Sydney to Cairns..

Well, we left our sydney abode as planned, on the 9th December.. Emile and David, the US doco makers, had arrived in Australia, 2 or 3 days before that, and had had time to film a little of our then suburban surroundings, plus various bits of our habitual lifestyle, followed by packing and final steps toward fleeing the nest, including goodbyes to our neighbours, who all expressed their well wishes, and many, apparent surprise when questioned on their thoughts that we just lived on fruit alone, often acting as if it was complete news to them, despite us having many times mentioned it in passing.. I guess having the camera in ones face makes one more willing to take note..

Anyhow, the day before departure, Emile, (whose project is to knock this documentary together as part of his thesis at Standford), invested in 2 cheapo, but adequate mobile phones , and a couple of equally fitting pay as you go plans, such that for the journey up, we would be able to communicate if need be, while driving our 2 cars.. (they had hired a car at sydney airport, for the duration of their short 3 week stay here)..

We left Sydney, I think it was a Wednesday morning, crossing over the Harbour bridge for hopefully the final time, and headed northbound into the relative uncertainty of the unknown..

The journey was mostly pretty noneventful, with our main focus on getting up here.. However, we did stop off on a few places, like tropical fruitworld, (the big avocado), and a couple of other "big" places.. Emile and David forever tangling themselves in wires to capture the moment on tape, which meant spontaneity often had to take a back seat..

Sleeping, for us, me and Kveta, Kveta and I, was mostly done in roadside lay overs off the motor way.. in our once trusty sturdy tent.. (alas, on arrival here, all 6 poles just splintered on us, rendering the tent useless, until we possibly find replacement poles, which we haven't put that great an effort into yet)..

we'd often talk with people, other travellers, as we pulled over, and whenever they were able, the film crew were there to film the interplay of words..

The car was pretty full, with pretty much most of what we needed and desired to take with us, and the only thing we left behind was kvetas wheelchair, which I don't think had been used once since I've been here.. That was left with our neighbour Brian, who stored it in his spare bedroom, and I guess Kveta may pick it up some time in 2010, possibly in conjunction with a European flight back to the CR to visit her family..

Anyhows.. the journey took us roughly 6 days, and roughly 2700, 2800 kms.. Which is sort of what we'd estimated..

On arriving in Cairns, we more or less immediately headed up to Mareeba, where we managed to find this place we're currently staying at.. It's called Fruitopia, and is currently owned by a guy named Clinton who probably spends most of his time down in Adelaide where I gather he owns an organic fruit stall of sorts, with possibly a mish-mash of other stuff that one might expect in most health food stalls..

He wasn't here on arrival, but we were greeted by the caretaker, Ian, a pretty nice guy on a pretty weird diet.. He was suffering at the time with a rather infected throat complaint, rendering it unable for him to really swallow anything, including liquids.. He was quite welcoming despite his clearly dehydrated weakened state, and we were able to set up camp at the back of one of the houses.. However, once we'd done that, I soon realised the state of the tent poles, and gave up all hopes of somehow gluing it back together, so we ended up moving in to one of the rooms of one of the houses, where we're still living, surrounded by all the stuff from the car which has been emptied out around us.

(After much thought about what the right thing to do was, Ian finally opted on getting medical help for his throat, and after a quick ambulance trip into cairns hospital and a short sharp treatment of antibiotics coupled with some syringe type throatal intervention, he was soon back able to swallow and slowly regaining his vitality.. - More on his choice of diet later...)

Anyhows, we are still living in the same room. Clearly it's not exactly what we were looking for, and just a temporary place to be for us, as we put out the message, when we can, to whom we can, that we are looking for our own private piece of paradise..

We have certain criteria about the place we ultimately desire to be living, and trust that the path to it's hideaway is being manifested as I write. Kvetas mother, having countless times read our fortune in the tarot cards, is without doubt that it awaits us as eagerly as we it..

I've written down a manifestation sheet of what we are looking for:

LAND - ASAP (Please!!) With:

1. Some well established fruit trees.
2, Room for plenty more.
3. Backing on to state forest.
4. Creek, or Dam, or both, with easy access.
5. Gravity feed water. (not reliant on the national water grid with it's fluoride and more chemical poisonings)
6. Flat smooth ground, not rough or too stony.
7. Close to friendly fruit (tree) growers (for easy access to food we aren't growing ourselves).
8. Good soil. Ideal for growing whatever fruits we wish..
9. No Feral pigs, and no swarms of biting insects.
10. Tropical climate with altitude enough to avoid the tsunami.
11. Simple old style, 2 bedroom (or more), house, with a nice covered wooden decking looking on to the garden.
12. Phone line with broadband access.
13. Garage or carport.
14. Privacy for practise of naturism, and free of noise pollution.
15. Easily affordable, or FREE.

OK.. I guess there is room for some degree of flexibility, and not all the wrinkles need to be ironed out immediately, but that's basically what we are looking for, and after already searching around for the past couple of weeks, and getting the message out there, we do realise that this is one of the more difficult manifestations we've requested, so understand too our need to practise patience, and attempt to remain positive.

We don't by any means have money to buy such a piece of property, so we're looking initially toward rental, but we're also open to things coming to somehow manifest the money one might need in order to invest in such an ideal place.

There is no greed, we feel that such living is everyones birthright, and we attempt to wait as patiently as capable in order for it to be returned to us.

I have heaps more to write, but that'll have to wait for another day..

hugs,
mango.