thehopelessroamer

[thehopelessroamer]

Melbourne to Cairns: The Road Trip. Day 2-3.

Day 2

We were up early, and on the go again. We only stopped a few times on the way to Wollongong, the third largest city in New South Wales (Sydney being the first), probably known best for it’s large student population.

First stop was Goulburn, an 1800’s town that houses the Big Merino. For those who thought “What’s that?” like I did the first time, it’s a big concrete sheep and yes, it’s also really big.

Big Merino and I, Goulburn, NSW, Australia, 2013. iPhoto by Rory.

We continued our way, and when we were close to Robertson, we were also close to an empty tank, but fortunately (for Rory, cause I had no intention on pushing a van), we found a “servo” (service station, I’m working on ma slaaang yeah), and happily drove to “Three Creeks Cafe” for breakfast.

Rory, "Three Creek Cafe", Robertson, NSW, 2013.

  After browsing several books and finishing coffee we got back on track. On our way, we took Illawarra Highway and got straight into Macquarie Pass National Park where Rory found himself maneuvering some really STEEP and insane curves through what looked liked a Jurassic Park set. I was trying to enjoy the ride, but at the same time, I was on the phone with Romina, a Mexican friend living in OZ, trying to understand/write down her Australian address that wasn't something simple like Wilson St, or George St, but something with lots of rr, w, and y’s.

  INCORRECT rain measuring scale and I, Illawarra Hwy, NSW, 2013. Photo by Rory.

  Arriving in Wollongong, we headed straight to the lighthouse and walked around there for a bit.

Rory, Lighthouse, Wollongong, NSW, 2013. 

Back in the van, I called my friend to get directions. Any one who knows me well, knows I absolutely hate having directions given to me. My mind shuts instantly and goes blank, I’m simply terrible at it. I prefer to look up stuff on Google maps, but since my iPhone doesn’t work here unless I've got wifi, and Ror’s phone is like a prehistoric cave man tool, I had to pay as much attention as I could. Romi didn’t mention any street names, so I was basically working with calculated lefts and rights and not much opportunity to get any of these directions wrong. I typed them quickly in my Notes App cutting words to be quicker and forgetting orthography completely. I was happy I had it all and held a big grin in my face. I had done it, buuut I never thought that I might be able to mistake some of my cut words like “der” (yeah, written just like that..) which can mean “derecho” or “derecha”, two completely different things. 

                                                                              The actual note...

  Fortunately, I was able to decipher my verbal mess, and after convincing Rory that 2 girls in the phone managing directions wasn’t a complete lost cause situation, I was able to direct him and get there perfectly. Personally, I was amazed. I know I have a good sense of direction, but somehow people never want to trust me, and honestly, for some reason I don’t really blame them.

It was great to meet up with someone from back home. She made me laugh like a mad man, since her first experiences in Australia made me relate to her. As a good Mexican, she didn’t hesitate to bring the bottle of mezcal out, yum! After a couple of shots, we decided to get some beers, so we took out two bikes and a skateboard. On the way back, brave Rory rode the skateboard with the case of beers on one hand looking pretty cool... Until... he fell down gracefully a few blocks away from Romi’s (it was a bit funny, oops.. so close). Still, in my opinion, breaking 4 out of 24 was a miraculous and respectful act, he was like the saviour king of beer.

Romina and I, Wollongong, NSW, 2013. Photo by Rory.

  Rory and I, Wollongong, NSW, 2013. Taken by Romina.

We drank a few more beers till we waited for Josh, Romina’s boyfriend, and then we had some pizza for dinner. Since they were leaving for Bali the next day, we decided to leave them to organize their stuff and sleep outside their street in the parked van. 

  Day 3

Josh and Romina left their flat open for us to get a shower, which was incredibly awesome of them since having a shower in this trip was like finding a pot of gold (at least for me).  After feeling fresh and clean, we started back on our way up to Sydney.

View from lookout close to Scarborough Hotel, NSW, 2013.

We took Princes Highway, the scenic highway, which runs along the coastline and turns into the Grand Pacific Drive that takes you straight over Sea Cliff Bridge, a BEAUTIFUL bridge that has an awesome view of the ocean.

Over Sea Cliff Bridge, Illawarra Region, NSW, 2013.

View of Sea Cliff Bridge, Illawarra Region, NSW, 2013. 

We carried on with the trip crossing through some cool highway that led us to the discovery of a waterfall in a town called Waterfall (cool, huh?), and taking us right into the Royal National Park where we stopped at Garie Beach's lookout, and which drove us all along the Hacking River where we paused a few times to enjoy the magnificent views.

Hacking River, Royal National Park, NSW, 2013.

Hacking River, Royal National Park, NSW, 2013.

