Great Ocean [Road] Rain

People rhapsodise about the Great Ocean Road. It's one of Australia's Must-Sees. But not necessarily when seen through a veil of rain ....

Yes, sadly the weekend I spent with Georgie and Stu and Sunday in Anglesea was the weekend when Victoria decided to remind me of seaside holidays spent in Donegal. Watching the rain. Rushing outside when there was a break in the rain - only for it to start raining again.

Deciding the rain had to stop sometime, we went for a drive and I took photos. Of the Hawaiian dancer in the rain.

And the rain out of the passenger window.

Eventually we did the only sensible thing and sought refuge indoors. We went to Wye River General Store - an upgraded local shop with a very nice cafe (though on the pricy side) and a fire.

(Georgie checking out the offerings.)

I chose a lemon tart. I chose wisely. It was was delectable.

Sunny recommends the chocolate milkshake.

Coffee drunk, cakes eaten, we went back outside to watch the rain some more.

Lighthouse Envy

I love lighthouses.

I fantasise about owning a lighthouse with a sweet little keeper's cottage beside it. I'd probably sleep in the cottage, but have my workroom in the lighthouse and also AMAZING parties.

I would fall asleep every night listening to the sound of the sea.

This specimen, at Aireys Inlet on the Great Ocean Road, would fit the bill very nicely.

Before and After

Camp Cove, Sydney, 11 July:

Camp Cove, Sydney, 7th November:

Winter palette:

Summer palette:

Paw Paw Ointment WILL Save You

It's Friday which means that it's Official Hints Day! Yes, it's back, with apologies for absence of hintage of late.

This is Lucas' Paw Paw Ointment:

It is a magic potion.

I was introduced to it on the hike and became a fan for life when I applied it to my disgusting, oozing (too much?) blisters before bed and the next morning my feet looked like PEOPLE FEET again.

Apply it to feet, hands, lips, eyebrows, hair, cuts, grazes, mosquito bites, burns, spots, nuclear disasters, plague victims.

And all that's in it is fermented paw paw. Magic, I tell you.

PS I'm in Sydney. It's raining. Isn't this blog just scintillating sometimes?

My New Swimsuit

(Image via seafolly.com)

Reasons I love my new swimsuit:

1. I like seaholly and I'm a fan of follies, so I like the name of the brand - Seafolly.

2. It ('Portofino retro maillot in black/white') is demure yet seductive. (Much like myself. Bwah ha ha!)

3. It makes me feel like this:

Picture Dictionary: Smallgoods

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘smallgoods’? I saw it on a sign as I walked down the street yesterday and I ran through a few possibilities in my head. Underwear? Kitchen equipment? Haberdashery? But no. This is what smallgoods is (are?):

(image via www.postcards-sa.com.au)

smallgoods [smɔl/gʊdz]

Noun pl

(Australia and New Zealand)

1. Processed meat products e.g. sausage, salami, paté

2. Shop that sells same

And In The End …

(Me at the end of the hike.)

What did it all mean, Eithne?

I wrote last week that reaching the summit of Mount Kosi wasn’t the big climax I might have expected. In fact the hike (or pilgrimage, for that is what it was) was lacking in big, dramatic, revelatory moments. The road to Tharwa did not turn out to be my road to Damascus. But looking back, I have realised that the small, quiet moments were just as important.

Take one girl and drop her in the countryside. Take away books, music, television, radio, work, shops, cafés. Take away some physical comforts like plumbed toilets, mattresses. Take away her regular intake of caffeine. That’s a lot of stimulation taken away. Result? Rather than having the deep thoughts and the important conclusions, I found my brain going still. It was quiet in there. Sure, there was some thinking. I thought about my feet – until I decided it was better not to. I thought about food and water. I thought about sleep. I talked to the other hikers. I looked and I listened. But if I had to point to a ‘big’ moment on the hike it would be the night we spent at Gungarlin River. Dinner at four, bed at seven. Asleep by a quarter past. Listening to the wind and rain that night and getting up at dawn to see wild brumbies. Not thinking about things, just being there.

One day, the day I walked 40km and things started to hurt, yes – that day I thought about some things. That day I did think about women walking to collect water, at least as far as I was walking, if not further. There was no great revelation, but perhaps for the first time in my life I understood a little of what that might feel like. Not wanting to walk, but walking anyway.

On the last day, on my way back down the mountain, a few thoughts ‘about’ the experience started to creep in. The phrase that kept repeating in my head as I sat in the chairlift was ‘the kindness of strangers’. I’ve thought about this a lot in the last three weeks (my brain isn’t particularly quiet now that I’m back to the caffeine and the work and the music) and this is what I’ve come up with: the bigger pilgrimage I’m on, of travelling the world and opening up my life, has made me appreciate the kindness of strangers as never before. Friends of friends who welcomed me everywhere from Harare to Tokyo; passers-by who pointed me in the right direction; new workmates who showed the new girl (with the funny accent) the ropes; fellow hikers who shared their blister plasters and their life stories.

The kindness I have experienced has given me new resolve to be the kind stranger. I will give you directions; I will give you a bed for the night; I will show you the best place to have coffee, a drink, buy a souvenir. I will offer you friendship, whether you’re in town for a night or a year. I will walk 240km and ask my friends and family to sponsor me. The money will contribute to the building of food banks in Malawi so people can better save and share their harvests with others.

So that’s three things:

1. Taking myself away from it all (really and truly away from it all) was refreshing.

2. 240km is a long way to walk.

3. The kindness of strangers is what keeps the world turning.

*

Thanks to everyone who has supported hike4hunger and me. It means a great deal.

If there's anyone out there who has thought of sponsoring me but not got round to it yet, you can still sponsor me at www.everydayhero.com.au/eithne