One month!

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One month! It’s already been a full month that we’ve been orbiting the globe with our heads upside down. I can’t believe how fast things are moving. Just this week, we’ve had enough surprises and wonderful meetings to fill two or three! Coffs Harbor has been one of those places that you thought you’d only be passing through but end up sucking you in for four days; but what four days… It all started when we found this really nice spot to spend the night, right on the ocean’s edge, on one of the long dangling arms of a U-shaped bay. The strong salty winds alone would have kept us there, but it was a chance encounter with a local artist of aboriginal descent at a nearby farmer’s market that sealed the deal and made the jetty our home for nearly 96 hours.

His name is Kristian Benton. Although his skin color wouldn’t betray it, his great grandmother is pure Aborigine and he grew up in the middle of the bush. What made Kristian special for us is that instead of just peddling his touristy wares like most places we’ve seen around major urban centers, he offered to spend the next day with us and show us how to make our own Didgeridoo; and what more, for far less than the price we’d seen all the other pre-made instruments in the oh-so trendy aboriginal shops! Now I wasn’t planning on buying a Yidaki in the first place, but the chance to learn how to make one of the oldest musical instruments in the world, that was one thing I couldn’t pass up! Click here to see Stephanie and me turn a termite eaten log into Jean-Paul, the all mighty Didgeridoo.

That night, while the varnish was drying on Jean-Paul, we also had a chance meeting with two very nice fellow Québécois: Sebastien and Phillip who had been living in a tent in the woods, next to a railroad track on the outskirts of town. The week before, Sebastien’s tent was torn open by a wild turkey that went crazy and flew into it. He patched it up with some palm leaves, but it was unfortunately no longer waterproof. Just before parting with them, Stephanie told them that you can make couscous without hot water. You should have seen their amazed looks. Apparently, they had been eating cold noodles with ketchup for the last couple of days, not having realized, when buying it, that tomato sauce is not actually a sauce around here. That night, I realized how lucky we are to be living in the comfort of our roomy car, with all our things dry and within reach at all times and having lots of traveler’s knowledge to back us up on our trip down under.

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