Last Tuesday, Květa flew back into Cairns again.

I figured as her flight landing wasn't scheduled until 18:50, I'd head into Cairns earlier and find a durian or 2 for us to share on her arrival.. However, I guess that just wasn't meant to be, as although I tried 5 or 6 different places, all of them were out of stock.. Bit of a let down as I'd really been looking forward to a durian again, - that creamy sweet deliciousness..

I did, however, manage to score some really yummy longan fruits to share..


Fruitopia Swimming Hole
Anyhow, time on my hands still, I'd also prearranged to meet Venant.. He's this raw vegan guy we met at fruitopia after that 80/10/10 gathering that Harley and Freelee organized in December last year (ended shortly before our arrival in the tropics)..

Venant's also famous worldwide for his role in decapitating Xena.. Yep.. He's the Samurai Ninja that finally beheaded the iconic warrior princess, appearing in the last 2 episodes of the long running TV show.. I have to confess that I've actually seen an episode once or twice, although only coincidently as it was never a show I was in to..

So we met up around 17:30, and spent an hour or so together chatting. He's currently doing a juice thing, and I think he said it was his 14th day on just juices on that day we met.. He's a great balanced guy with his wits about him, and delightful company.. a pleasure meeting up with him again.

He made me a delicious fresh apple juice, and soon afterwards I was headed on to the airport..

I must have got there at roughly the same time as Květas plane landed.. around 18:50, and by 18:55 I was in the airport lounge waiting to meet and great her..

We had our trusty little mobile phones with us that spend most of their times turned off or discharged, but this time were both battery loaded and on.. She rang me within minutes of me getting in to the airport to let me know that she would be last to leave the plane because they'd be pushing her in a wheel chair..

Anyhow, we were soon in each others arms again, after her too long sojourn elsewhere, (zlobila jsi mně K! - byla jsi pryč  aš moc dlouho!).

We weren't able to leave the airport immediately as Květa had her own wheelchair with her as luggage that we had to first wait for and pick up. But it didn't take long really, and we were soon in the trusty car driving back up the range toward our temporary stepping stone home in Mareeba..

Munching on longans on the way up and both feeling glad to be homeward bound..


Photo taken an hour before driving down to Cairns to pick up Květa

Květa was, and still is feeling a little run down from all her travelling, and her sleeping pattern isn't full back to normal yet, but will no doubt soon be, and I'm sure she'll be updating her own blog again sooner or later.. Letting you all know what she's been up to..

We were at Mareeba Markets together yesterday and fully stacked up with fruit for the coming week..

Papaya, pineapple, tomatoe, cucumber, pumpkin (yes, we haven't done this much before, but we really like them fresh juiced together with tomatoes!), oranges, rockmelon and the infamous chocolate pudding fruit(!).. yum!

Hugs to all,
mango.

Less than a week now until Kveta gets back here.. She's been gone far too long.

Meanwhile I've been hanging out here, visiting Fruitopia twice a week for a bath in the creek.. I find the water there so much more appealing than our "on tap" water which is sadly mightily chlorinated and smells like a swimming pool..

I'm sure that it must have an effect on the stuff we're growing in the garden, although to be honest, I'm not able to notice that effect.. The cucumbers we've grown are simply delicious..

I've been watching some Derren Brown videos recently..

That guy is simply soo good at whatever it is he's doing.. If you don't know him, he's this English stage performer who works his own brand of mind reading, hypnotic, magic tricks.. I think he really has an ability to get inside the mind of others, including the audience..

He claims to have no psychic powers what-so-ever, and everything is slight of hand, cold reading, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), PWA (Perception Without Awareness), hypnotism, mentalism and showmanship. I think I've a rough understanding of some of what he does, but other things he manages to pull off I have absolutely no idea about..

In the show I just watched, he manages to get some elderly lady who doesn't play poker, to go up against 5 of the countries top poker players..

Before she does this, she spends a little over a week with Derren, where he trains her for the event.. The result.. she manages to nearly come first out 6 contestants.. Well, she came 2nd, but only because an unlucky card was dealt at the end.. Experts seemed to think that she would have absolutely no chance against the guys she was up against..

In a similar show I've seen previously, he manages in 1 single week to teach this girl to play the piano at such a level that at the end of the week she plays in front of a live audience, at a very high level.. Her training was all done without her even touching the piano once before hand.. Now explain that one!

hugs,
mango.

On saturday, just passed, I went to the Malanda market and stocked up on food for the week.

Pineapples, custard apples, papaya, mandarins, tomatoes, persimmons, cucumbers and avos..

