Age of Empires: Dispatches from the Frontier

Plants in Human Affairs, some musings

2009-02-05T17:52:00.004+11:00

The second week of the course was also an intense week. We were learning heaps of stuff and had to start writing papers and plant profiles and plant encounters. In addition, everyone was more open in discussing plant metaphysics. Concepts like the plant spirit, intuitive healing, symbolic magic were discussed and investigated from a cross cultural perspective. In many regions of the world today people still get healing from traditional medicines. 80% of the worlds population still relies on local plants and local healers for medicine. Why? 1. They always have 2. The global south has no access to most medicines because they can't afford them. When local practitioner are asked about how they knew about using a particular plant for a particular illness they explain that the plants told them. This has always been written off by the rationalist, materialist anthropologists looking 50yrs ago into indigenous plant uses.

However, the math seems to support the universal people's theory rather than the anthropologists. Take an area like madagascar. Being separated from africa for a long time before being reached by people ~1500yrs ago, Madagascar has developed a very unique flora of plants. In the time from when people arrived to now they have developed a total floristic healing system. The number of plants they have discovered for different illnesses is too large to have been arrived at by a population of this size in this number of generations. It seems like something else is happening beyond trial and error.

Now plants are often viewed as somehow lesser than us animals and particularly of us humans due to a paternalistic god consciousness on the part of naturalists. People were "of course" Divine and the pinnacle of evolution and god's children and so naturally animals were more like us and therefore higher evolved and plants unable to move and therefore unable to think or be conscious or have feeling or emotions or any of the other attributes we revel in when thinking about how great we are. Interestingly, post-"enlightenment" (god I hate that term) men didn't think that animals were conscious or had feeling or emotions but that notion began to change in the later 1870 (although most people on the earth could have told you then and now that they do).

Plants are not like us. They are "alien". They have developed different mechanisms and systems for existing in the environment. They are also Primary. Plants have created the environment that we have today from the climate to the soils to the fossil fuels. Firstly they "eat" light. Utilising vibrational energy from the sun to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and fix the hydrogen with CO2 from the atmosphere as sugar. This is an amazing feat that has allowed the sun's energy to be stored on earth over time and provides the basis for all ecological systems on the planet. Secondly, they are fixed to the earth. Grounded to the soil a plant stays in the same place for its existance rather than moving far and wide like most animals. However, they are not grounded in the z axis. Plants display supercomplicated and intricate growth both into the earth and into the air. They provide a nexus between heaven and earth. They "move" hugley and elaboratly just in ways we don't see and in time-scales that evade our eyes. Further, some plants "walk" to areas of better light using runners to cross to the sunny spot and dying off in the shade. Thirdly, plants use chemicals as language to talk with other beings in their environments. Chemicals for pigments to signal when a fruit is ripe, chemicals to tell a catapiller not to eat it. Flavinoid chemicals to attract beneficially bacteria to the roots and volitile organic carbon compounds to signal to other plants. Many of the chemicals that plants produce mimic (by being nearly) identical to the compounds that modulate consiousness in humans, binding to the 5HT-2 seretonin receptor. Interestingly, one of the technologies developed by the shaman of the amazon is the ayuascha brew which combines two distinct plants that are both inactive on their own but produce a powerful visionary brew when combined and boiled. When asked how they discovered this combination of two plants that grow in different areas out of the thousands upon thousands to choose from in the most biodiverse region in the world? the answer is the plant told them.

Now as I said before plants were always looked down on by biologists. They were always thought of as simpler and less evolved. But that view is now changing too. While plants do not possess a nervous system they have an as complex system of cellular transport and comparmentalisation but one that allows systemic plant response and localised plant response depending on the situation. Regardless of mechanism, this provides identical function to that provided by the human one except it allows the plants to function better as a whole. When one leaf is eatten by a catipiler there is specific cellular response at the bite site but the whole plant gets the signal that it has been bitten and starts to make chemicals that will prevent other catipillers eatting the other leaves. Same with the breathing system. Rather than a centralised lung area, all leaves breath and feed the gas and chemicals they make into the vein system to transport around the plants. Rather than lesser, these are just unique.

Now interestingly this change is now coming to plant spirit. Evidence is mounting that plants can perform the equivelent of complex thought. Further, rather than a centralised brain structure, small structures for specific thoughts are located through out the plant. Meaning that the plant is modular and has more plasticity (it can lose some of its tissue and keep growing, rather than dieing if our head is cut off). For example, plant roots possess tiny areas called the "Statolith" which is a starchy "brain" which senses the earth and then decides where to grow the new root tissue. New evidence suggests that plants may plan this growth up to a year in advance. These areas can sense gravity, nutrients, acidity and soil density and develop growth patterns with the informtion. What I'm trying to get at is that plants are intellegent beings. There is a school of thought that attempts to relegate all of these plant processes to mechanistics and passive addaptions to the environment but much like mechanistic explainations of consiousness or love or growth it kind of misses the point.

Anyway, even if you wont let go of the notion of plants not being sentient just yet we can atleast agree that plants are lots more than most thought. Through this I think it is highly likely that plants and people developed ways of determining how to use different plants for medicines. whether plants are active players in this chemical communication or not is a moot point. It seems that using some intuitive thinking and listening to the plant when taking it for medicine can help healers determine what ailments a plant can be used for. One may snicker but this is how the most common cure for childhook lukemia was discovered. However, given how the system works the traditional healers were never compensated for their knowledge or expertease and the pharmacuticle companies made billions.

Plants are complex communicators with every organism that they form symbiosis with and humans are no exception. People have an inate intuitive thinking they can develop and use to work with plants for healing and I think plants have an active role too.

Plants produce everything we use and consume and deserve more respect than they get. Before our eyes this knowledge about how to heal in ones environment is rapidly being lost along with the rainforest and its plants.

Plants in Human Affairs, weeks one

2009-01-30T11:17:00.004+11:00

I was in an odd space following Christmas and the new year. It was cold and wet and lonely. Spending time with my mate and helping him build his shack was nice but also intense. This made dropping into a Uni course even more of an event.

The big island is huge and I had yet to make it to the Kona side of the island. This is where old fishing villages were, it is in the rain shadow of Mauna Loa and so is the dry side of the island. The region grows heaps of coffee and mac nuts now as well as being a retirement colony for faded hippies and the new age.

I was dropped at the airport by friends and met up with Momi, a hawaiian women who was teaching us somewhat in the course and helping out with driving and that sort of stuff. We smoked cigarettes and played ukulele while we waited for other students to arrive. Arriving were Patrick and Therese, like most of the class participants, from Minnisota where the center running the course was based. We drove to the B&B where the course was being held at Kealakekua, the bay where Cpt. Cook was killed. I talked with the other students and we ate Pizza that Dennis had bought. I was beat and so went to bed fairly early.

On sunday we had a day to adjust to arriving, but I was ok. I did some course reading and we went to the open market where I got some great drawings from a botanical illustrator. Other than that I tried to get to know the other students, being so starved of good company my age for some time. The class was an interesting mix of heads (myself included) and muggles who were taking the course as part of a horticulture degree, to "Expand the scope" of their pre-med studies or to go to hawaii. Psychedelic enthusiasts talked at length about inner realms and plant metaphysics while the muggles seemed taken aback. I met a really nice girl called Rebecca who was a pre-med student studying chinese and the chinease medicine system. We talked at length over the two weeks about limits to rational conceptions of health and healing and the notion and effects of intuition and intent when practicing and receiving healing.

In the first week we looked at the botanical dimensions of the world. We had two key lecturers, Kat Harrison and Dennis McKenna. They covered various different topics concerning plants in human affairs. Dennis looked at the complexity of plant chemistry and how plants use chemicals rather than motion or movement in order to communicate with and interact in the environment. Using molecules for scent, sight and direct communication with other plants and organisms they have substituted behavior for chemistry. We then looked at these classes of compounds and also at issues surrounding the patenting of nature and bioprospecting, how to remediate traditional healers if they choose to share this knowledge. With Kat we looked at plants in human affairs with things like the spice trade, domestication of plants and the birth of agriculture and the use of plants in healing practice. The food was amazing, prepared by a caterer and i felt really good doing the course and reinforcing alot of knowledge about humans and plant uses. On Friday we went to the Awa bar in town to talk story and Saturday we cruised the island going to the volcano and such. Sunday was a day of rest but I had a great time cruising down to the canoe club and talking with the guys. In the old days they would bring 50m tall acaica koa trees down and carve canoes out for battle in that spot.

It was time for week 2

29th till the 3rd- Punatics

2009-01-22T15:16:00.006+11:00

So I was at my friends house in Puna, well it wasn't his house, he lived in the chicken coop behind the house. He was a Vietnam veteran who pursued armed revolution in Hawaii following what he saw and the conclusions he reached. He then eventually sold out and worked the Honolulu fish market, he was the king of the market. He could play the game and as such they built a $7m dollar empire from the ground up. However, my friend realised that they were fishing the world's breed stock, and that rich americans could go by fish from a place like Fiji, destroy the island's fishstock and turn a few million in the process. When the first gulf war began he droped out, it was too much. He left the buisness to his brother and headed to Pahoa, hippy haven of the big island, where he was a tomato grower for a number of years. I met him through a friend who stayed at a farm I was on who knew him from activist work during the build up to iraq this time round. He was also a renowned hemp activist and was integral in changing peoples perceptions around the world through information campaigns about

I arrived, it had been torentially raining for the past week and I was cold wet and smelly. I'd only had a few hours sleep cause I'd been out at the lava and was relieved to get to my friends place. We had some whiskey and joints and talked story about the state of the world and reflection on a radical life. I helped him build a cinder floor in the hot house that he was moving into and we rolled out carpet and a tarp and moved his books and clothes across from the leaking chicken coop. Over the next few days I helped cut trails and tried to dig a outhouse hole in the lava but to no avail.

My friend was depressed and crazy and cynical but I guess fighting in war and seeing no change will do that to someone. He has enough military pension to get by but no way to build anything or get off the ground. It was an interesting few days, great to have company but so sad that people are so lost about how to act or what to do in the world today.

I left on Saturday the 3rd when my course was begining. I rode into town and showered at Sharrons and then they gave me a lift round to the Kona side where I met my pickup for the course, Plants in Human Affairs.

Christmas to 29th

2009-01-20T06:20:00.004+11:00

Arrived at Sharrons smelly and wet. It was christmas eve. I washed all my clothes and myself an did some cyber errands. Was Christmas in Australia so talked to both my families between the air. It rained all day so we listened to music and talked story. Dennise came over later on and we had dinner and watched a movie in what they termed a slumber party. They were old new age women but were not totally on it. Dennise said she wa abducted by aliens, she was from Ohio. Sharron was not aducted by aliens but a character none the less.

Christmas breakfast I went and got some bagles from the only open Cafe in Hilo, Hilo is fairly rundown since sugar died and all the shops and in stripmalls by the highway not the town center. Sheltered from the rain which was getting torrential. At 6pm I set off again with my bike and stuff for the Dements for Christmas dinner. They were a nice enought family. I had a shower and shared their food, we didn't have much in common. Their son in law told me how to hike to the lava flow and I was beat so went to bed early.

Boxingday it rained and rained and rained. Bill gave me a ride to Pahoa where the farmstay guy was gonna pick me up. He did, he was a loose unit. Ed Frazer. His place was overgrown, he farmed nothing and the digs were abysmall. I had no options due to the rain and stayed on a tent platform. There was an old retired aircraft mechanic who had been in jail and had moved to Hawaii to be homeless and try and eat fruit. He ended up at this guys place sleeping in a bus. And a loose guy from South Carolina, with a net of dreads and beard. His name was Ryan. Fred Razer said he let him stay around so that someone was watching the place. Nothing could be grown, the place was like a junkyard. I rode around for 2 days with occational rain and read my book. I missed home and my friends and family. I was eatting out in Pahoa town just to be doing something. It was a weird period. I called my family for conversation and good vibes. I tried to reach some friends but phones were not answered. I cheered up though and then rode back to the hostel. The next day I rode out to the lava flow and set up camp.

At 4am I headed across the lava flow out to the molten rock hitting the ocean. It was small kind from far off but clamboring past the baricades to the shelf I headed over the rocks. I can not explain in words seeing hot lava pour into the sea, there were fountins, I was warm, one near molten rock landed near some french guys, when the rocks hit the sea they floated for a while because they were so hot. I stayed out and watched it spew steam and rocks into the sea until 7am when I headed back to camp for an hours nap and then packed up on the bike to ride to Pahoa. I warmed up with strong coffees and a muffin at the coffee shop and booked things on the internet. I turned my phone on and a hawaiian friend wanted me to help him move house for a couple of days so I headed over to his place.

Pre-Christmas

2009-01-04T09:17:00.008+11:00

Well, I think when I left off I was headed out on the bike to adventure the island a bit.

Step one was riding up Mauna Loa, the largest land mass in the world. A massive mountain sitting on the continental plate. This volcano is dormant but they say overdue for eruption. Was 20 miles up, took 6hrs and my 0 season tent ensured I felt the wind all night up at 10,000ft above sea level (The bulk of the mountain is below da sea)

The next day I hiked from the observatory I was outside to the summit, a huge snow covered culdera. Was great seeing snow in the tropics but I guess everest is the same latitude as Florida so it don't mean much. Hiked back down to camp and got another great night sleep on the lava rock.

Third day and I started around the 4x4 ring road that cuts around Mauna Kea. Manuna kea is an older volcano than Manua loa and so is more biologially developed. The road cut through disused and still used ranch land with some gum trees, native acacias and gourse bush. A state ranger listed off the the things that could kill me: wild dogs, pigs, poachers, etc but I was not to be discouraged. I rode 25 miles of the 44 miles road and camped at state cabins on the mountain. Was beautiful, looked like Australia (Overgrazed disused ranch land) and in the areas they had excluded cows the native hawaiian acacia was growing and I even found a blue gum forest which i plundered to have an aussie campfire. At the cabins was a mountain bike family who I basically left alone.

The next day I rode down off the hawaiian mauka lands (mountain lands) and along the coast. The rest of the mauna road was rough and I accidentally disembarked the bicycle twice and also buggered one of my paniers and had to stitch it back up whilst being watched by some very observant cows. Reaching down into Waimea I saw the bike family and they invited me to Christmas dinner, ah the gift of the gab. Rode down the Hammoukua coast, stopping for portuguese fried food to make up for 3 days of cans of beans and crackers since the TSA nabed by stove. The coast was stunning and the old highway followed the old cane train trusses which cut and zagged along the coast.

