Bali - Second impressions

We finally got out of our tourist ghetto to see a few things we would be limited to see when the family arrives, the grand and grand grand mother totaling one hundred and sixty five years, one must acknowledge that there are limitations as far as climbing temple stairs goes, so that is exactly the type of activities we are looking for now.
We instructed our driver Wayan (a traditional Balineese name meaning son number one, you can imagine how many Wyans there are here) to take us tu the Gunung Kawi Temple and he suggested to go and see the Tagalalang rice fields. This temple was built in the eleventh century the entrance lays after a set of stairs into the valey in a rock, the only way to enter it is through there. On the way to Gunang Kawi we saw straight away that Bali is a beautiful island, it's richness in greens is beyond imagination, and the variety of fruit trees are amazing, not to mention the rice fields laid out in terraces that seem to bring an architectural structure to the chaos of the vegetation.
The way this temple has been set in Nature is amazing.
Mostly carved out in rock, with a lush vegetation in and arround it, a river and waterfalls, and again ricefields make from this place an amazing sight, and it takes little imagination to picture the ceremonies that have and will take place here. Water seems to be the main element at this temple.
I couldn't help but notice the Asian touch in the rivers with little mounts of plastic bags here and there.
This is one part of Asia that saddens me deeply especially after coming from the pristine places in Australia. Djudju decided not to go to the toilet. A magnificant walk/climb through the rice fields made up for a disappointing waterfall.
The walk was even more memorable thanks to Made (another name that every other woman seems to have) a frail lady in her fifties working on the rice fields of the temple. She showed us how to go to the waterfall talking to us in Balinese all the time. Val and her really struck up a conversation as if there were two old friends telling each other the latest gossip. Val in English, Made in Balinese no one understanding the other yet both persistent in holding up the babble.
 What goes down must go back up so up we went along the three hundred something stairs, passing the stalls filled with coconut and bone carvings, sarongs and clothes and bone jewelry, welcomed by shouts of lookie lookie and please you promised (we did say "maybe later" on our way down).
Finally after buying a few bits and pieces we moved on to Tagalalang.

The terraced rice fields are stunning but what struck me the most is that the Asian elders are very fit.
The job needs done point there doesn't seem to be any second thought about it, nor does it seem to matter who does the job. Young, old or middle aged, wet or dry, muddy or grassy when the job needs doing that is what is happening.

The next morning we instructed Wyan to head towards Besaki, Bali's most powerful place, or the Mother Temple. The feeling here was different. I have had that feeling in a few places the Wailing Wall being one of them and I am not sure whether to file it under powerfully spiritual, or loaded with people energy maybe they are one and the same. one thing is for sure, this is one of those places in the world that have a certain feel of some sort of power being strongly present.

A traditional prayer for health and prosperity for the family made by a female priest a few flowers in our ears and a bit of rice stuck on our head we continued again being followed by young six-ish year old girls wailing people to buy a few postcards adapting to the spoken language of the 'bulè'(everything that is not Balinese) as a chameleon changes color with it's surroundings. On our way out we stopped to marvel (Val took off) at the spiderwebs and the hundreds of spiders on them, big mams they were to.
Speaking of 'bulè' (note I wrote it twice without capital letter 'b'), I was out of money so I asked Wyan to pay for our dinner at the place he brought us to eat. He payed one hundred and eighty thousand Rupia for our meal wich was quoted one hundred thousand per person in the menu.

On our way back I asked Wyan what would happen if he got stopped by the police driving wrong direction in this one way street; his answer was that I would have to pay the police two hundred while he would get off with twenty thousand.
Needless to say after these two days that I a much more excited about Bali then before.
The thing that make me tick the most here is the kindness of people. I have felt no animosity whats however on the contrary everyone seems to welcome you in the largest sense of the word. Another striking thing is that whilst traffic is crazy and scooters, dogs or cars are always just about bumping into each other there seems to be little or no agressivity.
Tomorrow will reveal another facet of the Balinese culture as we have decided to pay a visit to a holy man that is known to be in touch with all kinds of energy's and has visions, and this is not one of the tourist attractions the 'bule' go to, this is one visited in the most cases by the locals.

More will be revealed....... .

