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sitting in an internet cafe and listening to a drum jam down the street. It's sort of a crunchy town, "cruisy" as they say here, which I think translates roughly to "laid-back." Even the inconveniences have had beautiful moments wrapped into them. Like the day before yesterday when I locked my keys in the rental car I'm driving... The challenges of driving from the right side of the car and on the left side of the road are augmented by roundabouts. There are details I never thought of, though, like the fact that you have to learn to shift with your left hand, and get used to looking left for the rearview mirror, and (this is often comical) reach over your right shoulder for the seatbelt. It's funny, I ride on the right side of the car in the states and reach over the right shoulder, but something about driving makes me want to reach to the left. Folks here say you can tell when the foreign drivers want to turn because their windshield wipers are on, since the levers are on opposite sides. Quite an education. :) landed in Picton after winding through the many islands that fill the bay there. It's sort of like taking the Appalachians and flooding them. Lush and green small islands rising from the water. Sort of, but not exactly. When you look closer you see the Dr. Seussian gum trees rising above the pines and the tree ferns that make you feel like you're a foot tall and looking at a 'normal' fern in North Carolina. along the coast. Every bit of it was brilliantly beautiful, but I managed to last thirty minutes or so before I just had to pull over and gawk. The little coves and beaches nestled between ridges of green mountain were too much to believe. The sky was bright and clear and the water that shade of aquamarine that, in spite of its name, I've mostly seen only in crayon boxes. behind me only to realize that my keys were inside. Bummer. Some German tourists came over to be helpful, but we had no luck. Eventually I got a ride back to town with a couple of highway workers, who offered to bring me back up after I got a key at the rental agency. Complicating matters was the fact that my digital camera was lying obviously exposed in the passenger seat. My Taylor guitar was in the back, out of sight, and my airline tickets, passport, money, etc. were all in the car. That made for a fairly tense hour trip back to town. spare key. That makes sense, in retrospect, since rental cars move around, but it wasn't the news I was looking for. The guys gave me a ride back to the car, and I waited for a key to be delivered by a man who works for the rental company, after he drove to the NEXT town and got one made from the code. help but be grateful. I mean, of all the places to have to kill an hour! There was a trail down to the cove that I had been staring at wistfully, and I hiked down it to find I was all alone on an idyllic beach with gentle waves and bright sunshine. I sat down on the smooth rocky sand and laughed out loud. A bit of a nap and I wandered back up to the car. A few minutes later the courier showed up and handed me the key with a quip about hoping it worked. but life could be worse. He got into the car fairly quickly, and I was on my way. With an extra key, no less, which now lives in my wallet. me at the home of my new friend Jared, who lives on an island just off the coast with nothing on it but woods and sheep, a few cows and one other house. lives by himself in a small house overlooking the sea and works certifying organic farms in the area and teaching yoga, and plays a mean acoustic guitar. Actually, a kind acoustic guitar. From where I sit, he's about got life sussed, as they say here. I'll be back there on Saturday to spend some time relaxing after a string of three gigs. We're talking about doing some tramping (hiking) and/or a little sea kayaking. It's a dark and lonely job, but somebody has to do it. fact that "Unknown the Great: The Life and Times of Buddy Schmcghee," a movie that I starred in and made with my friends Paul Dowler and Joe Lunne, just got into the Berkeley film festival. It will be screened during the weekend of Nov. 18 & 19 in Berkely, so if you're out that way, go see it on the big screen! Paul's currently living in L.A. working in TV and both he and Joe have extensive film-making resumes, so they actually knew what they were doing and we had a ball making the movie. We'll have it for sale soon on this site, and there's more information here, if you want to check it out. national broadcast very much like Good Morning America, last Friday. I played Shadows, and managed not to blow it. I didn't get an interview, but did have some folks show up at my gig last night because they saw me on TV. Pretty cool. encouragement to believe that I could head off for a crazy tour like this. I'm already making plans to return to Australia and New Zealand around April 2002. now. Peace to you, |