Photo dump!

Now just pics. Soon more substance to follow. Also wanted to say I've just finished Snowdrop by A.D. Miller. It's by no means a long book but it's been a while I've been so engaged that I've finished  book in 2 days. It is very well written and is a chilling book with a sense of foreboding so great that you tear through the pages trying to work out if what's happened is as bad or worse than you think. It shows Moscow in all of its ugliness and cruelty, as well as some of its beauty - in some instances you are left with the same burning sensation the characters frequently experience as they shot back copious amounts of vodka. I don't have anything overly profound to say, but it's a book I would certainly recommend.

Frog in the Olsen Foyer, Melbourne

Room in the Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Jacob's Ladder, Perth

View from our apartment, Darwin

Fun statues, Darwin

Best ever real estate agent, Darwin

Magnetic Termite mounds, I love the way the ones in the background look like tombstones. Litchfield NP

Cathedral Termite Mount, Litchefield

Gorgeous waterfall, I swam under the one on the right, 

Fresh water croc!

Sunset in Darwin

eMDee, excellent band

Sadly the only photo I have of Hobart

Emporium - fancy foyer in Brisbane

Now the pics

It's been a while

So it's been  a few months since I wrote anything down here so it's time to make amends. Life has been very exciting recently - for the last two weeks I've been frolicking around Australia with some of my work mates for jurisdiction meetings. It's hoped that the way data is collected nationally is going to have a bit of a face lift so the states, territories and commonwealth start doing thing with more of a national focus and look for future user needs rather than maintaining a business as usual approach. I won't bore you with details of the meetings but want to jot down some highlights.

Melbourne - luckily people like to do things with very little notice. I had no idea how much spare time would be at my disposal and whether my friend Toby, who I haven't seen since I was about 19 or so, even had the same number or was in town. Luckily the stars were aligned and I had a quick burger with him and some of his friends before they ran off for a choir rehearsal - they're performing "Carmina Burana". Ah the memories, a the questionable monks that wrote the lyrics.
We also stayed at a rather ridiculous and wonderful hotel called "The Olsen" - covered in works by the man himself. A pool with a partly glass floor and beds you can get lost in - I was highly content believe you me.

Adelaide. Adelaide is an odd place - the cbd seems to be a city of some gorgeous old buildings with hideous monstrosities interspersed between. Planners, what are you going? Also the water was awful. In my afternoon off I caught up with another friend Alistair who suggested I check out the art gallery there where none other than the works of Patricia Piccinini, whom I love for her work "The Stags" http://www.artwhatson.com.au/artgallerysa/once-upon-a-time/the-stags (and loved her new work "The lovers which I'll put a pic up of soon)
I wasn't quite as fond of her life forms with evolved mutant properties - it is hardly the point to - but I think the  questions she raises about gene manipulation and stem cell research with them are very valid.
I love the fact that the Adelaide CBD is surrounded by park lands - I had a wonderful run in them and loved the Alice in Wonderland Statues there.

Perth - Hurrah my old stomping ground. I felt very mixed about Perth - don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to be there and catch up with all of my wonderful friends who just seem to be lurching from strength to strength and turned out en force to see me (thanks guys!) but it just made me realise how much I loved my time there and how much I miss it as well. I love being in Canberra but I guess it was the first time I was establishing myself on my own terms (gap year doesn't really count) and was living with Brendan rather than being in a long distance relationship yet again. I was amused to see what's changed (more Little Cesars and San Churros! Friends buying property! ) and what really hasn't (The CBD is full of construction work seriously inhibiting anyone's ability to actually drive through it). The way Northbridge has gone is pretty sad - the amount of club related violence led for a new security measure to be taken: now when you enter a club they take a photo of you with the ID you have so if you start anything they know exactly who you are. Also met a lot of lovely WASO folk - now I am officially 2 degrees of separation from Tim Minchin as he performed with them earlier in the year :D

Darwin, Hobart and Brisbane to come but I have to run off and buy frames for my gma's 80th bday present!

