We started out by wandering yet another mediaeval town. My expectations were perhaps a mite high after hearing of it’s popularity and the reception I received at mentioning we were going there on Facebook. As with most major tourist attractions we’ve visited on the trip we were left wondering why this town out of all the mediaeval towns in Italy is so obscenely popular. Location, location, location – it’s within a day-trip from both Siena and Florence. As with any major tourist attraction the maxim “the act of observing changes that which is being observed” – or perhaps more to the point “tourism changes that which is toured” – was evident in San Gimignano. Luckily tourists are extremely easy creatures to be rid of – just walk in any direction they’re not going in, which is pretty much every direction bar one and then like magic you have the place to yourself. So we wandered the back streets a little bit.

It was a beautifully sunny day when we began our hike through the pastural landscape of olive groves and vineyards.

And we were feeling both youthful and vigorous

We came across an interesting, seemingly completely purposeless structure built into the ground that reminded me of something from a fantasy novel or the Amazon jungle.

As the day wore on, the sun that had originally made the day so cheerful, sapped us of our will to go on when it continued uninterrupted by shade and unrelieved by a breeze the whole day long. Like seemingly everything else in Nettle, our water bladder had fallen victim to mould, which had left us with one small bottle of water between the two of us. Of course, we could have bought another water bottle in San Gimignano but every now and then we seem to make these inexplicably stupid decisions, which in hindsight leave us questioning our mental capacities. I think we thought we’d find places to fill up along the way. I’ve definitely come to associate Italy as a place abundant in water fountains, which is great if you’re in a town and not hiking through the countryside where they don’t tend to build public facilities. After running out of water somewhere near the half-way mark of our hike we decided to walk a little bit out of our way to get to the nearest town. We asked the first person we saw for some l’acqua – a middle-aged man picking olives out the front of a property. Of course, he happily obliged. However, it still wasn’t enough water for the two of us and we decided to beef it up with some electrolytes (we didn’t bring enough water but we did bring a full first aid kit) and ration out what was left.

We noticed the following strange phenomenon and wondered if the “anti-light” would show up in a photograph or whether it was just our confused brains telling us the rays of light are dark:

Nope, not an illusion. Anti-light, baby.

We walked back to the point from which we’d diverted from the Lonely Planet directions and took the trail they described (“Buona passaggio“, from a well-wishing olive-picker we passed). Only it wasn’t the trail as it was a dead-end. So we took the only other trail that matched that description, which was also a dead end. We went back and walked along the road a bit further and came to the only other road it could have been. It didn’t match the description in the Lonely Planet guide at all but sure enough that was the one they meant. It turned out to be a short-cut to the very place we had just walked to get water. Having successfully added a few kilometres onto our hike by walking in circles we set off in the right direction for the first time in a good long while.

Stumbling and half-limping, zombie-like, we trudged the rest of the way along the decidedly un-scenic highway back to Nettle. One of our dreams for our travels in Europe is to hike the Alps. Given that we just had our asses kicked by the gentle, rolling hills of Tuscany I think we might have a bit of work to do.

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When I’m researching beautiful places to visit I’ll often do a google image search. The Mt Etna National Park in Sicily was no exception and I had in fact ruled it out based on the lacklustre results I’d found. Photo after photo of barren black lava landscapes left me less than enthused. Fortunately due to an unexpected prolonging of our stay on this small island we ended up doing a few things we wouldn’t have done otherwise. The problem with doing google image searches is that tourists, generally speaking, all go to the same place to see the same thing, and take the same photos. There’s much more to Mt Etna National Park than barren black lava flows but you wouldn’t know it looking at the travel photos on the net. Hopefully this blog post will go some way to re-dressing the balance.

In this photo I am hiking in deep volcanic ash (like very fine sand) on a nearly vertical incline (okay, not quite but it was steep damn it) – that was very very hard.

One of the things I love most about hiking up big steep things. The romantic in me will never tire of being able to touch the clouds.

Before we left Australia, one of the things I was really excited about was getting another autumn. Two autumns in one year, my favourite season! Images of shockingly colourful autumnal forests was a staple of mine whenever I would fantasise about travelling. This might sound strange to non-Australian peeps, but most of our trees are evergreen so a whole forrest full of deciduous trees makes the nature lover in me get all giddy with glee.