I pulled into kolekole state park as the sunset and was invited to drink beers with 3 vagabond locals in the tent shelter, they were living in the park. Charlie, Jimmy and Akon. We listened to the radio and talked story, among constant jokes about kangaroos and "Down under". I camped next to Akon and we ate avocados, drank cheap beer and smoked shake. He was a recovered meth head who had once been at school on the mainland on scholarship for football with his girlfriend who was also Hawaiian but she got pregnant and they moved back here and then he started doing meth and was an adict and now she has an AVO (restraining order) on him plus he has a bunch of other kids with his old lady (as opposed to his old old lady) whose parents dislike him. It was the night before christas eve. We listened to the rain and the radio in the park shelter.

Woke with the wild roosters and went with Akon to call his old lady to arrange to see them for christmas. We had avocados for breakfast and set some chicken snares in the hopes that he would catch one to sell to phillipino hawaiian cock fighters for $300 he could make the down payment on a public housing rental to get custody of his kids. I bid him fairwell and rode the old cane train rode to Hilo and arrived at Sharon's place ready for a shower.

Further inna it, big island end of third week.

2008-12-19T14:34:00.004+11:00

Hey all, well I finish up at the farm tomorrow. Time went fast, it wasn't the farm I had hoped it would be but I at least got some time to readjust following the end of the internship.

Work at the farm and infact the analogous situation to the larger picture is that fact that while the farm can "Produce" it is a false production.

The land where the farm is was previously is ex cane lands. In Hawaii foreign advisers to king Kamahama the third convinced him to give up the traditional system of land ownership and adopt a "European" (Capitalist/Millitarist/Expansionist/Colonial) Model of land ownership. Previously, entire water catchments were lived in an cares for by the community. The system was known as Ahuapua'a and is named for the markers that hawaiian used to demarcate the edges of these catchments. Within the catchment the upper forest was left undisturbed to perform its function in the cycle, catch and recycle rain and nutrients and wash this into the river. Then in the upper and lower levels Taro, the staple crop, was grown using intricate aquaduct systems known as lo'i. This had the advantage over the roman aquaduct system that it didn't cause brain degeneration due to lead poisining. This caught a huge amount of silt and nutrients in the lo'i and used this to grow edible food. Water then flowed down to the river mouth where Hawaiians built loko.

Loko were hawaiian fish ponds that were constructed at the place where the river met the sea. By building rock walls out in the sea they created ponds that would fill at high tide. A gate could be opperated to let fish fill the pond and then closed. The carniverious fish were removed and the herbivores lived in the pond eatting Limu (seaweed). This grew fish and prevented silt from flowing onto the reef and killing the reef ecosystem which was another resource which fishermen would work and bring food in to the lower village that could then be traded with people living upstream. Hawaiian society had a complex social system with various roles for different individuals. Each Ahuapua'a had a Konohiki who was a individual that was the "Guardian of the 'Aina" the protector of the land, water, island.

The Konohiki was an individual who was uniquely tied to the land and understood the cycles of the island ecosystem and who knew when different fish and sea mammals were Kapu (forbidden) and could not be hunted and when they could. They would also resolve things between different parties in the watershed and ensure people were doing their bit. Not shiting in the river upstream and letting enough water through for the lower farmers/fishpond.

This complex land/social managment system has how land was managed. It was not owned, the people belonged to the land not the other way around. So this was an issue for expansionist colonial empires who wanted islands to fuel their empires with sugar, coffee, etc which earned a premium because of their luxury status and were termed cash crops. So the advisers convinced the king to abandon this system like the monarcy had previously done with the old religion and social protocals as european monarcy structure took hold. This event was termed "The Great Mehele". Mehele is Hawaiian for "to divide". This term was for social division of a shared resource that many people helped capture. So when one person provided the net and another the canoes and others went and put the nets out, the captured fish would be "Mehele" Between the participants. Within 50yrs of the "Great Mehele" 90% of hawaii was owner by foreigners.

In 1893 an overthrow of the Hawaiian monarcy was then orchestrated by the sugar barons and missionary decendants who were american and they convinced the american army and navy forces that were stationed in Hawaii to threaten to attack unless the queen ceded her kingdom. The US has subsequently appologised for their role in this on the 100yr aniversary of the event with a non-binding resolution appologising for the wrongdoing and theft). Thus was born the Hawaiian Republic run by the sugar barons and missionary decendants. In its inititial establishment the US President Grover Cleaveland ordered the monarcy to be restored but this fell on the deaf ears of millitary men and millionares thousands of miles away in the pacific and when a new president was elected he expediated the process of annexxing the islands as an American territory. This helped the sugar barons avoid trade tarrifs and gain an advantage in the sugar import markets over other collonial sugar production enterprises in South America, the Carribian, Asia.

Sugar barons and missionary decendants gained massive tracts of land and spun massive profits using slave labour from various parts of Asia. Fillapino Workers were brought in from the land that the American empire had just gained from the Spanish Empire where they had been similar style collonial barons for 500yrs. The workers were brought to hawaii as the native hawaiian were seen as being not interested in this model of work and would rather keep living in the ahuapua'a. Then followed Japanese, chinese, korean workers. Racial tensions were encouraged between the different groups as it prevented them forming a union. Portoguese workers were brought in from the Azores, island colonies of Portugal, to be "European" suporvisors over the workers, cause at least they were catholic.

So then as Hawaii was capulted into the modern era with Statehood in 1959. At this time the Americans had begun using Hawaii as a military base to stage agression in the pacific. Hence the shipyards in Pearl Harbour that we've heard so much about. Anyway, today Hawaii as a state is extreamly militarised and the other industry is tourism. The logic of the global economy has resulted in a complete collapse of Hawaiian Agriculture due to cheaper imports where slave farm labour can still be practiced and standards less rigourous. Further, Hawaii appeared a great place for speculative property development in the 1980's and a huge influx of mainlander haole (litterally, Death Breather or without breath) looking to buy land and a second wave of new age haole and ex-flowerchildren, no longer fighting but escaping. Babalonyian Refugees. Meanwhile the people cleaning rooms, customer service, stack shelves are all locals who now have a hard time paying rates and cannot afford land for their growing families and the community is broken up.

This situation seems particularlly more obvious here on the Big Island due to the large tracts of land. Local people are really poor and have been given shitty land on lava flows or old cane land while the missionary decendants are billionaries through selling land off to hotel developers, condo complexes and other "Development". Naturally the people are pissed off as more and more people move here looking for their piece of paridise and retreate. Lots of free Tibet stickers but few that say free Hawaii. This has been intensifying in the last 6 months as the global economy slows up and all the imagined wealth evaporates and so development projects stop. This is coupled with the increasing cost of living. as 90% of hawaii's food is imported, all goods, fuel, etc. The Farm I've been work exchanging on grows food to feed the poor in the area and has gone from feeding 50 families one year ago to 150 families today. The farm grows Taro, Bananas, Oranges, Sweet Potato, Avocados and is on catchment water and minimal solar and propane.

The guy who runs the place which is listed as a not for profit enterprise and so every week he puts together boxes of food made up of some fresh produce and stuff from the food bank. Supermarket leftovers, damaged goods etc. Now this is a great service, but...

Firstly the land is fairly fucked. It was poisioned continually and the soil is fairly broken and there are weeds everywhere. The manager doesn't really know how to farm, he is an old peace activist but he is also a hard headed catholic and while talking about meaningful change, he misses the bigger picture in many respects. He has become more symbolic rather than implementing on a personal level the change he speaks about. I've tried to discuss with him what might be good to do or grow but "We can't do that, not a priority, weed the taro patch" To truely heal the land, and he has had 20ys, he needs secectional crops and wind breaks and multi-croping and invasive control but he just ploughs the land and buys "Organic" off farm inputs like chicken manure and crumb and puts petrol in the weed wacker or tractor, and lets the orchard get overgrown. But it will take more man power and a less heirarchical control network in order to put in enought work and managment to develop a self-regulating system. The work I have done in 3 weeks, reclaiming a banana grove from weedy vines and clearing the oldest orchard so the trees can be accessed, will regrow with weeds with time becuase it wont be tended.

In addition to learning about the limitations of land rehabilitation (and Jim's big issue is an unwillingness to learn from others, or accept his rightious self as failable, and so he fails to see the big picture or affective routes to positive action over waving signs on the side of the road to uncaring motorists. The charity system he has is totally dependant on the functioning of a failed economic system as so if the imports stop, his land and system is not sustainable and it doesn't empower the community as a community garden would. However, its been great to meet the community and help out on the island and talk story.

The other interesting experiance for me has been eatting like the poor of the industrial world eat. Processed crap that kills the planet and people. "Enriched" flour, high fructose corn syrup, colour agent red 4, sodium EDTA, nitrosamines etc. I avoid it as much as I can but that is what people in the pacific has access to as a food source, canned, processed. No one should be hungry on a tropical island like hawaii, there is enough land and a year round growing season to provide food for everyone and healthy fresh stuff too. Instead prime farm land is turned into condos and those with money and power continue to manipulate and oppress the people and overturn environmental legeslation if it gets in way of buisness. Further depleting peoples ability to survive on the islands, fish, hunt etc. However, people seem to recognising the need for community autonomy and sustainability at least on a Retorical level, so I hope that pulls them through. An interesting farm experiance, learned a bunch about hawaiian history and militirism (a nother ranty blog post in the making) and current contaminations and threats. Also, through the peace farm I've been talking to a bunch of vietnam veterans and subsequent drop outs/revolutionaries and its been really mind opening to talk with them about the war, time after the war and the world now (Third ranty blog post). Anyway, its interesting to experaince other colonial legacies to help me contextualise things in Australia and the world at large. (4th ranty blog post)

I leave Hilo tomorrow for a bike ride up the dormant volcano that is also the largest land mass in the world. Taller than everest if you count what is below the sea. It is overdue for an eruption. Manua Loa. I'm goning up there and might ride past the military base afterwards but thinking not as it is contaminated with Depleted Uranium. Then probably down to the lava sea flow to watch boiling hot lava meet the ocean and find some vagabonds for new years. Then off to the Kona coast for my plant medicine course. Stay well, happy solstice, enjoy the summer, dance as much as possible, change from within is change without but direct action is required on all levels. Also, i'd recomend heading to Boarders in Civic and getting the Adbusters big ideas of 2009 issue and having a read. It has articles about the need to move to a steady state economy and the unlimitted growth model pushes up against the bio-physical realities of the world and stops working.

Mahalo, the life of the land is purpetuated in Righteousness. (Hawaii Kingdom Motto). Stay well, miss you all.

H

2008-12-08T17:41:00.003+11:00

Today concludes the first week of my time on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The big island, Hawai'i was the first island encountered by cook and also the subsequent seat of power when the unified Hawaiian kingdom was formed by an inspired ali'i or chief who had to british advisors from a ship encounter and who armed Khamehamea with british style war ships which allowed him to conquer the other islands.

I left Kauai last Saturday. I spent Thanksgiving on the beach and in the Dojo while everyone either left or went to a dinner. I was so thankful to get some time to myself. Skyped with the family and extended family and cleaned up, scraping myself into movealbe shape.

Megan the midwest princess dropped me at the airport with my packs, computer, ukulele and bike and I checked in. I checked through, wandered around the airport and just before boarding was paged on the loudspeaker. I was then escorted by the airport police (who are not real police but rather rent-a-cops) to a room and given a lecture by the TSA on why camp stoves can not fly, even if you have cleaned them, blah blah blah. Following my scolding by big brother I was rebooked and slept on the plane the whole way, arriving at 4 in the arvo.

Jim picked me up in his car and we drove the 10 miles or so from Hilo to Kurtistown, an outter suburb that used to be its own cane district back when. I got settled that night in a bamboo cabin built from on site materials plus nails and screws. Sunday I woke up to honeycreapers and was informed that the other wwoofers were driving round to the south west side of the island and did I want to go. I headed of with a girl from Nova Scotia, a women from Seattle and an older lady from Ohio as well as a local Japanese man and an old hippy women and the dogs.

We drove to the south point of the island where an old lava flow enteres the sea and then up to a farm on the side of a flow. There are two massive volcano mountains here, Mauna loa and Mauna kea. They get snow on each on and Mauna kea is the largest land mass in height including undersea, in the world.

All week I have been working on the farm. The whole place is off grid. Jim built a composting toilet on site and 3 cabins. The kitchen and common area and the cabins all have decentralised solar photovoltaic systems which can power lights and a computer. Water is all catchment. There are fish ponds and chickens and taro patches. I have been setting pig traps to try to stop the loss of sweet potatos to the buggers but no luck yet. I got some chainsaw training too. I can clean, fix and sharpen a saw and I felled abunch of weed trees on the land on Saturday. We wanna try to us the wood to make pig fences to help the sweet potatos. I sowed some fields of bean and corn too as well as harvesting heaps of fruit. The farm surplus is put into food boxes and distributed to about 150 local poor families and offers an organic alternative to hte synthetic food like substances provided by the food bank.
I work 4 hours in the morning to midday and then have time to myself, it seems pretty rad. A nice place to relax and vibe down before the Ethnobotany course.

Jim Albertini is an old war resister/vietnam protester. Jim's grandad was killed by the coal mining company in pensylvania where jims family lived when his mother was one. He was raised in a small mountain comunity durring the pograms of the 50s. By the late 60s he was activly protesting the US military industrial complex by burning draft records etc. He then came to Hawaii as it was the staging ground/jump of point for US ships and planes into indochina. Here he exposed nuclear weapons storage on the islands and led comunity resistance against nuclear subs and other such in the pacific. He has activly worked for a nuclear free and independant pacific here ever since. I've learned heaps about the US enpire in Hawaii, 20% of the island that Honolulu is on belongs to the military and I think 1/5 people in the state work for the military in some capacity. Here on the big island there is depleated uranium waste on the live firing range between the two big volcanos.