Bali first impressions

On the plane from Darwin to Indonesia I couldn't help my self to re-reading a couple of sentences on the custom declaration form.
The first one being the red stamp saying that the sentence on drug trafficking is the death penalty, the second that bringing weapons bla bla and pornographic material is prohibited.
We arrived at the airport and I asked a porter to help me, before knew it eight of them grabbed our six bags, since this happened before customs and since they were all wearing tags I figured we didn't risk much and let them go ahead, a bit for the folklore and mostly to watch Vals reaction, I have been through that before just had forgotten about it.
So here is Val watching the kids and eight porters holding six bags while I am collecting money from the ATM.
More confusion as we hit the outside of the airport. We got to Denpassar four hours early no driver, unsure about the address we're staying at and traffic traffic, I had forgotten about that too, the traffic regulations are not the same in Asia, are there any rules here? Traffic density is times hundred what we are used to in Belgium I payed off the porters after a bit of confusion concerning the amount of zero's behind the one, I did take a million Rupia out of the cash machine, which amounts to a whole 40€, I took the money out under the eyes of one of the porters prying my wallet for it's content.
I got a driver who was convinced all and everything would fit in his car and after pushing shoving re-arranging we all sat in the back with part of the luggage up front. The trafic in Bali is not quite as bad as what I had seen in Manila but. Driving here is a real challenge. It is not the congestion a much as the hundreds if not thousands of scooters and motorcycles.

A few things that stood out for us are the Budhist Gods statues standing tall a s a five story building.
The beauty of the kids. The stench of the city. No or very little sidewalks, making it very hard if not nearly impossible to walk around, the scooters, getting there seems so much more important then self preservation. Having said that I haven't seen one accident yet. The one thing that takes number one on my account is this, imagine a small scooter dad driving, a two year old in the middle, mum in the back (in the best of cases, mum in the back), everyone safely wearing the by law compulsory helmet but the child.

We visited the touristic area of Seminyak and surroundings and apart from 'the Potatohead' a bar restaurant, with an architectural specificity being that the outside wall has been constructed in coloseum form using only old wooden blinds, we were everything but impressed and are wondering what everyone likes so much about this place.
We keep an open mind and know that we haven't see anything yet.
Ah yes we did treat the kids to the local waterpark, one comment on that one, it is the cleanest highly attended public water park I've ever been too, lots of fun too.

We took a speedboat to Gilly Trawangan where we were supposed to stay for six nights. On the way made a brief stop in Lombok. Both are islands Lombok being the largest and greenest, Gilly being only seven kilometer in circumference. Now I must say we arrived on Gilly after the rain and taking into account that the only means of transportation are pushbike, feet or horse and cart, you can imagine the mud all around.

A step of the boat into the crystal clear water and on our cart we jumped.
I liked the place from the start. It has those remains of how I viewed the world before the big hurricane tore my eyes out and a pair of new ones were needed to live on.
Gilly has this laid back relax, smoke a spliff and be happy kind of feel. I could have wallowed in that ambiance for weeks.
Val on the other hand had a dip. I recognized it because it is exactly what happened to me on Fraser.
I call it the mental shits (not to mention the Balli belly we are all affected by).
One of the key rules we established in the US is that if either of us doesn't feel right somewhere, we move on.
 Gilly got cut down to two nights even though Val started getting out of her negative spiral on the second night we decided to move on.
Back in Bali, we are staying in a little peace haven in the middle of this busy aunts nest.

Deciding to come back turned out to be a good idea, the skies opened up and it nearly hasn't stopped raining since a couple of days. Now there is something to be said about that. At times it rains so hard that you litteraly feel someone is chucking out buckets and buckets of water from up above. The sewers cannot handle it all in the city so everything slows down, but nothing stops. You still see the scooters the car the people walking driving in streams of water. I suppose it is a good time to rephrase De Niro in Taxi Driver, the rain does clean out the shit of the city, only here it might take a few days before the water actually disappears. Before going to bed we did the same we had done in Gilly the night before we left, we looked at the lightning, counted to see how far away the thunder was and looked at the rain poring down. Our shower is open so taking a hot shower in the poring rain was a new concept for me!
It was raining so hard this morning the noise of the falling water woke me up.
I am looking forward to see the family in a few days, I am happy to re-taste Asia, I had forgotten and was shocked again how the money god has power here, and I am again overwhelmed by the kindness of people.
Oh by the way, did I already mentioned chlorinated hair?

