Travellers come together and travellers part, each grown a little more from the meeting, each sharing a small part of the Whole that they have carried with them to this moment.

I cannot pretend that my heart is not sore, but I am also happy and excited to be on the road again.  The desert call is too strong to resist.  I see a picture in my mind, the same one that called to me in South Africa last year, the one that sparked this journey. I am walking in a bleak and incredibly flat landscape, the air filled with energy, an endless horison drawing me onwards.

Andreas and I have talked of having a child together, of meeting each others parents. It would be so easy to go this path, my urge to become pregnant with our child so incredibly, surprisingly strong... but part of me resists.  There is still a wall.  I want to take down that wall before I surrender to a very special relationship.

 Follow this link if you want to know where I am now. 

I will be off-line for awhile.  I have no plans of where to go.  I just know that I must go.  Inshallah

Not good.  I am missing Lightning Ridge!  Whilst looking through a few of the photo's I uploaded two days ago I realised how much I missed the incredible landscape of that black opal mining town and its colourful people and all that there was to photograph and chat about.  I found beauty in opal mining.  Somehow it felt free.  People were there because of the lifestyle, not just the money.

In Port Hedland I found it hard to see the beauty in Iron Ore Mining, but I am succeeding to some degree, because I know it is there.  It just takes a little more effort and determination to uncover it. Port Hedland's people are a mix of all sorts.  So many people are from different countries and backgrounds.  Did you know that the second most spoken language in Port Hedland is Afrikaans?

One aspect I am having difficulty with is reconciling the kindness and helpfulness I have been shown, with the barrage of warnings I receive every day from the inhabitants and Australians elsewhere alike, to be careful.  The movie Wolf Creek has scarred a nations psyche it seems.  Fortunately I have not seen it and don't want to.  I don't want to be influenced by this fear of hitch hiking. But am I hiding my head in the sand?  Am I being irresponsible with my life by hitching, by refusing to buy into the fear that there are people out there who would do me harm.  Just voicing this thought I find is dangerous for we attract into our lives that which we create in our minds.

Today I even approached a car hire place and sales lot to see if I could buy or hire a car and thereby increase my safe travelling by being independent of the kindness of others.  But this is not the way my life wants to go.  This alternative is too expensive to consider and so I am staying with hitching. My justification is that through hitching I have been happy and I have grown.  Other peoples fears are not my own.  I create my world and my world of hitching has been fantastic.  It will continue to be so because this is the illusion of reality that I choose for myself. I have faith that I will be protected.  When you don't have much money, faith is often all you have and somehow, it works.  It is like giving over, surrendering to something greater....

But sometimes I have to act sensibly. For the past few days I have been walking a section of the South Hedland neighbourhood which last night a local taxi driver said was like the Bronx.  I have walked this area at midnight between MacDonald's and Black Rock Caravan Park as it provided the closest free internet connection. I was nervous of this at the time and a little jumpy but I resented paying for a taxi cab fare which is the same cost of a meal.  If I did one, I felt compelled to do without the other.  But I have taken too much risk already. This is a mining town.  It offers a rough way of life.  People make lots of money here and some do not manage it well.

Last night a miner by the name of Paul told me a little about mining life and the interaction between men and the few women who live here.  It is not always healthy. How does a woman stay open when she hears things like this? He also speaks of those who blow their money on alcohol, drugs (speed) and women on weekend binges (the mines drug test during the week). I listen. I have heard of this lifestyle.  I once dated a saturation diver.  They worked hard and they played hard, a life of extremes ... and many burned out with nothing to show for all those years.

But another, Morzen of Iran, tells me he has a plan and how he is saving up to buy a house. He confirms that many of his fellow workers seem unable to save. He is not like them.  He says that there is no other place in the world that can look after him like Port Hedland and he is making the most of it to get ahead. He is young, good looking and fit, unlike so many of the men here who have gone to fat. Morzen tells me it is unlikely he will find a women for himself whilst he is working here full time.  He does get three months off and goes to Perth, but he says you need time to get to know a woman and for her to know you and she has to love you to come and live in Port Hedland. So for now he has put that part of his life on hold.

