La Via da Qui

Yes, that's a little shout out to Aladdin. I've now worked my first week in Perth - 4 days of work and training, and then 4 days off to recover from my stint up north, and try to get everything under control. I've done well, but there's a little yet to do. Upstairs: Bedroom mostly cleaned, clothes washed and put away. Bathroom in good nick tho the toilet still leaks so I need to fix that, somehow (tho I've tried and am at a bit of a loss!) Sewing room is a bit messy but that's ok. Downstairs: clean and organised. All the things that lived in my donga are now safely ensconced in their new homes. DVD and CD collection: Organised by colour! I keep seeing it with bookshelves in home decor magazines and I've always thought it was a stupid idea. But I feel much less strongly about cds than I do about books, so I actually really like it on this smaller scale. A little bit of fun. Garden: Looking pretty good. I have snails now! And slugs! And small flying...

I have lived here for three years. For three years I've tried to capture the beauty of this place - one of my many "homes" in photographs. Failed, of course. And now it's my second last evening here and it's just that little bit to early to wander along the airport road and capture the dying light as it fades over one of my favourite stretches of land. Yandi is overlooked by the Three Sisters - Barimunya. Her three hills anchor us in the ever-undulating landscape. They are a landmark from the sky telling us where we are as we fly over; when they hide behind the clouds we know our flight will be delayed or redirected; they are a resting place for the eyes as they hug the sunrise; their glow in a storm tells us there is a fire in the distance. Their closeness to our camp gives me the same cozy, comforted feeling that the mountains of Aosta did. An enveloping landscape. I wanted to write a long and winding post about Yandi's land. It is so beautiful and has ...

I first saw her in December. She was perched on the pavement, sunlight bathing her features, flowers in her hair. She had a look of calm, clean beauty about her and I was smitten. But I never thought she would be mine. I watched her through January, planning and scheming ways to entice her into my world. Her beauty was dazzling but I began to see that her style was not to everyone's taste...maybe she was within my reach after all? I told my friends about her, praised her character and charm to the skies; they all agreed that she was perfect for me. I dreamt of dressing her in pretty fabrics, buying her trinkets of colour and light, and spending my nights safely esconced in her embrace. In February I finally found the courage to approach her. Then, somehow, before I knew it, promises were made and she was mine! Want to see her? Here she is... .

It was two years ago, July, summer. I was sitting on the grass at Villa Borghese, cross legged with a book in my lap. The heat was stultifying and I was wearing as little clothing as I could realistically get away with in public. My hair was stuck to my neck and I was sipping from a waterbottle while reading through a "Guide to Europe" book. I had a year stretching ahead of me and only a few weeks of it were solid, looming out of the emptiness like words floating in a vast universe... volunteering in July, La Tomatina in August, London for Christmas, New York for February, home sometime around April. The rest was....what? I had to determinedly avert my thoughts from a sense of panic. I remember thinking at the time that I felt like I was standing on top of a very, very high diving board, blindfolded, with only my faith to tell me that there was water in the pool below. I dithered for a bit, then took a breath, opened a page of the book, liked the sound of a town called "...

Well, here I am on site. This'll be a quick one because it's getting late and I'm tired. The people here are great. I'll introduce you to the team in a later post, but it seems like a close-knit team. We eat together and everyone is prety supportive. The camp itself isn't as integrated as Coyote was - there's no way you'd ever get to know everyone on site and when trying to find my room, I asked four people - none of whom could direct me there - and all of whom I later discovered were only a block or two away from me! Our offices are brand new - so new that I don't even have a computer yet and am working on someone else's. They moved in a week ago, so the aircons are all in perfect condition, the desks are large, the rooms are clean and we're situated right next to the lunch room. The landscape is beautiful. The dirt is a deep red, rocky, ever-changing, miniature gorges that are a gradual calming of the deeper gorges of the nearyby Karijini. I ha...

One of my resolutions this year was to write a blog post a week. I haven't quite been meeting that mark, but given the turmoil my life has been in for the past couple of months I think it's ok. So, now I have a contract position on a mine - the money plus the lifestyle situation that I've missed ever since I last flew away from the red dirt. Coming home from Bali and flying over the northern soil put an urgency into me to head back to my other "home". In 12 days time, after inductions and driving courses and lessons in procedures, I'll be there. La via è in corso.