A cyclone is headed to the West coast of Australia so our Outback bicycling trip yesterday and surfing lessons this morning got cancelled. There we were, three very inexperienced or complete novice surfer wannabes, standing in front of the wave that Patrick Swayze meets at the end of Point Break.

I've decided to do it like the old days and have impulsively decided to split off on my own... Bought a one way ticket to Melbourne this morning and I'm off. Just have to get 4 hours up the coast now somehow by myself... Wish me luck. I used to think I'd never get a chance to travel like this again; chaotically, meeting people along the way and just hearing their stories - my favorite part of travel. You meet people you couldn't have dreamed up in fictions, and if you listen well you hear about lives you cannot even imagine; and the fundamental experiences that bind all lives no matter how foreign to the same firmaments. Good to know that you can do that no matter how old you are.

I have to remember to write about the spider by my foot, the size of my foot. The kid who was the caretaker of the rock house for traveling musicians we stayed at. The tropical storm pounding down on the roof louder than I've ever heard rain. The most epic waves I've ever seen. The sky and stars here at night. The sign in a village pointing the way to the Internet. What kangaroo tastes like (it's actually quite good and no I didn't order it)...

I'm off...