09.30.10

I can’t believe it is the last day of September already. I always feel a sense of loss when September is over. Maybe because it’s my birthday month and I feel strangely close to it. I am sure everyone has some sort of curious attachment to their birthday month, but regardless, I am sad to leave September behind. It went way too fast.
Of course, I can’t help but be exceptionally excited for October either! I have only 13 days left of work. John and I both gave our bosses our final working days, and are rather giddy about getting out of Port Douglas. We bought our plane tickets earlier this week for Indonesia, and will be flying into Denpasar on October 17th. This means that in exactly 17 days, we will be landing in the city of Denpasar, in the country of Indonesia, on the island of Bali! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, if you could only understand my excitement!!!!!
Everyone always asks me what my infatuation is with Bali. Why do I want to go there so badly? Why have I ALWAYS wanted to go there? Well, to be completely honest… I’m not so sure myself. I must have seen a picture of Bali when I was a little girl. It was probably a photo of the emerald green rice terraces next to the crystal blue waters. Maybe it was an article about the wildlife, volcanoes and/or the incredibly beautiful people that inhabit this secluded paradise. Maybe it’s because it is one place that most people never get the chance to go…...No…....it’s a place most people are too afraid to ever go. A lot of people, friends and family included, have said that we are stupid for going…”..."it’s too dangerous!”…”"..."it’s a third world country, it’s not safe”…".... I say they are ignorant. May I remind you that in my own country, nay…... my own backyard, the worlds most profound and devastating terrorist attack (9/11) happened? That’s the problem with American’s though. Most, though not all, are very closed minded. Stuck on one very misguided idea that the only way to be safe, successful and happy in life is to have a college degree, a career, a spouse, a house, kids and then retirement. They have this belief that doing anything ’out-of-the-norm’ is a waste of time, too risky, and may possibly stick them with a stigma like ‘'dead-beat’'.
Did you know that 80% of Americans DO NOT have their passport? I met this Ozzie man who spent some time traveling through America. He told me he met so many people who had never even left their state! Assuming that maybe they didn’t have the funds, or were tied down by some other serious responsibility, he asked why, they respond “"I dunno, what else is there to see? I have discovery channel”". How sad.
But I must tell you something…...though it was scary to leave my comfort zone, and extremely hard to say goodbye...…leaving America to see the world has been the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. Every sacrifice was worth it. I think that’s the gymnast in me. I gave up a lot of adolescent years to the hard work and dedication of a training Olympic hopeful. I’'m used to standing on a 4 inch beam, 5 feet above the ground. People are watching me, some are even judging me, and I have to rotate 360 degrees in an aerial move, feet over head, and land…...on 4 inches. I’m used to telling myself “ You just have to jump Autumn, and you have to jump high”. Personally, I think I was ten times more crazy then ; )
Regardless, somewhere inside my heart, I hold this very deep and passionate longing for Bali. If ever I could put into words a secret dream I have always had, ‘'Bali’' would sum it up. The first week we are there we will be staying in a nice resort. Johns uncle, Len, out here in Australia, has a timeshare and had extra weeks built up. He sold us one for 300 bucks, which is a steal! It will be a much needed break after having slept in a tent for a few months. So again, my excitement far exceeds any type of anxiety I have ever felt before!
Other great news is that we have officially been excepted as volunteers on Christmas Island. The best part is that we will be volunteering on Christmas Island during Christmas! So here’s what it’s all about. Christmas Island is a tiny island, considered to be Australian territory, that is North-West of Darwin and Perth, between Australia and Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean. It’s smaller then Bali and much more remote. Upon this tiny piece of land is a refugee camp, and we will be volunteering with the refugees. John is an activities coordinator and will be playing games with the kids and putting together activities for the adults. I will be running a TEFL class and teach English to the kids and adults as well. We are both excited, especially since this will be my first foreign language class since getting my teaching certificate. Because it is a government funded volunteer program, they fly us in and out of Christmas Island and will be taking care of our shelter, food, etc while we are staying with them. We get weekends and certain nights off during the week to go and explore the island, and because it isn’t commercially touristy, it’s a haven for flora and fauna, which of course, I am eager about! Like I mentioned above, we will be staying there during Christmas, which will be a nice way for John and I to help make Christmas and New Years special for the refugees, and they can help make it a nice holiday for us as well!
Now if you recall earlier blogs, you will have noticed that this plan is a little different then the one we originally had in order. However, we had to make some changes since I had to fly home for a month. Originally, we were going to leave Port Douglas for Perth at the beginning of August and spend a week on the West coast of Australia. From there we were to leave for Bali till the end of November. While we were there we had plans to travel to Thailand, Malaysia, Papa New Guinea and other parts of Asia. We were going to fly back to Melbourne and fly to Tazmania on December 1st. We would spend a week traveling the island and then spend a few weeks through New Zealand, before heading to Sydney after the New Years and working until we left for Fiji in March. Having to send me home to be with my family and grandpa was really expensive for us, and caused us to miss our flight to Bali (Yes, we had/have all these flights pre-booked). No sweat though…...when I got back to Australia, we decided it would be best if we stayed in Port Douglas for another month to work and replenish what we spent to fly me home. Then we re-routed. Our new plan is to fly straight to Bali. Then we fly to Darwin and will be there for 5 days playing with the crocs. December 8th, we get flown to Christmas Island until January 5th when we get flown to Sydney and will start working until Fiji in March. We will do a fare bit of the South Pacific islands and then the last week on June, we fly back to America…...yes, back to America. BUT WAIT…, don’t get too excited…...here’s the clincher, we are getting round trip tickets back.
Yes, yes, I know…...that may seem like quite a bomb for some of you, but let me explain. My youngest sister is having her first baby in January (I will be missing his arrival) and she will be holding off the Christening until I can be in attendance during the summer (he will be 6 months old already : ( You must know that this means a great deal to me. My nieces and nephews are my world, and I am beyond heartbroken that I will be missing his birthday). She will also be getting married in November, along with one of my very best friends, Alicia, whom asked me to be maid of honor in her October wedding. Lastly, and most importantly though, I have had the luxury to see my friends and family mid-trip, where John will have gone a whole year without seeing anyone. Not that he ever claims to be homesick, but I know there are quite a few people who miss him very much and would be very happy to see him, his mother especially. I know he has quite a few engagements to take care of as well while he is home; friends getting married, having babies…...etc, so our trip back home will be in due time.
We hope to work really hard and replenish our nest egg once again. We tossed around the idea of working in Vegas for the summer and fall, maybe doing some traveling around the states in-between all our important dates, and we will DEFINITELY be planning a serious snowboarding trip prior to our departure (we will have been in tropical weather for 15 months!). After the holidays, we will head off, once again, to the other side of the world, where we hope to do a few weeks on the West coast of Australia, New Zealand and a very thorough scan of Asia and its archipelagos. After that, who knows (maybe Middle East and Pyramids!).
Our first year traveling has taught us a lot, but unfortunately our mistakes, and circumstances beyond our control, has cost us a lot of time. Besides, we just aren’t ready to give up this new-found-freedom and love we have in traveling. It’s too big of an adventure to just go on home after a year. There is still so much of this world I am ever eager to explore, and I know John is too. Like I said, when I tell myself to jump...… I jump high. : )

