Living Life on the Edge

G'day everybody!

I'm just briefly signing in to share with you all a very special video that is more than a little bit overdue for an appearance on the blog.  This video was made by the lovely staff at A.J. Hackett, Cairns in mid July, 2012, on the day that I went bungy jumping.  Bungy jumping was simultaneously the most terrifying and exhilarating sensation I have ever experienced in my life.  I don't even need to tell you how terrified I was to jump off this tower... just watch the video!  It takes me approximately 3 and a half minutes of standing on the edge before I finally take the plunge... it still makes my feet tingle to watch it!

That tower is exactly 50 meters high, which translates to about 164 feet.  I know that doesn't sound like much when compared to other bungy sites around the world but when you're up there, it's really freakin high!      The site is beautiful.  It's nestled in a densely forested area of jungle and from the tower you can see straight out to the ocean!  The site also boasts a 45 meter jungle swing which is a really fun option if you're not feeling up to the tower jump.

I a little bit ashamed to admit that this jump didn't actually happen until my second visit to the A.J. Hackett site... I completely chickened out my first time!  I finally mustered up the courage to go back the day the we were on our way out of Cairns.  I was just as terrified as I look in that video (maybe even more so) but after I did it, I felt so proud of myself for facing my fears and taking the leap.  After all, getting out of your comfort zone is what travel in all about!  

So, if you ever get a chance to bungy, I highly recommend it.  Just bring a good friend for moral support (I had my awesome travel buddy, Christoph -who had already done the jump on our first visit- by my side) and make sure you choose a reputable jump site with a 100% safety record like A.J. Hackett Cairns.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I might as well throw in a couple photos of Christoph and myself on the jungle swing.  I think it's worth noting that this swing goes 120 kilometers per hour... and we did it twice!

I got a t-shirt to prove it.  Yeah, I'm cool.

Happy adventuring!

Love,

Amanda

P.S.  Click the link to my Youtube channel on the left hand side of my page to see a couple more videos from my travels around Australia.

The Dissolution of the Mandala

This is something that I've been meaning to post about for quite a while now but at the time, I was going through some turmoil in personal life and didn't have the motivation to really sit down and write until now.  Better late than never, right?


As you may know (if you happen to be someone who knows me personally), I spent the entire week of this past New Year's Eve (Dec. 27, 2011 to Jan. 3, 2012) attending the Woodford Folk Festival in Woodford, Queensland.  I could spend about a week straight writing about all of the amazing things I experienced in Woodfordia but today I want to talk about one particular experience that made me ponder.


On New Year's day, the last official day of the festival, the resident group of Tibetan Monks performed a dissolution ceremony for the sand mandala that they had spent the past six days carefully constructing.  Now before I tell you about the ceremony, let me tell you a little bit of what I know about mandalas.


'Mandala' is a Sanskrit word which can be translated to 'circle'.  Mandalas are usually either square or circular and contain four gates.  They are also usually symmetrical and concentric in design.  Here is another excerpt from Wikipedia because they do a better job of explaining things than I do:


"A kyil khor (Tibetan: དཀྱིལ་འཁོར, Wylie: dkyil 'khor), Tibetan for mandala in Vajrayana Buddhism usually depicts a landscape of the "Buddha-land", or the enlightened vision of a Buddha, which inevitably represents the nature of experience and the intricacies of both the enlightened and confused mind, or "a microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe."^[5] Such mandalas consist of an outer circular mandala and an inner square (or sometimes circular) mandala with an ornately decorated mandala "palace"^[12] placed at the center. Any part of the inner mandala can be occupied by Buddhist glyphs and symbols,^[13] as well as by images of its associated deities, which "symbolise different stages in the process of the realisation of the truth."


If you would like to read more about the symbolism and meaning behind mandalas, please visit the Wikipedia page by clicking here.  I am by no means an expert on religion of any sort and it doesn't seem appropriate to copy and paste an entire article into my blog.


Anyways, here is a close up photo of a sand mandala that looks very similar to the one that the monks made at Woodford.  This photo was also found on Wikipedia.  You can see how intricate and beautiful these designs are.  You can also tell that I'm a big fan of doing my research on Wikipedia.  Mostly because I'm lazy.

The dissolution ceremony, like the one performed at the festival, is a meditation on the impermanence of life. At Woodford, the monks gathered in one of the performance venues along with all of the many spectators.  After some speeches and other ceremonial tidbits, the monks swept their days of hard work into a big, brightly colored pile and placed it in a container.  They then carried the sand through the festival streets in a procession that involved plenty of horn blowing and cymbal crashing (if anyone happens to know the names of these instruments or the container that the sand is carried in, please let me know).  


Here is a crude video of the procession that I took while I followed the monks to the river.  The person that I'm talking to in the background is my good friend James, who I met on the first day of the festival.