I've been cruising around after work on my bike. Playing music and reading a bunch which is nice. On friday arvo we went and did a vigil against the military on the island. Jim does a vigil every friday afternoon and has for the past 8 years calling for more sensible spending of money than war.It was interesting going along and helping out. I think its gonna take more than sign waving on a street corner to change the empire but I admired Jim's perserverance. He has served fedral time a number of times for protest related activites and civil liberties cases so I preseme he needs to picket. Is in his blood.

Today was fucking incredible. After breakfast the women from Ohio dropped me at the volcano national park. It was so beautiful. From the active steeming crater to the sulphur vents to the desert to the moon scapes of past eruptions. I could feel and see the earth living. The place where land is born. The hawaiians had a female Gaian figure named Pele who was the firery volcano godess and giver of life and energy. Interesting the island has been noted to look like a female figure and the volcano produces output glass and beads shaped like hair and tears. I rode around the park on my bike, walked through old lava tubes and then saw the sun set on the culdera, the boiling steaming magman crater. I didn't see big lava flows because you need to go out of the park to where it is flowing into the sea from a fissure in the earth that has drained the magma lake that existed for a hundred years. Thats my missions on Tuesday I think.

Hope all are well, stay good.

Love to everyone.
H

PAU

2008-11-28T15:12:00.003+11:00

We Pau.

The internship finished up yesterday, the two weeks since we got back from Limahuli were good. Fairly cruisey. Did mainly project work and also skiving project work to pick and husk coconuts. I also improved my rock slinging ability such that I can knock brown coconuts down from the tree. Now I just need to get the force up so I can get the green ones.

We gave presentations yesterday. Mine was good. I think I rambled a bit from lack of preparation but the coconuts were worth it. This internship has had its ups and downs but I have learned so much about people, plants and culture, I'm so glad I had this opportunity.

Now I have some alone time, which is a change. 4 of the interns have left, and all the rest are off at Thanksgiving dinners/lunch so I have used the opportunity to cruise about and prepare to up root and head over to the big island. No real news or stories to tell yet, just wanted to touch base.

Stay well, Mahalo
Harris

2008-11-17T19:03:00.002+11:00

This last week at Limahuli Ray and I have been talking story about belauan culture after ethnobotany week. We talked amazing story about belauan culture. So cool. We stayed in this old valley that used to house an ancient hawaiian civilisation. With the gardeners there we built earth ovens with hot rocks and banana stems and ti leafs and cooked breadfruit, wild pig, taro, and we mashed poi and planted sweet potato and taro - which we also learned to clean and process. The food was amazing.

Raining more as we head into winter and the land looks amazing. We just spent 2 weeks after ethnobotany week at limahluli gardens, an ancient hawaiian settlement for eons ago. It was lived in by the community living traditionally until statehood in the 60's where the land was appropriated and was made a national park and the people were removed and the lo'i aquaducts bulldozed. The shit I saw in that valley was more advanced than any roman or greek fucking city. It was a sustainably built irrigation system that fed the earth and the people and didn't give anyone lead poisining. The hawaiian also had a land management sysytem known as ahuupuaa which recognised the area of one stream or river (the catchment) as a single and unique ecosystem and people cared for it the whole length of the valley. Ensuring it was healthy. We spent 4 days in the lower valley removing invasive forest and planting natives. I learned some rad techniques for Australia if I wanna go try do some ecosystem reconstuction there. The other days we were in the garden. We tended the lo'i and made mulch and planted out. Ray and I caught 8 chickens (me 2) in wild chicken traps we made from guava tree and also caught shrimp from the stream with coconut midrib lassoes and coconut as bait. That tree is truely magical. Over 70 uses in belauan culture for all different parts for all different things. I caught and cleaned a bunch of fish too with a throw net. You go out and spot the school swimming and launch the net and bring it in. We got 6 menuenue and cleaned and fryed them up. We also had another imu and built an earth oven and I watched the wild pig (feed up in a pen entirely on food scraps) get butchered and bled and then helped clean and shave the pig and prepared it and the wild chickens for the earth oven. Van ray said that sea meat like turtle and dugong is the best meat there is becuase it feeds on sea grass and sea weeds. There was an old uncle that worked at the garden preserved called uncle tommy and he had lived on country back in the 1930's. He was 76. His 73yr old sister taught us pandanus weaving. He talked lots of story about growing up in what was now a national park. He didn't know how to clean a pig, but he knew how to catch and clean a turtle. Time changes fast i guess.

Got back to the south shore last evening. We saw albatross on the drive back when we stopped at the old lighthouse reserve. so huge. Then Van ray and me went to a garden function with gormet food and dancing and deserts. I got put on security and ate heaps of food and loads of red. Today was spent lax in the hammock with some good meals to intersperse and a movie and dinner with ray.

Hope all are well. Speak soon.

Harris

End of First Limahuli week - reflections

2008-11-08T15:33:00.002+11:00

Well another week of the internship up, less than 3 weeks to go. An interesting week to say the least.

Cruised on Saturday with Ray Ray and Keya up to the North Shore and met Keyas friend Kenally who took us to some beaches. Spent Sat and Sun getting settled at the new house and laying low.

Monday to Thursday we worked in the lower Limahuli Preserve, a huge native forest preserve on the North Shore. We weeded and planted and tarped undergrowth and cleared an infested river. I got a small spider bite and then after swimming in the river developed a boil. It got big and I treated it with Hawaiian Medicine and Belauan medicine and me and Ray Ray drained in last night. Under severe pressure from one of my bosses she took me to the clinic today and the doctor said it looked good, because we had done such a good job of draining it, it did not need to be lanced. I asked if it would heal on its own, with out server antibiotics and she said it could, but I should get on them anyway to be sure. Even better, its a whoppingly huge dose because it is an antibiotic resistant strain because of our society already overusing anti-biotics. The boss paid for the script and the visit. $140 for nothing I didn't already know. The boss then said I should start taking the antibiotics, which I reluctantly did and now feel drained and weird about putting clindamycin into my body. The web says it can causes nausea, vomiting, metallic tastes, the runs, jaundice. I should have waited till Monday to start the course, because my body was dealing with the infection by itself. I feel really pressured into not being able to make autonomous discussions about my body and health. What I needed was not a clinic and a script but more rest, fresh fruits and vegetables, a swim in the ocean and lots of rest. No healling like that in the modern world I guess.

In other news there was the American Election. The mainlanders went to a weird shitty sports bar and ate nachos and drank beers. The bar tender was a republican, I ate beer battered artichokes and had a beer (not so good for the leg). We should have gone to the Tiki bar, I'm sure the bartender there would have been happier. I am pleased with the result, mainly becuase McCain was so pro nuclear. I think obama offers hope and inspiriation to millions but am cynical enough to believe that the powers that be, the bankers and the lobby groups and the energy companies et al will not cede the reigns of power so easily. The bailout was a total neocon pillage of the US treasury, being given money for fucking up. If that had happened in a country in Africa or South East Asia there would be furor about corruption and acountability but no, we in the west are doing it and its normal practice to keep things running smoothly. Good thing we paid those taxes. Obama is inheriting a pretty fucked up country and I don't think that the peopel will rise to the challenge. I might be wrong and I hope I am but I don't think people will make or accept the changes required of them to survive.

I got accepted to an organic farm on the big island. we start on the 29th and it does aquaculture and organics and is a peace center too. more on that to come.

I've been cooking bitching soups and eatting coconuts. Nothing better.
Stay well, I have a relaxed weekend of waterfalls and coconuts and healling my leg. stay well, enjoy the springtime.

Slack Attack and Ethnobotany Week

2008-11-03T12:49:00.002+11:00

Well, when we last met I had just finished up in Maui and was about to head back to Kauai.

First up we had a rad last day in Hana. We had a big luau with laulau made from local pork and poi, sushi, and a host of other amazing local food. I ate too much and then got drunk with the Gardeners.

Our first day back in Kauai I bought a ukulele. I have played it everyday and its rad. I'm getting good fast and Van Ray can play some so we teach each other different songs and rhythms. I learned belauan reggae songs as well as a few hawaiian ones and all the old standards that I used to play on guitar/mando.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was slack and procrastinatory. I stayed up every night playing uke and not getting enough sleep. We had lectures about the importance of bird to island ecosystems and went seed collecting which was cool but I was just vaugeing. All night and day I had headaches and tooth pain. I decided to shell out on Thursday and go to the dentist. I had a gum infection on one of my wisdom teeth and got antibiotics and vicodin scripts and had an excellent day off work on friday. Smacked out and listening to trance.

This week was the start of ethnobotany week. Which meant a few things. Firstly we had rad lectures on Monday and Wednesday and Friday about ethnobotany in all its facetes and had some hands of examples of things like traditional medicine preparation, weaving, coconut husking, etc. It was great to meet all the Hawaiian gardeners. Some are from Ni'ihau, which is a smaller island next of Kauai. Ni'ihau is a hawaiian cultural preserve. No outsiders are alowed on the island and hawaiian is the official language. Was a real spin talking and learning from these guys. Thursday we dug an emu (earth oven) pit and friday morning sealed it in and ate for halloween.

To celebrate ethnobotany week I started drinking B. cappi tea which has been amazing. Also lots of yandi to tune me in to plants, people and cultures. Me and Van Ray made a presentation about ethnobotany to emphasise culture over plants or plant compounds in isolation and the need for cultural exchange not biopiracy.

We are up on the North Shore the next 2 weeks to work at the limahuli gardens. This is the first week I've really started loving some of the landscapes of the island. It is getting wetter and more lush and in some of the valleys it is like jurrasic landscape. So rad. Weekend has been cruisy. Got ready to go roadtripping then jsut cruised beaches for a while. Had a barbeque, the usual.

I have also begun organising my wwoofing on the big island when my internship ends. I got positive reponses from a number of farms, I'll post on the blog when I have worked out when and where.

Until next time. Stay well.

Harris

Hana Ho

2008-10-16T19:47:00.002+11:00

Ok, so I have been staying in the botanic gardens in Hana, Maui for the last 11 days. We are camping outside of the directors office up on the hill off the highway and the gardens is down the bottom on the flood plain.

Hana is on the East Coast of Maui, to drive here from the airport took 3 hours and the road winds up and down along the eroded volcanic valleys and sharp corners. Apart from the fact that the other interns couldn't camp if their lives depended on it (this is the least camping I have ever engaged in. There is a lunch area with a big roller door that houses the kitchen and two tables and then the office which has internet, phones, bathroom, shower, etc. On the plus side the internet doesn't really work so at least they have been playing cards instead of on the internet).

Anyway, we got to the gardens and set up, me and tory are around the back away from everyone and my tent is a leaky bivey bag but is nice and homely. We are cooking communlly too which is nice cause back on kauai everyone eats quick processed food and not together.

We are staying on land that used to belong to Jim Nabors. He is a wierd American celebrity who was in one of the first TV shows ever, the andy griffiths show (I hadn't heard of it and the interns looked at me like I was mad). He bought this old sugar ranch land after the sugar industry was folding in the 70s. Before that it had been ranch land and before that tropical rainforest with a polynesian society at the bottom of the hill. He has a house on the land that the office is on but isn't here. When he bought this as a getaway and hobby farm he planted heaps of mac nut trees. There were 13,000 macadamia trees on the land but a few thousand were destroyed by a cyclone in 2002. The day we flew in we went shopping to stock up on food and then arrived around 3pm. I walked the property and collected mac nuts as I walked.

The gardens is on land that was aquired by a polynesian family durring an event known as the great mehele which occured in 1831 (i think) when hawaii was united as a european style monarchy under one chief/king. Before this there had been islands united under one ruling chief or ali'i who was part of the rulling class with powerful mana and the people pampered their chief and commoners were forbidden from touching the chief or sitting when the chief walked by. Anyway, after contact with Cook in 1778 the islands were then united under one ruler King Kamehameha around 1812. One of the ways he became king was by capturing a european sailboat called the Fair American along with 2 seamen and then had a high tech weponary advantage over all other ali'i.

The great mehele was when the land stopped belonging to everyone and being the commons on which the people lived and mimiced the european system of land ownership. Like in similar land aquisitions in North America, families that had adequate knowledge of english and money could aquire large plots of land at the expense of the community. Anyway, this Family, the Kahunu family, got the land by getting in the sack with the sugar barrons from England that wanted the land to make cash and promised this too the family. In the 60's as the islands agriculture industries were folding the land was deeded to the garden by some of the family decendeant as it had become overgrown and on it was a large Heiau from the 15th century which is an ancient polynesian temple and living space. Over 40, 000 people used to live there before the english brought disease. Although it must be remembered that the hawaian counted in blocks of 4. 4, 40, 400, 4000, 40, 000 and 40,000 was often used for really large numbers. Anyway this heiau is a national monument and really big and really old and really sacred.

" It also contains the Piʻilanihale Heiau, a National Historic Landmark believed to be the largest ancient temple in Polynesia. Dating from the 16th century, it is constructed from lava blocks and is 341 feet (104 m) by 415 feet (126 m) in extent, with a 50-foot (15 m) high front wall." - wikipedia

The gardens are wonderful, there is a team of 6 gardens and 1 nursery worker and the director. The gardens has a huge ulu or breadfruit orchard with over 200 cultivars from all over the world. And then a canoe garden with polynesian introduced plants, the heiau and a beautiful wild volcanic coastline. Hana is a small rural community that is predominantly Hawaian. The town used to be a bit of a booming hub back in the 40's when sugar was king but the collapse of sugar and a cyclone reducd the community size drastically.

The gardeners are all hawaiin guys bar one and it has been amazing talking to them and learning form them and experiancing hawaii hawaii.

Last week we weeded numerous garden beds, weeded the heiau and removed invasive trees from the edges, played hawaiin sport games with hawaiian children, made and threw spears, picked breadfruit, made compost and compost tea and shot the breeze. I went fishing with two of the gardeners eric and earl and vanray and some other local boys and had a blast out there on the rocks. The moon has been filling since we got here and is full tonights.

This past weekend we went swiming in the caves in the area and also at the beach and the director made us brunch with is wife and two kids in toe. Best coffee I've been able to get my hands on in a while. Eric and his mates came over for a Barbeque which was ace. We smoked the meat and stuff with mac nut shells. However, the other interns didn't really understand how a barbeque worked and didn't realise it would just be the guys bringing big slabs of meat and beer. We all had a good time though, Eric taught me to play some ukelele which I really liked. I also walked the coast which is like 4 miles and saw the most amazing sea I have caught in a while, big churning waves pounding on the rocks. Some nights we can hear it from up on this mountian. There are river mouths that were called the drum becuase the sea could be heard so loud up the river valley.

