Yes, still no news.The immigration office are really not keeping me informed at all as to the progress of my visa application. It's been 7 monts now since the application was lodged..

I guess there is no real hurry..

Recently I have started working on my book again. It's been a while since I did anything constructive with it, but now it seems I am finally getting drawn into it again..- I'm wishfully thinking to get it done before we finally get the all clear and leave Sydney.

A voice from the Far North of Queensland rang me a few days ago..My good friend Jef. Been a while since I heard from him, so nice to catch up on all the gossip from that area..

Also, I noticed that that advert I was working in, mentioned in my last post, is now airing on TV. You can see it on Youtube too.. 

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsaxSpv9lmU

I am only very briefly visible in it on several occasions, but you'ld really have to know my looks pretty well and be ready with the pause button to have any chance of spotting me..

They still haven't paid me for that.

Autumn's here, and temperature has dropped a little, the sea feels like someone has thrown a bucket full of icebergs into it..

hugs,
 Mango.

OK.. I signed up with an Extras agency back in September, about 5 months ago..

I didn't hear anything from them again until a couple of weeks or so back, when they called and asked me to turn up at Fox Studios for a costume fitting... That finally happened on the 25th of February, and on Friday night (29th Feb), I did a night shift at some park in Glebe..

The movie being filmed was something called Wolverine, I gather connected to another movie called Xmen, which apparently there have been 3 of, none of which I have really seen, although I vaguely recall watching bits of the first one.

Anyhow, it was a long night, from 18:00 to 04:30, and most of it was spent standing around waiting - which i gather is retty normal for this sort of thing..

My role, was to be a carnival stall holder, and just stand at the front of the stall with the air of trying to encourage people to come in and view whatever it was that I was supposed to be showing.. It was all set in the 70s I think, so dress was appropriate for the era..

The star, Huge Ackman I think his name is, came onto the set briefly, but it seemed to me that the only shots filmed on the night were, with extras, and no other actors were present..I'm not sure if I got my face into any shots.. I Have a feeling I didn't, and if I did, it would be for no more than a fleeting second or so.. I would imagine that the whole night was spent filming just a few seconds of footage..

..

Actually, that wasn't the only work I had this week.. I was also called up to be an extra in an AFL advert (Australian Rugby). That was thursday.. I had to drive out to the middle of nowhere at 4 in the morning, and spent most of the day standing around in the rain, dressed in period costume from the 1860s.. I am pretty sure that my mug got it's fair share of being fully in the picture on that one....

..

So, finally a little paid work.. It's been a while.. I hope that I can get more Extra work, as it is pretty easy stuff..

Hugs to all,
Mango

They (the days) seem to drift slowly past, but then suddenly I realise another month has gone by, and I get the opposite impression that things are moving really fast.. time wise..

Well.. they say time flies like an arrow, whereas fruit flies like a pineapple.

I got a telephone call from a movie extra casting agency yesterday. Looks like I may be getting a little "Extra" work in a movie being filmed here in Sydney called Wolverine, or Wolverines, or something like that.. Anyhow, I'm to go in for a wardrobe fitting on Monday.

It'll be a relief having a little cash coming in, even if it is just for a few hours work on one day.

I really wish that I didn't have to think about money at all.. That'd be nice.

We're missing the summer here. Lots of rainy days, and lesser temperatures, preventing us from enjoying the beach as we'd like and adding to the pressure of us being stuck in a place we'd ultimately rather be escaping from.

So yeah,days drift pretty uneventfully past.. We ate the first watermelon from the garden.. Now that was my size watermelon.. Cut in half it fitted snugly into the palm of the hand, and tasted very sweet.

The tomatoes from the garden we are still eating a bowl a day, but the plants are looking somewhat withered recently, so that season will be ending soon.

Fingers crossed, wish us luck, say a prayer or 2..

and hugs and smiles back at you.

Mango.

Since Friday (1st Feb), We've been minimally eating.. 2 days of fasting, and now we are on just watermelon juice.. 2nd day today.. We are well stocked up with them..

On Monday, the 2nd day of fasting, I dropped off Kveta in Kingsford, so she could catch a bus into the city to see her friend.

On the way back, I pulled over and threw up. My stomach was empty, so not much came out. I felt pretty clear headed afterward, but on the way to pay the monthly phone bill, I had to throw up again..

Minor detox. I felt OK the rest of the day, although slightly more tired than normal.

I don't normally feel queasy like that on the 2nd day of a fast, but must have been something in there shifting around.

Anyhow, all's well today. We have a house full of watermelon, and no other fruit in it.. I think I counted 27 watermelon! Don't know how long we will stay on it for, but I'd guess at least for the week..

Hugs,
Mango

Ever since I was a small kid, I have dreamt of travelling and exploring..

As a teenager, I starting doing long summer trips through Europe, travelling by rail.. To begin with,together with a friend, but later alone, with occasional excursions well off the beaten track..

I always loved walking through forests, or scrambling up mountains.. heading to hilltops off the beaten track..

When I look back at my life so far, the events that stand out the most for me, are the time I spent homeless travelling around Europe on my bicycle.. (What an experience, waking up in the morning, and not really ever knowing which direction I was headed..

I loved every minute of it, and often day dream about doing something similar, one day, again)..

And 2ndly (but only chronologically!), the time I lived out in the Australian bush for a year and a half.. I had the time of my life.. My camp was about 5 minutes walk to the nearest dirt track.. And about an hour long walk along that before one hit a sealed road..

From that sealed road, a hitch to the nearest town took a good hour and a half.. sometimes 2 hours or more..

I was truly in my element. I was actually living on an old semi-abandoned fruit orchard.. There we had jackfruit growing, black sapote, white sapote, mangoes, bananas, akee, pawpaw,.. to name but a few of the fruits..

