Boyup Brook

neighbour's pet kangaroo...

these ones are digital

on the farm in Boyup Brook

..these are film

on the beach this week

Well, it's been just over a month ... I am finding it hard to want to write much because I can't give a proper opinion of Australia until I've seen more of it! I've been out on the farm mostly, doing stuff I hadn't really imagined before: I've sheared (some of) a sheep!!..I've been in the pen with a hundred or two of them, cooing slash yelping at them to help usher them to their new paddock (field), I've been driving huge old farm machinery from acreage to acreage (on the left side of the road on the right side of the ute (truck)). I've seen kangaroos in the wild, probably 50 so far... they're like deer, as they are so common, but where a deer will walk onto the road and freeze and stare at you (..in headlights), the kangaroo will just hop alongside you and then casually leap in front of your vehicle and hop like hell until you've nearly swerved off the road..!!!... And I've been horseback riding for the first time, I've seen a stingray, I've been jumping around in warm crashing waves, and I've come to a point in my life when I can tolerate 16 flies crawling on my skin without twitching like mad to get them off.
Things have been so wonderful, relaxing, and rather domestic... lots of household duties, gardening, pruning roses (which there are a plethora of around here, I love it!), and hanging laundry out on the line...
I've just borrowed a car from a new wonderful friend of mine, while she was in Bali (it's very common and cheap for Aussies to go to Bali, it's like our Mexico), and I took off for a week's trip to some of the beaches in WA. Some camping and hostelling, and singing :), and wandering in awe and complete safety around the forests here. The deadliest thing in the woods is a snake... no bears or cougars of ferocious coyotes and wolves... just a tiger snake or two. And if you get to the hospital in time, you still live happily ever after. It's a cool feeling to be alone in the trees and be completely at ease.
All of the trees and birds are completely different here. Well, some birds are very similar... like there are loads of magpies, but they're mostly white with a little black.. and there are crows, but they make the weirdest sounds... like a dying baby alien...(first thing that comes to mind)...(it's a little disturbing at first)...But then there are these beautiful green parrots and tiny bright blue fairy wrens, and big white cockatoos, pelicans, kookaburras, and I have yet to see an emu... but they're around. Anyway, there are so many birds amidst these huge and hugely different trees, that it just creates this warm magical jungle feeling in a cacophonic symphony. Gorgeous.
Between decoding the lingo and laying on the beach, I'm finding myself ever so happy to NOT be in the snow this winter... and thus, I reckon this arvo, I'm gonna skull heaps of stubbies from the esky round the barbie with my new mates, and get loose as. Bloody oathe! :) xo

..yeah, so I'm in Australia...

Wow, well I'm a little shocked, but not too surprised that it has taken me over a month to throw another post online... I have so much to say about Nova Scotia, beautiful Halifax, and lovely Lunenburg, and I have so many photos of a place called Mahone Bay which had just finished with a scarecrow festival, and thus was covered with peculiar and interesting scarecrows, some imitating celebrities and such. Namely a number of musicians like Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan, Elvis, among politicians like Sarah Palin and John McCain, and the whole royal family! Awesome Sunday drive.
So... a month's story, short, I'm in Australia!! I've been here almost a week, and it's awesome... I've been swept away to a farm in Boyup Brook in Western Australia, a few hours south of Perth. I just finished a weekend of dancing and music at a neighbouring town's Blues Festival, and it's getting sunnier and sunnier, maybe 40 by this weekend.... wild! And their summer is just starting!
I've loads of photos, I shot 3 rolls of film my second day here. I've yet to develop them, but I'll get em on here eventually...
Thank you for checking in if you have been :) I'll try and post here and there again.
I love you all and hope you have a glorious winter. I'll be thinking of your freezing asses when I'm sweltering on the white sand beaches in my months to come.... xoxoxoxo

trouble on the road

So when I was around Mabou, I decided to take a road into the woods that claimed to have waterfalls... I winded around, admiring the scenery, the trees, the silence, the drop at the side of the road, the narrowing road, the drop at the side of the road (shit!)... as I continued, the road started to get a teeny bit muddy. I continued a smidge and then saw that it got worse around the next bend. I had to back up, which wouldn't be too bad because there was a wide spot not too far back. Uuunfortunately, I didn't notice the muddy spot or the bank that my left rear tire was backing into....