This week has been tops too. Starting Saturday was the aloha festival in town which is a celebration of hawaian culture. We saw a town street parade on Saturday with an elvis car and horses and the fire brigade and school groups making hula floats. There was also a mock procession of the old hawaian courts with the king and his wife and the ladies in waiting and the guards and the herelds and the protector of the mana and the prince and the conch horn blowers. Sunday was a fishing contest and monday we played volley ball in the park with community members. Tuesday was the the teen dance so we went fishing with eric down on the old cane wharf.

Today we weeded an taro patch up in the hills on the other side of town. It is a community farm tacked on the the national park where taro or kalo is cultivated in the tradional way. We wallowed around in the muddy paddies and ripped up the plants we were harvesting and drowned the weeds. The cultivation is amaing. We ripped out the whole plant, cleaned it in the stream and then cut off the korm and the leafs and the stem that is left can be replanted in the field. We then hiked up to a 400 ft waterfall through a bamboo forest. Was fucking increadible. I harvested a big bag of macnuts in the evening and then went to the town talent night. Tomorrow is the bread fruit cook off and hawaiana night and friday we are having a luau in our honour down in the gardens. This two weeks have been amazing.

Have had no real outside news but I saw a headline at the genral store about hte economy being totally fucked, no suprises there. Realy glad I've just been trained in Machette use and spear making and throwing for when we need to catch our own food and build our own shit.

Which segways nicely into the other thing I've been filling my time with here, my intern project. I've been designing a commnity farm for the hana community so I've been checking out the land that the garden has recently aquired and belonged to the old TV star I was on about in the beginging. I'm setting up a plan for reclaiming the clam and building a permaculture community farm to make subsistance food and use time controlled grazing to clear the land of invasive speices and produce beef and pork and chickens for participants. Has been really good getting a understanding of both the land aspects and also the beauracricy required for getting grants, networking etc. Going well thus far, will give a bigger update on that another time.

Hope you are all well, I love you all. After this we have 2 weeks back on the south shore of kauai, two on the north and a final two on the south. Still don't think they will be able to top Hana. I'm gonna do some more coastal restoration projects and a few bike rides. Then I'm going fly to the Big Island at the end of November and either wwoof or bike tour, I haven't decided yet. Then I have my course at the begining of January. As the plan stands now I'm going to head to belau in Febuary and then take it form there.

Stay well, till next time.
Peace
Harris

First Month

2008-10-03T15:13:00.003+10:00

So the scene is set, I let you know about the other interns, not the people I would choose to be marooned with on a desert island but passable none the less. The nepotism in the selection was huge, there are only two ecologist in the 9 of us. The others don't really care about plants and are just here to be in Hawaii. Van Ray is amazing, he teaches me new things everyday about food, chickens, fun and uses of plants.

So the first week was just a shemozzle really. Living in close quarters with everything disorganised. We had preliminary introductory lectures and spent our free time working out what research project we would do. Although I was fairly set on doing a farm design project for the Hawaiian community in Hana on Maui I did look around at the other projects to see if they fit my bill as they were all so cool. I passed up seed collection and banking techniques and also GIS training and Breadfruit ethnobotany but I think that doing this farm project is really where I want to take my education and also its the first real project that is really just motivated by me and myself so I just have to make sure my finger is pulled out and i get some work done inbetween hiking and swimming.

Everyone else in the house eats crap food. That statement is not a blanket truth, vanray is a master asian chef. I had the best kimchi soup I have ever eatten last night and his meals never fail to impress me. Most of the food people eat in this country is processed, from a box, instant and totally joyless. Also, it mostly has high fructose corn syrup. Now the filp side to this is that there is a huge niche organic food market but lots of the organic food is still processed and its all hyper expensive and so provides no solution to global agriculture issues. Anyway, I finally found a bulk food store that sells to caters and resturants and shit and got loads of oats, nuts, dried fruit etc and also have now rooted out the asian grocery stores to make fine chinese and fillapino food.

Went canoeing up a river to a waterfall on my first weekend. Was really nice, with an old guys from Alaska. I also went to a turtle dig on the Thursday. We and the volunteers dug up a hatched turtle nest to look for ones that had not escaped properly. We found one and 123 hatched eggs.

The second week we did some lectures on native hawaiian plants and canoe plants and also learned 10 tropical plant families and how to describe them. I still haven't learned them as well as I should have.

The structure of the program is that we have lectures on Monday and Wednesday from 9 till 12 except we have to arrive at 8am for some reason beyond explanation except for beauracracy. We then get lunch and the arvo to work on our projects. Tuesday and Thursday we do work. Often weeding and planting and work in the nursery. Then Friday we have rotation where we alternate between different departments in the garden: Science, Conservation, Education, Garden work and Breadfruit Institute.

The first week we weeded and planted out a cliffside and the second week we worked with the nursery, learning seed propagation, cuttings, airlayering etc.

The third week we worked with conservation learning seedbanking and such and this week jsut passed we worked at a cave reserve. Its been great doing heaps of manual labour and working outside. We weeded, planted, landscaped and layed our irrigation. I love landscaping. I think if it is combined with permaculture principles it might be a great way to get cities to fund urban sustainability projects. But I'm an optimist.

Low points have included backing one of the cars into a bolard which is costing me $400 which sucks. It was one of those hot careless afternoons when you think it couldn't suck anymore and then it does. Was good though, following it and the subsequent fallout I went bike camping for 2 nights away from all the other interns and the house and camped alone on a beach. I woke on the sand every few hours and the sky had shifted and I watched a huge sunrise over the sea. Helped me get my mana back in line. Also, got really sick of Amerians for a week there. Especially as free market capitalism was collapsing and they all looked at me like a lunitic when I talked about moving to a non-growth economy.

Other than that the only thing to report is there is lots of reggae on the island, which is good. Van Ray taught me some new skanking moves.

I can't think of anything else to report really. I've been studing permaculture and playing harmonica and trying to get ontop of my communication with everyone and on top of my classes and shit. I just payed for my ethnobotany class so thats locked in in the first weeks of January. Hope you are all well. I'm off to Maui where the farm I am designing is gonna be. We stay for 2 weeks with the Hana community and get to camp out every night. So I'll fill you all in when I return.

Love to all

The end of the mainland, movement to the colony

2008-09-29T09:53:00.003+10:00

Well, sorry for being so slack on the blog. Got a million things going on with the internship. Trying to stay on top of the work and my project and still have time to see the island and stay in touch with everyone. I hope this excuses my slack contact etc. In a week we are leaving for the remote hana coast of Maui where the farm I am designing is located. But more on that latter. This posting will be extra big. Don't blow all of your procrastination options at once :)

So, leaving Crestone. I spent my last day wandering around town and checking out the op-shop, the free box (a huge walk in wooden box with free stuff, the uber op shop) and some boutiques etc. I went back to Mark's house and packed all my gear up. He got off work early and came to take me to Alamosa. After we loaded my stuff in his car we went to complete the final phase of my American adventure, shooting a gun.

Mark's girlfriend, a young irish american from the country, had left her smith & wesson with mark so I could fire off a couple of rounds. We went out the back and shot cans on the fence. It was supprisingly normal. I had thought shooting a gun would be a huge rush or fill me with philasophical inquiry. Nope. It was just loud and not once did I hit the can.

Mark drove me back to Alamosa and we listened to x-clan and shot the shit. The bus ride back was uneventful. The bus driver was texan and kept cracking jokes. I spent a final night in star ship nunu as Stella's house was known but arrived late and left early for the California Zephyr.

The train was really cool. I am so glad I didn't fly. Firstly, the train was filled with menonites in bonnets and braces. They wouldn't talk to me but. I spent most of the 38hr trip in the observation car looking at the rocky mountains and the utah desert. I met a whole host of characters including the roadie for the only metal band in utah (his story, not mine). I can only remember his nickname "Catbox". The band was called Tempered Steel. He told me he had found secret temples in the desert after god talked to him and once he got some sort of disability payout he would go get it and be rich. I ate meals in the dining car too which was an experiance. The food was passable and you never knew who they would sit you with.

I arrived in San Fran on Thursday evening with no accomadation and ended up in SOMA in a place called the European Guesthouse run by a fijian indian women. I spent the next three nights here. I went and caught a bluegrass show with sam bush and ate good bad mexican food. Then I bought a bike off a crack head and rode up to North Beach to see the sights and explore the city.

Friday I just cruised all over town on the bike. Went deep into Golden Gate park and across the bridge etc. Had excellent indian food for dinner and caught an afterburn party with three levels of music. Dubstep in teh basement, tech-glich on the midfloor and drum and bass in the attic. Little wild, too crowded and overall too housey and not trible enough.

Saturday I went to Michael Franti's power to the peaceful concert. He played, as did Damien Marley and some other rootsy music. However, I couldn't pull myself from the dance stage. It had been too long since I had had a long dance in the sunshine and even though the music wasn't right up my alley I squelched across the dancefloor like the stoned Australian I was. Had dinner in Northbeach, amazing Italian food and then went to bed early for the flight in the morning.

Flight was uneventful and average. I got my bike and computer and had like a 4 hour layover. Lea from the gardens picked me up and I arrived at Theobold house, which is holding the 9 interns for the next 3 months.

Harris - living outside in a structure called the weatherport. I get more room than anyone but have to walk to the house. Have a hammock to sleep in and a yoga space and two tea chests for all my stuff.

Megan - our "Head" intern. She is the sister of one of the education co-ordinators and is from Minasota. She is studing social work and jsut spent 2 years in Malawi with the peace core. She is supposed to keep us in order and resolve our differences.

Amanda - a mormon form Idaho. She's done conservation and stuff in Hawaii since March. She has a biology degree of some description.

Lindsey - another sister of a girl on the selection commitie. She is a "Jack" mormon which is a mormon who gave up. She's from Utah but has been in Denver for the past 5 years. Loves to swear and say things are awesome. She listens to alot of Bob Marley. She studies Journalism.

Torrey- a fellow biologist, from Santa Cruz in California. Graduated a few years ago and has been working for the state and then up in Alaska for 4 months with the innuete. She is as jaded and cynical about conservation and this country as I am. Well maybe not quite as much.

Bevan - the son of the dirrector of the US botanic gardens. He studied economics at college and seems like a nice guy

Patrick - a college student from Florida. Wants to help golf courses conserve water and told me jet skiing is the greatest activity possible.

Van Ray- my saviour and the greatest man on earth. Van is from Belau near micronesia and is self-professed "Homegrown". He works for the Belau national museum and assists on field trips in Belau. He fucking rules. He taught me how to make Belauan chicken traps and we caught and cooked 2. We chews bettle nut all the time and tells me I am the man. He loves reggae and cooks a mean asian soup and is teaching me to make Kim Chi. I am going to go visit him when I'm done in Hawaii.

So this is our cohort. All blogged out so no Hawaiian adventures for you yet. Some time this week I will post the highlights of my first 4 weeks before heading off to maui for two weeks to work in the gardens there and better implement my farm plan.

Blog Love
Peace
Harris

Phase 3: After Chakra 777

2008-09-18T04:20:00.016+10:00

So, I realise this has been a long time coming and it should have come earlier and just for you all I'm skiving the work I should be doing to fill in the gaps.

So during my time in Denver I decided that i needed to get out of cities and into the equivalent of the outback. I had begun talking to two guys at the rap show, Adolphus and Watson, when I was looking for people to dance wildly with during Methodman/Redman. They weren't dancing particularly wildly but the girl next to them was so I used my signature move of smiling at watson when he looked over. Adolphus cut to the chase "Got any Ganja?"

So we smoked a blunt I had rolled and started talking. It transpired that they were originally from Detroit but now lived with a bunch of people from detroit in "The Sand Dunes". I enquired more and found that in the San Luis valley at the bottom of Colorado there were the largest sanddunes in North America, built from sand blown up from the Sierra Madre desert. Upon keeping talking about the area it turned out it was a small town at the foot of the mountains and an old hopi healing area that now have heaps of spiritual centres, buddhist retreat centres, hindu temples, peyote sweat lodges, etc. The hook was in. I asked how I could get there and Watson said he would pick me up if I caught the greyhound to Alamosa, 5hrs bus ride from Denver. It was a no brainer, I was hooked.

On Friday morning I walked to the greyhound centre as conventioneers began to empty out of Denver. The bus trip was fantastic, views of the rockies the whole was and I got to practice my spanish with an 8yr old girl on the bus. Now it had occured to me that it was possible that I was walking into the jaws of a Pagan Love Cult but I figured that even if it was a pagan love cult it would be a pretty good way to cut my teeth on watching my back. I mean, If you can't survive/excape cult programing, what hope do you have for living in the real world? Besides, I thought, maybe joining a Pagan Love Cult is just what I need right now. As long as I can escape before Hawaii, whats the harm.

Watson was waiting for me when the bus arrived in Alamosa. The San Luis Valley is the second largest potato producer after Idaho and Alamosa is like a standard regional hub with service stores and agricultural supplies. We drove up the valley with his Girl, a local Crestoner. We smoked a peace pipe and after arriving I had a shower and a look around town. The town was founded due to finding silver and after masacreing all of the hopi in the valley the town was built. After getting settled (listening to Bhangara music and eatting a meal) we went into the town commons where the 19th annual Crestone sustainability and energy festival was happening. Every year they showcase new technologies for sustainable living to help keep towns folk self sufficient and off the grid. It was on all weekend, but very small due to the nature of the town. However, I got to see people riding horse and cart (Carbon Neutral) and build a solar over, talk about different forms of agriculture etc. The best thing was a guy who had molds for casting biogas generators that make methane off green pasture waster.

I learned heaps over the weekend and it was really hands on and good fun. Following we went to the house of one of Watson and Adolphus's bosses. The guys worked doing eco-construction in town, straw bales, mud brick, regular building, etc and had just finished an extention for some women. She had cooked a huge meal and a bunch of her old hippy buddhist friends had come round for dinner as well as the builders and the town mayor.

It was the best meal I have eatten all trip, 3 courses, good wine, hippies for conversation. Watched an amazing sunset and thought about how heaps of rich affluent people are buddhist and still eat meat et al. and just sit around feeling good about them selves rather than doing anything. Ah, good old cynical me.