In one of the magical spots we wanted to explore, I had my first bad and unexpected encounter with Australian wildlife, the EVIL Magpies. Magpies are this black and white little birds that live everywhere around the country. Fun fact is that when they’re breeding and taking care of their babies they get quite aggressive and usually attack people in the back of their heads (unless you’re wearing a helmet with eyes painted on the back). That’s supposed to be during summer, but maaaybe these particular magpies were at it sooner, because the minute we stepped out of the car there were at least four of them sitting there looking suspiciously at us. We walked anyway, but then saw that to get to that scenic lookout we had to walk several km and our lazy selves decided to bail that one and keep on driving towards the city. But just when we were heading back, the diabolic magpies had already followed us and sat on a closer tree still looking at us. Hearing stories before from people that have miraculously survived magpie attacks, I ran towards the van trying not to loose them out of sight and hoping for the best. Rory ran too, but he was a bit slow at unlocking the car, which made me REALLY nervous. The moment the door unlocked, I jumped inside the van and at that same time I had 3 magpies fly to the window. One of them was so intense and even seemed to be defying our huge van by not moving out of the way and not letting us through!

It couldn’t have gotten any closer to a “The Birds” scene from Hitchcock’s movie. I feel you Melanie Daniels, scary shit, really.

Images taken from google, I do not own these images.

Well, after surviving that first encounter I felt really lucky, and we were able to continue our trip without any stops at a hospital. A few hours later, we were entering fabulous Sydney for the first time.

We didn’t head straight up to the city but took the detour to Bondi Beach where Rory’s friends and sister live.

We left the van in a backstreet close to Justin’s place, but not before I made Rory crash into a wall in his friend’s car park. He thought that he could magically park this gigantic van in a pretty limited space, so after noticing he couldn’t park there because there was just one spot left, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t meant for him, he made me get out of the car to direct him through taking the van out of there. All was going great, and he seemed to have a lot of space behind him, except he didn’t. As I went making signs with my hand for him to keep backing up, I realized I couldn’t really see all the action and went on shouting “STOP!” but this was obviously misinterpreted as he sped fully instead of stopping and went crashing straight into the wall. Oops. No harm done though, just a little scratch, but you should’ve seen his face of disapproval.

After the incident, we walked through internationally famous Bondi Beach looking at the different artist’s graffiti all along the beachside boardwalk, and all the cool and muscular people that live there. We stopped at the end and had lunch at the “Beach Burrito Company” (quite unsavory.. I've had better) and then headed out to Justin's using the backstreets of Bondi. Something that could be really easy turned out not to be so. We took what seemed to be a street parallel to the beach, but ended up getting lost for an hour since the streets run differently than your logic would dictate, anyway, I had Rory to blame for the long tour. 

Bondi Beach, NSW, 2013. iPhoto.

We finally made it to Justin’s where we met some other friends and Ally, took some beers and played Touchcup, a drinking game that everyone seemed to know except me and consequently ended drunker than the rest cause I kept forgetting ALL the rules. The night followed at “The Stuffed Beaver” pub where we had a few snacks and ended at the Royal Hotel singing Cypress Hill songs, unfortunately not the spanish versions. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsGpBMl7yZU

Little gift for those who've never heard this. Peace! 

[thehopelessroamer]

Melbourne to Cairns: The Road Trip. Day 1.

Finally, after a real eager wait, the road trip started when we left Mornington on May 14th.

But before the trip started there were some issues of great importance that had to be solved. Rory was looking forward to taking his van to this trip, but secretly, I wasn't. I knew that his van wasn't gonna be able to provide full commodity to some of my girlie and newbie road tripping needs, but whenever he asked me if that was ok I didn't have it in me and never said anything. I was definitely looking forward to do a road trip and sleep in the van, you know? Get the full on experience, get tougher and all... Luckily for me and sadly for him, his van presented some problems a few days before leaving and saved me from probably hating Rory's van forever. His amazing parents, Heather and Neil, lent and fixed their van really nicely for us. I was happy now. This van not only had the bed but it was actually thought for long trips (sorry Ror.. it's true). It was equipped with the bed, the CURTAINS!, the little table inside, and useful stuff that we did not have in the other van like a small stove, a table to place outside, two comfy chairs and all the kitchenware required to cook plus a bag with food and things we hadn't thought about but would be using throughout the trip. So we stopped at Oke Surfboards one last time to say goodbye to Neil and Dan, and then we were on our way taking the EastLink Highway up to the city, up to Melbourne.

Rory, On the Road, Victoria, Australia, 2013.

Once in the city, we took a while finding a park. Every street in Australia is signaled with how many hours and the schedules of when you can and cannot park in there. Some weird concept that as a Mexican I cannot understand because we park where we want whether you can or cannot park. Anyway, we parked in a one hour park and walked on Bourke Street looking for one of the many amazing and hidden alleys around the city. We found famous Union Lane, which is full of graffitis and walked to Causeway lane where we found a small coffee place to have breakfast in. I ordered the vegetarian eggs and a soy latte as a “healthier” choice for eating so badly and feeling shameful for not really continuing any sort of exercising routine before the trip started (there, I said it Dad..). Excited about our vacations (or my vacation within a vacation, like Rory says), we sipped on our coffees quickly to walk around for the little time left on the meter, as we had just decided to start moving that same day towards Sydney and leave Melbourne for the grand finale. Somehow, I feel like Melbourne could be my dream city, there’s something about it that pulls me to it, but I haven’t had the chance to discover it that way yet.

