Bushwalking around the ACT - Booroomba Rocks

I was in the shower when Toni called. She said they had called off the trip to Talbingo since Veronica was at the folk festival, and it had been Veronica's idea in the first place. Instead, she said, they are going for a walk in the general direction of my house in Gordon, and would I like to go? I thought for a moment. Tony and I had vaguely talked about driving to Sydney but Tony didn't sound enthusiastic. More like "euww, do I have to? " and I was thinking " Oh no, I don't think I can stand a trip with Mr Grumps", and I grabbed Toni's offer to liberate myself from misery.
True to her word, Toni picked me up at around 11.00 am. Ronda was in the car and she was to be our fearless trail blazer.
We set off on Tharwa Drive, crossed the not-so-rickety-anymore Tharwa Bridge and headed towards Honeysuckle camp site, taking the turn-off to Booroomba rocks. It seemed to be a popular spot, judging by the number of cars in the car-park. We set off on the short and steep climb. We did stop to sniff at the plants and take in the cool, pure air. The vegetation and scenery on the way up was simply breath-taking. In retrospect, the climb was easier than I had anticipated, considering I hadn't worn the best of walking shoes. Toni had said we were going walking, but did not elaborate that it was going to be bushwalking, or rock-climbing. I didn't even have any socks on. But that did not bother me at all. The climb up was the most refreshing that I can remember. It was like walking through a rain-forest, except this was rain-forest rock climbing. We finally reached the top, and found a beautiful spot on a flat rock overlooking the whole of the ACT- all of it, mainly nature parks. Turns out that the Namadgi National Park by itself comprises 45% of the Australian Capital Territory.
Toni and Ronda had packed lunch. I had my muesli bars in addition to the mountain bread - cucumber wrap that Toni had to offer. Sat back, admired the view the rock formation, incredible granite patterns,the friendly neighborhood lizard, and chatted about this that and the other. We mainly talked about art, since Ronda is an artist and i found her a most fascinatingly cheerful person. After about an hour, we headed back. The descent was not surprisingly, a lot faster, though not necessarily easier, as it is a steep and sometimes slippery slope.
We came back home, most satisfied and rejuvenated, despite unforgiving calf muscles and ankle joint.
Next stop-Mt Gibraltar , Tidbinbilla.
See yous then!!

Happy Easter Everybody!

Yesterday was Good Friday. Easily one of the most boring days of the year. Everything was closed. We had to drive 20km to Civic to find hot cross buns from a Vietnamese bread shop to find Viatnamese buns which were cross enough but definitely not hot.

Highlights of the day/night was watching 'the Ghost and the Darkness', based on the true story 'the maneaters of Tsavo'. The movie and cinematography by themselves were simply awesome. I did not fall asleep, which says a lot for the movie. It was captivating, entertaining, and the role of strong maned lions enacted beautifully by real lions Bongo and Caesar along with the richly maned professional lion hunter Michael Douglas added sufficient oomph to make it one of the greatest films I have ever seen.

True story or not, I think the lions have been unfairly accused as being evil , sinister maneaters. After all , humans invaded their territory. Lions were doing what came naturally to them . Another example of humans ravaging the earth for their own material gain. And the treachery goes on.

G'day Mate

Memory loss can be a boon. Very often my memory stuffs me up.I remember things that never were and believe it is as it was. Nothing can be as it was. Like this was a blank page before I put all these words in. Now it is full of nonsense. Just like a memory.

08/08/09 Three Dee Day

Hi guys!
Happy Three Dee Day! Watched "Coraline" with Bobolai. I thought it was awesome. I was about to dose off, after bush-walking for about two and a half hours, but then the movie woke me up. The three-D effects made the whole movie fascinating and surreal. The theme was pretty ordinary: a little girl feels her parents have no time for her, and invents another set of parents who love her more, give her good food, a beautiful home and spoil her silly. Every little girl's dream, so it would appear. Until ofcourse the story turns around and get's really cliched.
But that's the whole point, its not the story. Its everything else that makes this 3-D really three dimensional.

Friday 31st July 2009 - Whale Watching Day

Happy Whale Watching Day!

I think whale watching is surreal. What do you think?

Thursday 30th July 2009 - Eat Burmese Food Day

It's been an awesome day. It just felt so good. Had a few successful experiments, lots of belly laughs, got some work done. Yoga class was very yogic, if you know what I mean. I enjoy my Thursday class. Perhaps it is because everybody feels accepted. There is no conscious challenge. It is a lot of fun, and some work. It is all about going with the flow. I've stopped trying to please everybody. My class on Thursday became a really happy class once I defined myself. I said ' hey folks, this is what we are all about, and this is what we do. If you think it will suit you, go ahead and join. I'd love to have you here. But if you want something different, there are heaps of teachers who will be happy to help'.

Well, that did it.

Hey, I may have just cracked a code of some sort. Before one can really know oneself, it is probably a good idea to define oneself. Who am I? What am I? What makes me tick?

I can never be a teacher or Power Yoga. I don't really care for it. True, I admire those who do it. I like to savour every inhalation and every exhalation. I need to immerse myself in the moment, the moment of movement. Not for me the rapid-fire shift in posture from down-dog to plank-to -to scorpion and so on until I'm all out of breath. For me, it's all about harmony, grace and fun.

It is the lightness of being in all things great and small.