Spirited Adventurer

I have arrived back in Sydney and after being back for a week I have finally 'landed'. It took a while but the realisation that I am back home and don't need to pack or get up for a predetermined breakfast time at a B&B has now hit. (After sitting at my breakfast table and waiting for someone to serve me and nothing happening you get to realise that pretty quick.) I realise that I haven't posted any pictures - that is about to be remedied. Here are some of my favourites of Stone Circles I saw. Over the next week I will also post others that I like. I have so many - it is hard to choose just a couple! This first picture is of stone is known as the Merlin stone. It is in the processional line of stones that lead the Avebury stone circle in the United Kingdom. This stone is not carved, it has this shape naturally and is a wonder to behold! The second picture is only a part of the Stones of Stenness - a stone circle in the Orkney Islands - off the coast of Scotland. An amazing group of stone used for rituals. It does have one of the best views as it is surrounded by water - not many stone circles can boast the same. Not wanting to leave Ireland out of the fray - the third photo is of the Drombeg Stone Circle in the south of Ireland. It is a smaller stone circle which would have served the surrounding areas for their rituals. The stones are in great condition as it is not on the main tourist path. It has a sense of a local druid church as such where you feel that local ceremonies were held. I have a lot more photos of other amazing sites which I will post over the coming days.

After getting over initial jet lag I am now getting to know Tokyo. Being back in Asia is great as it is so different. Disneyland Tokyo was a must, as was the ancient art of Karaoke. As I am only here for about 4 days sightseeing is not really on the list. it is more about shopping, eating, Disneyland, shopping, did I mention shopping???? The dilemma of how am I going to fit it in the bag is forgotten underneath the fluorescent lights of the department stores. Japan is ordered, easy to navigate around even though it is all in a different language which can't be deciphered easily. And it is clean and safe. What a place!! So organised it blows my mind. Contrasts the western world in a major way. In my head as I am walking around I am planning my next trip here when sightseeing will be on the agenda, as will be bringing an empty bag so I can shop to my hearts delight. This time it's enjoying catching up with friends and chillax at the end of my holidays. It's all good!

For the last two days I have been saying hi and bye to some very good friends who are the type who after 4 years it feels just like yesterday that we were hanging out, working together and having fun. It reminded me of what made my time of living in London so good. I do feel sad to have to say goodbye as well to friends who I love so dearly, and then I remember that we will see each other again. Who knows when but it may be sooner rather than later - you never know. So on my last day I am really looking to chillax, probably wander around Clapham and just enjoy the vibe again before finishing packing and seeing what ( if anything I may need to leave behind.) all good!!! Oh and the rest of Ireland was fantastic. Will be good to post some of my 10,000 photos when I am home. Next stop is Tokyo, fly out tomorrow (watch more movies on a plane - yay) and I am looking forward to it :) .

It is necessary to tell this story as it is so relevant to travel and how life is as well. I was driving what felt like all day in my car with no air conditioning in a 20 plus degree heat wave in jeans ( as who knew that Ireland of all places was going to be this hot). My sat nav died after the first day as the car hire company have me the wrong connections for my car. So I have a plan just to turn up at a B&b ona Friday in Ennis and get a room. Well Ennis is a ridiculously set out town, I am not getting a good vibe from it and a B&b I stop at is all full (didn't really like it anyway but I was getting to the end of my tether. So next alternative is to find a hotel. Drive around, follow some signs and find a hotel - nope they are full. I do get a map though. Now I am driving around in a pool of sweat by now ( lovely I know) and ask the nice hotel lady which hotels would have a room. She lets me know Woodstock is good and she can't really read the map, so her directions are sketchy at best. So off I go again. Out of frustration and another ten minutes of driving around I pull into s service station as I am lost again. Now I don't know WHY ts happens but don't you love that when you are stressed and by this time I was fuming under the collar , you can't really hear directions and it's hard to focus. So I get directions, except the young guy decides at the last minute to change the route - as he thinks though town is easier. So I go that way and that road ends up in 'lost' again. So I try to remember what his first route was, and have a scream to blow off some steam,and then I give up on the verge of tears. Which is exactly when I end up seeing the sign for Woodstock the hotel. I get there, ask for a room and the lady behind the desk helps out. To the point that she organizes me the next stops accomodation as well. In fact she calls them, tries one town that she recommends but it booked out and then books in the next best one. So at the end of a hellish drive, I am taken care of, have the best next day as I don't have worry about accomodation and it is all because of an angel called Tracey. We don't know what is around th corner and even though we get lost and lose or cool and lose the plot, there are too many angels in this world for it to really be the end of it.