Over hearing conversations I have come to understand that many men live here without their families.  Sometimes the  women try, but within a year, many cannot handle the harsh life and they return to an easier life and husband commutes, or she does.  The men fly in, work flat out, save and fly out, taking everything they have earned with them.  South Africans and other immigrants often use Port Hedland as a stepping stone, serving their 4 years here, making enough money to establish themselves elsewhere in Australia and complying with their immigration requirements. Port Hedland serves a purpose for those who have a plan. For the others, it is one big party after work, and I guess that serves a purpose too.

On Saturday I spent the morning at the Port Hedland Yacht Club chatting with people.  They had a fête raising money for their new building. Even I am looking forward to the time when the new yacht club will be finished, hopefully by the end of the year.  It is a great spot for afternoon sundowners and family gatherings with a view of the sea and harbour entrance, with a cool sea breeze to relieve some of the summer heat.  I am surprised that there are not more developments like this considering how much money is made here.  But then again, so many take their money out and do not invest it anything but the basics in this town.  I can picture day charters to the mining crew looking for something fun to do away from the burning land.  But then again, maybe they do this already.  Many of the houses have little fishing boats in their driveways.  Still, it would be nice for the town to have a yacht club that softens the harshness of the environment.

A day at the races.  I am a little tired so the photo's may take a while to prepare and upload.  Glad I went.  Again,  met many friendly people and many of those who have stopped to give me lifts over the past few days.  It was good to see them again.

My summary of Port Heldand is that it is a harsh place to live because of the summer heat and the fact that there is not much to do and natural beauty is hard to find, but the people are friendly. The high use of burglar guards over the windows means that break-ins are a problem, but I certainly do not feel that it is unsafer than most towns in South Africa. This all in my vast experience of 4 days :-)

Let me get cracking on the Port Hedland Cup photo's..

Oh dear...life not going according to plan again. Life has been so .... strange the last 24 hours.  I have met so many energies and they are impacting on my psyche.  The latest, an apparently lost Soul, wandered into the tavern were I was eating and working on my photo's...only I don't think he was really lost... I believe our energies communicate with each other without us even knowing it, communicating with complete and utter strangers....over hundreds and thousands of kilometres ... our energy knows the way, knows how to connect, to get what it is looking for, what it needs ... and to give.

This evening I gave away something that did not belong to me.  A book called No Ordinary Moments by Dan Millman.  I have read and carried this book with me for months, wanting to read it one more time before posting it back to its owner.... but it was not to be.  This Soul was looking for this book and I gave him the same gift that was given to me.  I would like to believe that the original owner will understand.  I know he treasured this book ... as have I.

We change one another's lives, just by listening ... really listening...and acting from the heart.

Tomorrow I hitch hike to a beach outside of Broome with the truckies... I need to walk free next to the sea for awhile.....

In Broome for  a few hours to rushing around on the internet to catch up madly.  Hopeless task of course, but then that is the Rat Race for you and I am out of practice :-)

Where have I been.  Well, from the SPOT link you would know that I have been camped out on a beach south of Broome.  Paradise is called Barn Hill.  Been tanning away those pesky bikini lines and flirting with a fellow traveller much on the same journey as I...Andreas from Germany.  Fun in the sun ...... :-)

Those Port Hedland Cup horse racing pics.  Click on this  logo

Life has gone off on an unexpected trail......and it is a lovely one.  I am now travelling with Andreas. 

Images of paradise that is Barn Hill.

I think I am falling in love.....

Not the mad, crazy, fearful, anxious, ecstatic, 'am I going in-sane' kind of love.....

It is a deep, calm, grounded, almost full sense of love that I have never experienced before.

It is a love that has 'collected' me up here in the North West Territories of Australia and gently, patiently turned me south.

We are heading back to Barn Hill, where we met and then on to Port Hedland, Karajini National Park, Kalbari and Geraldton.  ... Places I have visited for a day, but was unable to take in.  Now I have a second chance....and perhaps to fly...