I already had a box of oranges back at home, enough to last me the rest of this week, at least, but somehow I felt like I wanted more..

So driving back through Atherton, I stopped off at Woolworths to check out if they had anything appealing...

One sad and lonely little durian caught my eye, and some juicy looking medjool dates.. I can never resist eating a date while browsing the fresh produce, but don't normally buy any, but for a change, I bought a handful, together with the lonesome durian..

The durian was devoured before I'd even got back to base.. First one I'd had for quite a while now.. well.. at least a month say.. (for those of you curious, I'm on me tod at the moment.. Kveta is away visiting friends and family)..

Anyhow, today, having still the taste of that durian in my mouth, I felt like more.. So I drove back out to Atherton for 2nds.. actually 3rds too.. I bought 2 medium sized ones..

But what a let down! Saturday's one was reasonable, not the best, but satisfying and appealing enough for me to want more, but today's were frankly very disappointing.. watery and flavourless.

Woolies durian are generally pretty crappy up this ways.. They're frozen in Thailand and shipped to Sydney where they arrive reasonably fresh.. but then they have to get them up from Sydney to this neck of the woods, a good 3 or 4 day journey..

And there-in lies the problem.. instead of keeping them frozen for the journey, they are just refrigerated, so by the time they get here, they are all thawed out and past their peek..

I kind of knew that already, and had told Kveta in the past that I don't want any more of them, but, you know how it is when you feel you want something, and saturday's one must have been a freak that was actually flavoursome and good enough for me to return for more..

So.. no more woolies durian for me thanks.. I should save the durian money for a trip to the philipines instead,, or back to Thailand again..

absolutely delicious custard apples though!!

peace,
mango.

A short while ago, i posted to facebook the intro to the fruitarian documentary made by Emile with the help of David..

I think they did a great job with that by the way, and I'm still looking forward to seeing the finished version of which Emile finished recently (he aired it to a an audience of a couple of hundred or so, and the general feeling was it went down well, sparking the curiousity of many toward fruitarianism..)..

- the video above isn't the video I'm talking about, by the way.. that can be seen here:

Fruitarian Doco Intro

anyhow.. like i said, i posted the video onto facebook.. I've had an account since sometime last year, but generally don't go there, as quite frankly it confuses the bijeebers out of me.. I signed up predominantly to hook up with some old friends, and maybe view their photos or videos, and just generally keep in touch.. Certainly, I looked up a fair few old faces I once knew quite well, people that I'm guessing without facebook I'd probably never have heard from again.. So there was a certain degree of success there..

So then, that video got posted, and suddenly my inbox was inundated with friend requests.. I ummed and aahd a fair bit about them.. Only few of the people I'd heard of, and the rest friends of friends, and even some complete strangers..

this morning i was messing around on facebook again, and made the very rash decision to just befriend everybody.. so i just clicked on each "make friends" button, one after the other.. about 30 or so in all..

and now i've done that, i'm feeling strangely deeply saddened by the fact.. like i betrayed myself, because i really just wanted to have people i personally "know", like, having met them in the flesh, as friends, and now i've just gone and forsaken my ploy, and got heaps of new friends i don't know.

i'm almost feeling a little like canceling my facebook account as it doesn't exactly bring more joy into my life..

i think i'll just abandon it for a while, and stick to my blogs, that's enough for me.. i feel i don't want to get too involved in much internetwise.. i feel pretty much done with the whole forum thing, and debating my opinion everywhere.. it's like, i feel quite committed and certain of the path i've chosen, and have no doubts that 100% fruitarianism is the right thing for me to be doing right now..

i'm going outside for some sunshine..

hugs,
mango..
ps hope you enjoy the video i posted here too.. made me laugh as i found myself relating well to it's content..

I'm sure there must be worst ones than me out there.. surely there must be (?!).. I mean, the worlds full of sick crazy wackos that just have to be doing a far worse job at in than I do..

but loonies aside, I do often feel like I've been (and continue being) a pretty rotten one too.. I had no real contact with my brother and his 7 kidded brood as they were growing up. It's easy to try and point the blame elsewhere, but the truth is I never really made any great effort to keep in touch. - after a couple of decades of basically zero communication, we have only very recently begun a correspondence once more..

Of course it's helped little that we've both been on separate continents all this time.. and it's highly unlikely that we'll ever be living in close proximity of each other ever again.. .. But I'm excusing myself..

Today's my niece Amelias 5th birthday, and I've been mulling over the fact that since saying sad and tearful goodbyes to her, some 3 and a half years ago, at the train station in Sheffield, I've basically been completely out of her life..