I only wish that I'd kept a journal back then, or at least had a camera and taken some pictures.. but alas, all that is left of that time, are fond memories..

We still didn't have enough to satisfy all my needs, so a weekly or sometimes fortnightly trip into town yielded me a box of avos or 2 and various other fruits that appealed on the day..

Recently I've been pining for such times again.. I know that there will be some, but I am getting impatient.. Kveta and I have been waiting for all this paper work to finish, and it is certainly taking its time..

Meanwhile, it hasn't helped that we've been watching some inspiring TV.. This "Tribe" show certainly has me fascinated.. there's the guy, Bruce, who is going around the world, living with the most out of the way tribes one can find (see my previous blog entry), and then we've been watching "The Long Way Round" with Ewan McGreggar.. He and his pal Charlie decided to bike from London to New York, via Russia and Mongolia/Kazakhstan.. Fascinating.. Last year they did London to South Africa too, but we've yet to watch that one..

Anyhow, that and watching reruns of Steve Irwin and some other Aussie adventurer, really have me dreaming..

I soo love to go places where others don't.. It's just an ingrained part of my nature.. The jungle fascinates me..

Oh how I dream of the earth covered in fruit trees, and for the ability to walk where i please without real land ownership or neurotically imposed borders! .. with an abundance of fruit in whichever direct I might head..

I dream of making videos of my travels, and exploring exotic fruit markets, discovering new fruits.. This one at least could be done. But much as I want to make the videos, I have to heal my arms first..

Which brings me back down to earth.. I am sitting on the carpet, using the laptop.. instead of climbing trees.. That's quite sad..

But I have faith that'll change. I'm full of faith.

More another day..

Hugs,
Mango the dreamer..

Last night we watched this "one off" TV program called tribe..

Probably the most enjoyable show I've seen in a while.

It was a documentary, about this guy who decided to go and live with a tribe of cannibals in the middle of the jungle in western Papua New Guinee..

It really had me dreaming.. I know they were hunter/gatherers and didn't have the kind of habits that I would really feel to live with, but how would it be to come across a tribe of fruitarians living in the middle of the jungle.. Living simply, just foraging and playing.. Sounds pretty good to me!!

When I was living up at Mary Farms, off the Mt. Carbine road, Prem Dass and Dean used to tease me with stories of fruitarians living out in the hills.. I think they half believed in them themselves.. I used to go to my camp in the evenings (a tarpoline stretched between 2 trees, with a mattress under it) and dream of finding and joining them.. Come on universe! Let us leave Sydney soon!

Hugs,

Mango.

We've just had a few days of rain, and yesterday afternoon the sun came out.. the garden has really taken off, everything is growing and flowering, even fruiting, nicely.. We are eating tomatoes from the garden most days.. It hasn't really started producing them fully yet, but we manage to share 4 or 5 or more a day.. (they're cherry tomatoes - see picture below) 

- They are so very sweet and melt in your mouth..There're heaps of tomatoes on the plant, and now the sun is back I expect to be harvesting even more each day..

We have also eaten the first peas, the plants are still small, but have already given us 2 or 3 pods.. the peas are also very very sweet!

The watermelons are just spreading out everywhere, tonnes of flowers on them, and yesterday I discovered a little watermelon growing.. (pictured)

It's just tiny still, fits in the palm of my hand.. there are possibly/probably more, but difficult to know for sure as the foliage would be hiding them..

The cucumber plants are stretching skyward, I've put a couple of guide ropes in for them to hold on to. They are all looking healthy..

There're some dwarf roma tomatoes flowering too, and I've just planted some more tomato seedlings to keep us going throughout the season.

The chilli plants are looking good too.

And 2 avocado trees have sprouted from underground.. Shame we can't grow them for real, because after we leave, they will almost certainly be uprooted.

Well.. Ciao for now..

Hugs, Mango.

The old money worries thing raised its ugly head again yesterday..

The car had to be taken in for it's yearly obligatory road check, and $750 worth of repair was needed.. Plus another $500 to renew it's papers for another year..

This sparked the old debate..do we really need the car? do we need the telephone? do we need the internet? Shouldn't we just get ourselves bikes instead?

And I think there's little doubt, that ultimately much of that is what we both want... Excepting that we are stuck in Sydney, and until we escape, I personally reckon the car should be kept.. If not only to make the eventual escape easier..

I guess my mind sunk into panic mode a little.. With me thinking I won't be able to survive on my savings, and that I really need to get myself some work or at least manifest some income to help pay the bills.. We've spent over $5000 on the car alone since last March!     

I guess that, having money issues created some tension, I got a little confused in the Afternoon..For the first time since being in Australia, I for some reason decided to drink a little of my urine....I practised urine therapy on a regular basis for about 4 or 5 years, and stopped only shortly before coming to Australia..

For a long time I questioned it, but still continued.. I first started by being influenced by my old friend Ben LeBordais, a French instincto.. but somehow it always rubbed my common sense approach to diet up the wrong way.. I know there is a great movement out their, that swears by it, and I have noticed that at times when I had toothache, urine therapy would apparently offer some relief..

I guess yesterday I suddenly started wondering if it might give my arms some relief too.. And strangely enough, I have a slight feeling it may have done so. Although just a once off very small amount, it is difficult to know for sure..

Anyhow, the main problem with it is that I'm not alone anymore, I have a partner, and shortly after I drank it, Kveta turned her nose up in disgust, as I'm sure it could not have smelt too pleasantly coming from me.. Especially as yesterday was Friday, my fasting day, so the urine would have been stronger than normal..

Well, not to worry.. Life is but a test full of lessons..

Hugs,
Mango