The Australian conclusion

I was thinking about our stay here in Oz as I was getting back from fetching some take away Thai and I fell kind of mixed up.
I shared that over the meal with Val and the kids and we started reflecting back on what we actually did here and we realized a few things.

We have traveled here on the East Australian Coast on a slow pace and at a less adventurous pace then in the US. That allowed us to take more time to enjoy each place, more time to spend apart and together and more time to reflect. As a result the wow effect we got in the States was less strong or should I say less continuous here, however some of the things we have done here were so unique and special that it is difficult to say if one was better then the other. What is sure is that it was different and that there is no need for better or worse, it is just a different country with a different feel so evidently we feel different about Australia then North America.
Certainly one of the most unique events here was seeing the Leather back turtle lay her eggs, or waking up every day to the noise of the parrots, or the tuquoise of the water or the silica of whitehaven, the lighthouses, or tree houses, the spiders and crocks, the Grand Canyon Trail, or the laughing kookaburras in the morning,  to name but a few.
One of the events we had anticipated had it's start in Australia too.

We were confronted with a bunch of truths proper to our nature that after reflection didn't turn out to be so true after all. Being together, close to each other not only on a physical level but on a mental and spiritual level has allowed us to get to know each other and to function together in a way that still amazes me today. We have evolved as a family some values are different here then they are at home, some values at home have no reason to be here while we are traveling.
I feel Val and I have transcended what we thought to be core values to us and this realization took place almost simultaneously. The relativity of time also dawned on us.
As far as I am concerned the moments of self encounter are privileged ones and although they were known to come sooner or later and I was looking forward to them with some apprehension I am again reinforced in my belief that we are taken care of as long as we do what needs to done, as long as we put in the footwork and show up for life everyday again, this belief has changed my apprehension into a welcoming and open mind to further encounters with myself.
Just to finnish the Australian chapter with a story I may have written before.
We were awoken, again, one very early morning by the parrots at sunrise, Val and I just started laughing and came up with the following theory about the noise the birds make here.
It is just this one parrot who wakes up loudly, every morning, and all his neighbours are shouting and shreeking back at him to be quiet. This little anecdote kept us awake and laughing for at least an hour at three thirty in the morning.
Oh yes and for those who never heard a kookaburra here is a nice link for you.

Port Douglas

There isn't really much to say about the last week. We are staying in a resort we are glad we settled down for a few days. Nothing much apart from Jungle surfing, that's hanging from a few wires on the rainforest canopy and feeding five meter crocks, I mean you're average day to day routine. Matts ease being suspended at twenty two meters was stunning and Djudju was careful but quickly got the hang of it. The next day we went to a croc farm...mean animals they are, on top of the food chain with a jaw pressure of two hundred kilo per square centimeter, we were all very impressed.
Anyway more pics then words for this entry.

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The Whitsunday Isles (Part 2 End)

We woke up, early, the clouds dissipated made place for bright sunlight emphasized by the white silica of whitehaven.
The next few days were a continuity of visiting islands alternating with diving amongst fish and coral.
Julian mastered the art of snorkeling the hard way, if the ice is melting causing the sea levels to rise Djudju made sure whils mastering this skill that they stay level!
In some spots the fish are so tame that they follow the dingy and when we jump in the water they just come to see us up close. It made me wonder who is looking at who.
On one occasion we had brought a few cereals which lured the fish close to us, Julian jumped when the fish were ticking on his mask because of the food floating around.
For my part I partly overcame my fear of Jaws and didn't here the 'tum tum tum' but ocasionally.
Some bright green and deep blue shells provided us with a spectacle each time Matt or I dove towards them by retracting as we came close and reappearing as soon as we were gone.
Every day was a blessing.
A reality check slipped in with a few problems from the home front but nothing could change the beauty of these few days.
Our skipper managed to drop us in and take us out so we were never surrounded by masses of people.
As I have said before the conversations we had were inspiring and filled with truth and wisdom.
It is interesting how some people touch you in a way, how some people have a way of relating to life in a simplicity that is so obvious to them and make you realize that life is only as complicated as you make it!
Val and I are leaving this vessel wondering what was better, the visiting of the Whitsundays or the conversation we had on board or was it the millions of stars in the sky or the near full moon with Venus on it's left, or the turquoise of the ocean or the waves rocking us to sleep maybe it was the reef and it's fish or the fish Julian caught and we ate or the wall of bait fish that split in two as we swam towards it or maybe life revealed one of it's better facets by combining it all and allowing us to be open enough to see, smell, feel and taste it!

