The beginning of this week has been slow and beautiful.  I drove Alissa and her friend Katy to the start of the South Coast Track at Cockle Creek, and found myself a nice little spot to set up the van for a couple nights.  It’s the first time in a long time where I’ve felt like I can really just “be.”

There’s nothing I have to do and there’s nowhere I have to be, and it feels wonderful.  My days have been filled with hours of reading, wandering around the beach, and staring mindlessly at the view from the comfort of my bed.  There’s no rush, no urgency, there’s just this beautiful feeling of pure existence, for no other purpose than to just exist.

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Feb 22nd I finally went out on my first hike in Australia!  I got up at 6am to watch the sunrise from the beach + have breakfast, then I drove 10minutes up the road back to where I dropped Alissa and her friend off.  It was a beautiful ~16km round trip to Lions Rock at South Cape Bay and oh my goodness – when I say the view took my breath away… was such a beautiful spot to end at!  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves (even though they really don’t do the views any justice).  The whole trail covered a variety of landscape, from spidery archway trees, to vast open plains, to amazon/jungle like dense forests – it was truly a great introduction to Australia hiking.  Got to see my first snake (a black tiger snake) and many lizards, lots of cute birds, and cool plant life.

My favourite thing about this type of lifestyle is the people you meet – always so friendly and a wealth of knowledge for other experiences, always so eager to help you in any way you need!  I lucked out with having this super lovely older couple set up in their van next to me, Rab & Jude, who offered me food and a place to stay for when I’m in New South Whales, a map of the south coast, and plenty of destination recommendations.

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Back in town on the 24th I spent my time at a beach, lots more reading, running some errands, getting some Graphic Design work done for a friend I met back in May who owns the lovely art studio + workshop business Luminous Elephants Studio!   Highly recommend checking out her courses if you’re looking to get (back) into creating and learning, or organizing a corporate event! https://www.luminouselephant.com/socials

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Sunday was a lovely, slow and connected day – spending some time at the Mayfair Market in the morning, and making dinner with Alissa + her roommates.  We made lasagna, garlic bread, and a beet salad (made by Sam, who was inspired after Alissa and I spent the morning stating beets were an inferior vegetable and tasted like dirt lol).  It felt really nice to spend an evening with great company, eating great food, and having great conversations.  Feeling very grateful to these people for making Tassie feel like home and taking such great care of me in my first couple weeks here <3

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Other fun updates: had my first bad stall on a hill… rubber was burnt… smells were bad… but I persevered and managed to get it eventually lol! On the plus side, my parallel parking game is getting much stronger 😎 Had my first van spider! Aaannd finally learned how to belay thanks to Annie teaching me!

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These next couple weeks are going to be a combination of some more hiking adventures, getting back out in the van camping again, sorting out some minor van repairs, and (weather depending) getting out climbing on some real rocks for first time in years!

Stay passionate and curious,
Hunter 💛