I’ve had a really great past few days. I went on a spur of the moment trip to Surfer’s with the Australian kid, Cal for his bday. He and his friends kinda get annoying, but my friend Kyle, who is probally my favorite person in Australia, the Canadian, was there for the weekend, so I caught a ride and met up with him. So I went to hang out with Kyle and glad I did, but was realllllllly over the whole trip other than that. When we finally got back to Brisbane, I got dropped off at the hostel in the Valley, where my friends Adam and Andrew are staying only to find that they were full. THey called the hostel down the street and reserved a room for me. had no clue where to go, had to ask the cops for directions, only to get there and find that they had double booked my room…garhhhh. And it was dark and no one likes carrying their pack through the city, so heavy. Lucky enough however, I had previously asked to couch surf with some Uni kids. Best decision yet.. Well, it took my over an hour to catch the bus, find the right bus stop, and then finally trek up to their house where I walked in and felt a sense of PHPness to the place, and it was great!!
I will try to take pictures of the Forest, which is what their home is called. (One of the forest dwellers’ mother came over and declared the house was a forest and that his sister shouldn’t come over anymore, hence the nickname stuck). But this house is awesome. I love it. First of all, you walk in and there are a few couches, plenty of room for surfer’s. They have a porch that overlooks the backyard which is sick, it has a huge shed and hammoc and mattresses on the ground, where people jump off the balcony onto. The whole house, walls, ceilings, tiles, fridges, everything is covered in art, quotes, lyrics from previous surfer’s leaving their mark of wisdom. You never get bored there, because first of all, all the visual stimulants and then second of all, because at any given time, there will be a group of people hanging out somewhere. Currently there are…about nine or ten permanent foresters, and about that many couch surfer’s. It’s so great!! So much fun. Its like living in a commune. We cook giant meals, whoever didn’t help cook will clean. This morning after coffee, a group of tackled the kitchen and scrubbed it clean and another American and I are talking about making some traditional southern food for the Forest. Everyone in the house is so cool. I love being in this atmosphere more than anywhere else I think. The guys that live there are all going to Uni and so they are all intelligent and involved in politics, art and literature. I love being around people who can have good conversations and discussions about things that matter. Drew is a journalism major and got to intern at the Olympics in china for photograpghy. Yanni got his degree in Zoooglogy and wants to get his PHD with his research being the evolution of snakes due to climate change, Ben is a complete anarchist studying art and teaching, everyone in the house is jsut as interesting as these guys. The Forest has its own time and often the couch surfer’s get sucked in, for example, Mikey, Becky, and Adam have been here for times ranging between a few weeks and two months. And no one cares, because everyone chips in with money, food, chores. It’s great.
The first day I was there we did the Zombie walk and I think it was the most fun I’ve had in Brisbane. We covered ourselves in red glucose corn syrup and dyed oatmeal and noodles red for brains and drenched each other in it. We caught the bus into town and some people had no idea what was going on, so that made it even better. There was a little under 2,000 participants I’d say and everyone marched into the Valley where there was a music festival. It was great, because the whole town kinda shut down waiting for the march to pass through. People were smearing blood and brains all over designer store windows and harrassing the cars as they passed. Everyone and everything was fair game. So much fun. They we came back to the Forest and drank Zoon and Drew and I went swimming in the neighboring apartment’s pool. The next day we just went around the city, ate some good Hari Krishna food and hung out. I love the Forest, it reminds me of life in Jax. PHP quality for sure.
Tonight I am going to meet Jellaine in town where we’ll have our last Burlesque dance class before the performance…I have not practiced once..where am I to do that? But we’ll see how it goes. I am tempted however, because the Foresters are going to a beautiful place, Stradbrook Island for a music festival and its really tempting..I should stick with my original plans though..but we’ll see how things pan out.. Enjoy the pics (more on facebook)
