It is dark when we dock, and Tania has sent someone to pick me up on a bike. Driving back to the house it is immediately obvious how much more developed Bali is than Lombok, and how much less rural. Despite this, I am very glad to be back.
The next morning Lempot gives me a ride up to Ubud where Tania is running a four day cob building course in a school, and building an oven and another Earth Bench. I arrive on the second last day to help out, and camp by the school with Tania, her daughters, and some guys from England who are on the course. The Welsh girls who I left not a week before are here too, with the aim of building their own cob oven when they return home, so it is great to catch up.
It is a lot of fun, we spend the days jumping around in the mud (at one point I even treat myself to a mudbath) and the night is spent around the camp fire talking about the Lord of the Rings. Well some of us spend it that way. Rarely do I find an audience so interested in the history of Middle Earth, but two of the English guys couldn't get enough, and I was of course more than happy to oblige.
It's amazing to see the process of building the oven. The base is made entirely of bottles and cob, then a layer of brick forms the floor of the oven. What will become its hollow interior is built from sand then covered with a layer of newspaper, after that the structure of the oven itself is made from three different layers of cob. The inner layer has no straw at all, as it will be against the flames; the middle layer, the insulation layer, is almost entirely straw, but coated in wet clay; the outer layer is standard cob. A chimney is built by sticking a bit of a banana tree into the sand and cobbing around it.
Once complete the whole structure will be left to dry for two weeks before the sand is scooped out of the interior, it will then be left to dry further before a fire is lit within it to burn away the banana trunk and any newspaper stuck to the inside walls. Then it is ready to use, simply by lighting a fire within it until it is hot enough, then removing the burnt wood. True, it requires more effort than a standard oven, but it is also more fun. This is the sort of oven that Tania has, that is used for bread every few days and I used to make pies and pizzas when I last stayed. It really can do anything a normal one can do.
But the best thing about the whole experience is the atmosphere. A great group of people, working together to achieve something tangible, backdropped by palm trees and summery music. Not to mention good conversation (anyone want to know any more about Galadriel?).
At the end of the course we go out for a final meal together in Ubud. We are all exhausted, although the rest of them have more excuse than me as I only turned up the day before, but we don't feel quite ready to part ways. We get a local who is hanging out on a street corner to take a photo of us all together, then Tania carries the sleeping kids into the car and we head off, leaving the rest of them to make their own ways to their respective hostels through the empty streets. Empty only for the reason that the thousands of people here are ALL watching the world cup.
My last couple of days are spent back at Tania's, swimming in the sea, grouting the benches and sleeping in a lot. I have a very nice surprise in that the German girls who I spent a few days with in Kuta Lombok are back for their final night before we fly. We go for dinner and catch up, discussing how much we miss our favourite restaurant in Kuta (they did the most amazing vegetable nuggets!). Then it is time for them to leave, and before I know it it is time for me to leave as well.
Tania drives me to the airport, and I won't deny that I am slightly glad to go. I feel ready to move onto something else. If I had a bigger budget I would happily let that something else be other parts of Indonesia, or other countries nearby. But I am just as happy to let that something be the journey home.
Tania has been brilliant, she genuinely just wants everyone to have the best time they can in Bali, and she does everything in her power to see that happen. She cares about the environment and actually does work to make positive changes in her society. She is also completely mental. I mean completely. One of those 'the world is run by shape-shifting Satan worshipping reptiles, led by the British royal family, who prolong their life by drinking children's blood' sort of people. And she'll come out with things in normal conversation that are just so bizarre that you really don't know what to say. And don't bring up the complete lack of any sort of, legitimately scientific, evidence because obviously all the worlds scientists are in on it too. But really, she is lovely.
On a side note I'm fairly confident that the vast majority of people who believe all these conspiracy theories, and there are a lot, also happen to smoke a lot of weed. I wonder if there's any connection?
I arrive in Melbourne and almost instantly any animosity I had previously felt towards Australia or Australians crumbles away. I had forgotten just how much I liked Melbourne. It is a crisp autumnal afternoon, leaves are turning a thousand shades of gold and all throughout the day long the sky is lit with the beauty of evening. In reality it is mid winter here, but it feels and looks exactly like September or October back home.
I am staying in a part of town I have only visited once before, and never fully explored, and I think it might just be my favourite area so far. The buildings are old and worn, the air is crisp and clean, the shops that line the street are either charity shops or small, independent stores. Fantastic and interesting street art abounds, and the posters that plaster empty walls all either seem to be promoting trains or disparaging roads. My sort of place.
