The Life of a Gypsy in Tasmania Australia

I am a gypsy.  OK, so I don’t really take on seasonal work, nor do I live in a wagon, but I’ve got the travelling from place to place with a group of people, mastered.  I’m also working on the free-spirited-not-a-worry-in-the-world part of my personality too.  If I could afford the extra weight in my luggage, you would find a crystal ball in there, for sure. The places we’ve visited and our experiences have certainly changed us this year.  How could they not?  Did I mention we’ve been living out of backpacks on a limited budget in a new place almost every week?  Yeah, it has definitely had an impact on us all, and a positive one at that.  Have you ever met a type A gypsy?  I didn’t think so.

The ability to see the future is a valuable asset to a gypsy.  Luckily for me, I’m getting pretty adept at this.  For example, when the Air Malaysia flight went missing, I predicted that our family would start to worry about the Asia leg of our tour.  BINGO, I was right and the requests to end our trip early started rolling in!  When we took surf lessons and spent the day at the beach, I saw ice cream in our future.  Again, I was absolutely right.  Predicting the weather can be tricky for meteorologists it seems, but not for me.  All I have to do is hang out the laundry and it is sure to rain. 

Notice the raincoats and gloves…yes, we are in Australia but it was wet and chilly!  Mark is
the only crazy guy in shorts!

If we forget to pack the extra water bottles, we are guaranteed scorching sun. Not only can I predict the weather, I can actually change the weather based on my actions.  If the crystal ball weren’t so darn heavy in my backpack, I’d be able to set up shop and have the seasonal work of a gypsy mastered too.

For a gypsy, home is where you hang your hat (or your shorts, towels or you name it). You never quite know where that will be.  During some weeks, it can change every night.  We have come across quite a few gypsies on our travels, and their homes have been quite memorable.  The Jucy cruisers were quite comical, and we loved the bubble quotes on the sides of their vans.  The Wicked types were a little peculiar and I wasn’t quite sure they were the kind of gypsies we wanted to associate with.  Then there was the ‘want-to-be-gypsies’ who were trying to live on the road, but weren’t going to give up any of the comforts of home! 

Our favourite Jucy caption!

This one made us giggle too!

The Wicked Zombie Van, hmmmm

Not gypsies...not even close people!

Our favourite gypsy home was Emily’s trailer.   The outside was hand-painted and the interior was beautiful and quite cozy.  Emily was the gypsy mannequin we met in Tasmania where we spent a week.  She rented out her wagon to people passing through.  Actually, Linda and Frank, the owners of Heimat Chalets, offered the wagon as a fun alternative accommodation, and it was quite popular! Unfortunately for Emily, it meant she would continue to spend her nights in the BBQ hut startling unsuspecting guests. Emily was also known to host wonderful parties in the BBQ Hut, and we were lucky enough to partake in one with our wonderful hosts.  We spent a beautiful week with Frank, Linda, Emily and all the animals in Tasmania, and loved every minute of it.  As much as we enjoyed our time at Heimat Chalets, a gypsy’s life is lived on the road, and we were headed to Sydney next. 

 

The Gypsy Wagon at Heimat Chalets

All the details are hand painted.

Beautiful!

Thanks for the tour of the Gypsy Wagon, Linda!

Emily welcomes us to the BBQ Hut!

A party in the BBQ Hut, now this is how a gypsy lives - you should try it!

Gypsy Rose, the new alpaca baby on the farm.

Bye bye Emily, Mark will certainly miss you! He was so pleased
that you didn't complain about the bagpipes.

There is nothing like a travelling day to remind you of your life as a nomad.  Everything you own is tucked inside a backpack and perched upon your shoulders, threatening to topple you over at the next curb.  Mark dawns his travelling shirt, the one he wears every time we travel to a new place. The girls ask how long it will take to get there, and if they get a meal on the plane.  For the record, gypsy or not, no amount of travelling prevents a child from asking, "how long until we get there"! The beautiful thing about this lifestyle is the freedom to go where you want, when you want.  We never quite know what tomorrow will bring, as everyday is a new adventure for us.  I suppose if I looked into my crystal ball I could tell you, but what would be the fun of that?  We are living the life…we are gypsy travellers.

 

Tomorrow could bring a rainbow, 

a beautiful waterfall,

a hike with the family, 

a science lesson, 

an interesting animal, 

a cool land formation, 

giant vegetation, 

an awesome photo opportunity, 

or new friends and wonderful company.
You just never know until you hit the road and live like a gypsy!
Thanks Frank and Linda for a wonderful stay in Tasmania.