I wish I could fill these pictures with the feelings that came along so you could experience it too.

The Whitsunday Isles (Part1)

 

Back on the planet after a small week on a Yaminda, a 1160 Seawind Catamaran.

The Whitsundays are a group of seventy four islands of the coast of Cental  Queensland.
They are a jewel when it comes to white beaches and turquoise seas and are know as Yacht heaven.
We arrived in the late afternoon to board Yaminda for a first sleepover before setting sail the next morning. Peter our skipper arrived around seven and after a coffee and a short talk we set off to Whitehaven.
I've never really experienced anything else but waterskiing and Channel crossing from Belgium to England so this was all new to me.

The kids where psyched and not long after we left Matthew was holding the wheel and fiddling with the cats GPS, as far as Julian is concerned he waited his turn and asked to hold the wheel, which he did proudly.
Three rooms a lounge and a deck is where we were to spend the next few days.
The weather was half and half and the sea breeze was a welcoming change to the humidity and heat, not that we are complaining on the contrary.

A three hour trip to Whitehaven gave Peter and I a chance to get to talk to each other and a few of his answers surprised me pleasantly. Out of respect I will not go into specifics but as it turned out over the days spent on the cat Val and I have found we had met a man with an approach to life that was inspiring.
We arrived to Whitehaven and my first judgment was one of, just another beach, nothing special.
The sky was greyish but as soon as the sun pierced through you could see how bright the sand reflected it. As we set foot on the isles, Peter had taken us over with a dingy after anchoring, we picked us some sand. The sand here is like powder, it is sticky when wet and light as powder when dry.
There is something about Whitehaven Beach that is very difficult to describe, but it 'feels' different then any other beach I've been to.
The kids where trotting along on this five kilometer stretch of silica the clouds were providing us with dramatic designs in the sky and the crabs had left arty sand sculptures on the sand. This whole topped by a dark turquoise sea to make memorable pictures on camera and in our minds.




An evening BBQ on the boat and a good night rest rocked by the gentle waves.

Agnes Water

We left the turtles for a place called Agnes Water.
We decided to stay a week here.
Is there anything special to see here no not really apart from the fact that this is probably the last surf beach going up North.
We are staying in a villa, pretty amazing place and for all of us a feeling of being home...with sun, sea, bush, and fishing.
A place for us to rest from our constant packing and going on and on to visit things.
this might sound bizarre but this is really a holiday for us and the kids.
The feeling of being in one place for more then three days is something we didn't realize we missed to this extend.
So what have we done here NOTHING, apart from lazying cooking swimming and fishing.
About fishing I think it's not really my strong point.
I finally caught a flounder but my bucket was so small it slipped away.
The kids had a great stay here they were happy to laze around and do NOTHING.
the extend of our efforts went to shop daily for food BBQ and read.
Matt studied well although never enough for his mum.
We suddenly came to realize that our Austalian chapter is drawing near it's end.
On to the Whitsuday Islands next.
Oh oh a quick description of our morning.
Matt needed to catch up on sleep so he woke up at nine thirty. At some point Julian hurt him inadvertently and Matt went to his room crying.
I joined him laid with him for a while Val and Djudj joined us and the kids proceeded to give us a massage.
Not ten minutes later Val and I were back asleep. The kids silently playing upstairs for an hour had prepared a fruit salad with some strawberry yoghurt and a decaf for me as we came p from our doze off.
What a unbelievable children we have truly a gift.

