I slipped and fell on adventure

I was the lost girl, the never be loved girl, the sticky out doesn’t fit girl, the trying to be everyone else girl. The crying poetry writing imagination flying sitting under the slide girl. I was the wondering girl, the forgotten girl, the never understood girl, the aliens are coming girl, the someone can read my mind girl, the cut up the pictures to make a collage girl and wander through the paddocks singing to my dog girl. I was the book girl, head lost in pages girl, sad about the life of ants girl, the fearing god girl. The never good enough girl. The sitting dark deep in the well of blackness girl… I was an alone girl. I was the farm girl, who didn’t belong girl, the good at sports girl that didn’t want to play. I was the smart girl, who wanted to hide girl, that wanted to be the best girl, but felt undeserved girl, the run girl, and be someone elses fun girl but never got there. There was river… that the girl had to cross, eight out stretched arms lengths across… an...

My housemate, Robyn, heads off at the end of August… so I wanted to have one last decent non-Beijing adventure with her before she moved on. Top of the list… Huangshan. A mountain known as Yellow Mountain and apparently one of the most beautiful sights in China, I sorted out a guided tour for three days during Dragon Boat Festival (this time we’d be out of pocket for a fast train… which meant comfort and speed… twice on a sixteen hour train under a blanket of Chinese personages, associating with crabs and taking in plumes of cigarette smoke, we thought we’d done our time and would enjoy a little comfort even if at a cost). Jumping on the early train to Beijing, we then hopped on the bullet through to Huangshan, a six and a half hour ride at an average speed of 300 km’s per hour  – VROOM! Said my inner five year old! Preparation is key and the train journey was part of the adventure, so individually we’d put together ‘essentials’ bags of knacks and nibbles. We shared a ...

I blame Beauty and the Beast, the original animated version, for where I am now. The song “there must be more than this provincial life” resonated with me  from a very young age. I dont know if this happens / happened to everyone... but I always felt I was on the outside, looking in... like I never belonged, could never belong. A stranger because of my own psyche. I would wander out to the ‘secret piece’, a paddock snuck away behind a thick tree line, with Barry the Dog and associating with various cows, and sing out, dreaming of a world I wanted to embrace, and experience dreams I thought were intended only for others. Belonging was a thing I have always sought after, for some its those well fitting jeans, others – that perfect man, the top job… the perfect house. I tried a high flying corporate job… nope, wasn’t that. Six year relationship, with travel included? Sadly, not the thing. For 12 months I was a size 10, finally a ‘skinny girl’, and I found the jeans ...

It wasnt my last day, but I’ve decided to leave it last to write… because it was certainly my favourite place. My last day or two in Hong Kong involved me traipsing from place to place, trying to find the visa centre (signs nor direction were forthcoming), upon getting to the visa centre having to go through security, my backpack being taken and water bottle… then being told my profile photos weren’t appropriate because I had earings in (not a problem expressed in ANY documentation… so how was one to know), so within the centre I had these retaken – for a fee -  then started the waiting process once more and paying and waiting some more and feeling nothing but  anxious and stressed, thinking up every possibility from being put in some kind of immigrant jail to being sent back to Australia on a colonial ship (all logical ofcourse).  Upon leaving… I was unable to go back through security to get my belongings, but needed to exit from one door, walk all th...

The following day, upon checking my itinerary, it appeared time to check out Aberdeen, apparently there was a floating restaurant which was one of the ‘must sees’. Rather than taking the tube, I hoped taking one of the mini vans would enable me to see a bit more of Hong Kong Island. These mini vans wait until their full (a capacity of about 12) and then head off, there is no set time, but its cheap and cheerful… and I got on the wrong one. After about 20 minutes in the mini van, passing what looked like a wharf and then making our way up a mountain… I realised I was heading in the wrong direction – I doubted the floating restaurant would be in the jungle. I jumped off, fortunately there were some very friendly police who found it rather entertaining  where I was and where I wanted to go. During the charades conversation I was told it was a VERY long walk to where I wanted to go, but there didn’t seem to be any taxi’s in the vicinity, so I hoiked my backpack higher and ...