Van Sold :(

Hey I sold my Van and even with repairing stuff I still made some profit on it.
Happy Days. Cashflow is back. Going out on the Reef today for a week and then I be heading up north torwards the Wallaby Creek Festival and then back down south following the spring.
Love yous all
Rene

Got da job

Yeah. Just finished my first proper shift on the TAKA. We went out for 5 Days with 40 people and I cooked a fucking lot of food. I managed to go for two dives a day, therefor I was ether in the galley (a ships kitchen) or underwater or asleep. It was pretty windy and choppy outside the reef, but I'm getting more and more used to it. Especially hanging on to pots, vegies, etc. so that stuff wouldn't fly sideways across the room and hit the wall. Crew and Guests were very, happy and  satisfied with my food. All together I'm getting quicker and quicker cooking for a larger amount of people. Not something I would ever want to do as a career. To much hassle and stress. I start at 5:30 am and don't get much time till 9:30 pm apart from diving. But hey the days go by fast. My airtank lasts me longer and longer as I get more experience underwater and last time I even went down to 26 meters. I saw 2Kuddlfish, Octopus, White and Blacktip Reefsharks, Ninja Turtels the size of a very small car, Clownfish, Seasnakes, and lots of other cool stuff. Doing nightdiving is the best. Some bigger fish which are hunting at night followed me around for the whole dive and had a go on anything I would shine my torch on. The whole ocean changes when the sun is gone. Its amazing. 

So I have a week off and not sure what to do. 

Yo ho 

Rene

Just a few quick lines.
I'm back out on sea from friday for I think 5 days. Trying to sell my van at the moment. Here's a few pics. I know I went a bit hairy but got a shave since I took those pics.
Sorry for not having that many pics up lately but without a cammera its a bit difficult.











The Revolution will not be televised
Love
Rene

Still in Cairns

Hey lads,
I'm still hanging in Cairns. I was helping out with a little Enviromental Festival here in. Putting up tents, stages, cables, painting banners etc. Just like usual. Had a great time but after it was all packed away again I got a bit bored so I started looking for a job.
So the last 3 Days I spent at sea with TAKA Dive working as a cook on trial on their 5Star Diveboat. Cooking for 35 people in a little kitchen was tough but fun. I got to dive 3 to 4 times a day at some of the most remote spots on the GreatBarrier Reef. These guys go out for 4 Days to get to spots the daytripping tours wont get to.
I got back today and going to hear from them in the next few days if I got the job or not. We will see what happens.
Meanwhile I'm still alive, broke but smiling.
I love you all

Rene

Van Ho

Dear Blogreaders. Be aware. Danger!
The Gypsies are in town tonight. All pirates on deck we are sailing out.

What a time up here in Cairns. Well. The town of cairns is fairly boring but a lot of cool stuff that happens around this sleepy town in the 'Far North of Queensland'
After I worked at the Rootsfestival a crew of 50 people crashed at a house not far away and the gathering continued. Little house full of poeple from all over the world. Hand, feet, tents, cloth, dogs, everywhere. But all very shanti shanti. Big cookup and lots of fires in the garden. Music till sunrise and beyond. Well to make the long story a bit shorter... A dude from the UK had to sell his van to fly back to the UK and I ended up buying it of him for a realy good price. One hand washes the other.
So now in my possesion is a 1991 Ford Econovan Maxi, Diesel 5 Gear, 2.4liter, 300 000 km on the clock which is not much for Australia. It got another 6 month of Regestration so all sweet.
Well there is no bed in the back (yet) but a shitload of room. As well it came with a 600Watt Stereo for good music when needed.
I packed a few people in the van and off we went to Cape Tribulation which is 2h north. Spent some time there camping with lots of people in the nationalpark on the beach and then ended parking my van and jumping in a 4WD to go for 2h on a realy bad road to a place called Cedar Bay. It was still a 4h hike through tropical rainforest to get to Cedar Bay but it was worthit. The group was about 10 people and we stayed on the beach, living of coconuts drinking the water straight from the river. Going for swims ether in the ocean or in one of the waterwholes. We fished some fish, ate fresh oysters from the rocks and even got some mudcrabs. Its deep winter here which is more like a german summer and luckyly very dry. Almost no need for a sleepingbag.
Its the most awesome feeling in the world to go to sleep on the beach and wake up just before sunrise. Apart from the people who I hiked in with, noone arround for miles. A natural perfect beach at the end of the world. Waking up to see the sun rising over the ocean with no noise then the waves of the coral see. Little bit of Yoga or Medetation and then a fresh coconut for breakfast, a game of frizzbee or going for a swim. And its all for free.

