05.04.10

Ivana took John and I up to her home in Lakes Entrance, which is a 4 ½ hour drive from Melb. We will be staying with her Monday through Thursday.
The town is located at the mouth of where the lake and ocean meet which explains the name. It's extremely scenic and awfully gorgeous. It's a small fishing town, with cottage homes and vacation spots. Ivana's home is so cozy and reminds me a lot of my familie's cottage. She has two adorable puppies Emma and Lorna (sisters) who we took for a walk around the block yesterday. The house faces towards the ocean and is only a short walk to see the views. Behind the house is gorgeous, rolling, green hills with cattle, and is very country. We saw red and grey cockatoos, rainbow breasted parrots and some other really colorful birds. They are just flying around everywhere! The drive was kind of long though so after we walked the dogs, we just ate dinner and went to bed.
This morning, Ivana got us all set up for a bike ride. John hasn't been on a bike in some 10 years and me, at least 2 or 3. The first half of the ride was coming down the BIG hill which was easy, and of course riding along the scenic pathway made it twice as nice! The rest of the bike ride was along the boardwalk right next to the water. It's in the bay and right inside the mouth of the lakes entrance so it was super calm. The sun was exceptionally warm so neither of us had to wear a jacket. It felt so good to have the salty fresh air on our skin. We stopped a few times to take pictures and were able to get exceptionally close to the mammoth pelicans. Easily three times the size of any pelican I have seen in the states. They wait by the fishing docks to pick up the fishermans scraps, so we were able to get decently close. Along the docks we also saw a huge colony of jelly fish! A few big ones about the size of a fist, and the rest were tiny little baby ones. They looked like bubbles and there had to be a few hundred of them! It's weird to think that even baby jelly fish are cute : )
Well we crossed the foot path over to the island and hung out at the beach. It was nice and peaceful. Maybe only 3 or 4 other people on the entire few miles of beach. Being that it's fall here now, we have to deal with the less then desirable weather, but on the upside, everything is such an awesome rich green and everything is mostly quiet since its not tourist or holiday season.
While at the beach, we noticed these birds over the ocean that were doing kamikaze dives into the water; hunting for food. There were so many of them, and just one after the other they would throw their wings back and fall straight out of the air. They drop down from at least 30 feet high and just make the tiniest little splash. John walked down the beach a bit so we could get some good footage of them and I just stayed with the bikes. I took the time to just relax and clear my mind. It was a brief moment of meditation, but it's always so refreshing! There is nothing more soothing then the oceans waves in the background, especially when the next nearest human is a mile away.
On the way back we stopped to feed the black swans some bread. They are so beautiful with their red beaks and red eyes. Again, another big bird. It's head was easily up to my chest. They were really friendly and quite timid. The second we started feeding them, the seagulls came rushing in. I love the seagulls too, but they were taking the pieces of bread right out of the swans mouth! The poor swan would get bum-rushed by 10 seagulls every time I threw it a piece of bread. Even if the bird took the bread from my hand, the seagulls STILL tried to steal it. I felt bad but the swans got their fair share. John got some good footage of it too ; ).
We rode back, well, walked back up the giant hill and got home just before the sun set. Ivana made us a delicious dinner.....gnocchi and schnitzel! Ivana then asked me if I wanted to join her to her meditation class....of course I couldn't resist!
It was my first time meditating in a class and actually listening to a Buddha guru, but I really enjoyed it. I am in such infant stages of meditation and am still learning quite a bit about Buddhism, yoga and all the different kinds of meditation. It's something that I realize that I have always practiced, just never understood what I was doing. For example, trying to change my state of mind with relaxation and breathing when in pain, or when I know I'm going to be in pain...using common breathing techniques to relax my body so I can fall asleep, or just trying to clear my mind when I am experiencing anger to practice patience and compassion. Now, it's about combining all those things and practicing it all the time. Even John is into it. He is already so calm and laid back; I should be taking lessons from him! It's a slow process, especially the whole clear your mind thing, but the journey is so inspiring. They say the way to speak to God is through prayer, but you listen through meditation.