That night we went to the bar. A small wild west esc pub where everyone knew each other and it was equal parts old cowboys, hippies, queers and misfits, with everyone getting along. I discovered shuffleboard, which is like that game you see on cruise ships, but on a board. Me and Watson won our first game which meant free drinks. I got one with some local honey spirit and the deal was sealed. Night got really wild, played harmonica with the publican over the juke box, stacked the juke box with AC/DC and johnny cash and had a ball. I met/danced with a women called Yvette. She was the first black school teacher in the whole valley. She taught music and spanish. She was also a firefighter, music producer, B&B owner and former tall ship sailor. She had space for me to crash so I headed over. We talked in the morning, she was originally from LA and had lived in San Fran and New York before moving to Crestone a year ago. She had firefighting training so dropped me at Watsons place.

Me and the guys went to the Sand Dunes, which were massive and really hot. I love Watson and Adolphus, we talked, smoked and walked and then went to some Waterfalls comming out of the mountains that had eroded massive boulders. We came back to town and I borrowed a bike and rode the hills as the sun set. It was so spectacular again. I could hear the jazz from the energy festival and that just topped the day. Went to the bar again that night, slightly less raucous but stil good fun. I met three people who had been on 6 week retreat eatting nothing but lentils and rice and meditating. But apparently after that its fine to head to a bar, eat meat, smoke ciggarets and get high. As the night before had been the first night I had gotten really drunk, like proper "Australian Drunk" in a few years I head to Watsons for a tea and a sleep on the couch.

Sunday was cool. I walked up to North Crestone trail head in the Rio Grande forest national park and hiked 8 miles (8 x 1.6km) = 12.6km each way. It was an amazing walk through mountain trails. The other side of the mountains from Crestone is the wetside, crstone lives in its rainshadow so all day huge clouds spilled over the mountains like liquid nitrogen, rolling over the hills and into the valley. Also as a side note, somewhere in the region the amerikan government has a base facility called NORAD which is a secret facility to do with aeronaughtics. Locals told me there is always weird shit flying around and on the road into town is a UFO observation tower set up by concerned citizens :) I made it up to the lake at the top and sat a nd meditated for a while. I arrived back at Watson's cold and wet.

We had a smoke and ate pasta and me, watson, adolphus and caitlin watched "The 36 chambers of Shoalin" an old Kung Fu flick that the wutang clan used for inspiration for their album. We also did a music exchange, spreading the Australian music seed and taking in world music and crestone tunes. I headed to yvette's for dessert.

Monday was Labour day so yvette didn't have to go to school. We headed to the local hot springs, heated to 40 degrees by the blood of the earth and full of minerals. Yvette and I floated and soaked before heading to a guys house for a BBQ. We had a big fire, open sky and food and 40oz. 40's are a malt liquor, 10% alcohol, vey sweet (sugar, not cool) and only $2.45 per bottle. I got far too drunk as the 40 really sneaks up on you.

Tuesday was my last day in town. Yvette headed to work and I poked around some stuff in town and got myself sorted. I said final goodbyes to the town and people I had loved so much. Watson dropped me back in Alamosa and I jumped the Greyhound back to Denver for the final Phase.

Second Stage

2008-09-13T17:55:00.003+10:00

Well, lot has happened and I've had no time to sit down and download for anyone who is watching what I am doing. I'm gonna slam out the second stage of my trip (now in phase 4). If I haven't sent you an email I appologise, I've been flat out and living in regular time and space rather than cyberspace.

So when I last left you I was about to head to Denver. I headed up on the 23rd of August for the Rock the Bells show. I stayed with some people from CouchSurfing who help out with Food Not Bombs in Denver. I dropped off my pack and headed to the ampitheater. The show was everything I had hoped. I scored a phat bag of weed and smoked blunts into the night seeing all my rap idols. Show highlights were blackstar, mos def, nas, methodman/redman, ghostface/raekwon, Dead Prez, Africa Bambatta ,murs and Imortal technique. Also a special surprise was Jay Electronia, a New Oreleans rapper who was rapping about DMT and time and space. My kind of music. The whole thing had a great vibe and a focus on socially consious hiphop and it was great seeing imortal technique telling a whole stadium of people about class struggle and globalisation. Met two great guys called Adolphus and Watson during methodman and smoked a blunt with them. This small act changed my life hugely for the better (see below).

The next day was the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I stayed in town until Obama's speech. It was crazy. American politics is like spectator sports. There are two teams, with mascots (people walked about in Donkey and Elephant costumes), people wave placards and wear T-shirts. Was really weird. Huge police presence. Each state in the US has its own set of storm troopers to prevent the people from being powerful. They had crazy riot armour and non-leathal wepons and were total assholes. I watched a few of the anti-war marchs but more as a spectator. Protests here seemed mainly to be antagonised by the police and then used by the news media to paint liberals and activist and total assholes. The best part was I saw Dead Prez play on the steps of the capitol. I saw some great conflicts between democrats and anti-abortion protesters too.

The best thing I participated in was the critical mass. It was huge and we rode for over 2 and a half hours with tens of hundreds of people. I bought a bike from the pawn shop and fixed it up and rode around Denver, which is a hugley sprawling suburban southwestern city. Great views of the Rockies and generally really nice people. I rode up to a great unban farm collective called black tail that run permaculture and eco-building etc and Deralier collective which did bike recycling and shit. The best part of the whole week was attending two sessions of radical urban sustainability training (R.U.S.T.) which taught one how to build a grey water filtration system and microfarm and home made solar ovens etc. I think that the real change we need will not come from the top but will be built from the bottom up. I loved all the sustainability activists becuase they offer real solutions not just yelling in the streets.

Caught a few other great bands at an anti-war rally at Denver Stadium with Iraq Verterans Against the War. A rap/funk band from Oakland, CA The Coup who did excellent political funk. A local denver Rap/Celtic band the Flobots and headlining RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. The show was huge, there were massive amounts of people and everyone yelled and shoved each other alot. Very satisfying. Followed it up with an Anarcist Variety show with lots of powerpop and dancing and acordian. I was supposed to leave for the Slow Food Nation conference on Wednesday, the day before the Rage show and two days before the speech but decided that i didn't want to attend a conference on policy and slow food becuase I really have no faith in policy to change the system while agribuisness is funding government and writing farm bills. Also, the wierd thing here is there is heaps of organic food but it is all too expensive for the poor. There is no equity in organics and we can't have a functioning society until all are equal. I love Anarcy but with real solutions not just chucking rocks at cops. I also wanted to stay around in Denver cuase it was cool to watch all the shit going on and do the RUST training.

Saw Obama's speech, was much as I expected. "oh, the poor hardworking american, everyone deserves a fair go, God Bless America, blah blah blah". Nationalism is fucking stupid and will get nobody anywhere. If Americans want solutions (and we in the world at large) we need to build and create them not wait for the corrupt regulation from the fucking broken beurcracy they call the government.

McCain is fucking stupid too. An old man with Alzhimers is the perfect puppet for the Neo-Cons to push fucked policies through. Same concept as Regan. Anyone with one iota of intelect should realise that a long time ago people who craved power realised that the real power comes from being behind the curtin not being the figurehead.

In addition to wanting to stay in Denver, Watson and Adolphus who I met at Rock the Bells offered me a room at there house and a lift to their town if I caught the bus to Alamosa. Alamosa was 5 hours bus from Denver near the New Mexican Boarder and their town of Crestone was 50 minutes drive from there. I decided my trip needed to relax and I wasn't going to make it to slow food or California just yet. Friday morning I packed up my stuff and boarded the Greyhound. See you at phase 3

First Download

2008-08-21T15:09:00.002+10:00

So I know all of you, my blog faithful, have been anxious for me to spin yarns of my travels so can vicariously live through my adventures. No, I am aware not many people will read this and thats what the internet is truly about. Or if you do read it, it will be when you should be doing real work or going for a walk but can't stop clicking around the web.

So I left in a flash on the 5th of August. So much shit was happening in my final weeks in the Berra, it was fantastic. With little sleep I made my way on a bus to Sydney with my bicycle in tow for a lunch with Damien and Meridith before I flew out.

Arrived in Hawaii and stored my bike before heading to the North Shore. I was unaware that there are not really any waves on note in Hawaii in the summer because there are not storms in the Bering sea but that worked out as the place was quite and a hired a bike and cruised about. Some gangster kids I met on the bus there were kind enough to sell me a 20 so the couple of days I was there were very relaxed. I rode to a great botanic gardens in a volcanic valley and they had tropical plants from every pacific island, each in their own patch and also medicinal plants and pre-historic Polynesian steam baths and feral chickens everywhere. Another plus was that on the second night there an Irish girl who worked in WA arrived as she was here on Holiday. She was nice enough, a little shallow but it transpired that she was a geo-physicist and worked in Nickle mines destroying the Australian land a vegetation while using all our water. I drilled her for information before debating resource mining in Australia with her. I probably didn't change her mind but it was interesting for her to tell me how lax safety was, how all the miners were alcoholics or did meth, how quality ore was dumped in the waste pile to increase vehicle speed and increase miners pay, how the corporate guys falsify information to increase lease holds and how none of the geos (scientists) cared that they were fucking the planet cause they were all shipped in from Europe fresh out of school and who cares about Australia anyway, its an uncultured desert with heaps of trees left.

After that headfuck I arrived in San Fransisco at midnight and no where to sleep. I had assumed that as a big city there would be hostels everywhere but thats not the case in San Fran. I talked with Homeless people for a while. There are 15,000 homeless people in San Fran and 1/3 is a Nam veteran. Good thing they did all that fighting for freedom so that they could end up homeless and hungry on the street. Too fucked from war to hold down a job or relate to their families. One hostel told me I could have a bed at 1:30 if the person who booked it didn't show up. During the 45 minute wait I talked to a Crack Head about the city and how much he liked the crocodile hunter.

I spent the next morning trying to find a hostel bed. I ended up with a bed in a room with 15 other beds and no inhabitants of interest. I then rode a bike around the city, ate exquisite mexican food in the mission, went to a Frida Kahlo exhibition, saw the Haight-Ashbury, went to an Amazing Hip-Hop / Reggae show, hung out in Golden gate park and also went to the port longshoreman's hall the site of the 1935 depression strike agaisnt fink rooms. Capitalists had it great. They would show up with a boat, say "There are 50 jobs, the first 50 guys in here get them" then all the workers would fight between themselves to make it into the room. The idea was that this would get you the most hard working individuals; step on the other guy to better yourself. An Australian member of the industrial workers of the world Harry Bridges helped organise and down by this big tourist district, which is like a junk food theme park (Ice cream, chips, etc) you can see this old hall with two body outlines of strikers the cops shot in the back.

Really enjoyed San Fran, also went to the institute for integral studies after a tripper gave me the heads up. It is a grad school that many psychedelic luminaries worked with in the 80s and still work at today. The mcKennas are both involved and Stanislav Grof and I also went to a great anarchist bookstore and loaded up with survival manuals.

Upon leaving San Fran I was stuck in the Philidelphia airport for hours as my connecting flight was cancelled and I got bumped around trying to reach Rich in upstate New York. I ended up with a flight to a different city and a preppy frat boy who said his friend would give me a ride to Ithica. He had boating shoes on, natica kaki shorts and a lime green Lacoste collared shirt and a leather satchle. He had just been a a 4 day frat conference for alpha kapa phi which consisted of "Doing Coke and making out with hotties" so I guess it was an important conference.

Airport bars are weird places, we met a North Carolinain debutante who bought round after round of jager bombs and me numerous white russians. Drunkenly flew to Elmira, which is a nothing town in middle America and htis frat boy listening to celine dion arrived and drove us 40km to Ithica. In the car they told me how they didn't like mexicans or blacks, however, they turned up the stereo when Nelly came on the satelite radio with "Its getting hot..."

Finally met my long suffering parents and cruised around the small town where my dad went to uni. There was a lot of "And thats where we occupied this building, and thats where the marxists hung out". We went on a bunch of nice walks in gorges, I got grifted by townies while trying to score, went to a rad noise gig, and sat on a front porch out of every movie you've ever seen from this country.

Got the bus to NYC and spent 5 nights there. I was amazing. So many people, dfferent people, different things etc. I met old family, my irish and italian roots. They were all quirky but what was I really expecting. I ended up getting myself invited to 2 brooklyn house parties, saw Manuel Gottenberg, one of the founders of dance music at the lincon center, saw Battles and Sharon Jones (not on the same bill), closed down a couple of city streets during a roving street party (google pandamonium, brooklyn), talked with locals and watched break dancing in union square and generally had a rad time. New York is weird cuase it has all this culture about itself that no longer exists cause the city has gentrified and all that is left is a wierd museum of itself. Was still amazing.

Now I'm in Albuquerque, the New Mexican city that I lived in when I was younger. The city is like a big strip mall. In the south west people are bigger, the cars are bigger, everything is a stripmall. After getting all the "and thats where you went to school, and thats where you went on your bike" shit done today I'm looking forward to escaping the city for a few days and hiking, sitting in mineral springs and heading to the pueblos. Met some Nuclear activists. Apparently they are going to re-open alot of the closed uranium mines in the sate. Not surprising. McCain has been on the TV crapping on about Nuclear power to save America from itself.

Not much more to say. This country is surprisingly similar to Australia. I guess its all that american TV/music and globalization I've heard so much about. People are wierd about the flag but after 11yrs of Howard, it seems the same at home. I'm off to Denver on Saturday to see many Rap luminaries of my youth and help the food not bombs crew feed the democracy activists. Then I'm back to San Fran for the slow food conference and then I'm goign to head to Yosemite national park and the redwood forests of California before I start my job in Hawaii on the 7th of September. I'll try to write again soon so the post is less dense and I can also philosophise about how wierd the first world is rather than telling you what I did.

PAZ

Hobart, Finished, 1300km

2006-12-19T09:59:00.001+11:00

Well, here I am, done. Longest distance in a day 125km, top speed 73kph.

Where to start.

Well I left Devonport on the Bus to Cradle mountain and rode to Roseberry a mining town and camped in the caravan park. My front break cable snapped before the massive decent down Mt Murchison and my cable cutters were shit and so frayed the spare cable so I couldn't tread it. A back break thrilling decent down the mountain occured, my stopping distance was probably 150 meters and with the break on was going about 40km but I'm writing to you now so it went OK. Roseberry was shit but I met two (seperate) German couples who were touring and staying in the park and so got cable cutters from them. The park was shit, expensive and I had to put $10 in the dryer and still ended up packing damp clothes.