Back!

Well it's been a while since I last updated and things are going peachily. I had a lovely Xmas and New Year (the former being in Bateman's Bay, the latter in Sydney at Brendan's new apartment in Waterloo - very nice indeed!) and while things are going slowly at geoscience I very much enjoy working out there. So far so good although I find that whenever I get into a rhythm something will inevitably change, but this time it's most certainly for the better. This time the changes are as follows.
1. Soon I'll be moving out of the Ainslie house. I've actually quite liked it here, the house itself is nothing special but it suited me nicely in that it was cheap and I've had some time to myself. However, I decided that since I'm earning a decent wage now that I could afford better so soon I and my friend Steph, who I met at the end of last year, will be moving in together in Kingston. At present we're not sure where we will be but I see three key options: 1. formally renting from Steph's parents (I'm pretty happy with this option as the townhouse is lovely and in a great location and they're not charging too much for it at home) 2. potentially Reine's friend's place who is moving overseas – apparently amazing and certainly within budget. Will have to find out more. 3. Somwhere in the Brighton complex – this place looks lovely but is probably the least like option in that last week Steph and I went to an inspection and about 20 or so groups turned up. We decided not to put in for it, but it appears that this is not a good time to be looking...So yes, not this weekend but next weekend I shall be temporarily moving back in the with parentals (options 1 and 2 will be available in early march and the ainslie lease runs out on the 21st but the people taking over the least are happy to do so from the 8th. As I just paid this fortnight's rent, I figured I may as well stay that fortnight and lave a week early since I'll most likely be at the folk's for a week or so anyway (and the parents being the lovely people that they are, are happy to have me back :) )
2. Job change – so I got the second job at GA for the GIS position. Am most happy with this as it means I can refresh old skills, learn new skills and be in a more analytical role rather than data monkey role. It also adds to current plan: learn lots of GIS stuff and hopefully use these skills to undertake youth ambassadorship. The shift in job (and floor, I'm going up to 3rd, how exciting) means I will also not need to hear bizarre beliefs of  a work colleague: regarding the magical powers of crystals, abilities to meditate in the earth's core, how he was a dolphin in a previous life and how gaia gives us instructions through plants.
3. This is not a major change but my latest obsession is that I taken up geocaching. I love it, it's nerdy in the extreme but I really enjoy it. Everyone likes a treasure hunt!
I'm not sure whether I'll keep up with capoeira, I enjoyed the classes I did but it did annihilate my feet. Some friends were planning on taking up yoga so I think if they end up doing it, I'll join them. I think I'd feel less self concious and probably enjoy myself more. We will see...
What else, I've been reading a fair few books lately. To anyone wanting something I certainly recommend Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (sp?) and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.
Ideally read these together as there are many parallels – both are highly critical of the French elite but in very different ways: Nemirovsky through holding a mirror up and showing how ridiculous the values and wants are, Barbery through direct criticism by one of the two narrators. I found both books to be extremely touching and beautiful (although I do wish there was slightly less philosophy in the Barbery's as my eyes, or in my case ears as I was listening to it, glaze over a little when character's talk about things that seem ever too slightly too much like Heidigger's Everydayness.
I've also reading “Cutting for Stone” which was a great book for the most part and gave me some insight into the modern history of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, I felt the author felt into the trap of coming up with a seemingly profound idea and making something completely contrived and unrealistic occur for it to be achieved. I find it so disappointing when this occurs – just like in “Cloudstreet” by Tim Winton, where this murderer comes out of nowhere. The sceptic in me just thought, well I suppose it could just legitimately be happening but it seems like a convenient plot device.
Another book which I thoroughly enjoyed was “Me talk pretty one day” by David Sedaris. I'd listened to a few of Sedaris' pieces on This American Life and have always enjoyed his work. This book was no exception and often I read bits to Brendan because I'd be laughing so much he'd want to know what was going (or, in Brendan's charming fashion, know that I'd want to share it and so ask me what was happening so he found be as “delighted” as me – I am a very lucky young lass).
I feel very lucky to be where I am and who I am at the moment. I'm surrounded by lovely family and friends, I have an active social life which is great and I feel like I'm going in the right direction. I'm more content now than I've been in quite a while.
P.s. My camera has died. Anyone have any recommendations for a point and shoot?

