Healthy Living

Firstly, we must apologise for the delay in writing our blog posts. We have arrived safely in Kalbarri and settling into some sort of routine. Since the last post I rode my bike from Horrocks to Gregory and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were some hills, but what comes with the uphill is the super fast downhill. At one point my speedo clocked 90km/hr! I don’t think it was that accurate but I had a smile from ear to ear as I zoomed down the hills, going so fast that the flies could no longer enter my mouth and choke me or go into my nostrils.

For other fellow Australian travellers, we found spots at Flat Rocks Beach (Dongara) and another just before Horrocks Beach by Bowes River. For this one, you take the last gravel road on the left before you hit Horrocks. I am not sure how legal it is to camp at these sites, but no one ever said anything and we were perfectly happy with prime ocean front real estate.

We arrived to Kalbarri Friday 12 April 2013 and have settled into the Tudor Caravan Park. Initially the caravan park was quiet with a few other sites taken, but once the school holidays arrived its like animals have been let out of their cages and gone wild! In saying that, the positive is there are lots of laughs surrounding us. Being in a caravan park during school holidays reminds me of all the holidays mum and dad took us on in our caravan for many years. For me, I think it was really beneficial to mix up the city life with camping/outdoor life and for this I will be forever grateful for. Thanks Mum & Dad.

I started work at the Kalbarri Health Service and so far so good. For my nursing buddies and curious friends whom are interested in the things I see, there is nothing extraordinary to report. Matt has been working lots on the laptop his work provided him. Soon the big job they have been working on will finish and he will have plenty of spare time to do the things he loves.

Matt & I left the country on the weekend. We went to Hutt River Province (105km SE of Kalbarri). Back in 1969 the Government were trying to take over some land, but at one farm a fight was put up and loop holes in the law were found. From what I understand,  because there was going to be economic loss to the families and the farm if the government declared the land theirs’ then a province could be established. As a result there is a Prince (the land owner) governing the land and its people. It was all a bit strange and the second son whom we met was odd. Usually the Prince would meet and greet you on your visits but unfortunately he wasnt there on this occasion. The son we met told us each time there is a change of governement there is always turmoil about the long standing battle. The fun part about visiting the province was checking out the quirky artwork around and camping on the farm for $5/per person.

As mentioned in my last post, I talked about feeling low on energy so since beeing in Kalbarri Matt and I have both commenced on the ‘4 Week Energising Diet:From Exhausted to Energised the Natural Way’ by Julie Maree Wood. We are 10 days in and I must say I am feeling more lively. Essentially, Julie works on the 5 energy sources we have – physical, vitality, emotional, mental and spiritual. One part of the ‘diet’ is obviously food, whereby for the first 2 weeks you don’t eat diary, meat, wheat and caffeine. I must admit the first 3 days were the hardest without the coffee hit, but I am starting to find other ways to gain a boost of energy. Its interesting since we have started this we have been cooking up some amazing dinners such as stuffed capsicums, home-made pizzas with home-made gluten-free bases. The next part is making time to exercise and creating healthy sleeping habits. Each morning we start with a warm glass of water with apple cider vinegar then do a 5 minute meditation, gentle exercises/stretches then a 10 minute run around the block, followed by a fresh juice with a delicious breakfast from quinoa porridge, to grilled fruit with greek yoghurt and agave. After 10 days I feel much lighter and feeling my energy stores increasing.

Stuffed Capsicums

Once again, sorry for the delayed update and I hope this post may inspire some of you to create some health and energising habits too.

Love Jill