Left Roseberry and rode to Stran which was I nice ride. Again I stayed in the van park and booked a cruise on the Gordon river. I ate Wallaby steak at a resturant and drank Cascade Pale Ale. It rained all night and I dragged by self out in the morning in full wet weather gear for the cruise. Amazing forest was seen on the boat trip and the best bit was cause it was raining I was the only person out on the deck for most of the trip with the families, poms and tour groups sitting inside looking at the rain on the windows. Got back (6hrs later) and found my tent had packed in in the wind and rain so upped sticks for the back packers where I had a dorm for myself and dryed everything with the heater.

Solid days ride to the Collingwood river in the Franklin-Gordan national park. Rode through massive hills to Queenstown and the campground in the park was full of LOTR forest and heaps of mossies.

Next day rode to Lake St Clair national park where the rangers locked up my bike and I ventured into the wilderness for a 3 day hike. On day two I reached pine valley (more LOTR forest) and it was raining hard. This meant that most overland track walkers had stayed out of the valley as it is a 4hr+ return side trip. In the hut was me, a geologist from Sale via the pillbera and my Salvation - two Germans Dom and Tom.

Tom had been in Melbourne doing some weird masters equivilent for his enginnering degree and Dom had come to bring him home, Dom being a Chemistry student in Studgart (sp?). The geologist went for a walk to the acropoliss (big mountain) and before I new it Dom and Tom had brought out a feast of food (relief from my standard of lentils and cous-cous) which included bags of gummi (Dom being a candy fiend). I ducked out to the toilet and when I returned spliffs were being smoked and they had begun to play D&D. These were my kind of people. As the afternoon turned to night they made a massive feast for dinner and brought out their (iso-tonic Sports Beverages) - a case of BEER.

Woke up hungover and said fairwell (they had to walk 8hrs to get the car home) and I walked up the Acroppolis and then to a hut which was full of wanker but also 2 young French Backpackers who I talked with.

Walked out (I had ran out of food so it was an epic 5hr trek) and camped at Fergy's paddock on the edge of the park.

Rode the next day 125km to Mt Field national park. Was going to ride to Ouse (87km) but when I got there I decided it was the shittest town I had been to yet and fuck me if I was gunna camp there. Got to Mt field and met to bike tourers from Sydney and drank Milo with them. Woke at 6:30 (to avoid paying for the camp site, I only had $6.35 left and the sites cost $8. Did some walks in the park and then legged it to Hobart.

So here I am, done. Sorting out the cancophany of objects now and going to clean my bike before I go to the Cascade Brewery and some Museums etc. I'm staying with Mathew's mother Julie who is fantastic and I meet my Family tomorrow night at the airport.

More soon, stay well, Peace
H

Devonport, 800km

2006-12-08T14:49:00.000+11:00

Well, where to start.

Hung around Launceston for a bit long (3 days) waiting to get my bike fixed. Went on the Boag's tour which was good but I wasn't allowed to get rolling drunk (damn you RSA).

Left on Tuesday and had a great day riding to Gowerie park (about 100km) and stopped at a honey farm with 8 types of honey icecream and 30 types of honey (eat your heart our Chrissy). Broke a spoke that day but trued the wheel up alright.

Rode the next day to Cradle mountain, all uphill with deadly wind. Very cold and low and behold another spoke broke 10km from the national park. What a good use of $60 and three days that repair job was. Trued it up again but decided that I needed to get it fixed before riding west as once I hit the west coast the closest repair spot would be Tassie. Anyway, locked it up in a shed at the visitors centre and spent Wednesday and Thursday hiking around Cradle mountain spending nights in the hikers huts. Good fun and alright weather. Woke up at 5:30 this morning (with all the wankers walking the overland track waking me up as they changed their thermals. Hiked for 3 hours back to the car park and got my broken wheel and hitched down to Devonport with the Wheel. Got picked up by a miner who was really nice but too politically conservative for my liking. I guess hitches can't be choosers. Dropped the wheel off (picking it up at 5:30 and got a dorm room with a Chinease guy (about my age) who is stuck in Devonport waiting for glasses and sits in the room reading porn and playing psp (probably not as enjoyable as it should be since he doesn't have his glasses).

Catching the bus to Cradle mountain tomorrow morning and then I'll hopefully be unstoppable (touch wood). Now just pottering around town but had an amazing lentil burger and chai in a cafe in town.

Stay well, I'll write again soon. Miss you all heaps
Peace

Launceston, 680km

2006-12-03T21:42:00.000+11:00

YOYOYOYO

Well a crappy ride from St. Helen's here. Headwind the whole way. Worse than a hill because you don't get to the top and go down the other ride, it just keeps up. Spent friday night in a free camp ground in Scottsdale, pulled up and it was sunny and there were ducks and a platapus in the lake. Set up camp and sat down to read my book.

7pm: Enter the RV's. 6 mobile homes pull up with grey nomads. Set up all their JAzzy gear, crank up the generator and the top 3 and start knocking back the white wine and rum and cola (these are 55yr olds +). Kept up until 10pm when torential rain broke out, I never thought I would love rain so much when I was camping.

Got in to Launceston at 3pm on Saturday and went to Cataract Gorege which is a local swimming hole with walks and stuff. Nic from Rat Patrol set me up with a friend of his from Uni so they have put me up in their back yard in an old Dairy that was built on the property.

Spent today doing the intellegensia rounds: Meuseum, gallerys, etc. There is some great architecture etc. Getting the bike fixed tomorrow and going on the Boags tour and then pushing on to Deloraine. The penny farthing hire in Evendale is defunct so that is a bummer but hey.

Wish me luck,

Peace
Harris

St Helens, 450km

2006-11-28T15:56:00.000+11:00

Hey guys, not too much new to report. After our last interchange I rode to Douglas-Aspley National park which is often forgoten about. It had a beautiful water hole that was clear as day and warmer than the sea. Rode the next day to the Bay of Fires (including an 8km climb up Mt Elephant which has a pancake barn at the top). The bay of fires has amazing beaches, all white sand and clear blue sea so I had a good long sit down on the beach. Yesterday (Monday) I met up with Billie who has an organic farm 20km out of St Helens and I am staying with her for a few day doing some work etc in exchange for a bed and food. Being off the bike is a needed break and she has some old ones I am going to fix up (bliss). I will be heading out to Launceston in a few days and hope to check out some winerys on the way.

Stay well, peace

Harris

Bicheno, 250km

2006-11-25T13:29:00.000+11:00

Hi all, miss me yet? Well, got to Melbourne airport at 6am and the women charged me me $210 for excess lugage. Note to any cycle tourists: check the airline baggage charges; JETSTAR ARE CUNTS.

Anyway, got on a plane full of Tasmanian U2 fans and had to listen to drivel about whether Pride (in the name of Love) was better than Catch me, Thrill me, kiss me, kill me.

Got of the plane and got the bike set up and left the airport by 10am. Made the smart choice of only sleeping 4 hours but still managed to make it 95km. Got my first flat. Arrived outside of Orford in Spring Bay and set up tent in the backyard of someone's rental property.

Woke up on Tuesday at 7 and rode the 15km to Tribunna and took the Ferry across to Maria island. Realised I have broken two spokes of the back wheel so had to remove them and still havent found replacements. Spend the day on the island walking and cycling and seeing all mannor of wombats and ecidnas and some weird local goose. Much beach sitting was also done but the water was freezing.

Spent Wednesday night in a hostel in Tribunna where I reorganised my luggage, slept with a real pilliow and had the poor hostel owner wash my clothes. Some Italian guy made me pasta.

Thursday was the nicest ride yet. Followed the coast up to Swasea (went to the dump for spokes and the fricken scrappers had removed all metal from all East Coast Tips on Monday) and then organised the bike ferry from Pt Bagot, saving me 52km cycling. Arrived a Freycint national park and rested.

Friday I walked to wineglass bay (I hadn'nt realised it but we went there in year 10). and then biked to friendly beaches (where I got bit by ants and sea lice) but had the whold beach to myself

This mornign it was raining but I rode to Bicheno and have sheltered in this cafe eatting local made icecream and drinking coffe. The sun is out so I am off North. Peace until next time

Harris

Back in Action

2006-11-18T11:07:00.000+11:00

Aight, hear this.
;
Well I'm back on the road to make it to the only state that I havn't seen enough of: Tassie

I finished school on Monday and packed my Panniers and flew down to Melbourne on Wednesday.

Melbourne has been nice so far. Relaxing etc. Good to see everyone.

Went to Ratatat last night. Fantastic gig. Going to an Australian comicbook exhibition. Leave on Monday and arrive in Hobart at 7am heading east.

These posts will improve as the trip proceeds. I promise

Peace

Canberra, ACE BOMB

2006-02-05T12:12:00.000+11:00

Well, home again. We pulled in last night at 1:30 in the morning and I cycled home along Northbourne from Ainsle.

Perth. Ace city. Very self righteous and full of the English but still lovly. We slept in car parks for 5 nights in various places. We swam on the suburban beaches, went to the meuseum and gallery and to rotto (and rode bikes again, ah sweet 2 wheeled glory). Anyway then we went to Freo (practically a suburb of perth) and enjoyed the beach, shops and Pubs. Found Freo's wig and pen and sampled the whole menu.

On the 29th we haulled ass at about mid day and drove 500km just past Kallgorlie.
From the 30th till the 1st we drove the Nullabour which had trees, was cold and wet. We stood on the great Australian Bight and went to some cool grain silos.

On the first we arrived at Jess's cousins house again (thanks a billion million guys). It was the first house we had been in for 30days. we slept, showered and spent the 2nd cleaning the dust off the car and visiting some cultural sites. I went to the Adelaide botanic gardens which were great but the Meuseum of Economic botany was closed for renovations.

Big day out was on the 3rd and it was one of the best I have ever attended. It was small, relaxed and plesent. Three things I thought I would never say about the Big Day Out.

We drove home on the 4th after leaving Adelaide at 10:30.

I'm not going to give any closing comment or final lesson or anything becuase its still on going.

Hope you've enjoyed it half as much as me

Peace

Together we can make the planet better.

DHP

Back to Adelaide

2006-02-02T16:04:00.000+11:00

Well I'm in the state library of Adelaide. We spent the 5 nights in Perth Carparks and perused the city. It was a nice place and we drank many a microbrew in Freo. We saw Edan, ACE OF BASS.

We drove the nullabour, it was cold and windy and rainny and had many trees and shrubs. Any way BDO tomorrow. I'll provide a better overview of this section when I feel like it.

PEace

Perth

2006-01-25T19:01:00.000+11:00

Well, not much to report. Back in the folds of a city and so using technology is as easy as perusing a sidewalk.

We stayed in Hutt River and got a tour from the royals. But spent the first night as illegall imigrants becuase the government offices were shut and we couldn't get visas. Luckilly Hutt River is slightyly more enlightend than our own country and they don't have detention centres (but the prince did say he was friends with Joh Beleki Peterson and was firmly catholic).

We left and got to Geroldton which is a largish town on the relativity scale of the west coast. After some admin etc we went to sandy cape nature reserve and spent the night.

The next day we went to the pinnicals desert. This is a sandy desert with tall limestone formations standing like pillars. I won't go into the geology becuase I don't know it. We then stayed at Yanchepp national park 50km north of perth which used to be an old estate of some rich scotsman. Yesterday we pulled into Scarbrough beach and had a swim and then went to see Broken Flowers in Ludderville.

This morning we got the muffler on the car fixed so it makes much less sound and got the gas tuned so it will run better. We checked out the art gallery and museum and are going to go for a swim at cotto.

Hope your all well, getting to Adelaide on the 1st to go the the BDO on the 3rd and then I have to get my shit together before uni.

Stay well, Have a good Australia day. I say celebrate what makes our country an amazing place and try to debate and raise awareness about the issues and events that make it not so great. Then maybe we can push this country towards a brighter future.

Dirty South, Real Name, No Gimmicks

2006-01-21T19:12:00.000+11:00

Hey all, hope that your all doing well.

I last spoke from Canarvorn as we were doing laundry. We left and drove south to Shark Bay a world heritage area. We saw more stromatalites, hypersaline water, the worlds largest sea grass deposits, shell beach and all manner of crazy desert coast (the outback coast).

Now we were on the way to Monkey Mia where tons of tourists go to see dolphins come and be fed. It is a resorty place with heaps of French girls who spend hours every morning doing their makeup before they hit the water. We were going there and then we saw a sign for a place called NANGA on the way. Normally we would have driven past but a swiss guy we met at 80 mile beach said it was really good. We stopped in and it was. It was a run down "Resort" that was also a sheep station. We spent 2 days here playing tennis on the cracked court, swimming in the amoeba filled artesian 38 degree spa and generally kickin back. We walked 2km down the beach and found

A FUCKING SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE 6 WEEKS DECOMPOSED AND WASHED ASHORE WITH SHARKS HAVING EATTEN ITS HEAD. FUCK FUCK FUCK. It was the most crazy thing I have ever seen.

We went on to Monkey Mia which was touristy but fun, except the only thing to do is watch the dolphins be feed and there are so many people and the constant sound of digital cameras so the zen conection with nature is somewhat lost. We headed back to NANGA after 1 night at MM and went to the whale at night. A dead whale on a desolate beach gave me much more zen than 5 dolphins eaching fish from people who watch a current affair but maybe thats just me.

We drove down today through KARBILI national park and are now in the town with the same name. There was a neo-hippy food cafe with fallafals and the like that we craved but it was shut so ate at a take-away. We are soon going to...
http://www.huttriver.net/

Bet ya didn't know that existed.
Anyway, I'll give you a shout out from Perth which we should arrive at from about the 25th but we'll see how things go.

Peace to all
DHP

Fare thee well tropics

2006-01-17T16:28:00.000+11:00

Well, we left Broome after getting the car serviced and a new oil diff (I don't know what that is but ours was burnt out). The muffler is fucked but who cares really.