I said things were changing quickly last time, well even more has changed now - and for the better!

Last week a got a call from Geoscience Australia telling me that unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in a job I applied for (they ranked me highly but found someone more experienced in data management). However, they said that there was another vacancy which they thought I would be better suited for, forwarded my details on and bang, I got the job.  They were right, I'm much better suited to the role they gave me, rather than it being primarily data management it's doing hands on work with satellite imagery which is great!

Today was day one and I thought it was really sweet how a lot of people went out of their way to talk to make, joke around and the like - it seems like a very welcoming and supportive group, a very intelligent group as well  - don't get me wrong, I thought most of the folk at Safework were lovely, but if I were to hear one more conversation about calories and gym workouts I was going to burst a blood vessel somewhere. The only catch is that I think I'm going to have to alter my sleeping patterns - several of the members of my team like to start work at 7:30am and finish and about 3:30. That's going to take some getting used to.

Even more wonderful is that some of my friends from WA are over for a conference and I caught up with them as well as the lovely Michelle and Suzi for drinks. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of them is going to try and strongly suggest I move back to Perth or at least back into the realms of academia. Perhaps, just not now. I don't think I could go though the hilarity of research again quite so quickly. Research assistant work I could do no problem, but the actual stuff, I'm not that sure about...

Meh, I need to do so ironing - more later

Moving along, too quickly sometimes

I can't believe it's almost the end of November, meaning that's it's almost the end of the year. I've been pretty impressed with 2010 so far so let's hope the last few weeks keep the standard up.

I've been in a bit of a mood these last couple of days, primarily because as of 4:30pm yesterday I became unemployed again - I had spent about 3 or so weeks working as an Executive Assistant for a family friend while a replacement was found and moves happened within the building. It wasn't thrilling work by any means but it was getting me out of the house and making my wallet pleased. Anyway the prospect of being unemployed again doesn't exactly thrill me, in part because I feel like I should be doing something more worthwhile with my time but primarily because when I meet new people and they ask me what I do for work I feel so uncomfortable saying I'm unemployed. I almost feel shame saying it which is silly because it's not as though I'm freeloading on welfare and not trying to find jobs - it just appears that the application process takes forever.

I'm pretty hopeful as far as one job I've applied for with Geoscience Australia is concerned - I had my interview last Thursday which I was really happy with, by Monday they'd emailled my referees so fingers crossed that pans out. The project would be so exciting and worthwhile (support work for the international forestry carbon initiative). I had another interview for a defence job on Monday, I'm not entirely sure how it went but I will be sure to never drink coffee again when I'm nervous, nor will I accidentally arrive 30 mins early again. It does nothing for anyone. The panel seemed nice and I thought I answered most of the questions fairly well (although I blethered), one question I had no idea about and said (almost) as much. I thought there would be limited point in me bsing about something I had no chance of getting right. Everything goes so slowly though! I'm not sure when I should be expecting to hear from GA, with defence, best case scenario I'll hear if I've passed this stage before Xmas, worst case, the end of January.

I've also been stressing a little about moving out. It all came up so quickly! I'm glad I've been at home for as long as I have been and it will do me good to move out. I've just ordered my bed today - a gorgeous looking futon - and hopefully on Monday I shall be purchasing a car! We'll see how it goes.

All from me for now

B
p.s. Most saddened, when I hopped in dad's car today to order said bed, the radio announcer informed me that Id just missed a performance by Pekka Kuusisto. Boo. I love him dearly...