Until Mt Etna we hadn’t actually seen any autumn colours – a very discouraging state of affairs given that winter was just around the corner. I had no idea that we would find our autumn when we decided to give the Mt Etna national park a go. We were both astonished by the vivid colours. On our first leisurely walk in the national park I commented to Mike that just when I think I’ve seen a place so beautiful nothing could ever compare we go somewhere new and see something even more beautiful.

However, Sicily stole my heart not for it’s beautiful scenery but for it’s beautiful people. I honestly never knew that people could be so kind and open and genuinely friendly. We were treated like family by complete strangers. We were invited to stay at people’s homes, join their celebrations and were taken on personal guided tours that lasted all day and all night and then invited to do it all again. I think Mike has done those stories justice so do head over to his blog to read more.

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I’m very excited to be a part of Andrea Schroeder’s new online group “Creating Dreams Come True“. Turns out, our first assignment is to start a list of 100 things we want to do, be, or have! Her theory (in direct opposition to mine) is that to come up with 100, stretches you to dream bigger and really expands your ideas of what is possible. So, in the interest of being open to new ideas and having a bit of fun, I’m going with it. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

1. Go on a hot air balloon ride somewhere spectacularly beautiful
2. Successfully sell my collage papers on Etsy
3. Successfully sell my paintings and digitally altered photography on Red Bubble and Image Kind
4. Find my community and make true friendships with other creative, kindred spirits
5. Build a wardrobe full of flattering, quirky, beautiful clothes with lots of skirts, gorgeous footwear, and accessories
6. Have several side projects that earn an income from our travelling – photography, e-books, blog, etc
7. Learn bookbinding
8. Be an accomplished artist
9. Be an excellent conversationalist
10. Own an original Heather Haynes painting
11. Learn how to make pottery
12. Learn to sew
13. Create a children’s book
14. See the aurora borealis
15. Travel Canada in our motorhome
16. Travel New Zealand in our motorhome
17. Make friends in every country we travel to
18. Accept, forgive, and let go
19. Learn the story of my adoption
20. Go paragliding somewhere spectacularly beautiful
21. Practise yoga
22. Join a lively, fun, and friendly book club
23. Patronise contemporary and jazz dance productions
24. Patronise the theatre
25. Own a cozy, rustic cottage in the hills with a studio and an open fireplace
26. Continue to travel Europe in our motorhome
27. Hike the Alps
28. Patronise classical music concerts
29. Attend the Venice Carnival
30. Experience the midnight sun
31. Live in Ireland
32. Live in Paris
33. Live in London
34. For Mike and I to meet our target monthly income from our creative endeavours alone
35. Get to know my brother’s fiance and be a part of my niece’s life
36. Practise meditation
37. Travel Tasmania, Australia, in our motorhome
38. Feel strong and powerful in my body (I totally plagiarised that from Andrea but her wording was just so perfect!)

Wow, over a third of the way there and there’s still such a long way to go! I can see what Andrea means, I really am going to have to get a bit outrageous to make it to 100!

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December 13

What’s the best change you made to the place you live?

Anyone who even vaguely knows myself or my partner knows the answer to this one but for those of you who are friends we have yet to meet, in July this year we bought a motorhome in the UK. Her name is Nettle. I wish she looked like this:

but alas, she’s the sturdier more beefy breed of German gal:

… although she does come with a chimney.

December 14 Rush

When did you get your best rush of the year?

I might just ramble a bit here and see if I’ve answered the question by the end of it. I’m a big wuss. Always have been. I don’t like scary rides at theme parks. They make me feel queasy. In primary school I dreaded the end of school break up when we would all go to our tiny town’s amusement park. When all the other kids were giddy with excitement I was dreading the water slide, especially the one that was an enclosed tube that all the big kids liked. I wasn’t too keen on the toboggan either. And then there were the geese that would chase after me. I don’t push myself to do the things that scare me I simply avoid them. It’s a character flaw, I know. I’m okay with that. So, needless to say I haven’t done anything too rush inducing this year. Whilst writing this I’ve sorted through the meagre, somewhat vivifying activities that have made the short list and this is all I’ve got. There’s really no way I can’t make this sound lame. A severe change in weather on a hike in the Central Sperrin’s Way in Ireland is what did it for me. I’m not sure I can describe it exactly but I’ll give it a go. There was nothing particularly hairy about the hike; no vertigo inducing precipices to be skirted or swaying rope bridges to be braved. Just a lovely, hilly, oftentimes boggy terrain to be leisurely trundled. It was a beautiful day and after walking steadily uphill for quite some time we were fairly hot and sweaty. When we finally crested the summit we found ourselves in the turbulent cloud layer. It was awesome. We were buffeted by a fiercely strong wind, pounded by icy cold rain and a dark layer of swiftly moving clouds surrounded us. I was elated. That’s all. The pure joy of being out in the elements and the intense surprise of the extreme weather exhilarated me. Quite a rush.   