Me, Union Lane, Melbourne, 2013. Photo by Rory.

Rory, Causeway Lane, Melbourne, 2013. 

Finally, we got back on the road. I guess that as a part of a road trip, sometimes you will find yourself spending a lot more time on the road than anywhere else, but that doesn’t seem to mind if every small town you drive past is either beautiful or it’s got some big attraction. And by big attraction, I literally mean BIG. ALL around Australia you can find big things, such as the celebrated Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, the Big Lobster, the Big Scotsman, etc.. So, my introduction to these unusual tourist attractions was Australia’s most loved criminal and folk hero of all times, Ned Kelly.

Oh, no.. Wait.. Actually, my first BIG encounters (now that I’ve googled the topic), were down at Phillip Island, the first ones being the Big Cows and the Big Wave in Newhaven, and the Big Worm driving through Bass, so I’m ticking those 3 away from my “Big Things in Australia” Bucket List, yay!

Anyway, the Big Ned Kelly is in reality pretty big, and Glenrowan, the nice town with a lovely old style located next to the railroad and the Hume Freeway, is full of Ned Kelly attractions, like the Ned Kelly Museum, the Ned Kelly Pub and a lot more Ned Kelly themed places.

Bad boy Ned Kelly and me, Glenrowan, VIC, 2013. Photo by Rory.

That day we kept driving several more hours towards Sydney following a pretty cool railroad which was a very exciting thing for me. So, I obviously stopped to take photographs.

Rory, railroad next to Hume Highway, VIC, 2013.

Railroad, Hume Highway, VIC, 2013.

We stopped at Tarcutta. Uhmm, I would only be able to describe this town as a truckie town (?). I don’t think there’s much going on there except the frequent traffic of trucks stopping to rest between Melbourne and Sydney. We made a quick stop at a diner there, and like I would imagine a truckie diner in my head, they had a pool table. We had a game, which obviously Rory was kind enough to NOT let me win, and left to continue driving for a bit more.

On the roads, it all gets so dark when the sun's gone. You can hardly see anything, and you never know when the next kangaroo or wallaby is gonna jump straight into the road (not that it happened to us, but you'd be surprised at the number of animals who suffer such an infortunate death in Australia..), so, after a while longer, we decided to sleep at a rest spot.

These are very common in Australia and can be found everywhere throughout the highways, they’re mostly meant for trucks but a lot of people travelling long distances stay in these spots for the night. I had no idea till I got here, but camping is a big thing. It seems like everyone has one and they’re all ready to go anywhere, anytime, and if they don’t have one, most people have vans pimped with beds and small kitchens. Apparently, a great number of people that retire, go cruising all over Australia with their campers and enjoy the nomad life (any incorrect fact can be blamed on Rory or my own crazy invention).

So, I've decided that when I win the lottery and retire (not that I'm even working..) at 25, I will certainly have a cool and luxurious camper on the back of my car. Yeah, after I get the car first.

[thehopelessroamer]

Little, cute, funny bastards.

Telling yourself that you'll suddenly wake up, and you'll be able to do whatever you want to do is not always all that true. I decided that by having generous amount of free time on my hands, I could easily skateboard by myself. To tell you the truth, I can, I wasn't that bad performing that day in Wood Street. I was surprised I could get on top of that thing and move with it! Got really excited and started going up and down the sidewalk. Well, at some point it was evident that there was gonna be something I didn't know how to do, and maaaaybe this should've been an alert signal, but seems like I'm persistent (hell yeah! thumbs up for me!). Ok, so what happened is that while I was going on a small downhill (not specially fast or anything), my skateboard got stuck in a small bump and made me fly like superman all the way to the ground, both hands landing on the floor and getting scraped. Personally, I was impressed I didn't land face on the ground since the last time I checked, my reflexes weren't real good. Anyway, something right there told me 'No, no no.. you can't get little bumps get to you, life is all about obstacles and how we want to overcome them.." So why not? I gave it a second try. This time I was really focused, I knew I needed a bit more speed, I stepped back on it, gave it one more go and pushed off a bit harder (still not suuuper fast or anything, just normal speed..), it was all going pretty smooth in my opinion. I'd decided and mentally prepared to pass that bump or at least be ready to jump off quickly if need be, when all of sudden, a second before the evil bump, a guy came out of nowhere making me turn my head and loose all concentration and yeah,making me fall off again. This time not as gracefully as before (not that it were graceful before..) and totally landing with all of my weight in my right wrist. So, here I am now, with a very hurt right wrist and not very awesome skateboarding skills. I still really want to keep on trying, I know I can, but now I'll just have to wait to get better first.. It's not ideal to have such pains right there in my wrist, and specially if I'm a photographer whose camera weights quite a bit... But being persistent is the goal here, and that kinda applies for everything we do, we can't try things and leave them just because we fail the first time (I've done it quite a few times..), it doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying them until we nail them!