Poems and python

Hm, so it appears that my weekly poetry shebang did not exactly last as planned. I did, however, come up with a ditty while riding home today. My parents, in their never ending quest to ensure I do not die under their watch, bought me a very sexy high-vis jacket. This poem I dedicate to them

High-Viz
I have a high viz jacket,
I wear it everyday.
So when I cycle on the roads
I keep out of harms way.

Brendan has challenged me to extend this to all safety equipment. I was able to freestyle a helmet stanza on the phone that I was pretty happy with as well

Helmet
I have a hardy helmet
To protect my fragile head
So if a car runs into me
I will not wind up dead

In other news, I've started a temporary job at Safework Australia as an executive assistant which isn't too bad. It's nice to be in "the workplace" rather than messing around at home. Ironically, one of my first tasks was to climb on a multitude of desks and attach numbers to a ceiling. Most of the time I had to climb up on the desks via a swivel chair. So much for the national office of OH&S.

I've also started teaching myself how to program using Python. So far so good. Although seeing my exceedingly rudimentary level I'm reminded of a book I loved back in highschool "Bach, Beethoven and the Boys" (incidentally, hurrah for the Beethoven trifecta on the classic100) . At the beginning of the chapter on Mozart the author wrote "Whenever you have composed a piece that you are particularly proud of, it is very humbling to remember that Mozart wrote more impressive works age 6." A similar scenario exists except it would be coding and the Mozart is my brother. Furthermore I think my brother was coding in C++ at that age. Joy.

Well we all have to start somewhere and after I master python (ha!), I believe I will venture down the path of R. That would make me truly impressive!

Pondering poetry

One thing I've always loved, though perhaps haven't concentrated on as much as I should have, is writing poetry. Mainly I write poems to be obnoxious - "I wish all RV's would spontaneously combust" being a prime example - or I write little bits here and there as a helpful way of reminding people about things  -e.g. My friend Myles said he'd give me coding for a particular statistical test one afternoon, three weeks later it still wasn't in my grasp so I thought I'd jog his memory. I think that one went something like this:

Oh dear Myles Menz, you're my means to some ends
I'm desperate for AICc*
To fulfill my quest for the statistics test
If you have a moment or three
Please send it to me, I'll be filled with such glee
And then I'll be richer and wiser
And I'll work out some trends, tidy up odds and ends
With this new wonderful analyzer

*(say each letter separately)
 - as you can see, very very helpful (coincidently, the code arrived on my desk that very afternoon).

But anyway, back to the point of this blog, I've always thought that one day it would be amazing to write something that wasn't entirely self indulgent. Perhaps write something serious or possibly a book for children. My main concern is that I sometimes feel as though I lack originality and find it hard to sit down and think of something creative. What I think now is screw originality, what's more important is to get the practice in, get words down so I think I'm going to attempt to post a stanza or two of something, anything each week and see where it goes from there.

Conveniently I have a stanza for this week. I was just playing a game of solitaire and it popped into my head.

Will I stumble blindly forwards through the dark and through the frost?

And abandon all I stand for, abandon all that has been lost?

Should I be forever grateful that from my path I have been swept?

In the end it didn't matter, in the end I only wept.

Perhaps I'll expand on it later, perhaps not. I like the repetition in it, I like also like the meter.

What I really want to concentrate on is some sort of fantasy poem set on Nightingale Island. I have nothing in particular in mind at present, I was just looking at my map the other and noticed it and other island in the Tristan da Cunha group and was struck by how dramatic it seemed. I don't have synesthesia but I do like to try and match colours with sounds, weekdays and other oddities, and as soon as I read Nightingale Island I felt like it seemed to be dark purple with silvery flecks. Probably nothing, but I think I'll dwell on it more.

To Byron, Ballina and back with B

Well last weekend saw me on an impromptu journey up north to visit my darling Brendan - the man in question was feeling "decidedly wealthy" so whisked me up to Ballina to see him. I flew into the Gold Coast as he and Jo (his acting partner in their children's shows) had a performance there that morning. It was lucky I arrived when I did, by the time we got back to Ballina, the weather had turned fairly vile - there was lightish rain but very strong winds. One the upside, they made the mysterious sculptures in Ballina seem all the eerier. We headed out to Lennox head that night for a lovely mexican dinner and then prepared ourselves for Byron.