Fraser Island and Mon Repos

The road to the barge for Fraser seemed to take a lot longer then we anticipated. It may ne that the fact that boats don't usually wait and that the next one was five hours further may have had something to do with it.
A propos I don't think I ever mentioned Julians latest thing. Since we received a mask on the plane to Australia Djudj cannot live without it any longer. A direct result is loss of temper on his end when he goes to bed and we can't find it, on the better note, when we are in the car his expression of being tired is as such:"Mama'an passe moi le bandeau deja", this is followed by Djudj putting it on his eyes and on an average of seven point five seconds later of to lala land he is.
The booking of the hotel at Fraser didn't feel right, the hotel when we got there didn't feel right, and as i turned out to be it wasn't really right, nevertheless we decided to make the most out of it.
We ended up spending the firs two days around the pool and booking a Taxi to take us around the island.
A few details about the island need to be mentioned. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world, it has the largest dunes and it is also the only place where a rainforest grows directly on the sand.
The island is a bit of paradise. Long sandy strips of sand going on for about eighty kilometers, no roads only sand tracks to cross from one side to the other.
I asked a local ranger about snakes and spiders and she told us with a big smile that Fraser is home for nineteen species of snakes of which four are non venomous, it is also home for one of the deadliest funnel spiders and she went on to tell us that the east coast waters is home for hammerheads and tiger sharks, she didn't mention the blue bottle stingers, a kind of jelly fish as big as a kids fist that can paralyze you. Another detail she omitted to tell us about are the March flies, that start in November, go figure, flies as big as your thumb that bite. During the walks we took we had a constant feeling of hearing a trial bike contest not to far away.
Enough about the negative side.
After a 2 hour track/beach trail we got to Waddy point. A pick nick and a look around revealed a few rock pools filled with crabs and fish in which the kids decided to take a dive.
Driving back we saw an old shipwreck, the pinacles a sand blow cathedral like construction revealing different layers of colored sand, and a Eli Creek (not worth the stop).

We were lucky enough to encounter a young dingo pup, not shy at all that came to check us out. And learned, to the great joy of the kids, to search for clams and dig them up.

The next day turned out to be even better with the discovery of Wabby lake at the bottom of a huge sand dune and lake Mc Kenzie for which words will forever fail me to describe it's magical mystical sight.
The kids both at the end of both days acknowledged the 'specialness' of this place.
The sight of Vals fly dance, as in jump around jump round wave your arms scream and slap will stay forever engraved in my memory too.
The flies made us decide to leave a day early from this amazing place to render us to a new rare and privileged sighting in Mon Repos.
We passed a one street village named Woodgate decided to push on to Bragara and booked us into an appartment and a national park ranger program at Mon Repos Turtle Crookery.
We were wanted up front that patience is the key word because apparently turtles cannot be faxed mailed paged or phoned, to come on the beach when needed.
Bored of our head I called up a few people in Belgium, Val was on her facebook, Djudju was harassing Matthew that was super excited by the ranger junior program.
Around nine we were asked to get ready to go the beach for a night that turned out to become one of the most amazing nights of our lives, and not only because we were married nine years to the day.
No less then four loggerhead turtles, an endangered species laid eggs tonight. And the spectacle we got was amazing.
As we learned, turtles once twenty or so eggs laid stay committed  till they are finished.
The ranger placed a light behind the turtle and we witnessed the laying of one hundred and fifty seven eggs before the turtle covered the pouch she had dug in the sand prior to laying and turned around to head back to see.
The cherry on the cake came as we had to relocate the eggs away from the tides reach.
An exhausted Julian who although dead tired watched the whole thing was carried back as Matthew being his usual self couldn't stop talking about what he saw.
An amazing last night in this little village which seemingly has little to offer if you travel in Australia.
On we went to Agnes Water.

A bunch of Pics here !!!