Well after a few days we hiked back out and returned after a few stopovers back to cairns and our friends house where there is about 6 of 'us' staying at the moment.
Here I"m going to improve some stuff in the van. Mostly interior like waterstorage, campingstuff etc. Very broke at the moment but I just lauched my tax return so there should be some money coming my way soon.
So meanwhile I repair little things on the van and find some work for a few weeks here.
Jobs whereever you look. I like the tropics. At least in the wintertime when its not to hot and raining.
I wish I could show you some pics of the trees and coconutpalms here. The rainforrest is absolutly spectacular. Everything is so so big and green. You get realy high on all the oxigene when you for a hike here.
Whereever I look there is a new adventure ahead of me.
I know that this life is a big trip and noone knows whats coming next. I love it.

Whereever YOU are plaease take some of that joy into your life.

LG
Rene

Summer, Dance and Sunshine

Hello World. Wow that’s how I always wanted to enjoy a winter. Again I moved to more northern latitudes. Closer to the Equator and therefore closer to the sun and the fun.

During the Dreamingfestival my Digital Camera as well as my little backpack were removed from my personal belongings. Never mind. Nothing is forever. I still had lots of fun working there and enjoying the festival spirit. Indigenous/Native people from all over Australia, New Zealand, America and all the little Island in between came together to exchange and understand each other. It was a great time and place to be as especially Aboriginal Culture has not been accepted at all in Australia for a very long time. A lot of trust and respect needs to be eared back, but Australia is on a good way. Well all in all it was lots of fun.

After the festival I traveled a little bit around with Stefan from Switzerland to and camped in some Nationalparks. We drove back south to Nimbin and then to a friend where we stayed for the night. During that night my friends campervan burned out. Lucky no one was hurt but I lost my shoes, some campingstuff and cloth in the fire. While my mate lost nearly everything. Well once more it shoes me that no matter how hard anyone tries to hold on to anything eventually we are going to loose it. 100% Death-rate wherever we look. Well no I feel much lighter and free even though I only have a few things left to my name.

I hitched back to Brisbane after I helped my mate getting back on his feet with Passport, Visa card etc. From Brisbane Airport I got a cheap Ticket 2000km up to Cairns where I joined some friends for the Winter Solstice Celebration. Over here that means the longest night of the year which is the 21^st of June. Great party though the site was in the Tablelands around cairns where it can get really cold at night. Well I just kept dancing till the sun came back out. The Party was in a very remote place but about 1500people came and skunked away to good tunes. Great community spirit, and lots of smiling people. 25degrees during the day in the middle of winter is not too bad :).

Me some dudes who are running a raga gig this weekend and I talked them into letting me cook for the artists and volunteers. We are talking about the Kuranda Roots Festival. So meanwhile I stay with some crew at a really fancy apartment and we are preparing for the festival. Yesterday we had a day off and caught a boat to Fitzroy Island and went swimming, snorkeling and walking for the day.

I’m going to the second hand shop today and get some of the burned equipment replaced and then head to the next festival site to set up camp and get into the groove.

My travels running sweet, I’m in a way going with the wind and I’m surprised in what places that can take as soon as I open my wings. The sky isn’t the limit any more.

I will try to get a little camera again to take some more Pictures.

Love and Bon Voyage

Pictures

The Green Refactory in Melbourne up in Brunswick on Sydney Rd.

My Canoe before I fixed it up back in Albury

Canoe+Me at the End of my trip up near Yarrawanga

Me Repairing my Canoe in Albury

Fireshow at the Shannon Market

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sunrise from the top of Mount Warning near Byron Bay. Its the first Sunlite in Australia

Still at the Rainbow Tempel. Going to the Dreaming Festival to volunteer there in exchange for my ticket. I reckon its gonna be really cool. Lots of Australian culture, dancing, singing, drumming and Aboriginal Elders. My volunteer position is "Member of the A Team" Uh Yeah - Rock on dear beautiful people. Breathe and smile more every day. Love Rene