Byrony...boo

I always enjoy going somewhere new, but I had mixed feelings about going to Byron Bay mainly because the dyslexic among us insist on calling me Byrony. In fact when I saw this sign, I subconsciously started grinding my teeth instantly recalling the plethora of emails I receive where my name is spelled this way. This wouldn't be so bad if my name was part of my email address. Despite my misgivings, I loved it there. After wandering around the main street Brendan and I went on a gorgeous walk up to the lighthouse, posing at the most eastern part of Australia we had a wonderful lunch and then lazed on the wonderful white beaches. I love it when there's so much silica in the sand that it squeaks.

Nice shot barring ridiculous hair action

An inquisitive dragon (?)

The Amaze 'n' place

Sunday saw a lazy morning and adventure. Brendan had  been going on about this place in Alstonville called Amaze 'n' place that he'd always wanted to go to. Never one to miss a good maze (although I don't remember going to any except for one outside of Wanaka. I must go to some of the ridiculous ones in the UK sometime where they have to send people in at the end of the day to find lost souls. The maze was fun though and full of questions and objects to seek out. To anyone who mysteriously finds themselves with an hour or so to spare in Alstonville (I appreciate this is rather slim pickings) I highly recommend the maze. Not only is it fun, there's also a pun.In the afternoon, Brendan and his partner Jo had to rehearse and perform their new children's show. I've put in a photo below. I wish I got paid to wear a cape! That night we went for dinner with Jo and Dan (he had been in another of Brainstorm's productions) which was a riot. Dan was an interesting character, after a breakup he decided to hitchhike from Adelaide to Brisbane and blog about it as he went. More people apparently read his blog than he anticipated and he was contacted by a fellow from SBS offering him $30k to do the thing again and get it on film. Not bad for something done on a whim!

All for now!
B

Holiday week - up north!

So after a furious week of lupin pulling (easily the most draining work I've done so far), we were set free for a week. Helard and I caught up with Bragi (the CSer who was going to drive us around for the holiday week) who took us to a charming cafe, Babalu (with the best Cheesecake I have ever tasted bar none) and then an impromtu tour of Reykjavik. I'd not been up to the Perl before (where the geothermal warmed water is kept), nor to the geothermal beach which I vowed to return to when I had my swimmers. Then Helard and I bummed around the campsite for a bit waiting for the others (Angela and Indi from trail team 7 - the other team on the same intake as me) to arrive - poor things didn't arrive until 10:30pm because while they were driving back from the Laki craters they got a flat, but in the mean time we did meet a bunch of people from the other trail teams who all seemed delightful. I'm slightly concerned as to what is being said about your humble narrator though as, when introducing myself to a couple of them I got the response "oooh *you're* Bryony". I can only imagine what they've been told...probably just warned against my sense of humour and rightly so, not everyone can handle the joy of puns.  

Anyway after very little sleep (for some reason the hotpools next to the campsite were open 24hrs, I find it hard to sleep when folk are screaming at 3am ...)we set off the next morning. The first stop I found somewhat troubling - it was where they slaughter whale once they've been caught and, depending on your view, we luckily/unluckily arrived when a whale was there (only happens a few times each year as the quota Iceland has isn't huge). I'm now rethinking my view on whaling, typically I'm all for people eating animals as long as it's sustainable and as cruelty free as possible (Iceland hunts minke which has stable populations and fin whales which are endangered) but watching this beautiful creature be slaughtered filled me with such sadness, especially when the innards had been removed and the whale was turned onto another side and blood just went everywhere (the slaughter proceess had been going on for quite a time by the time we got there and you can imagine how repulsive the smell was), such a magestic beast reduced to such a horrific sight. It seemed so unneccessary and such a dramatic waste. I can't really explain why I felt so awful watching it, possibly because it was a show of violence on such a large scale? I know a large proportion of it is anthropogenic bias. Maybe it's because the creatures are so huge or that its easy to get meat from other sources (Iceland gets so many things so right - all meat is free range and hormone free and sustainable which is why I'm eating it over here (that and I don't want to risk my iron levels getting crappy while I'm doing physical work)), yes it's culture but culture is adaptable. I don't know it's all very awful and I'm getting upset thinking about it so on we must advance!
We stopped a pottered around some volcanic craters which is always fun, passed by:
- a lot of hay bundles that had been beautifully decorated
- the most hideous church I've ever seen (modelled on a crater apparently)

