AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

As technology and transport have advanced it has become easier for us to access info and experience other worlds and cultures. People used to view overseas travel as a once in a lifetime opportunity – just look at the reasons some of Australia’s young men during WWI and WWII joined the fight in the first place.

Now overseas travel is factored into the “great Australian dream” – finish school, go to Uni or get a job or travel, build a career, travel, buy a home, get married, have a family, travel, retire, travel etc. Even family holidays have been extended from the annual trip to Qld to the annual trip to Bali or Fiji.

So, what I want to know is – why do we travel? Initially, and still to some extent, I think people travelled not only for the recreation but also to experience different ways of living. Now, because it’s becoming easier, “everyone” is doing it. My thoughts are that the reason some people travel overseas these days is to “keep up with the Jones’”. It is becoming a status thing.

Another reason some of us travel is to find the “answers”. The knowledge, awareness and experience that we gain from travel probably do provide the tools with which we can try and figure out those answers, but I’ve come to realise we won’t ever find the answers. We need to make peace with that fact.

Despite this revelation however, I’ve also decided that a) the answers are inside of us, b) if a) is true then we don’t need to travel, we can search within ourselves at any time, in any place. I know it sounds like I’ve found God, or Buddha or somethin’, but actually making this conclusion didn’t come as easy as getting’ dunked in holy water or shaving my head and chanting.

But back to the main topic – why do we travel? Come on guys, I wanna hear what you have to say ‘bout this. I know you all get around a bit, so let me know what you think.

Important Briefs (August)

Happy Birthday - to Michelle (hope you had a good one mate), Toc Pop (he woulda been 85) and Brom (cheers love).

Congratulations - to the Barwon cadet drill team. State winners 2006! Yeehah! Well done also to Jessie, our individual competitor, for participating and doing his best.

Good luck - to Michelle and Sean as well as Brom and Aaron. May your bubs be born in good health, and with as less pain as possible. :)

Thanks - to Tan, Michelle, Amelia and anyone else whose name I'm missin', for organising our snow trip. We had an awesome time! Thanks also to my tennis team for Winter 2006, it was a good season. Better luck next time!

Goofy or Regular?

Hey all, hope you’ve had a fantastic weekend. Thanks for contributing to the site and sorry I haven’t been around to comment. We’ve just got back from three days up in the sunny Alpines where I discovered some muscles I didn’t even know I had and also managed to master the art of falling on my arse!

Yes, you guessed it – we’ve been doin’ the snow scene at Falls Creek. Left Geelong Thursday morning and got to Mt Beauty that afternoon. We went with a bunch from Geelong including Tan from tennis, her boyfriend John, cousin Lee and friends Michelle and Amelia who were part of the group who went to Barham at Easter.

The weather was beautiful, unfortunately too beautiful for the snow season. Luckily I’m no professional, so the snow cover made no difference to me - except that it made the impact a helluva a lot harder. This is the first time I’ve been to the snow since High School, and the first time Blake’s been since he was an infant. Both of us were first time boarders.

Despite bein’ quite frustrated on the first day after the lesson, I slowly started to get the hang of it, I think. Blake picked it up pretty quick and encouraged me along, through the tantrums and the bruises. I did manage to make it down one run without any stacks on the second day. However, getting off the lifts without falling face first in the snow I have yet to achieve – maybe next year!

Also, for all you boarders out there I still don’t know if I’m goofy or regular and I think that’s because I’m a heel digger. I don’t do toe turns. I don’t know why, but I think it’s a balance thing. If I attempt to toe turn I land on my face. I know it’s ‘cause I lean too far forward, I just gotta figure out how to fix it. On the Saturday I started to rock backward and forward a little as I went down the slope, rather than just diggin’ in the heels whenever I started to pick up speed. Blake on the other hand, felt quite comfortable on his toes. I gotta say, for such a tall guy, he has pretty good balance.

Anyways, it was a fantastic weekend, although we are feeling the after effects of all the bumps and falls. Tomorrow will be a very interesting day at work, considering how my movements are restricted (it hurts just to put a jacket on, let alone undo and do up a bra!). Well it’s now 11pm, and I should hit the sack. Still got sleepin’ to catch up on. Make sure ya’all leave a comment when you drop by – lemme know what you’ve been up to.

Cheers, sweet dreams.

Ch...Ch...Ch…Ch…Ch…Changes!

Seeing the house in Cobram on our recent trip home and talking with Melanie last night about life and decisions etc has got me thinking about the concept of change. There have been a lot of (good) changes happening in my life in the last 12 months and I wanted to write somethin’ clever about the whole concept - how we feel about it, how we make it happen and I guess how we deal with it.

However, the clever genes have escaped me tonight (it could be the lack of sleep over the weekend, or it could be that I never had ‘em). So… to cut a long story short I went surfing for some inspiration and found some interesting quotes.

I hope these words give you a laugh, or enlighten you, or puzzle you or whatever. In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your personal experiences/opinions of change.

There is nothing permanent except change.
- Heraclitus (I don't know if that's spelt right!)

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.
- Brian Tracy

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
- Maya Angelou

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we are not really living.
- Gail Sheehy

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
- Charles Darwin

A woman marries a man thinking she can change him, but she can't. A man marries a woman thinking she will never change, but she does.
- Anonymous

There's moments in your life that make you that set the course for who you're gonna be. Sometimes they're little subtle moments. Sometimes they're not. Bottom line is even when you see them coming you're not ready for the big moments. Nobody asks for their life to change. Not really, but it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets? No, the big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. Thats when you find out who you are.
- Anonymous


PS: You’ll have to forgive the fact that I don’t know who some of these people are - if you’re interested in what they have to say just Google them!