I'm slipping into a lifestyle.

This could be dangerous. There has to be a problem with being this comfortable with a lifestyle of leisure.

Sunday through Tuesday schedules were a bit goofed up due to either working or waiting to see if there was more work. As it turned out over three days I did about half of my previously normal day of work. Then got a photo gig at the hostel in which I'm residing - two hours of taking photos for a week of free accomodation (this is where my Guinn smile spreads across my face). I then turned to entertaining as a way to fill my days. Have I mentioned that this hostel has a Weber? Well it was put to good use for two birthdays and a dinner party. Continued to have a blast, and once the hostel began to feel too homy I realized I need to be doing something (found out that average stay here is 3 weeks, so lots of folks are here for months at a time).

Cleared up my work and headed off to "Roto", or Rotnest Island (Auzzies apparently never use more than two syllables). This was good for sleep and a bit of "drying out" (last few days filled with card games, late nights, and copious amounts of red wine). Rotnest was beautiful and quite. Spent two nights and three days there. I love that Rotnest has no private motorized vehicles (just some busses), it has been kept almost completely natural, and is encircled with picturesque limestone and white sand beaches. The water, I'll reapeat again, is phenomenally clear (Looking over the side of the 100 foot ferry coming into port, I could see the bottom). Going in the middle of the week was great as I felt like I had the island to myself. My memory of Rotnest: sitting at the Dome cafe's porch over the bay, drinking tea, reading the Economist, and watching a dolphin swim within 20 feel of the beach. The best part was that there were so few people, or that kind of beauty was so natural here, that none (of the 3 others at the coffee shop) made much notice other than in passing "Did you happen to see that dolphin a few minutes ago?"

I got myself lost on deserted beaches, went upwards of 8 hours without interacting with humans, and was surrounded by Cape Cod postcard views. Finished up the trip with finally spotting the Southern Cross and going to bed by 9 with a good book.

Today I'm back at the hostel in Fremantel, have BBQ'ed again and attempted to get to an art show opening. (Met another French girl who is a photographer and painter during my slow days earlier this week and had her opening give me a highlight to my week) Alas, everything closes early here and an art show that started at 6pm was closed up with the lights out by 8:45. (Quarter of 8 for the British and Three quarters of 9 for the Norwegians).

So it has been a pretty mellow week - but I guess that's what holidays are for. Had another haircut this week and have decided that's how I should start measuring time of vacations.... So far my vacation has been 2 haircuts long, how long will your next be? I realize now that one of my biggest hopes with this blog is to inspire others to take traveling more seriously. Do long trips and go places that challenge you (even better, force yourself to have no itinerary). I don't think I've gotten there yet, but I'm working to express here how much one gets from travel. And, more importantly, how accessible this kind of travel really is (99% of the people here don't quite their jobs and sell everything as I did, they just take 3 month vacations). Oh, to have European vacation time....

Well it's midnight here (10 am yesterday for you guys) and I'm to be up in 6 hours to catch the 4x4 for my Safari. I'll do my best to not fall in a gorge or be eaten by something crazy in the outback, and I'll be posting here again in 9 or 10 days when I get back to civilization.


PS Fun slang I've learned:

"Texas" in Norwegian - when a situation is crazy and out-of-hand
"Texas" in Indonesian - to be rich and decedent (apparently comes from the TV show Dallas)
Chin, Chin - Cheers in French
Tosser - British word for chump
Geazer - see Tosser
Gaffer - see Tosser
Sorted - Australian and British for everything from getting a situation worked out, to selling someone drugs, to beating someone up (well used)
Pissed, or Half Pissed - depends on how much you've had to drink

We'll leave the Cockney slang for another day...