- a hot spring right in the north right by the arctic ocean which featured in one of the icelandic sagas (these outlaws were living on a tiny island 7.5km away and occasionally had to swim through freezing water to the mainland and would warm themselves in the springs afterwards) and while it was stunningly beautiful there, for some reason a huge wall had been erected between the pools and the ocean so you couldn't see a damn thing! One of the two pools was also out of limits because people were filming a very low budget looking film hmmmm We opted to frolick about on the cliff tops instead. 
 A beautiful old church where the first viking to be born in America settled (these place was so old one of the gravestones in the cemetary was in viking runes!) 
Finally we reached Akueryi! bIt's a lovely little place with a gorgeous little botanic gardens (it's impressive how much they keep alive there considering the mean annual temp is about 4 degrees), a lovely down town section, wonderful icecream and fun couch surfers (Bragi, our driver, organised an impromptu meeting at a rather swish bar which made for a fun night out).

Day two was a lazy day: - after a nice relaxing start with some wonderful coffee we made our way to Husavik. We visited the hilarious phallic museum (containing specimens of every species naturally occurring in iceland (except for humans, however they do have some donors lined up and had taken casts of the members of the icelandic handball team that came 2nd in the beijing olympics).After this Indi and I went whale watching which was great. The landscape was astounding and we saw so many Minke whales, some got very close to the boat indeed which prompted me to make involuntary happy squeaky sounds. These sounds also made an appearance when I realised that many of the birds flying near the boat were artic puffins! Huzzah. We passed an island, Lundi island (lundi is icelandic for puffin) which had hundreds of them flying around which was so delightful (slightly less delightful were the two people catching a small number in nets and breaking their necks - puffin is eaten over here, it apparently tastes like fishy chicken - but in all fairness, it's probably the best way for any eaten animal to go. A whole life of going wheeeeeee and then a quick final few unplesant seconds. What's good to know is that these puffin hunters never take parents feeding their young (i.e. those carrying fish) so that's comforting. I thought the way the boat was navigated was very interesting - often they would head for where there was lots of birds feeding on the surface as minkes tend to feed close to the surface as well and even

if the whales hadn't make an appearance being surrounding by hundreds of puffins, gulls, things-that-look-like-gulls-but-aren't-and-are-actually-related-to-albatross, and the occasional gannett was quite something.

A wonderful wonderful afternoon followed by a nice evening - we continued to Asbyrgi, set up camp and spent the evening in a hot tub by the camp site.
Day three the 35km trek from Asbyrgi to Dettifoss (Europe's most powerful waterfall).

I've never been so knackered in my life. The brilliant walk took all day, the weather played ball (it was supposed to rain all day, but we had a few light showers and that was it. The overcast weather was also good because it kept the temperature down). There were some incredible basaltic rock formations, stunning waterfalls, fresh water springs (which tasted brilliant, forget that crap they pass off as spring water in Figi water bottles!), amazing canyons, water of the most incredible colours and one rather unanticipated river crossing (thankfully not the glacial river because a) I've never seen water move that fast in my life and b) the river we walked through was from a fresh spring and it was so cold it hurt, I can only imagine what glacier melt would be like), and rope climbing! Ha! I really liked the area near one of the waterfalls; the glaciers get a lot of silt landing on them which is of course washed away when the glacier melts.

