My darlings,
(I'm in Australia, so everyone is a darling)
It's been a while since I got into the blog zone, I know. I've been in a strange limbo between consciousness and sleep for the last two weeks. Pretty much as soon as I touched Australian ground. Arriving in smoking hot Brisbane wearing thermals and woolen outfits: no. Don't do it.
My dear friend Maggie picked me up from the airport and after 29 hours of trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in my plane seat, I was dying a million deaths of desire to run away from any planes, straight into her arms and join her to the first pub in sight.
After three days of jetlagging like a professional, I made my way to Melbourne. My new partner in crime Julia gave me a lift to Rainbow Serpent Festival. As we entered the site, we disappeared into a giant cloud of a different world. Goodbye reality, hello rainbow! I was happy as a blossoming flower to be dancing at this colourful party again. Where costumes can never be over the top, music is non-stop, people are non-stop. And after days and nights of happiness and confusion, everyone is just dwelling in their own soup of madness. There is even a name for it. It's called Messy Monday.
That's after four days of Rainbow. Now imagine spending eleven days at that festival. There are no more dreams. There is no more reality. It's all one big blurry slice of paradise. The best way to describe it is like walking through the poppy fields of Oz and falling asleep without even realising it.
I tried to shift fluidly from dreams to reality by getting on the free train to Melbourne. My body had no sense of time so I slept, got myself together and moved all my bags (how did one backpack turn into backpack plus three giant bags? The magic of traveling!) on a tram to my fabulous friend Chloe. In fifteen minutes she turned me from a dirty hippy into one of those well-washed dignified people you often see in cities. And so I'm back. Back in my beloved Melbourne, where it all started three years ago. Walking through her streets fills my head and heart with memories.
Shivers of excitement.
I'm back.