today. Led him over a giant log. Fed him some carrots. Longest ever shopping game. 20 questions. Caroline-look-a-like. Arrived at Mittagundi. Warmth and friendship and food and community and music. Bec gave me a leaf from the love-heart tree. Bec gave everyone a leaf from the love-heart tree. Taught Jacinta some guitar.

Aus 50

Inside of Outside

Woke early to make porridge. Received gratitude all day. Fun to be up before everyone else. Should do more. Packed and hit the road. Started hiking before noon. Met Bec and Phil (the horse) 1st. Good to see Bec. Like her. Group is awesome. Trip is like vacation, hardly like work at all. Lots of laughter. Games. Good conversations. Sweet lunch. Oh yeah. Beautiful scenery. Snowgums and misty mountain tops and spreading valley vistas. Beautiful campsite. I love drinking straight from Earth. Jokefest around campfire and couscous. Wrong tent! All 5 girls in one. Bed to the sound of the stream.

Aus 49

Inside of Outside

Woke. Filled Barrels. Picked up K. and a coffee. Rubiks Cube! Errands! Bkfast@Early Bird. Drew some pictures. Went to the rural store for feed. Horse, chicken, dog. Train station. Met the girls for the hike. River chat and delish lunch. Drove to Tawonga. Gear up. Chill. Work. Laugh. Play. Eat. Cook. Traditions. Make fires. Good times. Yutes are awesome. So chill. Completely different pace than BA. Beautiful country. Harder to keep entries short when living life less simply. Mitta is pretty simple though. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Aus 48

Inside of Outside

Woke early. Milked Sambo the cow with Raku. Warm fresh milk straight from the cow is better than other stuff. Baked bread with Raku. Love wood-fired ovens. Met Toby. Paperwork. Packed. Drove with Bec to Mt. Beauty. Highlands are beautiful! Can't wait to hike them. God convos and cassette tapes on the drive. Passed on a hello to Laura through an OEG crew. Fun on the CB. Errands. Toured RBs house! Amazing! Huge! Beautiful! Curry and a hot tub. Turned lots of his stuff upside down! Books, microwave, stools, spices, etc. Drove to Tawonga hut. Unload, set-up, take stock, have beers, etc.

Aus 47

Inside of Outside

Drove to Mitta. Awesome valley-huge boulders above the river. Met Jane, Bec W, Raku, Jacinta. Re-met Bec B. Rafted the Mitta Mitta in tiny 2-person rafts. Helped Bec and Bec learn to guide. Awesome food! Fresh! From the garden! Slept in fresh air on gear shed verandah. Played guitar until too late. Met Jac.

Aus 46

Inside of Outside

Early morning. Drove to Dinner Plain. Toured the Alpine School. Hung out with Tiwana. Dinner of Gnocchi and veggies. Watched a movie.

Aus 45

Inside of Outside

Went to the office. Met Paul. Chatted with Andy. Biked to Ben's. Chilled. Dinner with Nez, Rolf, and Wrae. Good times. Late night.