The few times I've attempted to talk with her on the phone, she's not really cared for any part of it, which of course has been completely understandable, as I doubt she was ever fully aware who was at the other end, and what close friends we'd once been, before I upped and left.. flying off to the other side of the globe.


me and my old buddy and fellow fruitarian, prem das,
next to rustys market after a durian feast
Of course.. I had to leave really.. destiny was calling me impatiently, and despite the heartbreak of leaving behind loved ones, Australia & Kveta were definitely good and necessary moves for me.

But that doesn't stop me feeling sad about having family so far away, and not being around while they grow.

It's been on my mind lately too, about the possibility of me returning to England to catch up with everyone in 2011, but much as I'm missing folks there, and looking forward to seeing them, I'm also dreading the idea of a trip back to the UK.. numerous things I wouldn't be looking forward to if I were to return.. and I get so attached to our nest here and little garden too.. making it even more difficult for me to leave.. and then there's the who financial viability of a trip back there.. I'm normally an expert budgeter, and feel comfortable with a steady trickle of expenses, - something not compatible with a trip to the other side of the globe!!

What to do? only time will tell.. I want them all to come and live over here in Australia!!

happy birthday Amelia!

peace,
mango.

Well, as life continues to move pretty slowly, movement is not at all so slow in our garden..

The first cucumbers we put in as seeds a few days after we got here, are now full of cucumbers that are at that stage where they're ready to be picked and eaten..


Not even 2 months old (from seed) and already ready to eat

Yum.. We picked that one yesterday, together with the 2 others in the picture below, and kveta and i enjoyed our first home grown fresh cucumber meal of the season.. !!


We ate these 3, freshly picked, yesterday afternoon!

Actually, these are from the first of many seeds we've planted out, and hopefully we should be eating our own cucumbers regularly now throughout the rest of the season.. !

the cucumbers are the sweetest, creamiest cuces we've eaten.. showing us once more the power of vegan organic gardening.. the seeds having been planted in soil thrown onto the top of decomposing fruit skin compost.. and water regularly with my own pea..

As for the rest of our so far prepared little garden.. the tomatoes are somewhat slower in developing, but several plants are slowly progressing, and quite a few seedlings sprouted around the place too..

The pawpaws we transplanted from fruitopia have all reestablished themselves well, and are powering, together with an abundance of pawpaw seedlings from the best local pawpaw grower in the area (werner from the local markets, who sells a variety called red hawaiian solo.. very sweet, delicious and moreish)..

apart from that, seedling fruit trees are starting to poke their heads from beneath the soil, as the dormant life from the regularly buried compost heaps begin to awaken.. we have several small akee seedlings, and this morning i spotted a durian pushing through the earth..

now if only we had our own more permanent piece of land! as it is, we still know that probably the maximum length of time we'll be living in this particular rented property is likely to be not more than a year..

but what can you do?! i guess you've got to enjoy it while it lasts, and not be too attached to things.. hopefully by the time we leave, the pawpaw trees will have established themselves well enough for the next tenants to see the value in them and not rip them out, but somehow i think the durian, akee, and other such fruit trees will likely not be so easily tolerated..

peace,
mango.

Just short of a week ago, we finally got ourselves reconnected to the internet.

It took us a while longer than expected due to a couple of technical issues.. Primarily because we signed up initially with telstra (australias major telephone network owner) internet, but shortly after signing up had a change of feeling about being locked in on their 24 months contract, so canceled that deal before it had really gotten started (which turned out to be lucky, as had the contract already been initiated, we would have been legally obliged to stick with them for 2 full years!!)..

anyhow, as said, we canceled the telstra internet deal, and after the dust had settled on that one, we signed up with TPG instead, and I have to say, so far, it beats telstra hands down.. far faster than the connection we had in sydney with telstra, and only a 6 month contract with the same monthly price..

so...



we're back!

checking our emails regularly, and slowly working through the backlog of stuff that has built up over the past few months of being predominantly offline..