Sunshine Beach

We moved away from Byron Bay with a new philosophy, no more big plans we're just going to hop from beach to beach, get the kids to body board and enjoy the sea and the beach.
This new philosophy brought us from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast more precisely Sunshine beach. We rented a little apartment fifty meters up from the beach, view on the ocean in this little village next to Noosa. Four restaurants, a grocery store, two bottle shops (one called the thirsty camel) a surf shop and of course a surf club is all the commerce to be found here. The kids and I woke up around seven this morning, they played with scissors, papers, glue and carton for half an hour and I decided to take them out for breakfast.
We took a walk to the beach where a few flags where showing the life guard service being active, and before breakfast we decided to take a swim in the ripping sea, two meter waves right at the surf and the kids having a blast jumping at them.
We didn't even bother bringing towels and they weren't needed. We went for a healthy breakfast, healthy as in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The 'boss-missus' finally woke up a few hours later and back to the beach we went for a couple of hours.
Body boarding, castle building swimming and creaming are the major activities for the day.
The current out here is pretty strong it rips to the left today and the kids have difficulties staying close.
I caught a glimpse of Matthews terrorized  face as five waves crashed into him, I rushed to grab a hold of him with vivid memories of me having experienced the exact same thing as a boy; being scared of the seas strength is actually a virtue as far as i am concerned. Matthew shared his fear with me and got of with a good scare and hopefully some wisdom.
A late lunch and a siesta, what a feeling to fall asleep with your kid in your arms.
Today is one of those extremely lazy days were not a worry in the world startles you, hapyness is the predominant feeling and again i must pause to tell myself how blessed we are of being able to grow even closer to each other.
Today I am convinced that doing this trip was amongst the best decisions I have taken in my life, it may not be so tomorrow but it is all about today, and I intend to enjoy this one to the fullest.
The day is ending with the  family watching  Nanny Mc Phee after a decent sushi.
And as we heard in New York by a beggar and as Matthew repeats spontaneously every now and then:
"What a day little people, what a day oh what a daaaayyy!!!"

New South Wales to Queensland -1hour!

We left the beauty of the rainforest. Our guide book writer seems to have a thing for lighthouses so of we went to Smokey Point Point Lighthouse, went up and around to see yet again amazing views of the surrounding beaches.
Driving on for a light lunch through Forster we made it to Port Maquarie, according to our book a destination interesting enough to stop. Indeed a beautiful sea side little village, again beautiful beaches and a walking trail going from beach to beach. we rented bicycles for Matt Val and myself and Djudj, not really to his liking was put in a little trailer on the back of my bike.
We ended up cycling for a bit and buying some paint and brushes after having passed the best of English left overs much to the amazement of Matt, Bowling and Crockett.
A sport mind you not as it seems put away for the youngest of Australians, I love the uniforms, the shorts the collars, the v-neck sweaters and in particular the long white shorts especially underneath the shorts.
We got to the promenade where the rocks are painted for a few miles on end and found an empty spot to leave our mark, I appolagise our artwork. I am not sure how long the paint we bought for two dollar fifty will last but we made everlasting pictures of it!
A swim in the sea, a few annoying phone calls causing stress I really don't need, and a good dinner to make for a near perfect two days, and a realization that, we are on the go go go and we need not forget to slow down and take time to smell the roses.
We decided to push on to Byron Bay where we would stay for at least four days and relax by the beach.
According to our guide book there Dorrigo was a place to go visit and so we did.
We booked a B&B that was in the guide book and drove through Bellingen where we stopped for ice cream.
A different vibe here. The board at the outside of the ice cream parlor had cards for yoga, healing, spiritual retreats, health foods, aromatherapy etc...
Most shops sold organic food and the people had a different new hippies look.
Quite a good vibes yet quite trashy at the same time. I was right in my comfort zone, or would have been about twenty one years ago.
We arrived at the B&B where Juan greeted us. I had a feeling of being checked out before he actually let us in and after going for food at the local supermarket we looked closer at the place we were staying.
Stunning views had to make up for the green carpet and the passé furniture.
A kind of shrine was there revealing two dresses one of a woman one of a child and a few pictures.
It looked creepy, dusty yet the feeling I had there was one of peace much to the contrary of the looks.
Val was a bit freaked by all this. Despite this we had one of the deepest sleeps we have had in the last few weeks.
The next morning breakfast was at Juan's diner "Juan del Fuego" the music in the diner/smallest motorcycle museum in the world was fiery Argentinian tango and breakfast was excellent.
It is bizarre how some people strike you as wanting to be open yet feel closed in as imprisoned by some sorrow not dealt with, this is my judgement only and we had been welcomed yesterday and today with a smile.
Oh yes, for the first time this morning i was wondering why this stupid Australian driver was coming straight at me when I realized it was I who was driving Belgian style, no harm but a frozen face from Val for a couple of minutes, no one had realized I was driving on the wrong side of the road.
A magnificent walk in Dorrigo National Park took us behind a waterfall. Australia is a Bird land that any ornithologist would love and the noises in the forest are just amazing.
Val and Matt walked ahead and on the climb back Djudj and I left behind got confronted with a passing enemy, "the je veux plus marcher, j'en ai marre thought".
Ten minutes later lots of screaming and more then a few birds scared, we carried on to reach the car, go for lunch and hit a three and a half hour trip to Byron Bay.
Nothing interesting apart from loud and not always in tune singing from the four of us, a horrible lunch in horrible village of which the name escapes me and a different encounter I must tell you about just outside of Grafton.
A brief wee stop at the petrol station turned out to be an interesting thirty minutes led as my interlocutor would surely say, by the son of God himself Jesus Christ.
Next to the seemingly closed gas station was a tree full of colorful parrots, behind a house with the sign Jesus Saves, in front of us a table with a little roof, cookies, chips, chocolate, and one in his early twenties looking blond dread locked bare top guy with fresh tattoos as a proof of his new found love for the Lords son. Sitting next to him a toothless long pepper salt colored haired guy dressed totally in white open shirt.
Hesitantly about their invitation Matthew and I sat down while Val and Djudj went for a wee.
I will resume the conversation we had while the kids (and Val) were munching away on sweets and salties.
This guy was the mission priest, he explained that this was a mission welcoming delinquents and addicts/alcoholics.
Wade or that is how I remember him went out to explain how one day after robbing banks and beeing condemned to ten years in prison found a tiny guy who came to his cell and made him feel he was on the wrong path and needed guidance and would find it through God and Jesus..... Wade continued telling us that a silence came over him and that suddenly he could see himself and feel he needed out of the chains he had put around himself.
I was translating and relating to his story as I had experienced it, basically the now priest had had a spiritual awakening after hitting bottom and had a found a way out he believed in.
This conversation only reinforced my belief in the need of spirituality in ones life, mostly revealed amidst a depression.
No matter what path or religion anyone takes as long as it is a positive one, if we do we will all be working for 'A Greater Good" OURS!!!