09.22.10

IM 25 YEARS OLD! OOOhh, what an age! This morning we woke up bright and early to have a birthday breakfast with all our friends. Right after, I had a photoshoot, and John got the day off so he could go with me! It’s the school holidays here, which means there was no chance I could get off of work, but I had talked to them to see if I could get out early so me and John could do dinner. While I was at work, John moved the tents around and set up back in our original spot next to Lisa and Rob. At 8:45, Rads let me leave and I ran into the bathroom to get ready.
John met me with a bouquet of flowers and we walked through town to a nice little restaurant called Harrisons. I was nervous they wouldn’t seat us since it was about 9:15. (Places here close around 9 or 9 30) but, they did, and we began our romantic evening together.
For our entrée, John got the sourdough and I got the crab cannelloni. For our mains, I got the barramundi (popular reef fish out here) with lentils and John got the lamb chops. We shared a side of truffle mashed potatoes, yummy! For drinks, John got a mojito, and I got a Lolita, which is lychee liquer with a lychee topped with bubbles. (Lychee’s are a popular fruit out here. Its like a really large peeled grape, but white.) We finished with dessert. John got a trio of homemade ice creams, and I got a poached pear in a spiced white sauce with a drizzle of chocolate. It was heaven!
We took a moon lit walk on the beach and fell asleep in our wonderfully spacious tent, with our wonderful fan and wonderful air mattress. AHHH, luxury!
Thank you everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a wonderful day!

