Goodbye Strahan

11:12am
One last pancake for the road. Listening to the Wailin Jenny’s. They don’t exactly wail. Soothe. Full now. Of homemade jam and yoghurt I’ll take on the road with me. Another late start morning. I’m liking these more and more. No rain to be seen. Just clouds, a bit of sun, and green. Hospitable. Hosts. Hosts that go above and beyond. Stories and swerving to avoid a possum, stationary, in the center of the road. A dead penguin washed up on the beach. Little. Flies buzzing out, from the inside, when I peered closer. Mugs of water and its time again to say goodbye. Flipping Tupperware lids open to splatter nice shirts with its insides. Cordial splashed onto the floor. Little, innocent things. “You are not supposed to laugh!” And a swat on the arm. But I laughed. Deep bellied, content, care free laughing. Dianne’s taking half of my stuff to Lake St. Claire for me. She has to head there on Wednesday anyway. Paul calls me a cheater but I put him on mute and take the opportunity to travel lightly, more able to appreciate elevating scenery. Wombats. I want to see a wombat. Almost through reading “the Secret Life of Wombats.” A creature I didn’t even know existed until Geelong and trying to group meditate until Cassie said ‘imagine the noises in the bush.’ And Libby. Beautiful Libby. Deep, uncontrollable laughter. Wombat grunts. That’s all she could hear. She left the room. But then it had spread. Cassie kept saying, “okay, imagine the bush.” And well, we don’t call nature that, back home in the States. I went outside too, to hold my stomach and curl over Libby. Laughing circle. I’d like one of these again. But on the rides it’s just me. Talking to myself, out loud, most recently. In Katie style funny voices. Cracking myself up. Grateful. Ready. On to Queenstown today. Yay.