It's impressive though that still every time anything kinda goes wrong there's a way in which I'm later rewarded for the bad time. This happened till the next day, but it was totally worth it. We set out for the city for the second time to catch a show from the Comedy Festival going on in Melbourne. From what I heard here, it is probably the second most important comedy festival in the world! It was great to have a good laugh and a couple of beers to let to rest my previous day.

Next day, I only woke up to hear great news of highly important matter in my family. My dad's wife has had a hard year fighting cancer, in a way, I think we all have. 2012 was not a very good year for any of us, we couldn't be more excited when 2013 arrived along with very good news to all of us. This time it'd been that they'd gone up to Houston for a second check up, and THANKFULLY it was all CLEAR! This simply made my day, there wasn't anything that could wipe the smile off of my face.

When we are confronted in life by deaths of close people, or sickness of loved ones or our own, and other terrible situations, you come to understand the importance of love. How love is the only thing we have, and the only thing that should ever matter. I can truly say that being surrounded with all this people who breathe love has made me realize how fortunate I am. We sincerely care for each other and hold only the best of interests for one another. It hurts terribly not being able to keep on sharing all this happiness with one of the persons that cared so much for me. I get sad frequently, but then, it always hits me that she must be behind all these good news, always taking care of me and my loved ones and always making me see everything in a very different way.

As my travels continue, I observe it all and I open mind to it. I love the feeling of knowing that I'm looking at everything that surrounds me for the first time ever. Discovering new places has constantly been a way for me to leave most of my problems behind, and Australia has definitely been able to offer this, and at the same time it completely blows my mind with all it's beautiful landscapes.

We set to discover Wilsons Promontory, a really beautiful and natural national park in Victoria. Within minutes of entering, Rory spotted kangaroos, so we jumped out of the car to get closer and snap some photos of these furry, cute creatures in the wild. I was really scared they would get upset and start punching me, since I've heard they're not as nice as they look, but we were able to walk real close to them without any mishaps. Afterwards, we joined our friends that were already waiting for us. Luckily, this time there were girls involved, so while Brenno and Ror went out for a surf, Ash and me walked along the shoreline taking photos while having a most definitely needed girl talk. We later climbed Mt. Oberon, not without a bit of a struggle, but we were really happy to see the view was completely worth the intense leg and booty workout. Later on, we rushed for the boys to have one last surf at Squeaky Beach, a quite spectacular white sand beach and crystal blue waters, and as it's name features, it squeaks when you walk through it. We left for Fishers Creek to get dinner and afterwards to search a place to park our vans and sleep. 

Next week, I had Kate take me out to Sorrento for the day and spend some girl quality time away from the boy's house. Little did I know that spending time with the girls was even more radical than hanging out with the boys.. Kate and Erin took the bikes, and we all went down to Point Nepean. After not using a bike for probably more than 4 years, I wasn't feeling at my very best steep biking condition. I tried it anyway (hurt wrist and all). The way down there was full of uphills upon which I had to shamefully get off the bike and push it EVERY time.. Anyway, at arrival, you can find Fort Nepean, it was used by australians as a defence post during 1880 and World War II. It's got all these really cool tunnels, interesting stuff really. After looking around for a while, and maybe do some fun shots over the canons, we left. This time all the uphills turned into downhills.. Don't get me wrong, I love downhills more than uphills, but if your bike hasn't got any brakes they both fall into the same category of dislike. I still don't know how, but I managed not to break both wrists, I stayed focused on the road and specially on people walking on it. I was going so fast I could feel my cheeks wobbling, as well as the full on worry of my friends behind. I survived. It seems like I wasn't born for practicing extreme sports.. I'm just waiting to see what happens when the moment comes to use my brand new and BEAUTIFUL custom made OKE surfboard.. Mixed feelings of excitement and fear. Fingers crossed.

That same night we went out to the Continental Hotel, Sorrento's cool pub. I keep getting surprised on how nice and friendly aussies are! Everybody's laid back, and they sure know how to party. Obviously, the fun time was equivalent to next day's unbearable headache. I survived that too.

Since I didn't write for 3 long weeks, I won't kill you with all the boring details of me going out shopping, having coffee, etc. So, jumping to the next exciting trip, we left for Phillip Island last weekend, exactly on may 4th (why is this important? It was my lovely big sister's 26 BIRTHDAY and 6 exact months since my best friend passed away, anyone also puzzled by bizarre numbers??).

We went down there cause waves were really good that day, so Rory and his friends rushed to the ocean, and I was left to explore by myself. This is never a bad thing, I love getting around alone with my camera. I walked surrounding the shore, tripping on stones and looking for the next awesome thing to photograph. I ended up at mere sundown at the other side and found a perfect location for one last beautiful shot. I put down my camera and set it on a stone to photograph a far away little town with the ocean in  between. This one almost cost me to be left there and lost forever (love drama) cause it was getting pitch dark and seconds away of not being able to see my way back. I returned to the car almost running, I wasn't prepared for that adventure, at least not that day. I guess secretly I was hoping to see some penguins down there because it's supposed to be one of the main attractions there. Well, guess what? No penguins.. They're one of my favorite animals in the world, but I've been disappointed twice when I'm close to places where they inhabit (the first time it happened in the south of Argentina, they'd just left when we got there, where? No idea. Damn they.. those little, cute, funny bastards are always busy doing other stuff when I want to see them.. No hard feelings though. I'll see them when it's time, and I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

That photograph mentioned above. Kitty Miller Beach, Phillip Island, Australia, 2013. 

