Photos galore: a meditation on my good fortune

I need to tell y'all about my second 3-day adventure, but first I realized I've got a serious backlog of photos that I never shared, even from my first few days here. So just to start things off right, here are some pictures from Kings Park in Perth... I went strolling up there around dawn when I was jetlagged and sleeping at weird hours while staying at the Double Tree in my first week here.

Perth and the Swan River

State War Memorial

Let Silent Contemplation Be Your Offering

Giant Boab: 750 years old and driven 3,200km to its new home in King's Park after a highway was planned where it was living before. Talk about a retirement relocation. It's been here for ten years but seems to like the new neighbors!

Eucalyptus Blossoms

Can you tell I was obsessed with these gorgeous flowers?

Pioneer Women's Memorial

Perth

Another adventure from weeks ago that never made it to the blog was going diving with my coworker friend Alison and her partner! Darrell, the partner in reference, has his own boat. Ali, my coworker friend, is kind and welcoming and invited me out with them for a day of diving. They have the most beautiful/hilarious relationship. I thanked Darrell at the end of the day for inviting me along and he informed me that Ali more like notified him I was coming and he didn't have any say in the matter. But that he was happy to have me along. I think he's gotta be one of the most easy going men alive. Every time they're in the shop together on one of her days off they end up leaving with Darrell grabbing her hand and towing her out the door while she continues to chat as she exits.

Anyway, we spent the day out on the water near Garden Island. First dive was all four of us (one of their brothers came along) going out looking for crays - Alison and I spotted, the boys caught. Second dive we abandoned the boys and just went to look at pretty things. Ali takes some lovely photos, and here's some of what she captured that day:

Nudibranch

It was this amazing, lovely day on the water, and being welcomed so warmly as/despite being the new girl in the shop warmed the cockles of my heart. Thank God for friends.

Speaking of things I'm thankful for, I am so inordinately fortunate that I chose to move to Perth when I started this international adventure. I've been almost completely unimpacted by the bushfires, let the record show. The only times I've felt the impact have been when I traveled to Albany a couple weeks back and wasn't able to go hiking in the Sterling Range as intended because the National Park was closed, and when I woke up in a panic at 3am one day thinking my house was on fire because I could smell smoke. Fortunately, after panic searching my room/the house/the yard and finding no fires, I had the presence of mind to check the national bushfire alerts and found one that indicated a fire two hours drive away was smoky/windy enough that the southern suburbs of Perth would be impacted and we should close our windows if the smoke got too thick.

While I've woken up on subsequent nights with the smell of smoke in my room, I've been able to calmly check the alerts website, see that I'm still safe, and go peacefully back to sleep. So many folks here haven't been able to do that. Loss of property, loss of animal and human lives (three more fire fighters - Americans who came to help with the devastation - were killed today, and biologists are estimating that nearly 1 billion animals have been killed... lots of cattle ranches out east have been devastated), and loss of a sense of safety have been all too common this summer in Australia. Because I took my cousin Dave's advice and moved to Western Australia, though, I've been safe and sound. My grocery store can't get limes because of road closures keeping produce out, but man, how lucky am I that's all I have to contend with?

For those of you who are still concerned about my welfare, here's a handy map that allows you to superimpose landmasses over each other. The continent of Australia is roughly the same size as the lower 48. I'm living in California and the wildfires you're hearing about are concentrated in the Carolinas/Georgia. The bushfires that we've been getting out here in Western Australia have all been rapidly contained, unlike the ones out east that have been almost impossible to contain or control. Here's a handy reference map if you're interested in getting a visual of where the fire action is currently happening.

In the long list of things I'm thankful for, my safety is way up there. But meeting amazing people who have made me feel welcomed and loved is way up there too. I'm getting a little misty thinking about how extraordinarily fortunate I've been here. I'm coming up on three months of living in Australia and so here's a bunch of random photos of SOME of the people who make me feel glad that I decided to give this mad experiment a try. To leave the comfort of a predictable job with income and benefits, my amazing community of friends and family, and the nation that I've always called home for this insane international adventure:

Jack, Rob, & me at Jack's going away party

Pinot, my puppy pal

Me, Nat, Simon, & Dom out for a day of diving

Me & Nat with the only shark we spotted on that day of diving; at Little Creatures Brewing

Grant packed road sodas for me - what a genius

Wiebke and a Very Large Zucchini

Moritz, me, Jack, Stacey, & Nat the day we snorkeled with sea lions

Jack, me, & Nat at U2

The only photo I could find of Terry lol

Jack, Moritz, Stacey, Nat, me

Jack, me, Nat & Simon at The Rocky; "could you POSSIBLY look any more American?" - Simon

Anyway, I should wrap this post up. I know I need to write one about 3-day adventuring Part II, but instead I'll just show you some photos of today's adventure:

Went walking on some trails at John Forest National Park

Went for lunch at the tavern inside the park after bushwalking; already liked the place because the sign was amusing.

Walked inside and saw THIS as I was ordering my chicken burger

Apparently his name is Dribbles...

... and we're friends now.

Best friends.

Grant, the wizard who proposed this adventure

Couldn't look more chill if he tried.

Me and my mob connections

Several people at the tavern mentioned my eyes looked like dinner plates when I spotted Dribbles. But, like, duh?

So anyway, this is what a random Thursday day off looks like in my life now. This is the part where I mention to Mom: yes, I know I have to come home in a year. Or two. :)