I love Julia Roberts.

I watched the Julia Roberts movie ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ on a recent flight.  It’s a colossal ‘chick flick’ if you are the sort of person who likes to categorise movies.  As bad as this may seem, I must admit this was not the first time I had seen it.  Keen to go to the movies some months ago, it was the best of a bad bunch to choose from.  In a cinema full of young females and old couples, I guessed there wasn’t going to be much violence or gratuitous sex in it.  It is, I learnt quickly, a woman’s journey to find herself and learning to open her mind to the world’s wisdom and love again.  With such a charming description I sense your eagerness to sprint out and obtain the DVD instantly.  Anyway, with some splendid cinematography, stunning landscapes and inspirational locations, somehow Julia Roberts portrayal of a self centred and manic woman, actually spoke to me in verse.  Not that I think I am any of those qualities, but her longing for contentment and answers in life is no different to mine, albeit slightly more exaggerated.  It’s what we all want really and anyone who tells me otherwise is a liar.  We may be happy now, I know I certainly am, but this shouldn’t stop us from wanting more of this feeling.  Once we stop wanting happiness and bliss, we will slowly begin to die inside.  Our souls will empty of passion, leaving a void that the universe itself could never fill.  It takes effort to keep our lives at a happy balance.  So despite my adoration of the ‘chick flick’ that even my most girly of female friends snigger at, it gives a good warm glow to my heart.  It reminds me to keep living, keep looking and embrace all opportunities and challenges that come my way.  Keep your eyes wide open. Life is generous. 

Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad,but it's everything in between that makes it all worth living...

Each occasion I have journeyed to a Pacific island, I am struck by the simplicity and casual tempo of island life.  People’s lives appear to be uncluttered and unpretentious in the way the majority of the world’s societies lost a long time ago.  The ebb and flow of daily routines embrace much of what we would refer to as ‘down time’.  Periods of quiet interaction with fellow villagers or nature - clusters of men sitting beneath a huge Banyan Tree, women and children playing down at the river or individuals simply sitting on the beach surveying the waves as they harmoniously interact with each other.  It is a lifestyle I envy, devoid of modern anxieties and complication.  I wonder what they must think of the western style of living.  Do they think we are illogical or do they aspire to have some of what we have?  The nice car, money, electricity, running water?  Is the grass always greener on the other side?

"One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."  Henry Miller

Vanuatu

What a remarkable place was Vanuatu. I bragged about the private swimming pool we had, the deck overlooking a coral lagoon and the warm and balmy weather. But this is what the tourist thinks make a good holiday. Sure, the luxury was amusing and novel, but here is what I actually enjoyed about Vanuatu.
There must be something about island folk which they all share in their genes. Visiting Jamaica some years ago was my first island experience and it was as laid back and magical as purported to be through anyone’s imagination. Just the name conjures up a sense of chilling by the beach with daiquiri in hand. Travelling around the south pacific these past has amplified this impression, regardless of the island. Samoa and Niue made me envious of the simple lifestyle which produces such happy smiles and healthy lifestyles. Vanuatu blows them all away, with a charm and seduction I wasn’t expecting. Before travelling in that direction, I read that people from Vanuatu have been judged the happiest in the world by an international grade – two years running! A likely story, I chuckled to myself, just wanting to get the tourist dollars I bet. But walking around the streets and villages, in areas that often have no electricity or running water, and all you see are big flashy smiles. Children running around, playing and laughing, and not an iPod or Nintendo Wii in sight. Adults sitting and watching the kids, cutting wood or just talking quietly amongst themselves before exploding in riotous laughter. Youths displaying the typically slow walking style I call the ‘tropical shuffle’ while walking to a market. It was so refreshing to see that we don’t all live in a hectic and stressful world and that maybe, we can all be like that. I know I am romanticising the island way a little, but do we really need everything us civilised westerners have? Do we really need to do everything we do in a day to validate our existence and to make us happy? We have a different lifestyle which will not tolerate radical changes. But I realise there are little things we can do to emulate an island style. I plan to smile more as I pass people, not avert my eyes to the ground or star vacantly in a shop window. I can walk a little slower when I am around home or doing the shopping. Really, who am I hurrying for? I can take pleasure in what is outside, not the television, this computer, or even a book. If I can do little things like these, then what I have learnt last week will always remain with me. One of life’s lessons.

Queensland...are you still there?

I'd like to be thankful that the previously mentioned tropical depression passed Vanuatu and didn't ruin our tropical vacation which is due to begin tomorrow.  But then I see the news and how the storm turned in to the largest cyclone to ever hit Queensland and has had a devastating impact on thousands of people, and I begin to feel selfish.  What a trade off - a holiday inconvenience or wide spread damage of my homeland?  I wish I had been in a position to have made a choice.

Mother Nature Vs Johnny Ray

We are off to Vanuatu next week…..we hope…..we plan to anyway……another tropical island in the warm and azure South Pacific…..but then here’s the story.  Like my previous post, Mother Nature has been busy this season whipping up lots of goodies in her kitchen.  Her specialty this time of year is cyclones.  It’s a bit like us humans when we cook soups in winter or roasts on Sunday, certain foods for certain occasions.  Well, Mother Nature cooks up cyclones in summer and she never disappoints.  This year however, she has been extra busy with the help of her Latina gal-pal, La Niña, creating extensive flooding throughout Australia as well as cyclones almost on a weekly occurrence, or even as extreme as now with three cyclones on the go at once!  So, please Mother Nature, I know you love whipping things up to show us all how magnificent and creative you are, but please don’t send any in Vanuatu’s direction.  They’re on a diet.