[thehopelessroamer]

Freshen me up a bit

It's weird how travelling sometimes brings the best of you. I can't remember when was the last time I willingly wanted to exercise. Yeah, that'd probably be never, but since I got here and all is new and exciting, going out for a run seems like the perfect thing to do every morning. A change of scenery has boosted my motivation, and besides, if running next to the beach isn't reason enough to do it, then I wouldn't know what is. Also, after finishing my run I get to swim for a while in these really cold australian waters, and even have the beach all to myself and NO ONE ELSE!

Taking full advantage that my clock is still not set to the australian time zone, I'm trying to become a morning person (something I absolutely NEVER imagined happening, like EVER!)  and doing stuff that I wouldn't normally do back home. I didn't come all the way here to not make a few changes of my own, everything's is so completely different here that maybe I need to spin some things in my life around a little bit.

I'm even trying to understand something completely out of my world. Sports. I went to my first footy game here in Australia last Saturday. I was actually getting into it, but it would've worked a lot better if the team I was going for wasn't losing in the most depressive way.. True story. Melbourne demons are not having the best time this season. 

Anyway, the painful loss was later rewarded by the incredible fun we had after the game. Living away from the city is difficult, one gets used to it's nature and starts functioning at the same fast rhythm, small doses of adrenaline, but living away from the city makes you look at it from a beautiful, more calm and different point of view. We went out to a couple of pubs down there in Chapell Street and we had a ball. Watching people from the city is so hypnotizing, the attitudes, the fashion, the moves, everything about it is terribly attractive to me. I can't help but try and observe it all.

Then, on Wednesday, I've got to put out my first fire back in Mornington!  Ro's friend, Damo, who's working in the Fire Management Department here wanted to have a few shots from what they're doing prior to winter. They burn certain spots near homes where there could be a hazard once the summer gets back again and the heat rises the risk of fires. Really amazing and interesting stuff what happens here! It was so exciting to do that and once again, I never imagined myself doing anything close to that. There's always a first and I thought it was magnificent. At the end they left me hold the hose and put out a little one! Not bad huh? Not bad at all!

Since I'm new in town, Rory's had the task to show me around the place. We've been going out to a few of the pubs around here, and I've had some real good times. We went out for trivia night at one of the local pubs (can't remember it's name) and had a lot of fun trying to answer general knowledge and music questions, whiiiich was kind of hard for me since half the times I was more engaged in trying to find out what the question had been. A bit of language barrier and a bit of deafness too. Then, the next day, we went to the Bay Hotel, a pretty cool place, specially if you wanna hear some live music. It was nice to go there and watch these 2 girls and a band playing while drinking jugs (not jars, this word completely evidenced me as a foreigner at the bar) of beer. 

On Saturday, Rory had a friend's wedding, so I was pretty excited to go there as a couple. I was completely worried about not having anything to wear for that day, (as opposed to Rory who seemed pretty calm about not having a suit early on that very same day) but thankfully, Emma brought home a variety of dresses and purses that fitted me perfectly, having the chance to not show up like a total mess and not having to spend a lot of money on a dress. So thank you Emma, that was so so lovely! On the other hand, once my outfit was picked, we had to run to the stores up in Frankston to get someone a suit. Obviously, there were arrangements to be made to the trousers and just a few hours to go before the wedding started (OBVIOUSLY! there's always something! I couldn't resist making a quick 'I told you so' face). We had to leave the pants behind hoping they'd make it on time and run back to get ready. It didn't get any easier since we had Damo as a human count back alarm going on all about the house, I usually work well under pressure, but I NEVER work well under pressure when it comes to getting ready, I'm a girl. Anyway, we made it! We got ready superfast, went to get the trousers (he looked AMAZING!) and actually made it 20 minutes earlier to the wedding. 

They had a beautiful ceremony, and afterwards we went to the Two Buoys (another local pub) while we waited for the reception to start. The reception was really nice, and the speeches were quite endearing and funny, made me feel like I knew the newlywed couple. We had an amazing time dancing, meeting real nice people, drinking (yeah, it's usually the way it goes) and some embarrassing tripping included too. When it all finished we had to return back home, and since we couldn't find a taxi we took the bus. I have little memory of this part, but apparently I tripped again one last time getting out of the bus, and then demanded Rory to piggyback me all the way back to the house because I didn't want to take my heels off but didn't want to trip again.

When I thought the night was over, we found out some other friends were coming down to the house, and they were bringing all the music set with them. With that said I guess the rest would be sort of explicit, but it definitely isn't. I can only say it was a rad day for sure, so I reckon (yeah, this is a new one! they use it all the time here) the weekend finished with a really tasty cherry on top.

     Nunns Walk, Victoria, Australia 2013.