09.21.10

I woke up one beautifully, sunny morning, palm trees outside my window, nice comfy bed, and John had just left for work. I cleaned up around the house and walked down stairs to take out the garbage. At the same time, our land-lady, Bluebird (keeping her identity secret), comes out of her room and says “ "Geeze Autumn, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I have a friend that I want to have as my roommate. He will be here on Tuesday night, so I’m going to need you guys to make sure your out during the day".” It was a Saturday.
Before I continue, let me tell you something about Bluebird. She is about 5 feet tall, with skin like a Pug. She is missing a few teeth, and with the amounts of alcohol she drinks, its no wonder I felt tipsy just by breathing next to her. She was probably in her 50’s but looked well into her 90’s. Our first mistake: Trusting an alcoholic. If ever there were a guideline to backpacking dos and don’t, this would be a top 5 rule.
We would see her wake up every morning at 7:30 to rider her bike to the pub. Retired, she had all the time in the world to spend drinking. She would come back to the flat around 12:30. Totally blitzed, she would make herself and often times, her (mirror image) boyfriend lunch. They would sleep, wake up, and head back out to the pub after dinner and we wouldn’t see them until 9 or 10 at night. We kept the place clean, and tried to be conscience of our use of electricity and such. We worked most of the time, but when we did see Bluebird, it was hard to understand a word she slurred, or to keep a straight eye on her since her wobbling around could easily make you seasick. She was nice, I will give you that, but her priority was drinking, which easily explains her need for renters.
When she told me we had to leave, I was in shock. I had been spoilt the last week and a half and didn’t want to leave our modest, but comfy abode. I just gasped, over and over to myself, trying to think of what to say to her, and all I could manage at the time was “ "well, I guess I will just have to talk to John about it when he gets home".” I walked back upstairs and she left for the pub.
I jumped online, tried to find some other places for rent, but we are only here for another 3 weeks. It simply isn’t enough time for anyone to consider us as even short-term renters. No luck with that.
Our tent we did have, as well as our air mattress, we had given to Lisa. So our only other option was to spend the next three weeks in our tiny, 1 man tent. I immediately cancelled that out as an option, and waited for John to get home so we could talk to Bluebird. Surely she had a heart and could at least work something out.
I quickly filled John in on the news when he arrived, and Bluebird was back at the house at 5, just like clock work. She saw John was home, so she came upstairs so she could make sure we both understood the circumstances.
We told her we had no where to go, and that we gave away our tent and are only here for another 3 weeks so it was impossible to find another living arrangement. We said that we didn’t mind sharing the upstairs with this third person, and would even sleep on the futon. She kept telling us that she thought we only were there for another week. However, we had told her, a minimum of five times, that we would be in PD till October 12th. If she hadn’t been so trashed every time she asked us, or every time we told her, she would have remembered this simple fact.
I could tell she felt intimidated and became quickly flustered and uncomfortable. She kept her head low, knowing that what she was doing was wrong, said she would try to figure something out and ran down the stairs like a puppy who just got his butt smacked for chewing on a shoe. We gave her the benefit of the doubt, and figured that she would make sure we could stay there without a problem.
The next morning I woke up early for work (Sunday) and found a letter on the counter. It read:

Autumn and John-
I’m sorry, but a permanent friend is more important to me. He will be here tomorrow, so I need you out today so I can clean up.

Bluebird

ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I showed John, we talked about our plan of attack, but had to leave for work. When I left, Johns bike, as well as Bluebirds, was sitting in the garage, as always.
Around 11, I see John walk by work and he asks me if I took the bike to work. “"Nooooo…. Why?"” His bike is missing, and Bluebird isn’t home. He said he was getting ready for the day and he heard Bluebird, and her male friend downstairs. They had left, and when he went to the garage, the bike was gone. (John works at a resort that is about a 30 minute bike ride, so this is a big deal! Not to mention that he bought the bike for 70 bucks, and we had hopped to sell it before we left.)
Enraged, I angrily finished my shift at work, and went back home. John had grabbed a grocery cart and it was already filled with all of our belongings so we could easily push everything back up to Dougies.
Not only was the bike stolen, but she also owed us 45 dollars for kicking us out before the week we paid for was up.
We pushed our stuff, 15 minutes, back up to Dougies, in a complete torrential downpour. Everything was soaking wet. We were going to just stay the night in a dorm room, but decided to save on money and set up our tiny tent instead. That night, everything in our tent was wet, and we didn’t have any pillows. Back on the ground, wet, with the bugs. I didn’t get a wink of sleep that night.
The next day John went back to Bluebirds to ask for our money. She said she didn’t feel that she owed us any money, so John just turned and left so that he didn’t do something that would get us in any trouble.
That night after work, we walked by the flat to see if the bike was there, and it was! It was locked up (she never locks up anything because she gets so drunk she is afraid she will loose the keys, so this was odd to see), so John took off the back tire and the seat. He said if he had tools, he would had done more, but he couldn’t. (While I was gone, he had grabbed a bike that had been sitting at his work, and no one claimed it. It was missing a back tire and a seat, so this worked out for us!) We have not seen or heard from bluebird since.
That night was our last night in the tiny tent. Someone at Dougies was selling his large tent that came with a light and an air mattress, with some pillows, sheets and a nice fluffy blanket.
I spent some time on Tuesday moving all our things into our new tent. Its turning into summer here so the days are so hot its unbearable. Besides, when I do split shifts, I just want to come back and relax in the tent before I have to go back. We needed a fan, and the closest place to a fan was a 15 minute bike ride to IGA super stores. I rented a bike from Dougies and started to peddle. It started to rain on my way there, but I didn’t mind since it was so hot. I got the fan and headed back. On my way home, I noticed a bunch of trees full of bats. I looked up and then all of a sudden, felt something smack my head. At first I thought it was a giant rain drop but upon futher investigation, realized it was bat poop! HAHAHA! Apparently, that means good luck, so I couldn’t help but smile. At least I got us a fan!
The next day there was a jungle party at Dougies, and it was also the night before my birthday. Having become a little more cheerful, we celebrated and hang out with friends at the jungle party. We rang in my birthday at 12 o’clock with a jager bomb, and went to bed on our comfy air mattress.