We drove to 80 mile beach, a wind swept shell covered beach where clouds roll in like trains. We stayed for 2 nights and watched sea turtles come to shore to lay eggs. When we left we entered the roads that had been closed due to the cyclone but they had cleared enough for us to drive over. We stayed at a flooded rest area.

The next night we reached cape range national park NINGALLO REEF. We stayed for 3 nights at the reef (camped 500m from offshore snorkling on the fringing reef) and saw rays, sharks, turtles, parrot fish and a shit load of corral.

We left and drove down to coral bay which is a seaside resort at the base of the reef. We stayed here for 2 nights, one night on an abandoned farm station and the other in a car park next to the "no camping" sign. We had a 6er and a pizza to celebrate 2 months on the road as the sun went down.

Today we went for a morning snorkle (fucking freezing) and left the tropics and are in the town of canarvon doing laundry and other uninteresting tasks. We head to Shark bay to swim with sharks and then to some national parks before going to Perth.

Its fucking freezing and its only 25 degrees.
The west coast is very windy.

DHP

Sunset and Surf

2006-01-09T13:22:00.000+11:00

Well we made it to the west coast. More on that later.

So Boxing day we caught the train to Caboulture which took about an hour and then we got a maxi taxi with some other festivians to the site. After searching for shade we camped in a mini forest that others had left becuase they all set up tarps and had cars etc. We wandered around and saw the pre-festival show at the troubadour.

To avoid boredom I'll just run down my best festival moments:
>The Mammals & The Duhks. Fantastic american trad with a twist. Ended up hanging out with them and wanting to marry the fiddle player but I think she was married to the guitarist.
> Eric Bibb. Blues man extroidinare. Didn't get better than his cover of stagger lee.
> Afro Dizzi Act. Psychedelic Funk, Nuff said.
> True Live. Aussie Jazz Hip hop. A six-piece with chello, violin and double bass.
> The Bird. New Years and the crowd was whipped into a frenzy with drum and bass ragas.
> Eugeene Hideaway Bridges. B.B. King screaming blues in a stetson.
> The fact that it was a mass gathering of like minded people who will all change the world for the better.
> Mango Margerhita slushies. Helped to beat the heat.
> The Dirty Three. Magic soundscapes with a trashed frontman and epiphinies abound.
> They keep going but I'll stop with PEGGY SEEGER

The whole 7 days was a magic plethora of good times, good food and good fun.

We left on the 2nd after I had stayed up for basicly 3 days (I had 3-4 hours sleep each night). After the final show (Kristina Olsen), I was walking back to camp in a haze of red wine and rollies when I heard DOOFDOOFDOOFDOOF. Thinking a campsite was partying I found a psytrance night at the trophy bar and doofed till dawn with 2 girls in matching pants. Over comedown chai I found that they were planning an Australia trip so I didn't shut up for about an hour.

When we left we drove to the coast and swam and relaxed. We had 6 in the car and were full of luggage. I needed sleep like nothing else. I got overpriced airport food for dinner and had a terrible flight becuase I couldn't get the sleep I so desperatly needed. The flight was delayed and we didn't get to bed in Darwin till 4am (again!).

On the 3rd we woke at midday and cleaned the granny flat the Bennets had been letting us use (Thank you). We posted some more gear home to make space and left Darwin at about 6pm. We drove till midnight and stoped 200km past Kathrine.

We drove for all of the 4th. The only event was a man with rolling stones tattos made us throw our fruit out becuase of quarintine.

On the 5th we pulled into Broome and scored a beach front camp site at a van park. We swam dispite the stingers (too pretty not to) and I am writing from the Broome Library. We walked the 22km of cable beach, rode camels at sunset, watched the sun slip over the edge of the continent, drank tropical coctails, played minigolf and saw desert child. We think we will leave today or tomorrow and head down the west coast.

I hope your all well and sticking to your resolutions. You can make any changes you want by using your will.

Big ups to OWEN CARROL who has made the wise choice of joining the party in Adelaide and to ANGUS DAVIES and COL JOHNSTON who will also make the pilgrimage.

Peace to all. Lets start this revolution and turn the world the other way.

Just a New Year, A New Moon and Me

2006-01-02T21:25:00.000+11:00

Well, In Brisbane Airport, I hope you all had a fantastic christmas. Chrissy in Brizzy was very chilled out and laid back. Woodford was the greatest event in my life with fantastic music and great company and thousands of beautiful people. Arrive in Darwin at 1am and then leave tomorrow to jet to Broome.

I will save the festival recount for a post when I have more time. The best bands were the dirty three, the mammals, the duhks, Afro Dizzy Act and the Bird.

Today we drove to bindge island and swam in the sea. I hadn't swum in the sea since I went to Cape Tribulation in September.

We are going to go to Broome and swim and sea desert child. I hope you guys all get to some form of coast or another because a swim in the sun with the salt water and golden sand reenforced my life lease which woodford generated.

DHP

pictures

2005-12-25T21:39:00.000+11:00

I've loaded some pictures from the trip into the blog and dispersed them troughout the previous posts in (slightly) relevent spots). I hope my radient counternences and fantastic panoramic scenery is an adequate christmas gift. Check out the olga's at sunset and also the Ranger Unanium Mine in Kakadu National Park (SHAME).

Brisvegas, Christmas, Bling Bling

2005-12-25T21:18:00.000+11:00

Well well well, last I left you it was a monday and Jess and I were going to East Point reserve in Darwin for a swim in a salt lake. We did and followed this great event with gelati. On that day that I posted it was 38 degrees celcius with 80% humidity but for some reason it was bearable. That night we had fried rice and vegged out infront of SBS.

On Tuesday we performed the last domestics we had to do including getting NEW SPEAKERS INSTALLED. We transformed the van into a crank mobile with 6 inch sub-woofers in the back. This was coupled with the purchase of Warumpi band albums and midnight oils greatest hits so we are all set for the west coast. We left the van with some friends in Darwin and went to see King Kong before the flight out. It was shit. Infact it was so shit that we left before kong had even climbed the empire state building. We boarded the plane at 1:30am on Wednesday and I fell straight to sleep.

We arrive Wednesday in Brisbane and trained it to Indooroopilly from the airport. My next door neighbours parents were kind enought to put us up and Ben (her father) picked us up at about 8am. After a good dose of Women's Day (to reset my brain), Jess and I and Ben and Nick (Ben's Son) went shopping for christmas food and baked mince pies. That afternoon we walked up Mount Coot-tha (brisbane's tallest point) and watched the sun set.

Also, my tropical ear (also known as swimmers ear in non-tropical reigons) has cleared up completely and the tropical rash that Jess and I aquired has also disappeared.

For the next few days Jess and I wandered Brisbane going to markets, Galleries, resturants and bars/clubs. It is really wierd to think that in this city there are more than 7 times as many people as there were in the whole northern territory and more than 20 times as many people as there were in Darwin. Jess and I also got our woodford folk festival programs and tried to determine which of the 500+ acts we are going to try and see. I have narrowed it down to 150 must see acts and I'll tell you how many I make it to. I doubt I will see most of them because it will be hot and I want to stay laid back.

Yesterday (christmas eve) Jess and I went to the Vally markets and got some new threads. I also got a mad book on Australia's national parks becuase it had some great photos of places we've been. We then treked to the Belgium Beer Cafe with my neighbour's brothers and their partners and preceded to get drunk and eat chips (nothing else to do on a hot day). I did a final christmas shop for some people and baked a huge batch of granola (wiki it you uncultured pleebs) and a massive tray of brownies for christmas gifts.

Today (Merry Christmas) I awoke with the sun from one of the best dreams I have ever had (the best christmas present) and kicked of the day with a Mia Thai with extra rum and a cherry and a thick slice of Bruda (Burger / dutch christmas cake) with cheese and bannana. We then headed to Brisbane's northern suberbane sprawl for christmas lunch with Italians where we were overfed and drank too much and I ended up asleep by the pool (sound like the typical Aussie Christmas to anyone?). We came home and I started preparing for WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL.

Tomorrow we leave for the festival. I will fill ya all in on how it went and if what is said is true I will be a changed man.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, I love you all

DHP

Darwizzle

2005-12-19T16:38:00.000+11:00

Well after a few more nights in the litchfield shire we pulled into Darwin. Went to the botanic gardens, refined the car, pushbiked the last stretch of the Stuart highway. That was on thursday.

Friday we did some more domestics and lounged around the granny flat we scored. Went out friday night.
Saturday and Sunday we lounged again as well as going to the markets and getting real fresh food. Going to swim in a salt water lake today at the East point nature reserve. We leave tomorrow night for Brisbane and Woodford. I already miss life in the van.

Have a Merry Christmas you mofos. Peace and Love and all that.
Going to the meuseum before we leave here.

Contact (and photos) from Brisbane.

DHP

self indulgence and the end

2005-12-15T00:59:00.000+11:00

Sorry about that long winded self-indulgent post about life after Alice. I'll summarise what it said: Left Alice, went North, Went Troppo, Went to Kakadu. But I guess my blog can be a little self-indulgent but only enought so you guys keep reading

Now the weirdness that I aluded to. After leaving Kakadu we went to Lok-Cobay. Lok-Cobay is a 600sq km patch of land south of Darwin which is the home of Jess's friend, the tradtional owner of the land.

As we arrive a purple lightning storm was raging and we were listening to the roots. We pulled in and made dinner and watched the bolts rip through the night sky. The owner had a million stories and so we sat around in his house (a converted kit home with an out-door barrel toilet and no lights or water).

Over the next two days (one of which included my hideious consumption of coffe) we played UNO, hung out with members of the Warumpi band (ask your parents or someone whose heyday was in the 80's, learned to harvest sugar plums, learned tradtional pandanus weaving , used the web, played playstation, WATCHED AUSTAR. The surreal combination of the modern outback spun me out. While I was in the process of spinning out, We were informed of "The Stromatolites". We walked out, thanked the spirits of the land and then wham - the objects. They were absolutly crazy, google them, they are some of teh oldest living organisms on the planet and formed these huge structures by the same process as coral forms.

We then went to Litchfield National Park and had a day of walks, sunshine and plunge pools and nature springs (we swum dispite the croc and flood warnings becuase it was so stinking hot. That night after eggs and rice for dinner, Jess and I had a DOOF becuause we were the only people at the campground. I huge column of bats rose up at dusk, flying across the full moon.

When I got up it was raining and 6am and I had to call home to wish my dad a happy birthday. I got devoured by mossquitos. Jess and I then checked out an old tin mine and headed back to Batcholar to go get ear anti-biotics from the medical centre. Our ears have healed up now. We spent the afternoon at a butterfly farm where a guy with a thick geordy accent served us beer and chips and curry in a faux thai bungalo as Bob Dylan played through the speakers and we played scrable and R. crumb comics. Another weird combination to say the least. We are now heading to Darwin where we will get some shit done and simultaeously kick back and kick off. Then we fly to Brisbane and the North Coast and a Doof and Woodford. Then we go back to Darwin and start down the west coast.

Stay well my friends. And if your not well, think of my smiling face (or anything else that makes you equally or more happy) and get well.

DHP

photos soon

2005-12-11T01:21:00.000+11:00

photos soon, I just saw how fucked up my hair looks in the pictures. It has changed heaps, I'll get photos in 10 days at the most.

DHP

Kakadu and so much more

2005-12-10T23:58:00.000+11:00

Ah, faithful readers of the blog, how goes the blog sphere? Sorry for my prolonged inactivity I was having crazy mis-adventures in the wilderness, as you are about to hear. When I last left you I was in Alice. You may want to split the reading of this post into a few sessions so it stays interesting.

I got my marks in Alice and I did better than I expected. Stoked city. We went to the cemetry and saw the graves of Albert Namajera and the origial afgan camelears. Then we watched the sunset over alice springs and the surrounding ranges and then dropped in on these 2 girls we met at the East Macdonnel ranges. They said we could sleep in their driveway and we obliged. We pulled up and had to explain to their housemate and her friend who we were and what we were dong. There housemate was a girl (20 something) who had imigrated from South Africa to Alice springs (a white women). She offered us many beer and a pasta feast and I played CATHEDRAL with her and her mate (Bet ya didn't see that comming JOHNNY), after some UNO to come down off the cathedral high we went to bed.

The next morning we headed off to the Alice springs cultural precinct. We saw displays on Geology etc but the best two things were an display of photos taken by indigioneous children at outstation with disposable cameras and the other was an exhibition of local artists work. It was some of the best art I had seen in a long time. Albert Namagera's stuff was there too and also fantastic.
We then crossed the tropic of capricorn after lunch at the precinct cafe and a brief visit to "School of the Air". We traveled another 300km and we were still in the desert, not the tropics. We camped at the devil's marbels (which were numerous and covered a huge region, not the 4 or 5 I had in mind) and lounged around the next day in a shelter, rigging up fly and mossquito screen for the windows of the van and kicking the footy with some Gaelic guy. We drove and as evening set we arrived at DALY WATERS... we had reached the tropics.

Cane toad and puddles covered the ground and we went in to the pub that ran the campground. Daly water has 17 citizens and 10 were at the pub. We got veggie burgers (times have changed for veggos) and chips and salad and veggies and 3 pints and a cigar to celebrate the end of the second week. Jess took night photos and I rambled crap to the barmaid (the daughter of the owners who had studdied for 2.5 years in canberra doing science communication but had decided it was crap, couldn't stand another 6 months of Canberra and was going to Coloundra in January to get a helicopter and aeroplane licence.

We left in the morning and stopped at Materanka. Everyone knows 2 things about Mataranka: Firstly, the thermal hot springs are fantastic and secondly, that "We of the Never Never" was set there and filmed there. If you have no clue what "We of the NEver Never" is neither did we. Luckily they show the movie daily at the pud in the caravan park adjacent to the springs. We missed out both days becuase we were swimming but managed to see the homestead replica and museum. The pools are built up around natural thermal springs in the heart (40 seconds stroll) of a tropical rainforest. We spent nearly 16 hours in the water on the first day, taking breaks for happy hour at the pub where we had chips and salad for dinner and drank many a schooner of XXXX. We watched oprah about some 9/11 widow, Entertainment Tonight, The biggest loser and House. I think that explains Jess and mt state of affairs. We swam the next morning and also went to the roper river water holes and the bitter springs. We started listening to Paul Simon and driving to Kathrine george national park.