This is the beach I got to after running. All for me. :)

[thehopelessroamer]

Wanderlust (noun)

1. a very strong or irresistible impulse or desire to travel the world.

2. an innate urge or desire to rove or travel about; a constant yearning or ache for distant places.

So, I've been out of my mexican hometown for about a week now. I couldn't have picked a place more far off in a map than this. It's been quite an adventure. From the planning of the trip, to the packing, to the getting here, and to the actually being here now. 

It's a bit hard to start this post since so many things happened really fast in the past few days.

I guess, I first struggled for ages to pack perfectly, I was far from it since I got here only to find and experience at first hand that weather in South Eastern Australia is completely spontaneous, you actually have to be ready for pretty much anything that could present itself. After that, getting here was just another journey of it's own. Flying alone to Los Angeles was pretty exciting, but it stopped being exciting when I had to wait for 5 hours at the airport expecting my next flight, really couldn't do much, so I just roamed through it making friends with a shop girl, and a traveler that had lost her flight and worked in the porn industry. Finally, I got to catch that next flight to Melbourne! I just didn't know how uncomfortable being 16 hours in the same seat mid air could be, I tried every position you could ever think of. Thankfully, I have the god given ability to sleep in the most small, uncomfortable spaces possible (that's the reason I can travel to Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca pretty regularly on a bus 12 hours long). Anyway, after that long flight, I found myself in Melbourne's airport. Scared by all the Security Border in Australia episodes watched before I left, I was completely clean of everything imaginable, I even had the exact amount of no more than 50 cigarettes and 2 liters of alcohol permitted. To my surprise, no one actually cared about it making me regret not following my dad's advise on taking the whole flip and try and sneak it in.. Could'ves, should'ves.. not even gonna talk about that. 

I couldn't have been more excited to see that one person who was supposed to pick me up there. After a stroll or two down the exit and feeling really nervous at not finding him, I finally got a glimpse of my australian boyfriend, Rory. He was looking for me with little luck cause he wasn't wearing his glasses, so I had to spot him first and run towards him till he finally saw me and received me with a hug and an amazing kiss. 

If you ask me, till today I still feel kinda shocked, not really landing on the idea that I'm in a complete different country and continent! 

All the drive down to Mornington Peninsula I was just glad to be with him, we hadn't seen each other for 6 months, so it was quite a special moment for me. I was psyched to meet his friends and family. He showed me around a bit, and then we had dinner at his parents. Couldn't have loved them more, just the sweetest persons you could ever imagine!

The next couple of days, I met all of his really cool friends, and since I got here just in time for Eastern vacations I had the luck to start off with a wonderful road trip to Bells Beach to see one of the most australian cliché events I could ever think of, a surf competition. Bells Beach is apparently the crib of most surf shops there are nowadays, it all started in that beach which I find is purrrrty AMAZING! We went to the pub only to find out that his friends are equally wild and hella fun as mine, and I could now relate ten times better. After one night, I was on a mission to look for candles and birthday stuff for Rory's 26th BD (not 27th.. sorry Ror!). So I woke up at 7, and sneaked out of the van (yeah, I slept in a van for several days, and didn't shower for 5.. could it get any more road tripper?) to the supermarket where I couldn't find anything for 20 minutes, and I could pay on my own at the end. Wow, that certainly doesn't happen back in my country. I completed my mission, went back, stuffed a muffin with several candles and organized to wake him up with his friends. 

That same day, we started another trip down the Great Ocean Road, and damn it, it is GREAT. He did this just for me so I could see more of Australia, and I'm so happy we did cause we saw spectacular views. Camera at hand and low battery (I didn't know I needed an adapter, I've got it now, don't worry), we stopped on several spots which left me open eyed. 

We stopped at the beautiful Eskirne Falls, at the summerish and hip Lorne Beach, at the 12 Apostles "Apostoles" which are only around 5 now, and at the pretty town of Port Campbell. With several other stops along the way of course! Every little space available to park here is totally worth it! 

My first kangaroo was death at the side of the road... BUUT that memory was instantly erased when we saw the silhouettes of dozen of them at dusk, and after seeing what could probably be the most round, complete and visible rainbow I've ever seen in my life. 

I can honestly say that I've never seen so much nature going on at once, it's birds, wild animals, beautiful skies, roads full of trees, the sea, all at the same time.. it's all so wonderful. 

Now, we're back in town, and I'm living in a boy's house, me, a little city girly girl (well, maybe just at times..), but they're all extremely nice and funny, PLUS they've got a poster with the word wanderlust with it's meaning, and a beach just minutes away from home, just perfect.

Twelve Apostles, Great Ocean Road, Australia, 2013.

[thehopelessroamer]

Never as easy as it seems

It's been a completely unexpected and crazy journey since this plan of travelling to Australia started to take action several months ago. When you make decisions, they can often come with a high price, and sometimes excitement is so blinding that you forget a lot of what going away means.