I go for a walk to a park nearby as the sun is setting and I can't help but fall in love with the city once again. As I do so, Goldfrapp's 'Monster Love' provides the perfect backdrop. The beautiful, gentle music matches the beautiful, gentle evening. And she sings my feelings for Melbourne right back at me.
“I never thought that I would return, to be consumed by you again.”
And I didn't think I would, I thought that I was 'over' Australia. But I am glad to find, even though I am going home, that I am not. At least I am not over Melbourne, and I don't think I ever will be. This is a wonderful place, with friendly and welcoming people, and one day I do hope to return.
“Everything comes around, bringing us back again. Here is where we start, and where we end.”
The next day I continue much of the same, taking my wanderings farther afield to the banks of the Yarra river, the reason for Melbourne's existence. It is another cold autumnal day. I have missed this brisk weather so much, I almost don't want to go home back to summer. At least I know that I will appreciate it all the more when it comes.
In the evening I visit my friend Mark and collect various items of clothing I had left at his. We go to the pub and somehow, at some point in the night, I manage to make it back to my hostel. When I return I find that almost everyone there is awake and having a great time in the kitchen, and I spend the night doing what I love best, meeting new people and making new friends.
My hostel in Melbourne, although not having the greatest facilities, is exactly what I wanted. The people are varied and friendly. It is friendly and comfortable, if a bit dilapidated. Admittedly it is cold, personally I don't mind at all, but I am alone in that regard. It reminds me of places that I visit at New Year back home with my friends, and my excitement to return home grows a little more.
My last couple of days are spent in much the same way. I wander the city (which is gradually getting more rainy), and I spend time with my new friends. It is all very relaxed. On my last day I decide to treat myself to see the new X-Men film. I book my ticket online, then on the way to the cinema go into by bank to close my Australian account. Once this is done I proceed to the cinema and try to claim my ticket from the machine. All I have to do is put in the card that I used to buy the ticket and the ticket should come out. Put in the card that is, that only half an hour ago got cut up and thrown in the bin by the nice man in the bank.
I manage to deal with it, and get to see the film. I walk home from the cinema through the dark, listening to my favourite music (Laura Marling obviously), and thinking about all the times I have spent here. As enjoyable as the walk is it is also mildly stressful, you see I have two thousand dollars in my pocket and really, really don't want to get mugged.
So the day has arrived. As I write this I am sitting on the plane from Melbourne to Sydney, the first leg of the journey home. This was the fifth time I had been in Melbourne airport in my time here (two arrivals and three departures), and no doubt it will be the last for a very long time, perhaps even ever.
I'm not really sure what I'm feeling just now. I listen to music that I remember listening to on my journey out and it makes me feel sad, and yet when I think about seeing my family and friends I am filled with excitement. I think I have discovered the truth behind the phrase 'absence makes the heart grow fonder', for right now everything about rings true. So all in all I am glad to be going home, it is just a shame that Australia is so far away, and therefore so hard to come back to visit.
The landscape fades below me. The patchwork of green could as easily be England as Australia. The sky that started clear starts to dot with wisps of cloud. The further we go the thicker they become, blending into a great blanket that lies just above the ground. I know what I will be like underneath; dim, overcast skies and cold, bitter winds. And yet from above it is a sculpted sea of frosted glass, glistening in the strength of the sun unveiled.
First Aid Kit, who so kindly provided me with not only a blog title but also a soundtrack to my journey out here, have stepped up again and released a new album just in time for the journey back, and it tides me on my way into the sky. On my way home.
At one point I considered whether I would end up staying out here for good. It was always a vague possibility in the back of my mind, but now I can't even imagine it. I think love would have been the only thing that could have changed my mind, and it would have to have been a strong one, to overbear my love of my friends, my family, my country.
Tania drives me to the airport, and I won't deny that I am slightly glad to go. I feel ready to move onto something else. If I had a bigger budget I would happily let that something else be other parts of Indonesia, or other countries nearby. But I am just as happy to let that something be the journey home.
Tania has been brilliant, she genuinely just wants everyone to have the best time they can in Bali, and she does everything in her power to see that happen. She cares about the environment and actually does work to make positive changes in her society. She is also completely mental. I mean completely. One of those 'the world is run by shape-shifting Satan worshipping reptiles, led by the British royal family, who prolong their life by drinking children's blood' sort of people. And she'll come out with things in normal conversation that are just so bizarre that you really don't know what to say. And don't bring up the complete lack of any sort of, legitimately scientific, evidence because obviously all the worlds scientists are in on it too. But really, she is lovely.