Pee Break

We knew there would be many luxuries we would give up in place of seeing the world, when we set out on this adventure.  Using the washroom was not one of them!  Ridding one’s body of waste is merely a necessity, and should NOT be considered a luxury, right?  Perhaps using a clean washroom could be considered a luxury, but a plain old rest stop – no way!  I certainly didn’t expect to have to pay for this regular occurrence… paying to pee!  How does one determine how much it will cost to pee?  Do they give discounts for little bodies with less pee?  What about if it is not pee…. do you pay double?  Perhaps the fee is determined by the number of toilet tissue squares used.  One ponders such things while seated upon the ‘pay as you go’ throne.

To many Europeans, paying to use a washroom is a common expense, but for Canadians, we had never heard of such a thing!  Our first experience with pay toilets was in Iceland, next to a glacier.  What a business; there weren’t many options in the middle of nowhere surrounded by ice and rock… so we reluctantly scrounged in our pockets for the correct change to feed the machine, and use the facilities. To our surprise, out popped a ticket.  Not only did we have to pay to pee, we got a ticket as if it was a Broadway performance or something!  During our travels we have had to pay anywhere from 20 pence (20 p to pee) to 1.50 euros – about 2 dollars Canadian.  With four of us travelling together, trips to the loo could really rack up.  Quite frankly, I hadn’t even considered them in our daily budget and had to add a whole new column to the Excel spreadsheet. 

The most expensive toilets were found in Venice, take note of the 'Toilet Guard'!

In Canada, you hear moms across the country, at every rest stop saying “I know you don’t think you have to go to the bathroom, but I want you to try anyway: it is a long drive.” In Europe, you pee with a purpose! You are not going into the WC ‘just to try’. So, as we continued to travel, giving our bladders a workout became part of our daily routines.  We are now close to ‘camel’ rankings on our water rention!

Yep, that is us!

Those of you that know Mark, know he is quite a bargain shopper and wants value for his buck.  I was flabergasted to hear him return to the car, a little quicker than expected at one rest stop stating, ‘it is too expensive, I’ll just wait for the next one”.  We were comparatively shopping for washrooms now, as if it was a major investment.  He was thrilled in Germany, when we had to fork over 70 euro cents to use the facilities and in return received a coupon for cash off any purchase in the convenience store.  Now that is value. We spent five minutes searching for something to buy that would not exceed the face value of the coupon.  Do you feel my pain here people?

As we moved from country to country, we got to know the best places to use the facilities.  Washrooms along the motorways were the most expensive.  They were usually well maintained, clean and outfitted with a security guard. You got what you paid for there.  Ensuring you pay your fees to use the washroom is big business, these security-guarded toilets were often equipped with automatic toilet seat cleaners.  Again something new for us. Maybe that was why we were given the tickets; for the toilet seat cleaning show! I must admit, it was quite entertaining. 

McDonalds restaurants were a little cheaper and occasionally free, but did not compare in cleanliness. Apparently everyone was hoping for a “free pee” there.  We figured they would be a sure bet, but quickly opted to use them for their Internet services, and not their water closets.  Train stations, subways and doing your business in a little cubby on the street in Amsterdam were options we avoided, but sometimes “when nature calls” you have got to go.

Mark’s favourite bank of toilets was located in Montmarte, Paris. A pair of hipster dudes were manning the organic composting toilets (using the word demonstration just didn’t quite sit right for this description J). We were sent into the wooden outhouses with a pot of woodchips to sprinkle into the hole afterwards.  Thanks to this surpisingly pleasant experience, Mark picked up a pamphlet and I could see a composting toilet in my near future! I made the comment to Mark that most people associate Paris with love and romance and that he was at great risk of ruining Paris for me. The hipster dudes only requested a smile and a thanks on our departure, and I must admit a small part of me thought it was great to “pee for the trees”.

Composting Toilets in France!

Zip lining  ninety metres up in the treetops of South Africa certainly provided the most unique, (most desperate), pee break of the trip so far.  Did I mention I was afraid of heights? Yeah, well the higher we went the more stressed I got, and the more desperate I became… to go!  As I did the pee pee dance in my harness amongst the chameleons, Ally’s friend Lauren told me that I needed to strengthen my ‘splinter’, I’m pretty sure she meant sphincter. At any rate, I was thankful to repel to the ground midway through our treetop experience.  Unfortunately my relief was short lived as I discovered that I had to pull myself back up to the platform to continue our adventure.  If that didn’t strengthen my sphincter and every other part of my body, I don’t know what will!

Information on our African pee break experiences requires a warning of Parental Guidance Advised.  In the effort to maintain our family rating on this blog, our experiences there have been ‘bleeped’ out!  We are still trying to ‘bleep’ them out of our memories as well!