We've settled in to our new place ok, and it feels more like home daily, although the lack of features we desire will likely forever be an issue..

daily existence is taking on its routines.. Fridays we tend to get up early and drive down to rustys market in cairns.. - we're still scoring australian durian every visit, but the season is slowly trickling to a halt though..

saturdays we generally visit the local market (actually, the "local" market changes location every week, depending on which saturday of the month it is.. like this coming saturday will be the 4th of the month, and the market will be in Yungaburra.. about 50kms drive away from where we're at.. but a ride worth making as we tend to stock up on cucumbers and tomatoes at those markets, locally grown and at prices far below the commercial businesses around the area)..

actually, we stuck some cucumber seeds in the ground pretty much as soon as we got here, and so the biggest plants are already 2 foot tall, or more, and plenty of others at intermittent sizes below that.. also our pawpaw seedlings are looking healthy, and several tomato plants are growing from seed too.. It looks like we'll be eating our own home grown cuces in under 2 months from now.. we juice them daily.. yum..

also, foodwise, the akee at fruitopia seem to have just gone through a second spurt of fruiting, and we've been fortunate enough to help liberate some of them.. when we can, we are enjoying their cheesy savouriness in abundance.. I definitely feel they are currently my number 2 fruit.. just falling short of the mighty durian.. although no doubt, if we were to have a glut of marrangs or chempadeks, they would be ousted from their 2nd position..

Life's good.. more another when..

peace,
mango.

So..

We moved in to our new home, as planned, last Thursday..

The Lifeline people kindly delivered us a few small items of furniture.. A fridge, a sofa, a coffee table, a kitchen table with 2 chairs, a wardrobe and a bed.. Unfortunately the bed is sort of too small for us. Too short, lengthwise for me, and not wide enough for the both of us, so for the time being, we've borrowed a couple of single mattresses from Fruitopia..

Meanwhile, we've also invested in another couple of small tables, a juicer like we had in Sydney, and some small bedding things.. We've also started mosquito proofing the house, by tightly drawingpinning net curtains to the window frames.. A nifty little solution that's far more cost effective than investing in mozzymeshing..

We're both very happy to finally have a home of our own. It even has a carport which is keeping the car dry and out of the sun.. (Torrential downpour happening right at this moment folks!)

Actually, while on the subject of the car, I was just noticing how much more petrol we've been consuming since since moving up here, and it's really taking up a far bigger chunk of our monthly expenses than it did back in Sydney days.. I suppose the furthest we travelled there was from our home in Malabar to Kingsford where we generally travelled twice weekly for fruit.. That would've been a round trip of 30 kms or so. Here, we are voyaging to Cairns and back weekly, a round trip of easily 130kms, and often travelling to Atherton and further afield once or twice a week, adding up to considerably more than 70kms per trip.. Not to mention small trips in and out of Mareeba centre, which although that'll be lessened now, as we have moved closer to the centre than Fruitopia was, it's still significant..

So we're considering getting some kind of conversion done to the engine to reduce the petrol consumption and instead use one of those water fuel cell things.. To be honest, I really am not mechanically minded at all, but there's this guy at the Saturday markets that has a stall where he claims to be selling something he calls Hydrogen Water Fuel Cell Technology (his business is called "Hydroxyboost").. It's not something that will run your engine 100% on water, which of course is what we'd prefer, but his little device that gets attached to the engine of the car can supposedly increase fuel efficiency by up to 40%, horsepower by up to 20% and reduce emissions by as much as 90%(!).. Bold claims that I would dearly love to believe in, but there's that nagging doubt that it may be all a con.. He claims that in other countries in the world, the US included, the government will actually subsidise the installation of the kit.. Are there any readers that may be able to confirm, or not, that this technology actually does as it claims, and genuinely works??

The claim is that the kit converts the car into a hybrid, of sorts, by using water as a catalyst, once it is broken down to HHO gas.. The guy pushing it certainly seems both genuine and keen and claims that he builds all the devices himself at home and can put us on to others that already have it installed and are reaping the benefits.. I'm enthused, just feel I need to do some more research online first, something we can't do easily yet, as still no internet connection here yet.. Although our phone line did activate yesterday, so internet shouldn't be too far away (we may nip into the library later today to check our emails and stuff, and maybe i'll post this off too)..

So yeah, we have a house and garden.. big mango tree and a tamarind tree too.. and Kveta's already planted out some aloe vera, and put down a few small cucumber seeds too.. We've also started burying our compost again, which is, we believe the quickest way to get it to break down back into yummy worm food soil. I think we may head back out to fruitopia for a visit soon, and pick some of their abundant cherry tomatoes to get the seed in the ground here.. Maybe dig up the odd pawpaw seedling if there're any the right size..

We're still very much in a state of unpackedness, and still organising here to get things the way we want it.. Kveta's been working hard on the kitchen floor which was left in a pretty filthy sticky state despite cleaners having supposedly been through the day before we moved in..

Powerpoints are few and far between which will mean trailing wires around the place, especially for the internet the phone line is in an odd inconvenient place, but I guess it's an old house, built back in the days when electrickery wasn't so popular as it is today..

Rang mum/dad and Helena last night to let them know our new telephone number..

Anyhow, happy we are..

peace,
mango