09.15.10

Its been almost 4 weeks since I flew back to Australia, and man does it feel good to be back!
John got a ride from his friend Matt, whom he works with at Sea Temple. (John got a second job during the day, working at a resort, Sea Temple, as a house man. He scrubs grills and rides a go-cart around, making sure everyone has clean linens, or picking up dirty ones, etc.) Its an hour drive from Port Douglas to Cairns, which is also the nearest airport. In total, I had 6 layovers. Actually, they would be considered connections since the longest I waited between flights was maybe an hour. Either way, its a drag to have to get off one plane, just to get on another! I slept the entire way stretch from LA to Sydney, which was 15 hours. The rest of the way, I tried to stay busy with books and movies to pass the time and to avoid from torturing myself with anxiety.
I admit, I was nervous John would have run into some problem, and not be at the airport in Cairns when I arrived at 10pm. After two days of traveling, not only was I itching for a shower really bad, but I was beyond excited and exhausted to see John.
I finally saw him round the corner of the terminal and started to jump up and down with excitement! I was yelling at him to run to me because I didnt want to run to him, and leave my luggage unattended. I gave up though, and started a full sprint towards him. I ran straight into his arms, and gave him the biggest hug known to man! It felt so good to be together again. Like two peas in a pod!
It had certainly felt like eternity that we had been apart, but when we were together again, it felt like the time had gone by so fast!
My excitement continued as we pulled into Dougies, our beloved backpackers paradise of tents, shared showers and a nasty communal kitchen, however, home to all my friends, that I was sure I wouldnt see again. I saw Adam, Dave, Jungle, Lucia, our neighbor Darien, from France, and of course, Lisa! I met a few new faces, Emma and Rob, who had become employees of Zinc since I had been gone. Friendly as ever, and they both fell, very easily, into my fantastic friend hole the minute we met! All the staff at Dougies were equally excited to see me back, and everyone was happy that John and I were back together again!
It took me about 4 days to really get back on track with the time change, but wasnt nearly as aggressive as the jet lag I experienced going back home. The tent was as lovely as ever, especially now that my suitcase was back in its official resting place.
A few days after arriving, I went up to see Terry at Zinc, and he got me on the schedule that Monday. It was much needed rest, but I was ready to start working again.
We were only in the tent for about two weeks when John got an offer from a girl he works with, Jamie. She had been renting out a flat apartment, only a block away from town, and would be leaving soon. She asked if John and I might be interested in renting it out in her place. For only 20 dollars more then what we are paying to live in a tent, we could have a proper apartment, shower, kitchen and bedroom! Of course we took the deal.
We ended up giving our tent and air mattress to Lisa. Prior, she had been paying for a dorm room, and she wanted to cut back on costs, and save money. They day we moved into the flat, I had helped Lisa move into the tent, and she helped me lug our luggage down the street.
We are coming onto our second week in our new place and we LOVE it! At first, I was sad to leave Dougies, but for the simple fact that I dont have to put on shoes to take a shower, or dont have sand in all my clothes, was enough to make that sadness turn into gratuity very quickly.
Apparently, Lisa is loving the tent life as well. She shared a 7 bed dorm before, so she is enjoying the privacy. Plus, the air mattress is much larger then her single bed and much more comfy. She bought a fan to keep the tent cool during the day, and is all around, much more comfy.
Since I have been back, we also celebrated Lisas birthday. Me, her, Cass, spent the day restaurant hopping. We did lunch at Zinc, dessert at Salsa, tea at Rehab, then back to Salsa for Dinner and then to Sassi for dessert, then back to Zinc for cocktails. A couple other people met up with us later in the day for dinner, dessert and cocktails which was nice. She finished off the night, drinking at Dougies, but John and I were too tired and just went to bed. It was a nice birthday celebration though, and I think she really enjoyed it.
My birthday is in a week from today, so John will be taking the day off, and Lisa is going to get the morning off so we can hang out for a bit. I am so excited to be celebrating my 25th birthday in Australia!!!! I remember last year, John took me to a really nice restaurant in downtown Cleveland. We sat there and talked the entire night of our dreams and plans to travel the world, so its neat to be traveling and living our dreams together, a year later. How romantic is that? But to me, it doesnt matter, just as long as he is by my side, I dont care where in the world we are.
Im glad to be back in Oz.