The dissolution of the mandala was a very poignant event and got me to pondering over the impermanence of life just as it was intended to do.  People, especially those who live in developed countries spend their whole lives carefully crafting their own little world, their own intricate, colorful mandala.  They gather around them their possessions, the people that they love, and create their own identity hoping to somehow distinguish themselves from the billions of other people who are out there doing the exact same thing.  They decorate their homes, their cars, and their bodies with the things that define them as an individual.  But, when all is said and done, every person must eventually pass from this world and on to whatever exists or doesn't exist beyond it.  In the end, each person's carefully crafted 'mandala' is swept away like the sands of the mandala and gently disappears from existence.  


Now I know that this makes it sound like I have a rather bleak view of things but I really don't mean it that way at all.  The dissolution ceremony presented the ephemeral nature of the human life not as something to be mourned and dreaded, but as something that is made all the more lovely and sacred because it is so temporary.  To me, this ceremony is telling us as a human race that we should cherish the time that we have and never waste as single 'grain' of it because all too soon it will all be gone.  


Now, on that note, here are some photos that I took of the actual ceremony and mandala.  Sorry that most of them are not very clear.  I had to stand on a chair to see over all the people and also had to zoom in very close to capture the details.

Isn't it a beautiful thing?  It's another cold, gray day here today.  I'm about to go for a jog and then do some holiday planning before I have to report for duty at the Dingo Beach Pub.  I hope that you are happy and well, wherever in the world you may be.


Cheers,


Amanda

The Most Mentionable Unmentionables

So I have another confession to make and this may seem a little bit strange, but I have recently become completely obsessed with buying pretty lingerie.  Is that weird?  Or do most girls obsess over having perfectly matched bras and panties (blech I hate that word) like I do?  


Anyways, after having worn the same five ugly, worn-out bras over and over again for the past year straight (ya know, because I'm a backpacker and didn't exactly have the luggage space pack a bra for every occasion), I decided that it was time to invest in some new ones.  Given that I currently live in a rather remote location, and also that the closest physical shops selling lingerie are either Target or ones that cater to teenagers, I opted for a little online shopping.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Target, I think Target is great.  I was just after something with a little more sex appeal.  


Also, out of curiosity, I tried to use the internet to find out what kind of lingerie guys actually like since I know that a lot of the times the things that I think are sexy may not actually be all that sexy.  It turns out that every guy is different (go figure).  Some guys like little lacy things, some like basic cotton, some prefer garters and stockings, and some guys prefer you to wear nothing at all.  The conclusion that I finally came to after all of this intensive research is that, ladies, you should just wear whatever the hell makes you feel good because there is no way you can possibly please 'em all.


Now I guess you're probably hoping that I'll eventually get to the point of this post.  Ok, here it is:  I love La Senza lingerie.  Now I bet you are thinking "why the %$&*# couldn't you have just said that and saved me the trouble of reading all that other crap?"  Because that's just not how I roll.  So get over it.  


La Senza is an Australian lingerie line that has physical shops all over the country, but also has a pretty nifty online store that you can visit by clicking here.  I know that it can be pretty intimidating trying to buy bras that you can't actually try on but I guarantee you that if you use La Senza's bra measuring guide and fitting chart, you will end up with a perfect fit every time.  Their lingerie is super sexy, high quality, great fitting, and most importantly, AFFORDABLE!  


Check out some of these super mentionable unmentionables that you can score at La Senza:

 

    

Like 'em?  Here're some more:

 

 



I highly recommend the No-Show Brazilian, the black lace one pictured underneath the aqua blue bra.  It's comfortable, sexy, and definitely lives up to its no-show promise.  I definitely recommend investing in some pretty underpinnings.  As frivolous as it may sound, wearing something fierce underneath your work clothes can make a woman feel a little bit more fierce all that way through.


In other news, it was nice and sunny today in Dingo Beach but it was still cold.  I don't particularly like the cold weather because it severely limits my choice of activities to do on my days off.  But I guess it's good practice for the chilliness that I'm in for when I head over to New Zealand in a couple weeks, right?  Optimism is good.


I hope you all are having a lovely day, where ever in the world you are!


Cheers,


Amanda

A video tour of the Dingo Beach Hotel

Hi there!


Ever wondered what it would be like to walk through the Dingo Beach pub?  Well if so, you are in luck!  I just happen to have this awesome video here that shows me walking from my apartment, through the pub, and all the way out to the beach!  

It's pretty much the first video I have ever made. Ever.  So I know it's not very professional but I was mostly making for the purpose of showing my family where in the world I've been hanging out lately so go easy on me ok?


I hope you enjoy my little tour!

Cheers,

Amanda

I have a confession to make...

... When I walk out onto Dingo Beach and I find that there's no one else around, I put in my headphones, turn up my iPod, and dance...

And sometimes I climb rocks and do yoga...

But I definitely don't use my camera's timer function to take silly self portraits.

Yes.  Yes, it was.

In other news, I am still loving life here at Dingo Beach.  It's simple, relaxing, and beautiful in every way.  Sadly, though, my time here is quickly coming to an end.  I will be spending some time this week planning out the 'grand finale' of my crazy roller-coaster year of travel.  I'll be journeying across the big blue to go to New Zealand and experience a little winter wonderland before heading back stateside.  But not to worry, I may be leaving Oz soon but the adventures are far from over.

Cheers,

Amanda