As we were about 15km out of Kathrine town we saw looming black clouds above the town (pop 7500 approx). The rain and wind kicked in and was raging as we got to Katherne mall. We were going to get groceries and some shorts but the mall lost power due to the storm and we had no solid cash (only estpos). Well thats not true, we stopped at the drive in bottle shop (on foot) and I spent my last $12 on Tall-ies (longnecks) of XXXX gold and bitter. We drove as the rain eased (but didn't stop) to Kathrine george national park.

As we pulled in we were 1 of 3 cars in the campground. We pollished off a tall-y each and went and swam in the george in the rain with the fruit bats (So many its unbelivable, especially to a tried and true fruit bat fanatic. We returned and cooked in the laundry with some dutch and germans that had arrived. They wouldn't shut up about regional chritmas belifes of Holland and snow (but who can blame them, a tropical or desert christmas is a far cry from the christmas they know).

The next morning we walked 8.5 km return to a secluded water hole and lounged about diving off rocks, reading and playing UNO. As we walked back we was clouds gather and a downpour began. From the road we got a lift to the car and sat inside it listening to Johnny Cash covers and eating SAO and ricecrackers with vegemite and peanut butter and devouring fruit cake. This was also when we realised the van leaked in 3 spots when the rain was heavy. We plugged the leaks (or caused the water to run off to the floor with sponges and toilet paper). We put Mia Dyson on the stereo and started off in the storm back to town to reach Edith Falls. In town we got the groceries and shorts and then we drove 70km to Edith Falls.

Edith Falls is in the same national park but it is part of a different river system. The plunge pool of the falls was 150m by 400m and we stood naked under the torrential flow of the fall in the rain (we were the only people in the park except for some BRITZ campers [britz campers never leave the vehicals, they just watch TV in the van]). We invaded the abandoned kiosk and prepared a goumet pasta using canned mushrooms. Canned mushrooms are the ultimate food. So wrong but also so right. The Goo inside is indescribably fantasticly weird. I recomend home brand.As a luxury we opened a tin of apricot halves and then went to bed.

The next day we walked 6km to sweet water pools and swam upstream from the falls. Jess and myself were starting to show the wear of the road as we were covered bites and wounds. We got a drink and swam and then did sweet FA until sunset and we drank tea, ate beans and rice and watched the lightning storm.

With Kathrine george national park viewed, walked and swum, Jess and I were heading to Litchfield National Park for about 4 nights. On the highway we passed the turn off to Kakadu National Park. Try as we might we could not resist its pull and we hung and unexpected right. We drove on unsealed road that becomes undrivable in the wet to a campground and waterfall. The heat was getting to me and I hiked up the escarpment of the gunlom water fall to cool off in the top pools. The issue was the top pools (crocless) had been in the sun as long as me and were just as bloody hot as I was. I returned to the van, found a crow and stolen out rice cakes (an omen?) and napped in the shade. Jess and I then walked to a Billabong and then hiked to the top pool which had cooled off and let us watch our first Kakadu sunset over the savannah woodland.

The next morning (tuesday 6th of Dec) we drove to the Yurmik mick walks on the road back to the highway. The storm of the night before had wet the causeways and we had to go through water. As we crossed one area I peered out of the window to see the depth and then we hit a dip. I chipped my left cannine fang. Not badly but it is subtly reshaped. We treked 3.5 km to motor car falls and escaped the heat in the croc-less plunge pool (fantasticly more enjoyable after the bus load of tourist from the UK buggered off. We did a few more walks and lookouts and got to merdudal campground. I was so hot and humid that I wanted to escape more than anything. I would have traded my soul for a block of ice. I got weird needles and pins down my neck and nearly set my face alight with the barbeque. We mixed up some tang with the hot water that had been in the car all day. We used our card table for the first time, it is significantly warped.

We woke and went to Yellow Waters Wetlands. We spontaeously joined a boat tour and spent the next hour and a half spotting crocs, brolga, sea eagles and Jabiru with Americans and a crazy Dutch Guy. After the tour we got gas and ate petrol station veggie pasties. We checked out the cultural centre for an introduction into ancient kakadu and modern kakadu aboriginal (bininj) history and insight into their foods and traditions. We saw the homes and art of years of living on the land at nourgeer rock. Rock paintings from over 20,000 years ago. This area of land is so productive and plentiful and this in turn influenced every aspect of the indigenous people. We stopped at the town Jabiru (which services the Ranger Uranium Mine (surrounded by national park)and made some calls and then drove to see the uranium mine. After that we drove to an area in the park called UBIR which has fantastic cultural and natural beauty. After the events of the night before we were going to stay at the Youth Hostel with its fans and pool and cold beverages but as we drove through pouring rain to get there a sign told us the youth hostel was closed for renevations. We drove to a campground and continued roughing it. I had a throbbing pain in my ear (now diagnosed to be tropical ear) and drifted off to the steady thump of my tympanic membrane.

In the morning we walked in some billabongs and monsoon rainforests and during the storm we hiked to more rock art and a fantastic look out that lets you Kakadu from 360* and accros into Arnhem land. I had always assumed Arnhem land was a desert becuase they colour it orange on the maps (all aboriginal land reserves are this colour) but it too is a mystical plentiful landscape. I felt like I was in a prehistoric valley. We saw the storms disapate, kangaroos fight and the sun set.

The next morning we got ear medicine from the medical centre in Jabiru and took photos of the Ranger mine. We went to the visitor's centre and learned the science of the land (species and interconnectedness of everything) and then toured the wetland. We then decided to move on from Kakadu.

From here on in things are getting pretty crazy and has been every since the purple electrical storm that greeted us as we pulled into our secret location. Everything is to weird and insane crazy to articulate until I get some removal from the situation. This is so fucking awsome and unreal. I'll let you in on it next update. To set the scene I will tell you I started today by filling my enamal mug with 150gms of coffe and filling it 7 times with boiling water. Caffine and tropical heat - its a winning combination.

Stay strong all, keep enjoying everything, everyday.

Riding the rainbow serpent, DHP

Alice

2005-11-28T17:15:00.000+11:00

Well well, where to start.

Well since we last spoke Jess and I went and did night photography of Coober Pedy and visited a sculpture junkyard. We then left the underground campground (yes, under the earth in an old mine) and visited the underground churches etc. I got a book about sleeping on the highway from the underground bookshop and we left coober pedy. About 20 km out the engine started to labour and we pulled over to let it cool off and add more oil. After adding 5 lieters we pulled off and realised we were billowing smoke. We drove back into town and a drunken mechanic drained the engine and laughed his head off that we had added so much. The initial labouring was caused by too much oil aswell. We didn't realise it could be overfull. He charged us $30 and we drove to marryat (a truck stop) for the night.

The next day we drove to Uluru and had a swim at the pool and cleaned the van. I managed to clean out all my road herbs (Damina, passionflower, kava, ginsing, kola nuts, gurana) FUCK. Oh well, guess it was meant to be. We saw the rock and explored every nook and cranny on the short walks (not the climb) and watched the sun set. The next day we did the base walk after watching sunrise and then chilled out in the heat playing uno and watching the rock. We went to kata-tjuta in the arvo and walked around. I think it was more amazing becuase you are more immersed in them.

On the road there a man flagged us down and begged for fuel so we gave it to him.

We then spent the night at the "OUTBACK PIONEER BBQ" in the resort and got a cold beer and roo skewers. An Aussie minstrile played paul kelly and midnight oil songs while the brits and Germans played pool.

The following day we lounged around the pool in true resort style and then drove to Kings Canyon. The next day we explored the canyon. We did a major walk to the "Garden of Eden" which is an oasis with duck and ferns right in the middle of the desert. That evening we drove to the East Macdonnel ranges. We did a huge ridge walk the next day (after being swarmed by Cicaddas all night) and endded up aghain at lush waterholes. The only people we met knew Jess and gave us a lift back to the car (we might stay with them in Alice tonight). We then drove to the West Macdonnel ranges and stayed for two nights. More lush water holes (but this time we lost the track and bush bashed over a huge ridge and down to the gully's). The west ranges was the best place we've been to yet because there were very few tourists. Just tranquility.

We went to the desert park this morning and learned about the geology of the area as well as the plants and animals of the region. Now we are just using technology again (laundry, haricuts, internet) before we push up north tomorrow arvo.

I miss you all and I'm loving every minute of this trip.

Peace, DHP

Coober pedy and absolute weirdness

2005-11-20T20:04:00.000+11:00

Well, I never thought this was real. First a quick recap.

We didn't go to Robe. We left Melbourne and after traffic we ended up arriving at a place called Kingston S.E. south of Adelaide on the coast (250km). We pulled into what we thought was a car park and we got bogged in the sand. We we slept on the beach for free and then got towed out by a caterpillar drive who was hire to push sea grass into the ocean. We then photoraphed a seal and drove to adealide.

Adelaide was nice. We stayed at Jess's cousins house and got the rest of the supplies we needed. Adelaide is quite like Canberra but with a real frontier feel becuase it is the gateway to the center.

We left Adelaide after finding out we had the wrong time due to the timezone difference and crashing into a carparking structure becuase the load on the van was too tall and we didn't realise. Becuase of this we left without buying chess or connect four, however we did get a sherriden to kick around.

From Adelaide we drove and when we got to Port Augusta the change in landscape was phenomenal. The sky had 10 hues of blue. The salt and emu bush 20 shades of green. We stopped at the arid zone botanical gardens and I was able to investigate the flowers and plants that we would be subject to. That evening (saturday) we pulled into the WOMERRA caravan park and played some footy and had dinner with some prim and proper poms who kept telling us how collonial people (ausies, zimbabians, kiwis) we ingenuitive and that all cultures and people other than the english are idiots.

This morning we checked out the womerra missile park (missiles were teh reason the town was founded) and then the old detention center. As we pulled up to the gates a defence force car drove up from the Roxby Downs direction and asked us if we were "Geographically misplaced". We got to Coober pedy at about 3 and are staying at the only underground campground in the world. This town has to be the weirdest place in Australia. 45 nationalities with half the stuff in the ground and amazing surrounds (but also alot of holes). We went to the moon planes where they filmed mad max and then to crocodile harry's house.

Crocodile harry is a latvian baron who emigrated to Australia after the second world war and spent 20 yrs hunting crocs in the top end and Queensland. Now he lives here in a cave house and is 80 with cancer. The walls of his house are covered with underpants and bras from women who donated them as well as a lot of porn. He had Tina Tuners bra until it was nicked and he has Olivia Newton Johns panties. So weird I can not convey it. Anyway, now I'm writing this from an internet terminal in a cave. Tomorrow we are going to check out the underground churches, houses, opal mines and potters society before driving to (potentially) Uluru but we will have to see what time we get off.

The desert is amazing and changes a person in more ways than they can imagine. It takes me back to New Mexico.

Peace, Harris

Robe or Bust

2005-11-17T13:12:00.000+11:00

Well the car is packed and we're just doing some final admin shit before we boost it to the west. We think we might stop in Robe a costal SA town but we'll see.

Have a good summer everyone, speak to you from the road

DHP

Photos finally

2005-11-16T18:44:00.000+11:00

Just got some of the photos we have taken of the van and two of myself for those overseas who haven't seen me sans dreads or with my chops.

IR Rally and Melbourne's final days

2005-11-16T18:31:00.000+11:00

Well on Tuesday I went to the rally against the proposed industrial relation reforms. It was fantastic with a huge crowd from all walks of life. We then got some camping gear and set up for the going away party. We got totalled and then explored the city etc. Going towards Adelaide tomorrow but first we need to get grocerries, buy a tire and pack the car. We have named the van "Rizla" after John Rizla from the books.

Peace, I'll report from Adelaide or the center.

Melbourne

2005-11-11T17:28:00.000+11:00

Well the trip has truly begun. I drove down from Canberra with Brian (jess's dad) and after arriving we went to a Gallery opening and on to the pub. Nothing to riviting. Today we just checked supplies and performed some modifications on the car, at the parts store we scored two free car freshers, the pine tree ones. One is peach (my choice) and the other is Lemon (Jess's choice). Now I am late for another exhibition opening which Teff is speaking at. Tomorrow we will get more supplies and some travel Connect 4.

I have a few more things to see here and Jess has some shit to do and so we're now leaving Melbourne on the 17th in the Morning for Adelaide. If anyone wants to chill in Melbourne before this then let me know.

H

exams are over

2005-11-06T07:16:00.000+11:00

finished. Fucking ah. No big news but leaving on Wednesday arvo to Melbourne. Trust me these posts will get a lot more interesting when I hit the road and have photos to post.

Second on November, 1968

2005-11-03T05:49:00.000+11:00

Well, not to much new trip news to report. I have finished work. Have an exam tomorrow and one on Saturday. I then leave Canberra now on the 9th with Brian Boylan and then in Melbourne I will check out Jesse's exhibition, see some music and stop being morose.

We leave Melbourne on the 15th in the Morning and head to Adelaide. I can't fucking wait.

Peace to all

Harris

Second on November, 1968

2005-11-02T10:49:00.000+11:00

Pre-Trip

2005-10-16T14:16:00.000+10:00

Well, just a quicky to get started and blog the preperation process. You can check out how the trip is going and I won't have to send a million emails.

I'm going to get a first aid kit today and have set about aquiring Jerry cans, chairs, table, tarp, and other camping nessecities.

This trip will span from the 7th of November to 5th of Febuary (13 weeks, 91 days). I leave for Melbourne on the 7th.

Jess and I will leave Melbourne on the 10th and go to the flinders ranges and lake eyre. We will then go to Coober Pedy and arrive at uluru by the 16th of November for the full moon.
We will then spend the next 30 days moving and chilling (in the heat) from the bottom of the Northern Territory to the tip. We will have a few days in Darwin and fly out on the 22nd of December to have christmas in Brisbane with my Neighbours Parents.
We then will attend WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL and fly back to Darwin on the 2nd of January.
From the 3rd of January to the 26th of Febuary we will migrate from Darwin down to perth stopping at the kimberly, pilbra, broome, port hedland, nigaloo reef, shark bay, monkey mia, geraldon and perth/freemantle.
From the 27th till the 2nd we will cross the nullaboor and arrive in Adelaide for the big day out to see the white stripes, iggy pop, mars volta and plenty more.
From the 4th to the 6th we will go from Adelaide to Canberra.

Hope it goes well and at least someone stays tuned