Since my best friend, Sofia, passed away, I have felt amazingly loved by the people around me. I cannot explain how hard it was to understand why something like this happened, I guess I haven't still. But why I was not supposed to ever see, talk, kiss or hug her ever again? Its these really fucked up things that happen just like that and that make you question EVERY single thing. Honestly, I was mad as fuck, how could life be so ridiculously selfish by taking away my soul mate of 16 long years of friendship, how was I supposed to ever get back on my feet again and live my life? What about all of the plans we made together, what about growing up old together, what about our kids probably being the bestest friends, how about all of this things that suddenly were never going to happen? 

Something like this happening to me NEVER crossed my mind, I was so sure that we would always be there for each other, that we would explore the world together, that I'd always have her to laugh hysterically all the time, cry on her shoulder, embark on the craziest adventures, and keep forging excellent memories till we were these really cool old ladies with crazy cat issues, and pink and green dyed hairs. 

Thankfully, I feel like one of the luckiest persons alive. I've had all the support possible given from every single person I know. I know my story would be a completely different one if it weren't for all the beautiful people that have stuck to my side all of this time. Words would never be enough to express my gratitude. I could never have asked for better people to surround me throughout this painful process. Every one of them mean the world to me. I feel extremely grateful that so many people cared and did everything they could to keep me from erasing the smiles off of my face. All of my relationships grew stronger, and I was also surprised to see how many new people made their way into my life and marked it in such unique ways in so little time. 

When I was unsure about what was supposed to happen next, all of these people helped me open my eyes. They all made me realize that I needed to keep following my dreams no matter what, that she should be my motivation for striving, that she would always be there, and that living a happy life would be the way to do her justice. There's so much to fight for in life. Sofia was so full of life, and though it hurts so much not having her around, I feel like I should always give my very best in every way like she always did without ever expecting anything in return.

Going away is something I feel I need to do for us, but also, to prove myself that I will not stop trying to live life to the fullest like she did, and to try and make every day special. My journey starts tomorrow at the 13:30 flight to LA, so I can then take 23:30 flight to Melbourne. I'm completely excited, I can't wait to see a special someone that made this possible too. I just didn't know how hard it was going to be to leave all of the people that have filled my heart again with so much love and joy these past few months. Thanks to all of them, I'm here standing strong, feeling absolutely loved and accompanied in my new adventure. 

No matter how many miles separate me from my friends and family, I know I'm not alone, and hopefully, all of them know they can always count on me, that the friendships and the kind of love we've built together is just the unbreakable, unforgettable kind. 

I'm forever grateful for every person that has ever touched my life, even if it was for just a brief moment. Mexico and my people are always and forever in my heart! 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

                                        Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meeham, from Annie

  Friends Forever. (From left to right: Sharon, Sofia, Pia, me and Liora)

I would need a whole post to put up all of my friends, but they all know exactly who they are! 

[thehopelessroamer]

Introduction to a hopeless roamer

So, I've already talked about how my passion for photography started, but I failed to explain a lot. My other great passion is travelling. I dont know why, but it's on the road where I feel the most alive.  

I want to travel the world and be able to share through my lens how life presents itself to me. I like to freeze those moments that mean my everything and that make up and become part of my life. I don't believe I have a fixated destination, I just want to see where my annoyingly small feet (yes, they're small..) can take me. I guess I love the spontaneity of things, I love feeling the nerves of not knowing what's next, and it specially fascinates me, meeting defining and sometimes key characters throughout the journeys. 

Thankfully, I've had the chance to do a fair number of trips. In 2009, my best friends Sharon, Liora and I visited the furious city of Buenos Aires, backpacked our ways to the BEAUTIFUL South and back up North again till we got to heartwarming Bolivia. Here, I got my camera stolen. Yeah.. It suuuucked like hell, lost hundreds of pictures and cried like a baby for hours (no joke, even called my dad). Still, that's part of the unexpected. Finally, I got to spend a few days in calm and lovely Uruguay before returning back to BsAs and getting back to Mexico City. 

In 2011, I had the opportunity to visit a very particular and amazing place, Cuba. I cannot express how much I loved this place. Its people hold a very special place in my heart. I made a great friend, Miguel, to whom I thank for the special vision he gave to my trip here. I stayed at Cuban homes, and found that I wouldn't have done it any other way. 

I've been to the USA a few times with my dad and sister, visiting cities like New York, LA, Miami, Las Vegas and Houston. Always finding ourselves having crazy adventures and a lot of fun. I love EVERY single one of my travels, so I might be talking about my experiences at some of these places in the future.

But now, I take on a bigger adventure. My next trip is to Australia, a trip that's beyond important to me. A trip that I had planned with my life long best friend, my true soulmate, my sister, Sofia..

She and I dreamt about this for such a long time, and lamentably, she is gone now. The one person who showed me that I should always be free spirited (because she was truly one of the clearest examples of this) is not here, at least not physically. Since it happened, I've had so many mixed feelings about life and our role in here, but in a weird and beautiful way I can feel her. I learned from her the most valuable lessons, she taught me about friendship and unconditional love, about life, about laughter and all the great things there are. She taught me so many invaluable things, and we had countless adventures together that if I started writing them, I'd could go on for ages. I feel I could NEVER betray her memory by not following our dreams, she wouldn't have it any other way. I'm sure she must be proud of me...

