On the road again... briefly

Oh well yes...

I have been travelling. From the 13th to the 17th of January i really did some miles (I would say kilometres but it doesn't have the same ring to it).

Firstly i went to West Gippsland, based around Neerim South. I was with another four people and we were out making a little short film in the area. We stopped off in Noojee for an ordinary lunch in a very nice pub indeed. (although i can't say they liked us all that well) We were a pretty loud city group i guess, but nevertheless it was nice. We filmed under this amazing trestle bridge that one hundred years ago had steam trains rocketing across.

The whole area was not suffering from the drought that had stricken not just most of Victoria, but a lot of Australia too. It has been so dry here it's quite unbelievable. Then again, I have been to Niger.

ANyways

The next day i was off to visit relatives who live on a farm near Wangaratta. As the picture shows you it's far drier up there! Plus there was a lot of smoke from bushfires. Actually with the dry summer here bushfires have been raging a lot, and even in Melbourne we have had days when that smoke has drifted a few hundred kilometres down into our city making for some very eerie days.

Next to Kyabram, where i visited my grandparents and then to more relatives in Bendigo. DOing some filming everywhere i went. Not that much to report, Kyabram is not a major town really, and boy was it hot after the first two days. We are talking 40ish, that's real African weather.

All in all i must have travelled over 900 km in those five days. wowsers. That's a lot of concentrating on the road, believe you me!

Remembering someone met and gone

Hi there.
I have just been searching the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree (the best place on the net for travel advice) and after following a few links was shocked and saddened to find that someone I met whilst travelling had passed away from cerebral malaria back in June last year. Shocking more so because I only realised today in January even though i knew her blog address. How could I have missed this? I am really struggling with that. I must have logged onto her blog and just misread, or gone straight to other posts... It defies belief really. Not very happy with myself right now.

I met Kinga, from Poland, when I was in Ouagadougou, only a couple of days before contracting malaria myself. Kinga was on a long hitchhiking trip through Africa, and did it in such a free way that i felt rather unadventurous. She didn't like to stay in hotels, but stayed with locals whenever possible. She was the true example of the traveller who had thrown away all the restrictions of life and just did what she wanted, how she wanted. The day after i met her i headed to Banfora, she was going to Niger.

Please visit these two sites to learn a little about her, an amazing person indeed:
http://www.kingafreespirit.pl/kingaen/index.php
(her blog)

http://www.digihitch.com/tribute/kinga
(a tribute)

When travelling I have met loads of others doing it there way. Some are more restricted than myself, others far less (like Kinga). Whatever their path, it seems we are all ships in the night, and i rarely no much about those i pass once we part company. So something like this comes as a shock.
'Travelling really does broaden the mind' (TB, circa 1977)

Tikrit? techcrete?

Hey folks....
interesting business sign down the road has it's business name as 'Tech Crete'
i am trying to work out whether it's meant to be a play on words cos i guess if said in a certain way it sounds like 'Tikrit' (pronounced Tikreet) where Saddam Hussein, now no longer with us, was born.


I was just wondering

Happy New Year