How long will it last?  What depths will this love find ...?  I don't know.  I just know that I am not afraid to walk this path beside this man.

A week has gone by so fast in Broome.  We only went to the famous Cable Beach once to view the re-known 4x4 camel sunset.  It is allowed to drive your vehicle onto the beach and so we prepared dinner and took it down with us. German friends Rose and Jurgen were there.

Each day we have so much to do.  A breakfast of fruits and organic teas, yogurt, a leisurely shower, perhaps a load of washing to hang up, a second breakfast - Blooms or  Matso's ... decisions, decisions.  Blooms definitely does the best Eggs Benedict with soft perfect eggs, smoked salmon on rye bread, topped with asparagus.  Then a little shopping and a doctors visit to check my third horrid ear infection.  This time I chose to treat it mostly Andreas's homoeopathic way - grape seed extract and paw paw seeds work amazingly well, boosted with echinacea tea.  I also used antibiotic ear drops, but not the tablets this time.  Impressive results but I was glad for the prescription pain killers as my poor ear tried to turn itself into a cauliflower.

Then where to go for lunch...?  Hmmm, Matso's does an amazing grilled fish, salad and buttery vegetables and the best cappuccino!  Lunch and breakfast with Andreas normally take a few hours.  Life is relaxed and I am floating on a tide of good feelings.  Each day Andreas and I learn a little more about each other and our quirks are starting to surface.  It is amazing how he handles both his own and mine.  He makes me feel safe and loved no matter my frailties.  Nothing is a problem, nothing is judged to be good or bad.  I am learning to observe my emotions and step back from giving them power to overwhelm me.  It will be interesting when we part at the end of September. I to Manilla for 3 weeks of flying before returning to South Africa to fly the November De Aar competition and see my family.  Andreas?  He has still South Australia to see.  We may meet again if the Universe wills it, but that is too far in the future for me to contemplate and my life changes by the second these days.... 

It will be an interesting time, one that I am strangely looking forward to. To be independent and happy, without feeling the pain of separation, no matter the distance between us.  Andreas believes this is true love. Love without dependence.  I have time to learn ...but for now ... let me enjoy the moments we have together.  Our days are lazy and relaxed, and yet so incredibly full.  Only a few minutes for internet.... Too little I know, but I am in the flow of life now.....in the present, second by second.

Back to Barn Hill tomorrow,Sunday.  As relaxed as our life here in the town of Broome is, we both feel the need to get back to nature and the magic that is Barn Hill.  To the sounds of birds warbling, the waves on the shore, the long walks, of tanning without a bikini under blue skies and leisurely chatting with happy people ... and our little caravan with a view of the sunset.

Life is beautiful.

A few photo's of Broome and Barn Hill times.  We are heading back to Barn Hill.. back the beach, the sand, the sea, the birds and all that flows...

Thank you for all the wonderful well wishes from my Face Book friends and family..... :-)

Had a strange dream last night.  Saw a large snake climbing up the ablution blocks in the night as I was walking towards them.  Turned around to go and tell someone.  Stepped on something soft but firm, like a smaller snake. But nothing bit me and I was not afraid.  As I walked away, I felt a small snake, about a meter,  climb up my right side.  Felt a heavy weight on my chest from the side, then the snake was in my hair.  Thought that I should move the snake away from my face, that having one near my neck and head was perhaps not a good idea.  Took my left hand hand and gently pushed it way in the crook of my fingers, but the snake had its own mind.  It bit me in the neck. I felt the liquid pump into me and trickle down my neck.  Or was that blood, I wondered mildly?  I knew I only had seconds, felt I should tell someone ...and then all went blank.  Don't think I have ever died in my dreams before......

This is a good dream..... do not be afraid.  A new way of living begins.....

Life chooses yet another path.  From tomorrow I will be hitching  into Northern Territories.  Andreas is heading south.  Our last night together in Broome this night. 

Andreas is a wonderful Being and I am fortunate indeed to have met him. Perhaps we shall meet again.