So, by the 25th of this month, I'll be taking a 16 hour flight to Melbourne, Australia. This is the first step to the beginning of my adventurous and defying life and dreams. This travel is completely different from others, it represents a tribute to my BESTEST FRIEND in life. To the learning of a new kind of independence and freedom which I cannot yet explain, but she knows I will find in this trip and she naturally owned herself. 

This is the start of my life as roamer. Drifting through life with my camera, my precious memories and my heart at hand. 

We fly together burrito, always and forever. Sofia Mirko R.I.P <3

Sofia Mirko, Mexico City, 2012.

[thehopelessroamer]

Simple and straightfoward

Well, here I am. My name is Varenka, and I'm a 23 year old photographer living in the ridiculously big and crazy mexican capital.

For the first time in my life, I've decided to open up a blog about myself, my work and my life. I'd always wanted to start something like this, but always felt too afraid as to not have anything special to say. Well, I've come to realize that I'll do exactly as I please and put my thoughts out there. It might not be of everyone's interest, but I do feel some of you might be able to relate to me. 

First things first. I'll introduce myself for a bit. I'm just finishing my career as a photographer (Seriously, like ten days to go woop!). I study at a place called Escuela Activa de Fotografía, a pretty small school that specializes on forming professional photographers.

Like many other people I  went through the whole stage of "What the hell am I going to do with my life?". Ever been there? It most definitely sucks.. Anyway, when this crisis hit me, I was unsure if I should take the artistic -I won't probably eat for days- path that I've always wanted to take, or try to enter the real professional world, get a degree, and a stable and hopefully well paid job in the future.

Society got me first. I started studying International Relations at the most important public university in Mexico City, the UNAM. I didn't choose this randomly, don't worry. I was truly interested in all of this, I am the -I want to save the world- kind of person, but soon realized I was feeling quite miserable at school, and I felt completely disappointed. It didn't meet any of my expectations, and I got to see how the world can viciously work in many ways. So after two years, I decided I didn't want to be part of that system. At least not in the way where my role in life could eventually be defined by people who, I'm sure, do not hold the true public's needs first. I'm certain there must be genuine and af¡dmirable people working in these fields, but what I came to see, personally, didn't please me.

Needless to say, I now have an unfinished career. I do not consider this to have been a waste of time, I met some really cool people which I'm glad to say they are still my friends, and I learned things that changed the way I see the world radically, and even helped me rethink a lot about my future. For that, I thank the whole experience. But before I could take the rain check on Uni, I had to confront my dad. Both my parents have always been incredibly supportive, but this was a BIG decision. Coming from an artistic family (my dad is a DP and my mom used to act), it is very well known that there will always be abundant times, and others a bit scarce... True story.

My passion for photography started at a very young age. Being constantly surrounded by cameras as I grew up, had a very high impact on me. I would always ask Dad for cameras, and I'd get the disposables ones, until, my dad decided it was time for my first film camera. I used to take lots of pictures (I probably still have several undeveloped films), and now that I come to think about it, I believe I've always loved portraying nature and friends. Time went by, and oh surprise! Digital cameras appeared opening a  whole new world (thinking of Aladdin, as I wrote that, yup) of possibilities.

I got several of these small digital cameras over the time... But as hard as it seems, for some bizarre reason, my cameras ALWAYS suffered mishaps. They stopped working out of the blue (for real!), some friend would accidentally drop it, or they'd get stolen, plus, I would loose photos every now and then, and so on. As I sorta believe in vibes, energies and all that, I read all this signs to be completely negative. I mean, if my cameras were constantly being attacked by life, maybe all of this just wasn't for me. 

To get back to the point, while I was still studying IR, I asked my dad to sign me up for a photography course, just to try it on the side. I wasn't about to give up my real dream, I knew I had to give it one last shot or else I would have possibly regretted it for life. So once I started, there was an EVIDENT click. I realized instantly that this was what I always wanted to do, it brought me back to my passionate self, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed doing it. I've never been an avid student, but this time it was different. I loved my classes, loved my homework, I even love my teachers, I jut loved everything about it! So after starting the Photography career, I eventually dropped out of Uni to pursue my life long dream. 

Now, I find myself a few days from finishing, And even though I don't have a degree (I just get this weird diploma that says I'm a Professional on B&W Photography, cause they haven't got through officially the one that I suppose states I'm a Professional Digital Photographer as well...), it doesn't really upset me much. I know that I'll have to work really hard, but doing what you LOVE is completely worth the try, and I'm feeling up for the challenge.

Through all of this experience, I learned that one should always follow their heart. It's not always an easy task, usually, obstacles will always find a way to present themselves, specially to prove how much you really want something. All those signs I failed to read positively before, were actually tests on how persistent I could be. I'm proud of my decision, and I'm proud for not giving up. I will always advice people to never give up on dreams, and always set themselves new goals.

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."

                                                                                  Oprah Winfrey

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."

                                                                          Henry David Thoreau

Self portrait, Mexico City, 2012.