Australia and New Zealand were a lot like home, except occasionally the toilet was situated in a tiny little room all by itself.  This I don’t really understand…so you do your business in the toilet ‘closet’, then you have to open the door and walk around the corner to the next room to wash your hands. This was fairly common, hmmmm, mind you it was a step up from the dunny out the back or the long drop toilets though.  So I figured it best not to complain or ask questions as to reasoning for this design.

Loved the New Zealand toilet…everything was electronic!

Our travels will continue and I know this will not be the last of our water closet experiences, but I’m fairly confident I won’t be writing about some of our future locations – did I mention we are headed to Asia next?  Yikes!  Perhaps I SHOULD add washrooms to my list of luxuries while travelling.  At least here, we have toilets, seats and tissue.  I’m fairly confident the future will not be so ‘luxurious’. Until then, I think I will add ‘splinter’ exercises to my workout routine, in preparation for the next pee pee dance.

We now understand why this sign, posted in Gent, Belgium, "No Wild Peeing" was necessary!

The Mitchells head to Hollywood

We have stayed in a variety of accommodations on our world tour, but our stay in Glenorchy at the Funky Bunker, won the award for being the quirkiest yet.  Not to mention the career opportunities it has opened up in Hollywood for us, yeah that’s right, I said Hollywood, baby!  Just think, one day when we are rich and famous… you will all be able to say, “Hey, I knew those guys when they were teachers, travelling the world with their daughters!”    

It all started when we stayed at the Funky Bunker for a couple of nights in Glenorchy.  The building was created as an ammunitions bunker for the mountaineering movie, Vertical Limit.  How cool is that!  The bunker housed the nitro glycerin required to blast through an avalanche to rescue climbers who had fallen into a crevice, climbing K2.  In actual fact, the movie was filmed on Mount Earnslaw, the mountain we could see from the front deck.  We were practically movie stars, standing in the very spot the nitro glycerin had been! I had goose bumps just thinking about our future film prospects!  I was sure we would be getting a call from Hollywood any day.

Dinner in the Funky bunker.

Enjoying a fire in the front end loader!

The mountain where Vertical Limit was filmed, you could see it in the background of the photo above as well!

Hamish, was the fellow that built the bunker, and has worked on the sets of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Avatar, all of which were filmed in New Zealand.  Again, very cool! When Hamish was not working on movie sets he could be found living off grid in the Funky Bunker.  Can you believe it, we were actually staying in the bunker where a man lived that worked on major Hollywood movies.  I told you we would be famous!  We even signed our name on the chalkboard wall next to the film credits!  Ok, we didn’t get to actually meet him, but we were practically family, staying in his previous home, let’s be honest here folks!  The Bunker has made its way around New Zealand, appearing in the movie Mount Cook, dangling below a helicopter, and arriving at its final resting place in Glenorchy by the same means.

We signed right under the window in the empty space, but I didn't
take a picture after we signed, I was too busy practicing my lines!

We spent three days in Glenorchy perfecting our acting skills, waiting for our big break.  Mark’s stunt work continued to improve as he had everyone believing he impaled himself on the metal plate securing the front door of the bunker. The makeup work on the bruise was spectacular! The smoke affects were even better, when we burnt the toast and frantically had to open the emergency hatch to clear the air.  We gave the smoke affect another go with burnt popcorn and found it even more convincing than the previous attempt, we were on fire! In the movie, the bunker blows up, but luckily for us they had a stunt double for that scene. We felt indestructible in the funky bunker!

The 1940's trailer that Mark and I stayed in.

 Mark’s physical humour was guaranteed to be award winning.  When he stubbed his toe on the block of wood holding the door closed to the 1940’s caravan parked beside the bunker, he had everyone in hysterics as he hopped around the room.  When he went to lift up the steaming kettle from the propane powered element, you could see the pain in his eyes.  Mark was definitely ‘hot’.  Hollywood was going to want him. He even tried his hand at cinematography, and was up at the crack of dawn capturing the view.  He then woke the rest of us up for our morning runs, we had to keep our Hollywood bodies tip top, you know. 

Meg on our morning run.

Glenorchy, the gateway to the outdoors, amazing!

We felt like hippies in our new digs, unemployed and living off the land, it was quite the change from the presidential suite in Wanaka! We even had a long drop toilet with a million dollar view, to allow us to get right into character!  As we studied our lines, we were visited by our mouse friend, who would cheer us along in his search of food.  We were set, and had just about as much money in our pockets as a new budding actor does when they start out in this biz!  When Hollywood didn’t call, we started to doubt our abilities; perhaps we had made a mistake leaving our jobs and routines for Hollywood.  Many new actors don’t make it, but how could we possibly be them?  We had done everything right.  We’ll give it a couple of more days in New Zealand before we head to Australia, surely our big break will come.