Thoughts from the Gold Coast

Sitting here beachside in the town of Burleigh Heads Australia. Enjoying a late morning cup of coffee after a 2 hour morning surf session just down the road.

It’s summer here and after about 3 days of storm swell, rain and wind it is now perfectly beautiful.

The Australian sun is hot and despite caking myself with 2-3 layers of thick white spf 300 sunblock I still manage to get burned. Lucca looked like he had a hangover yesterday his eyes were so red and bloodshot from hours of boogie boarding.

Layla was a bit too afraid to get into the water with all the Jellyfish, although a very nice lifeguard assured her they were not “of the stinging kind”. I asked a surfer about the Jellies when I was in the water because I was taking so many headers off the waves I wanted to make sure when I did land face first into a Jellyfish I wouldn’t come out blind or permanently disfigured 🙂 . Typical response: “no worries mate”!

We have one more day here on the Gold Coast, I am sad and happy at the same time.

Sad because the surf is so good and this coastline is heavenly.

Happy because the surf is so good and the coastline so heavenly that if I don’t go out in the water I feel bad about myself and after so many days of surfing back to back every inch of my body hurts in some way or another.

I am being reminded that yes indeed, I am 37 and out of shape (at least relative to these tanned Australian Gods and Goddesses of the Gold Coast) 🙂

We are headed on the 18th to the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian Rainforest for 10 days before hopping a flight to Thailand. We spent our last night at a “holiday park” this week and I felt sad. The Aussie and New Zealand campervan parks are harbingers of kids, happy families, and jumping pillows. This of course is all wrapped up in a beautiful package of an outdoor setting with trees, lizards and exotic Australian birds. Our last park had a lake and this amazing public dining hall where families went to cook and collectively admire each others smiling happy children. It was delightful.

Pearls of Wisdom

After 4 months of constant travel from Africa to Indonesia to New Zealand and Australia, I wish I could share with you some pearl of wisdom I have learned while traveling, some insight that can only come with time, travel and careful introspection. But sadly I cannot. I have felt very close at times, but it tends to pass quiet and unnoticed, kind of like gas…

That being said, I am gaining a better understanding of how the world fits together, how family, culture and human desires cross cultural divides and how incredibly fragile this world is upon which we tread. The lovely creatures of the world are helplessly going extinct, the worlds great reefs are dead and/or dying, the oceans and air are polluted to an extent that is utterly disgraceful, and the majority of people care, and badly want to do something, but don’t (me included).

Democracy and the growth of global economies based on a cycle of endless consumption must come to an end. Something that is surprisingly easy to do, yet difficult in size and scope.

No worries Mate! Can life really be this easy?