In this one area the mist from the waterfall had caused all the vegetation to be covered in a thin layer of silt and so the landscape looked like someone had hit a greyscale button. Consequently, walking through it felt like being in one of those photos where everything is black and white but one thing of significance is filled in. :)
Ok the next day saw another lazy start (perfect) followed by a drive to Lake Myvatn (midge lake). The midges are such a pain in the arse, aside from the fact that they exist in mega swarms (we came up with a horror trilogy based on midges eating poor unsuspecting conservation volunteers), they love doing thing like flying down your throat, in your eyes, in your ears, up your nose. 
We wandered around for a bit around Viti and volcanic landscapes with boiling mud before relaxing in the blue lagoon - a geothermal heated swimming pool. Absolute bliss with the aftertaste of sulfur.
Wow this entry is getting long, might just dot point the last bits. Day 5 we wandered around Lake Myvatn, climbing craters, wandering around "dwarf city" (crazy lava formations) and seeing pseudo-craters and beautiful birds. The day was completed by catching up with Damien and Vasilis (our leaders from the first week who were working up in Myvatn) who showed us this secret swimming area. You climb down about 8m into this crevasse formed by the european and north american tectonic plates dividing and are met but the most beautiful clear water which was at about 40 degrees. Bliss. 
Drove back yesterday, the runtur was yet again participated in (the runtur is a bar crawl that occurs in Reykjavik every friday and saturday night). Started off at a rock/metal gig (saw a freaking awesome girl rock (+1x male drummer) group play - so great to see chicks in the rock industry. An excellent night was had. Died in bed at about 3am. Brain is semi active today. 

Hveravellir

Greetings and Salutations!
I've been rather busy this week up in the highlands of Iceland - sheep trader and formerly outlaw country! Had a wonderful time in Reykjavik the weekend before as well - I tell you what the live music scene in Reykjavik puts the scene in Australia to shame - pretty much every venue has live music each night (or at the very least on fri and sat) and most places are open until 6-7 in the morning. I was very impressed with the quality of a jazz band I went to see who started the night with only two acoustic guitarists on stage but by 12:30am when it all finished had three guitarists (on a comb of acoustic and electric) a bass player, pianist and saxophonist. They played a nice combination of jazz standards (encoring with Cantaloupe Island :) ), pop music arranged in a jazz format and they're own work which seemed to be incredibly technically difficult. Very impressed by their improv as well. 

Then off to Hveravellir! My goodness the ride in was long but this was primarily because the bus stopped from seriously significant periods of time at places like Thingvellir (site of the Althing, the oldest parliament in the world which is located in the area where the North American and European tectonic plates are pulling away from each other (a particuarly cheesy description I thought of while I was there was "Thingvellier, uniting Iceland, dividing continents" :) hehe) ) Geysir (exploding hot pools including the hotpool from which all other geysirs get their name!) and Gulfoss (meaning golden falls which is an exceedingly beautiful waterfall in a canyon). After 10 hours on a bus we finally got to our destination Hveravellir, a lovely area tucked between two glaciers: Hofsjokull and Langjokull.
One particular highlight of Hveravellir (pronounced Kevera (with a nice gutteral K, like the h in hava nagila) vet (because for some reason "ll" is pronounced lt) lir. You get 20 points if you genuinely got that one right. This language is imposssible. I can't wait until you guys see the jackets we were given which have the icelandic words for volunteer and environmental agency... oh but while I remember, a fun aside! As difficult as most icelandic words are, when speaking english many icelanders, esp children, can not say sheep properly, they say "seeps". To me this is entirely gorgeous and delightful. The sheep are pretty cute over here as well, they wool is a lot more wirey and they're all a bit shaggy. I don't know how it works with "shearing" time though as its never really that warm and I'd hate to be a newly shawn sheep in icelandic weather (e.g. yesterday it hailed on me for a bit, a week ago we had gusts of 90km/h) . I know most sheep here are bred for meat, possibly meat sheep are shawn before they're slaughtered?)