I was stuck. (shit!)

I hadn't seen a single other vehicle on this road... it had only been ten minutes, but I wondered if anyone would come. I knew I had seen a house or two a while back, so I wasn't worrying too, too much.

Not 5 minutes went by and suddenly a shining beacon of light on four wheels came around the corner just beyond me. Inside were a couple of wonderful loggers who (with barely two words spoken) immediately grabbed chains and ropes and proceeded to pull me out, and then back my car to a place where I could take off again!!

It was awesome, and it was great to meet Billy and David.

I never saw the waterfalls.

....Until a few days later!! When I returned in a smaller car with 3 other girls, and a little more advice as to where they were located. And yes, they were beautiful.

Hikes on the Cabot Trail

somepictures

The first is of me driving in Ontario, the graffiti is from Montreal, the sunset is Pancake Bay on Lake Superior, and the long winding birch trees are from Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba (through a bison refuge).

I've started playing with film, these are some beginning shots.

Check my Flickr account, too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jolenesphotos

Day 51

~I'm dreading this blog! How am I supposed to throw 3 provinces, 17 days and a birthday into a cohesive blog entry?! Well, I can start with my birthday... so I turned 25 on the 25th of September this year. My champagne year (as I was informed), so I got myself a little bottle (which was nast so I didn't finish it and instead opted for some red wine). I spent the evening alone in my van under a solemn street light in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Edmunston, New Brunswick!! I partied my face off (exaggeration) with a crazy, exhilerating, mind-blowing(exaggeration) book, lit by my tiny pretty propane lantern (not exaggerated). Nonetheless, it was lovely, as I had hoped to make it to the Maritimes by my birthday.

~The drive from Montreal to Fredericton was very beautiful. The trees have been changing colours for me for about a month... and everywhere I go, it seems they are just starting to turn. I'm dying for more of the fierce red and almost fluorescenty golden orange coloured leaves. Fredericton was mostly boring, but I met a nice girl from Germany in the hostel there and we travelled together to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

~Oh man, I was pumped as soon as I caught glimpse of the Confederation Bridge and the flowing Atlantic Ocean underneath!! Although Lake Superior had been comforting to me (as it seemed to massive and oceanic), the actual Atlantic Ocean was so exciting!! It wasn't the furthest East I I would end up, but I had this immense feeling of accomplishment surge through me as I had actually made it to the other side!!! P.E.I. was so pretty to drive through. We had a beautiful sunny day to drive in, and the next 3 days were unbelievably hot and humid. Hot and humid!! It was crazy, I was shocked... and sticky. Sticky!!! Haha. I had lobster, and later chowder, and was so excited to finally be eating fish and seafood as I had mostly avoided it all the way across (I feel better knowing that it hasn't been frozen for a few days).

~It was so funny to hear that years ago, a poor kid's lunch box would have lobster in it daily. (S)he'd be made fun of for it!! Ridiculous. It's plentiful and cheap out here. Lobster sandwiches are common and found on most menus.

~I stayed at a wicked hostel here run by a cool young guy who pimped out the garage with a pool table, an electric guitar, a beer fridge, loads of awesome records, an old video game machine and... just... more funkiness... very cool. It's the Charlottetown Backpackers (HI) if you're ever interested.

...check this out....

In Toronto, I visited a restaurant, and a toilet. (among other things....) I was shocked to see this crazy ad on the mirror:
~It was an ad for...actually I won't tell you, so that I don't buy into their damned advertising :) !!!.... So, it's two people texting, and this is their conversation:

"He's pretty cute"//"You think so?"
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to him but he disappeared in the bathroom!"//"He's probably staring at himself in the mirror."
"Hahaha!"//"Maybe he's fixing his hair."
"Maybe, wouldn't be a bad idea, it was kinda messy."//"Yep."

...so, obviously this was in the girl's washroom. And, needless to say, curiousity got the better of me and I had to go into the men's... Camera in hand, I entered the men's washroom and found a few surprised faces...

(just kidding)

...there was no one there, so I proceeded to video tape and document theirs as well:

"Dude, where'd she go?"//"I think the bathroom."

"She was pretty hot."//"Pretty hot? More like smokin' hot!"

"I hope she's not too into herself."//"How can you tell?"

"Well, if they stare into the mirror too long."//"That's one way to tell."

...I feel for the children of the future...!!