Ok so I am not sure if everyone's eyes in Ireland are smiling but so far the friendly Irish tag certainly rings true. Am driving around Ireland by myself and am absolutely loving it. Makes me wonder why I didn't hire a car and drive around the Uk - you live and learn. after driving the Ring of Kerry yesterday have landed in a small seaside town of Dingle. where I had my first pint (s) of Guiness - the ol black magic!!! I had forgotten how actually palatable it is - just as well it isn't readily available in Oz on tap. The views here are amazing. Ireland isn't as wild as Scotland, there is something charming to all of its aspects. Am looking to cover quite a lot of ground in the next 5 days, so it's a fine balance of pacing and being able to see everything that I want in the time I have. The fact that I am nearing the end of my 8 week journey is very present, and part of me is happy about that. My biggest fear is having to cook my own breakfast after all this B&b living :) . No seriously, it is hard to cook breakfast EVERY morning. Ok, ok, I am looking forward to being home eventually, with Tokyo being my last exciting hurrah. In the meantime, Ireland lets have some fun.

It's been a little while between posts and sometimes that is a good thing. There have been some amazing goings on, and it would take me too long to write them all in my blog, but suffice to say that my muscle tension kept increasing and getting worse until I was ready to let it go in a process I participated in with a Druid in Glastonbury. But that is a story for another time. I have visited Avebury and found it to be an awesome site. Being a big fan of The Henge, I knew that this site was going to have more of the feminine flavour even before I saw it. And I wasn't wrong. And considering I have been working towards balance of the masculine and feminine in my life, it was so appropriate to walk among the stones and feel their vibrations. At times all of the tension I had been carrying disappeared completely and currents would run up and down my body. I found the most amazing Blue moon stone, and met a lady who knows my brother and sister in law as I was walking to the souvenir shop - 6 degrees of separation is live and well. Then it was onto Glastonbury with its energy lines and the Tor. A place where both the St Michael and Mary lines (energy lines) intersect a number of times. It is such a powerful place, full of characters where I was drawn to all of the awesome crystal shops to expand my crystal family. Glastonbury was really a place of recovery and integration for me. Then onto Stratford upon Avon, which was a different pace. Popular due to its Shakespeare history, and it was nice to wander around. Watching a play was the way to go. A somewhat modern interpretation of The Tempest. The best part was the end, (and not because I was bored), but because of the way Shakespeare wrote the end, where the Duke was only released and able to leave the island if the audience applauded. There was a definite pause at the end, as he wasn't the nicest guy in the world with the mischief he created. And I am not sure if anyone knew that was the end either, so there was a pause of awkward silence before the clapping commenced. And I wondered if they ever had a crowd who just walked out, so as to leave him there for eternity ??? :) Next stop is Ireland :)

So I am back in London for a quick pit stop before some more sightseeing near Glastonbury and Stratford upon Avon. Over the weekend when in Edinburgh I really felt the toll of a full on two weeks of travel, and of the weight that I have been carrying in my back pack ( purchases need to stop soon ;) ). I have had two instances recently where I have felt stress in my body - one where it seemed my flight changes back to London had been stuffed up, and today when my money hadn't transferred into my travel account - eek!!! I feel the stress at the moment in my muscles. I am tight as a knot, and know I need to meditate and eat better. More fruit is on the agenda and some booze free nights are a must. It's a choice - to ground and get present, or to stress, tense up and experience not so great consequences as a result of making stressed out, not happy jan decisions. so time to reenter the flow, meditation silence here I come - and tomorrow hello Stone circles !!