December 15 Best Packaging

Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves?

Self righteous hippy outrage isn’t usually my style but I feel a rant coming on. You have been warned! Throughout our travels in Europe we’ve noticed a distressing trend towards over packaging. Things come in boxes which come in plastic then the things in the boxes are divided into smaller portions that are covered in more plastic. It’s out of control. I’m boycotting Twinnings after discovering that they’re tea bags are individually wrapped! How ridiculous, how pretentious, how irresponsible! Which brings me to the best packaging. We’ve been in Tunisia for a month now. We do grocery shopping here and of course there are many differences such as the deafeningly loud Islamic singing playing in one supermarket but by far the biggest difference I’ve noticed is in the packaging, or lack thereof. In the small grocery stores that dot the streets, everything from olives to beans to sugar can be found in vats or bins or buckets to be scooped into a bag. The focus is truly on providing the produce in the most economical way possible with none of the branding or marketing that has led to boutique individually wrapped products in more developed countries. Even olive oil can be bought in re-used water bottles. It’s not always pretty and I have no idea how hygienic it is but it’s refreshing.

December 16 Tea of the Year

I can taste my favourite tea right now. What’s yours?

Mike and I were befriended by a local Tunisian the other week. He took us out for coffee the day we met then that night we went out for dinner and tea afterwards. I’ve yet to see a woman in a cafe here. They definitely seem to be solely a masculine domain. Walking past one always gives me a vague feeling of unease. Maybe it’s because I grew up in machismo-drenched rural Australia but I find there’s something inherently menacing about a group of men. Is that just me, ladies? Am I in need of therapy? So, when our new friend took us to one of these establishments I kind of felt like a curiosity, an honorary male as a foreign woman, if you will. No matter how much it’s something I don’t want to do or wouldn’t usually want to do, if it involves going out with a local in a foreign country it’s always worthwhile. In this case I experienced the taste sensation that is mint tea. Of course, I’ve had mint tea before but never one that’s made me exclaim with delight. And I did exclaim boys and girls, oh yes. I’ve never been one for flavoured teas. I like the exotic romance of them (plus those little arabic tea glasses) but have never been able to actually summon up much of a taste for them. A whole new world of tea drinking possibilities has opened up before me.

December 17 Word or Phrase

A word that encapsulates your year. “2009 was ___.”

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred”.

- JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

Truly the universe seemed to conspire in our favour to make this vagabonding life choice of ours a success. I discovered art just when I was to be granted the time to pursue it. Almost a year’s worth of housesitting opportunities presented themselves so that we could save money on rent and put it towards our new home, “Nettle”. Distant relatives who also happen to be full time motorhomers took us under their wing and found the perfect motorhome for us the first time we visited a dealer. Honestly, it was just all too easy. If we had of done this at any other time maybe none of these things would have transpired. As it is it’s all worked out beautifully, like jigsaw puzzle pieces snapping into place.

December 18 Shop

Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

I brought very few clothes with me on our move to Europe. I packed as much as I would if we were only coming over for a few weeks. This leaves me in the dubiously enviable position of being able to reinvent my wardrobe. Something that, given my pickiness and frugal ways is long overdue. I’ve determined I will only buy clothes that I am absolutely in love with and have been drawing much inspiration from Some Girls Wander to give some focus to my personal makeover. Since my last clothes shopping trip I’ve also added an addendum that that which I love must also be flattering or at the very least not unflattering – a stipulation you would think should go without saying but one look at some of the items that have found their way into my wardrobe disproves that theory rather conclusively. I found a little hand made clothes boutique in Positano, Italy by the name of “Nadir”. I could have purchased about 80% of the clothes in that store and stayed true to my “must love it” commandment. I spent hours in there whilst my friends were at the beach. It was a very emotional experience given that the skirts were going for €200 – €250 and therefore completely out of reach of my frugal little fingers. I wish I had of taken photos of the skirts because they were the real show stoppers but a few shots of the more affordable bits and pieces I did buy and a screen shot of their website that hasn’t been updated since 2007 will have to suffice.

I came away with a passionate desire to buy a sewing machine and learn how to make skirts. It’s definitely still on the to do list.

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