Week 8: April 3rd – 9th, 2023 // Let the solo travels begin!
Well folks, the adventures have truly and officially begun this week! I’ve left the comfort of Hobart and the Fitzy Castle House, and am now traveling the mainland with just myself and Peg. I’d like to start by saying whoever else has been lead to believe that Australia is always hot and sunny, I’ve got sad news for you. I figured my timing to more or less “chase the colder weather” because I was worried of how I’d handle the Australian heat would still be giving me at least consistent sunny 15+˚C… It has not lol it’s been pretty comparable to Vancouver seasons thus far – both in Tassie and now along the south coast. No, I shouldn’t be this surprised; geographically it all makes sense when you actually think about it… it’s just been a rude awakening knowing packing the toque was actually a smart idea and not a waste of space lol.
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Monday was such a benchmark day for me – I officially completed my first ever van build! The fact that we designed, bought material, took everything out, and built the whole thing from scratch in just 5 days (realistically only have like 4-6hours at a time) is pretty fucking amazing to me. I was just adding up the days as I thought we had done 6 or 7… I’m so impressed with how well we worked together after having never met before and SO grateful to Rhys for giving me so much of his spare time (all in the middle of moving houses too I might add). An absolute legend! There were a couple minor things we would’ve like to get done that we just unfortunately ran out of time for – but the overall build of the main components we wanted were completed and it looks so freaking good. Like I could not be happier with it. And after this first week living out of it and having it organized, I feel like I can really live and breathe in this space. It’s so nicely laid out and organized, I can’t wait to put together a proper video for you all! After a thank you dinner for Rhys, I couldn’t get to sleep till quite late as I was FAR too excited about the van and figuring out how I wanted to organize it all.
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Tuesday was an emotional day for me as it was time to officially move into my new home, while getting ready to say goodbye to what has been my home for the past 7 weeks. I got an early start and spent the day putting up my lights, organizing all my gear, cleaning. The afternoon I spent sorting out some electrical stuff (big shout-out and thanks to Ethan and Lauren for your help), writing notes and getting flowers for the house + the couple who let us use their space for renovating the van. Managed to get in one last climb late night climb with Sam+Annie before giving the house my little thank you gift. Was really nice to have everyone home for the night, with Alissa having been gone most of the time I’ve been here.
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Wednesday was a pretty successful and eventful day! Early start to cut my own hair, pack the last of my stuff from the house, say my goodbyes to the housemates, grab coffee w/Sam+Sammy, get some new runners to get back into running/working out while on the road (shout out to Sam for the discount!), and finally dropped off the flowers and note to Sean+Megs as a thank you for allowing Rhys and I to use their home for the van build. Not gonna lie, I got real sappy this week… I find I often express myself best through my writing, and was feeling a lot of gratitude for a lot of people this week. I had many complete strangers go out of their way to help me out in some really big ways during my time here, and I can’t help but think about how different my first 2 months would’ve been had I not met Alissa back in Canada last October.
The afternoon was spent on a beautiful 4-hour drive to Devonport, where I found a nice little spot just down the road from the ferry to park for the night. Was feeling pretty exhausted from the past week, so after organizing some food for the ferry, and blowing out my inverter trying to use my induction stove top (whoops)…I ended on an early night with some reading.
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Ferry day was actually such a dream. I hadn’t realized how run down I’ve been getting, so the forced RNR was very much needed. Thanks to Sean’s advice, I went straight to deck 10 and snagged one of the only 4 couches on the ferry and set up camp. They were surprisingly super comfortable and perfect length for me to fully stretch out and take many naps lol. Bringing a blanket, I think was my best idea. There wasn’t much for service most of the ride, so my time was divided between napping, people watching, snacking and reading. The 10hours flew by pretty quickly, and next thing I knew, I was looking for a place to park for the night! Ended up in a parking lot that I didn’t realized locked at night, so had a cop knocking on my window at 23:30 telling me to park out on the street next to the park… finding free spots is going to be a bit of a learning curve I imagine haha.
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Friday I got to experience my first Laundromat, and I gotta say, I picked a good one to start with… super clean and newer machines. Got all my clothing and bedding washed which felt SO nice to crawl into that night. I was back n forth a bunch between whether I begin the road trip west, or back track to Melbourne… I decided that my body still needed some rnr time, so I found myself a beach/cliff spot 20min south of Devonport, called Point Addis, and set up camp for the rest of the day to read and relax. I managed to finish another book which I realized has brought me to 8 completed books since I left Canada! I ended up with a beautiful break in the clouds and found my way down towards the beach.
One of my favourite things I’ve been consciously trying to practice has been “grounding,” which is the simple practice of walking on the earth barefoot. There’s a lot of benefits to grounding, but my favourites have been noticing the toughness in my feet build up, as well as my attentiveness to where I step. The increased attentiveness has me focusing more on my body and the present moment, and reducing the amount of random mental chatter and wandering I have when on walks. It’s been a really useful tool for practicing more mindfulness and meditation. It also reminds me of all the time I spent barefoot as a kid, playing in the backyard, climbing trees, wandering the neighbourhood – it has a way of connecting you back to your inner child. I highly recommend reading up on it some more and practicing it yourself!
After today, I decided that spending time in downtown Melbourne is not what I’m wanting right now, and with my route I have planned for this year, I know I’ll have plenty of other opportunities to visit and explore the city another time.
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So with that, I made the most of Saturday by practicing some yoga on the boardwalk at sunrise, getting some errands in by running to Bunnings and Jaycar (hopefully for the last time finally) to fix my kitchen set up and replace my inverter. The guys at Jaycar were absolute GEMS! I went in with my inverter thinking I had completely ruined it and was just going to recycle it with them, but the guy at the counter took the opportunity to forfeit a bigger sale and help me open up the inverter and make just a $2 fix! They also came out to help check on the battery and connections and ended up fixing a piece to make it work even better! Jaycar has probably been my favourite Aussie store to work with – every location I’ve been to, the employees have gone above and beyond helping me, while making it as affordable as possible. Can’t recommend them enough for any electronic needs. Made some grocery shop stops in town, visited another zero waste grocery store ‘The Source.’ Then made my way to Industry Boulders for an afternoon climb! Really loved this gym. They had some really fun routes and felt really good to focus just on bouldering.
Made a little impromptu stop at a beautiful art gallery/nursery just off the Great Ocean Highway, and had a really lovely conversation with the resident artist there about how it’s important to remind ourselves that our creations aren’t for everyone. Create for yourself – the people who resonate with you and connect with your work will follow. Forcing yourself to fit a mould that wasn’t meant for you, will only disrupt your inner peace and disconnect you from the work you truly wish/are made to be doing. (artist IG: @saltandpeppergallery).
I ended up heading back to Point Addis for the night since I finished in town a bit later and knew that I wouldn’t have people asking me to move… hopefully.
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Sunday was a pretty blah day for me. Woke up a bit later not feeling too great (think I’m on the verge of a cold), so I went in and out of napping and reading for most of the day. Managed to get myself out for a little walk and make a really tasty pasta dish, but decided to continue taking it easy and spend one more night at Point Addis before hitting the road and taking on the Great Ocean Road this next coming week!
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After finishing “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” I’ve begun “The Mountain is You” and oh boy am I being faced with some hard doses of reality. It’s been a humbling read that I’m excited to share some bits n pieces with you all in the next week.
Until next time.
Stay passionate and curious,
Hunter 💛
