back on the other side

.

thanks to good bus driver who gave me lift in middle of the night. and I arrived to empty house (my housemates Airi and Erwin were traveling somewhere).

what next? plan was to go and work winter season in Australian ski resort so I started to find a job and I found it – photographer I will become! it was almost one month till season begins hence I could do other things in Brisbane. I did. in evenings I worked at Brisbane arts theatre as sound and light operator.

cool job. voluntary so no pay but cool job. it meant this: I was sitting up in operator booth looking at play and pressed buttons on right moments to change lights and make sound effects or music. theatre is very positive. I climbed. as usual i bouldered in kangaroo point. as unusual I went to place called frog buttress – most famous trad climbing place in queensland.

rock is cool there - dream place for crack and corner climbing.

I went to other cool place - mount coolum - cool mountain on sunshine coast, hard sports climbing routes on steep and overhanging rock. that’s place to understand my level as I couldn’t redpoint easiest - 7a route.

people say: highest hill in Brisbane is mount cootha one nice Sunday I biked there. my map of Brisbane doesn’t know that area so I got lost on my way. thanks to my intelligence I got found again so with more effort than expected I saw it – it is nice indeed.

on my way I happened to biggest cemetery in Brisbane – very nice place, strongly recommended for all living ones too.

days passed until I had to go to airport and fly to Melbourne.year was 2007 when toomas got scholarship from Indian foreign ministry to study in delhi for 2 months. I met Anshul then. by strange coincidence Anshul contacted me week before my flight and it came out his brother Gaurav lives in Melbourne so it happened I got accommodation in Melbourne – world is small. thanks Anshul!

anyhow, two and a half hours in the air and I was there. it was night but even in darkness Melbourne was very different from Brisbane – positively different. with minor problems i found house in st Kilda where I was welcome. next morning I went where every tourist will - federation square.

remark:

as noted before I worked in theatre. not alone no no no. one of my collegues was iranian. it was he who told me about elections in iran. me myself had no idea whats happening further around me than I could see. that’s how I knew about ridiculous falsified results and demonstrations.demonstration was happening where I got there, federation square is useful place full of information, places to visit and plenty of room for letting others know what you have to say.tip about bike rental in Melbourne. to rent a bike @fedsquare for day costs $35 to sleep in dormitory in st Kilda costs $25 and there are free bikes for use.I walked around saw library and had scrumtious dinner in Indian restaurant with Gaurav.next day I walked and I found noble free bouldering place built under highway.

evening came and gave me chance cook owen baked potatoes and minced meat sauce for my hosts as an example of Estonian cuisine. they liked it :)
about Melbourne: I like it. my first impression in one word would be ‘dirty’. but nicely dirty. after brisbane’s sterile postcard cityscape it was heartwarming to see graffitis and disorder in streets.

there is atmosphere and spirit in this town, something like I haven’t felt in other oz town.and there is music. you can hear it played on the streets and you can see it on the posters on the walls. you can also happen to free gigs like me on opening night of salvadore dali’s exhibition where mojo juju and the snake oil merchants gave beauteous performance. check them out!

it was Friday when I woke up next morning. I had to leave to mountain. I missed buying ticket to special hotham ‘snowball express’ bus so I had found alternative way via train and busses. early morning tram (trams is 1 of many details that make Melbourne such a nice place as it is) took me to train station, train took me through fresh south australian landscape to warrangatta.

bus took me to bright and while doing it and talking with bus driver it came out his stepfather is Estonian and lives nearby.. then I was in bright. old goldmining town where walk by old river you can. few hours later another bus took me to hotham.

and memories of green warm bright were suddenly eclipsed by snowy mountaintops. one more bus took me from hotham central down to ‘dinner plain’ village.

eventually I could step into my new home, inhabited already by 2 girls who had just made delicious pasta bolognese and didn’t mind to share it with me – sweet home indeed.

thats my home in young july 2009...