We are so very done

Bangalow week ended on a very high note. I finished my paper, I went to get it printed and bound, and Michelle, Susie and I had wine and free tapas at a restaurant in town. The paper is DONE! And it is great. Not only is it done, but we gave presentations the last two days, and mine went beautifully. The highlight of it must have been at the end, when Peter asked about setting up a Transition group in his area. Peter wants to start a Transition town. ha.

So that was the adventure of the last few days. Last night we went to the newly opened Earth N Sea pizza place to celebrate being dooooone, and it was great. Now in my last few days in Australia, I can really appreciate this life, the people who are in it, and everything that I have done. Which has been a lot. I cannot believe I found this project, I did it, and it is all done.

Oh right, this is a funny picture....one of the ways me and Michelle survived the winter nights in Bangalow. No but really, everything is great here and I am looking forward to the last few days of the program. Tomorrow we are going ocean kayaking as a group unless the weather is bad, and Wednesday we have a final group meeting in the morning, and a group dinner at night.


Thursday morning we leave for the airport! And that afternoon is me, Kendall, Epps, and Michelle's flight to Christchurch, New Zealand! Soon we may start talking about plans, or we may really be going in with two campervans booked and a general goal of making the loop around the island! I am very excited for what I think will be a really beautiful trip.

This is a ridiculous picture I had to add from Susie's house... why don't all phone books emphasize the 'hi' in white?? Good one Australia. Anyway... Internet has been a little rough in Byron this time around, so in case this is my last post from Australia.... everything is great here as this life is wrapping up, and I will write next from New Zealand (is there Internet in New Zealand?)!

Bangalow week

I am here in Bangalow week, with only a few days left to go until I turn in my paper and meet up with the group for the last few days on the program. I only have a week left in Australia!! And my paper is pretty much....done. 50 pages and it looks good. I have a few more things to put together here and there, but basically, it is done. I am quite excited, but I do have a few more days here in Bangalow to think about that.
So this is where I live. Michelle and I have been living very happily with yogasusie at her house (the old office of Sustainable Futures Australia) in the middle of an industrial estate, across the highway from fields of cows. Since we got here Thursday morning from Holy Goat, we have basically been sitting around and working on our papers.

Other adventures include walking along the highway 30 minutes to get to Bangalow village and wireless at Utopia cafe (current location), going to the Channon Markets, and starting to take Susie's yoga classes at night, across the parking lot in a room near the warehouses.


It is a beautiful area of the world here in Bangalow, and we are basically just enjoying where we have found ourselves again as we get through work retreat week. In the next few days, we'll finish up...everything.. and eventually find a way to print and bind our reports. Then Friday we head back to Byron Bay, our 5 weeks are up! Next Thursday in New Zealand, 4 weeks until home, 5 weeks to Spain!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076811&id=9803563&l=1190a33e12

Mayyyy

I just wanted to update about life these days, but I have no new pictures since last time. I'll just add a few random ones I didn't post from Sydney. All is well with me. I spent most of my last couple days in Sydney at the state library, because I had to take advantage of being in civilization before I came back up here to nature. It was a very successful idea, and now I am at a really good point with my project (already 35 pgs written!) I also wrapped up Sydney time with a second-to-last-night cooking dinner & and a movie with Meg, and actual last night dinner out with Meg and Jenni. I walked around the city and went to the harbor one last time, and was overall just totally satisfied and happy with my two weeks in Sydney- two of the best this semester!

I left Sydney Sunday morning at 7am, and took a 12 hour train ride up to Casino. I made it to Lismore that night, where I met back up with Michelle and went to Margaret's house. It is so nice being back here, I'm really glad I decided to do this. It's almost like my house in Australia, and there is a comfortable bed and Internet and I am happy. Yesterday, we had a celebration breakfast at Mecca cafe, and played at Pacific Bulk Food Store, before spending a couple of hours trying to be productive at the library. We had dinner at Erica and Kendall's motel room (two girls on the program) and it was so great seeing them, and seeing how incredibly different everyone's experiences have been this month, and how totally satisfied that my experience was exactly what it was.

This morning we went to the car boot market with Margaret (a farmer's market where they just pull up their pick up trucks and sell out of the back of them). I had my last phone interview for the project, we had a fun lunch attempting to celebrate cinco de mayo (turns out the Magic Mexican restaurant closed last year...so we just had nachos at a cafe) spent another couple of hours at the library, and now are back home, about to cook dinner and hang around here for the night.

Tomorrow we head to Holy Goat, an intentional community in the hills nearby where Michelle stayed the last few weeks. There is a community dinner tomorrow night, and in the morning we'll get a ride to Bangalow, where we will be staying the final week of ISP, to finish up our reports.

The campervans have been booked for New Zealand, and so me and 3 others from the program -Alex, Kendall, and other Michelle- are on for driving around for 2 weeks in the south island! I am starting to get very excited for the plans of the future! I hope everyone is doing well, and talk to you soon.