We arrived in Byron Bay in a dusty apartment, you now one of those you see on pic that looks fantastic cause they too pictures of the new furniture but 'forgot' to show the rest.
Its the dirt thats hard to stand not the lack of amenities or comfort.

Anyway Byron Bat turned out to be great. A late hippy town that still has a laid back atmosphere.
A surfers town daytime a music town at night with little bands playing in nearly every bar or restaurant.
We met our neighbors a couple in their sixties, Darryl took Matthew out on his surf for an hour.
They made us feel like we were visiting the kids grand parents, what a wonderful good vibe, family atmosphere, truly special people as far as i am concerned.
We went for dinner after a day at the beach and the kids couldn't stop dancing stealing the show at every music stop we did.
I took the Saturday morning to resource myself with a breath of spiritual talking.
The first night a was wondering what that squeaking noise was, we found out soon enough that there was a huge colony of giant bats living out here, impressed we were at this night creatures. 
The next day revealed colorful tents in front of us, sunday market at Byron Bay is a joyful happening.

Little stands with goods mostly organic when it comes to food and soaps, and goodies of all sorts.
Matthew took Djudju for a walk around the market while Val and I were packing.
A brief drive to the NSW/Queensland border took us to Kirra Beach.
A great little apartment across the beach spotless clean made Val revive to the point she went for a siesta while I took the boys to the sea with their freshly bought body board.
Matthew went out in the not so small waves Djudju following in his footsteps.
Now Djudji is a bit smaller then Matt and i thought the waves were pretty big but the little blond curly surfer looks guy didn't stand back and his actions were worthy of his looks.
The next day was a laid back beach day after a lazy morning and an early sushi.
Once again no wave was going to scare either of my boys.
What a joyful happening spending a day with the family at the beach doing nothing but thinking about how good it is to do nothing and how good it is to be with your family.
We are so privileged!

Mountains, Tropical rain Forest, Beaches!

A decision to get the raincoats and pants on and a few layers as the temperature had a massive drop.

Yesterday 36°C today 9°C grey and drizzly, feels like being back home, then I look outside and see the daily reunion of the twenty something white parrots outside the window, the sounds of the birds and the squeaks of god knows what else is out there.