Monument to Halla and Eyvindur

So, Hveravellir. Back on topic! This is an exceedinly beautiful place - a wasteland of lava fields, grey sand, stones and hotsprings surrounded by glaciers. The campsite also has its own hotpool filled by springs. Bliss! The weather is a little so-so though - a day can start of with a clear blue sky and light breeze and an hour later it'll be raining buckets and blowing a gale (my tent has proven itself worthy many many times), but it adds to the excitment and gives us plenty of opportunities to wear our sexy orange waterproofs. One thing I particualarly love about the region is the lack of infrastructure. Walk 20mins along one of the walking trails and aside from the trail itself there are practically no examples of human existance. Anyway one the second day Anna (lovely french girl who still has her manicure intact? How I ask? Mine are awful and she easily works as hard as me!) and I were doing some raking as a complete twat had decided that doing offroad driving, in the form of doughnuts, in a fragile land was a super awesome thing to do and because the sand is so soft, some of the tracks were up to a depth of about 20cm. We were raking a) because it was hideously ugly and b) broken windows theory - if it's left it's seen as acceptable and more anti-social behaviour occurs. Anyway, it started raining on us in this barren landscape but the sun was still very much present and so as far as they eye could see all of the stones looked liked diamonds. It was purely breathtaking. 

One night was also particularly fun as the horse traders (including the parents of our ranger, Auster) were staying at the camp sight. They were great in that after everyone had spent copious amounts of time in the hottub they retreated to the hut/bar thing and sang icelandic cowboy songs! These fun and raucous (esp this one which sounded a little like raw hide, I can't remember this name of the song but it started with "rithum rithum" and was about running the horses quickly as they tore through the "Mountains of the Thieves"), but I stopped asking what they were about after I was told that one sad sounding song was a lullaby about a woman Halla (one part of the most famous outlaw couple, Eyvindur and Halla (she wasn't actually an outlaw, but followed him out of love) in Icelandic history (spent over 20 years on the run and then were pardoned)) who threw her children off a waterfall because they could barely feed themselves yet alone children. Amusingly the traditional songs were also indispersed with operatic arias from one of the traders (he favoured songs enjoyed by Pavarotti, I personally felt that he should have aimed for more of a Domingo repertoire).

Joe, outfit complementing the landscape

We've mainly done a bunch of small jobs here - repairing/painting benches at the campsite, building small bridges to prevent stream bank erosion, filling in sheep tracks to try and keep hikers on the right paths (which involved me and others getting our Gollum on and digging mud out of a tiny cave where not even *I* could stand up fully. Considering how slow things sometimes felt at Snaefellsness the pace we are trying to keep for Austa (the ranger here who epitomies the term "boundless energy" and is a lot of fun) has been challenging but immensly rewarding. Probably my favourite job was trail marking - Helard, Anna and I were given the task of replacing the stakes along a 6.5km trail. It was bloody hard work (carrying 75 stakes between us), and my arms look as about as appealing as my legs do now (I've been told I look like a battered woman, apparently eating meat here hasn't affected how pathetically easily I bruise) but the scenery here is so fantastic that it barely mattered. I had the task of running ahead of the others and laying down the new stakes before returning to join them to carry the old stakes which suited me to a tee. 

Helard approaching the crater

Our last night was brilliant as well - Joe (this weeks team leader), Helard, Anna and I decided to walk a second trail (10km return) which lead to a crater after dinner (hurrah for long days meaning you can finish a hike at 11:15pm and it's still light out). Words can't begin to describe how breathtaking the walk , and especially the end, a massive volcanic crater was. I'll be uploading a bunch of photos on facebook soon so keep an eye out. It's the first time I've felt like I've been somewhere truly unworldly. It's really the perfect setting for any fantasy novel and I wouldn't have been surprised if elven warriors, hoards of vikings or dragons or anything had appeared. I may have also gotten certain lord of the rings themes stuck in my head ... I embrace the tragedy