On a side note I'm fairly confident that the vast majority of people who believe all these conspiracy theories, and there are a lot, also happen to smoke a lot of weed. I wonder if there's any connection?
I arrive in Melbourne and almost instantly any animosity I had previously felt towards Australia or Australians crumbles away. I had forgotten just how much I liked Melbourne. It is a crisp autumnal afternoon, leaves are turning a thousand shades of gold and all throughout the day long the sky is lit with the beauty of evening. In reality it is mid winter here, but it feels and looks exactly like September or October back home.
I am staying in a part of town I have only visited once before, and never fully explored, and I think it might just be my favourite area so far. The buildings are old and worn, the air is crisp and clean, the shops that line the street are either charity shops or small, independent stores. Fantastic and interesting street art abounds, and the posters that plaster empty walls all either seem to be promoting trains or disparaging roads. My sort of place.
I go for a walk to a park nearby as the sun is setting and I can't help but fall in love with the city once again. As I do so, Goldfrapp's 'Monster Love' provides the perfect backdrop. The beautiful, gentle music matches the beautiful, gentle evening. And she sings my feelings for Melbourne right back at me.
“I never thought that I would return, to be consumed by you again.”
And I didn't think I would, I thought that I was 'over' Australia. But I am glad to find, even though I am going home, that I am not. At least I am not over Melbourne, and I don't think I ever will be. This is a wonderful place, with friendly and welcoming people, and one day I do hope to return.
“Everything comes around, bringing us back again. Here is where we start, and where we end.”
The next day I continue much of the same, taking my wanderings farther afield to the banks of the Yarra river, the reason for Melbourne's existence. It is another cold autumnal day. I have missed this brisk weather so much, I almost don't want to go home back to summer. At least I know that I will appreciate it all the more when it comes.
In the evening I visit my friend Mark and collect various items of clothing I had left at his. We go to the pub and somehow, at some point in the night, I manage to make it back to my hostel. When I return I find that almost everyone there is awake and having a great time in the kitchen, and I spend the night doing what I love best, meeting new people and making new friends.
My hostel in Melbourne, although not having the greatest facilities, is exactly what I wanted. The people are varied and friendly. It is friendly and comfortable, if a bit dilapidated. Admittedly it is cold, personally I don't mind at all, but I am alone in that regard. It reminds me of places that I visit at New Year back home with my friends, and my excitement to return home grows a little more.
My last couple of days are spent in much the same way. I wander the city (which is gradually getting more rainy), and I spend time with my new friends. It is all very relaxed. On my last day I decide to treat myself to see the new X-Men film. I book my ticket online, then on the way to the cinema go into by bank to close my Australian account. Once this is done I proceed to the cinema and try to claim my ticket from the machine. All I have to do is put in the card that I used to buy the ticket and the ticket should come out. Put in the card that is, that only half an hour ago got cut up and thrown in the bin by the nice man in the bank.
I manage to deal with it, and get to see the film. I walk home from the cinema through the dark, listening to my favourite music (Laura Marling obviously), and thinking about all the times I have spent here. As enjoyable as the walk is it is also mildly stressful, you see I have two thousand dollars in my pocket and really, really don't want to get mugged.
I'm not really sure what I'm feeling just now. I listen to music that I remember listening to on my journey out and it makes me feel sad, and yet when I think about seeing my family and friends I am filled with excitement. I think I have discovered the truth behind the phrase 'absence makes the heart grow fonder', for right now everything about rings true. So all in all I am glad to be going home, it is just a shame that Australia is so far away, and therefore so hard to come back to visit.
The landscape fades below me. The patchwork of green could as easily be England as Australia. The sky that started clear starts to dot with wisps of cloud. The further we go the thicker they become, blending into a great blanket that lies just above the ground. I know what I will be like underneath; dim, overcast skies and cold, bitter winds. And yet from above it is a sculpted sea of frosted glass, glistening in the strength of the sun unveiled.
First Aid Kit, who so kindly provided me with not only a blog title but also a soundtrack to my journey out here, have stepped up again and released a new album just in time for the journey back, and it tides me on my way into the sky. On my way home.
At one point I considered whether I would end up staying out here for good. It was always a vague possibility in the back of my mind, but now I can't even imagine it. I think love would have been the only thing that could have changed my mind, and it would have to have been a strong one, to overbear my love of my friends, my family, my country.
For truly, in stolen words once again, how could I break away from you?
Yes I'd like to know more about Galadriel please. Can't wait to have you back, even though it may mean less of these blog posts. It's been a treat to follow your journey, thank you.
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