Grand Canyon loop is where were heading supposedly a two hour intermediate walk in a loop.
We start of going down in what soon becomes a Jurassic Scenery, the rainforest at its best with giant ferns and green and greens and more greens all over. All of this while we are climbing downwards towards a creek that streams down beside us. The trail here reminds me of a mixture of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park mixed in with plants that could range from any 'The Thing' to Aliens type movies.

The walk down lasted for about one and a half hour and to quote a contrary in our case 'what comes down must go back up'. This was not a walk for an eight year old even less for four year old and although Matt only had a dozen j'en ai marre he got up way in front of all of us. Djudj once the challenges of crossing a few streams and climbing over rocks and trees and the way up lasting for over forty minutes needed creative motivation to carry on, as in ...imagine all the mountains would be edible, what would they be for you or songs as in un kilometre a pied and so on.
Anyway finally made it to the top three hours and Thirteen minutes later to find out there was one point five more kilometers to go, I left Matthew to wait for Val and Djudj and took a run to the car in the poring rain, the canopy of the rainforest not impeding the drops to reach us anymore.
What a courageous kids I have my quads were shattered after the walk and they took it like real men!

Of to Nelson bay we went. The coast in this part of Australia is characterized by bays and beeches one after the other. Funny enough we ended up in the area where i had been about fifteen years ago.
We visited Oakvale Farm where I was fifteen years ago and by judging the age of the kangaroos it looked like they where here a way back to.
The kids went crazy especially Matt when it came to bottle feeding the goats and petting the koalas was an amazing experience.
We stopped for an ice cream before heading on, I posed my camera on a table knowing I'd forget it and indeed I did. A bit of panic a phone call and to find out the camera was safe and sound at the farm.
On the way back home I saw a sign for Burundi beach which i had heard of and of to there we went to discover yet another amazing Australian endless beach.
A steep walk towards Tomaree head to reveal  views of endless ocean and beaches on the other side of the forest and into the new day towards a new destination we were.

Seal Rock and Sugerloaf Lighthouse, a short stop with yet again stunning views a light meal in a tiny village of which the name escapes me and on we went.

The beauty of traveling as we are doing now and this learned to the huge amount of miles we drove in the States is that we are only in the car for a few hours at a time, this gives (or should give) the kids less 'shpielkes' and thus (should give) more peace to the parents.

The scenery at our next destination changed dramatically. We were suddenly located in the middle of a rainforest, no more turquoise beach and white sand or so we thought.
The Eco cottages we were in where amazingly situated especially as far as night noise is concerned as you can hear here.
The gravel road leads us to a small river crossover where that road is set in a quite unique environment, it stunned us all to see and experience this morning walk.
We started of in a rainforest trail, a two kilometer trail leading us through a jungle where each thread was done carefully in order not to step on a snake. Val was really at ease especially when the mosquito's started hitting us. She had 'panic' written in her eyes and jumped at every stone i threw or at every branch or leaf that Matthew noisily stepped on on purpose. Julian stoic as ever at ease and loose just worrying about not falling over a dead branch. A brief encounter with a young guano (a big lizardy type on animal) and to Vals relief the trail ended. we crossed the road to get back to the car to walk up a sand dune trail revealing a green sea and Dolphins swimming by as we got there.
The kids collected shells and after a couple of hours we finally made our way back to the car, avoiding by five minutes the skies opening up to let down buckets full of water for the next thirty minutes.
A light meal at the local Chinese restaurant of Hawks Nest and of we where to see yet another set of beautiful beaches and one that marked the kids in particular.
Darkpoint is we were told the largest dunes in New South Wales and getting there after a short but steep climb we were amazed by the desert looking view we got. To great to describe for words I've let the camera shoot as the kids were climbing up and running down the dunes with a dark threatening sky above there head. If you look at the pics you will smile and feel a little of the joy they experienced.
It is amazing what nature does to people young or old, but again I stress the fact that we have so little of it in Belgium, worse yet we take so little advantage of what we have back home, I am talking for my family saying we but I know people know what I mean.
Being here again makes me see how little we are and how big a damage we are capable of making to this planet, and i am pointing the finger at me and the way i educate my kids to start with. The effort we need to make is one of shear action and not being lazy, because it takes little to make big changes.
I hope to read this passage again often and remind myself of this once i am back home in my daily routine.


Photo's!