uluru

Just a short up-date. Right after going down south to Hobart for the Easter Awakening, my C4 class and a heap of other younger Tasmanians begin our pilgrimage to the nation's heart, to Uluru. Buses will converge on the Rock from most of the more popular compass points, and we will spend a few days with the Indigenous people of the Centre. They tell me that the Journey is all as much a part of it as the destination. This is a real life changing adventure for lots of people. There are kids from Schools that we are working at that want to come, and all is being done to see that as many as possible can come, but it's an exercise in faith for us all to see where the money will come from! A team is already on their way to set up base camp for us. To follow their travels, have a look at Uluru Journal, in a short time, hundreds of us will join them in the shadow of Ayers Rock, Uluru.

I hope I will get to be re-united with my nice warm sleeping bag in Melbourne on the way through, those central Australian desert nights can get a tad chilly...

Back to the Bubble

I have spoken of the Bubble effect before. I managed to capture this image the other day from the van window. Notice the power station and the lines going up the hill towards town. It takes a lot of power to maintain a bubble of this size, we need a Hydro-Electric Scheme of our own to do it. Can you see the pipeline behind the town, going down the mountain? It supplies water from the Great Lake (up on the Mountain plateau) to keep the Electricity happening. Very clever engineering. And so our venerable village on our holy hill radiates the glory of God to the surrounding countryside. Actually the source of power here comes from a far higher source than the Hydro Commission...

hear the art on heart fm

Tune in tonight to hear the Biz, Loz and Honza show on Captain Midnight on 95.7 heart fm. Here's Biz and Loz in action in the studio. The captain is probably off flying around the broadcast area in his Sopwith Camel or re-arranging his collection of art deco and Memphis design furniture. He doesn't get on the radio much, but he watches what goes on, and keeps us all in line. And you can drop us a line and get your request played between 9 and 12 tonight. The number is 1300 um... 6? 72... 9? um... I'll get back to you. Leave a message...



hear the art heart hearthearthearthearth earth earth eartheartheartheart hear the art....

Living in 'the Bubble'

One of my classmates tells me that living in Poatina is like living in a bubble. Sometimes, when the light is just right, you can even see the bubble shimmer as you approach town. It's a unique place, unlike any other town in the area, a place of safety and refuge for some, a bit too isolated for others.

Well, it IS a bit of a drive to a supermarket, and mail doesn't seem to find it's way here. The road doesn't even go through the town, you have to take a turn-off. The streets are safe for young people to walk on, or ride their scooters. Some of them here even ride unicycles to school...

Just in the last week they have put speed bumps all around the town, not so much to slow the traffic down, as to give the unicyclists more of a challenge! I'm a bit worried about the lack of street sense of the younger children when they leave the bubble. They've never really had to worry about watching for traffic as they play on the road.

One thing that sets Poatina apart is the 'Book of Norms'. It's a bit like Leviticus, but with less animal sacrifice. By following the guidelines set out therein, it makes this level of community life possible. Some of the norms take a little getting used to, but by setting up clear boundaries, everyone knows where they stand, and the vulnerable are protected. It's an interesting paradox that people are more free when they know where the boundaries are.

By the way, if you click on the pictures, you can see them at a bigger size, if you want!

Monument

This is a view of the monument that you see as you come up the main road and drive into the village. I don't know how many bits of glass that they had to melt down to create the glass bricks but it was quite an involved process for Keith, one of the guys from the arts colony to produce this. He had a good sized crew to help him. It's very symbolic, and I'll probably put a few more shots of it here every now and then.
Anyway, it's about a three minute walk out of the village from my place. It can be a bit tricky crossing the cattle grid in the dark, but it's a place people like to stroll to. On a clear night, outside of city limits the stars are spectacular!

Captain Midnight

Last night I made my radio debut on the Captain Midnight Show on Heart FM, our community radio station. I was in the the studio with three young ladies, and it was a lot of fun. Freda spent most of the night laying on the floor, she had turned up a day early for her shift but decided to hang around anyway.

Freda is from Ghana, and today marks 50 years since their Independence from British rule, the first sub-Saharan nation to do so. She said nothing on air, the microphones didn't pick up her snoring either.

So it was mostly the three of us chatting and playing lots of music, the Biz, Loz and Honza show. Biz was our trainer, she's done a lot of radio here, despite her youth, and Lorraine did Captain Midnight last year as part of her C4 course, as I am now. So I was the only Newbie...

Anyway, looks like I'll be on every Monday night for the next few months on 95.7 Heart FM in the midlands between 9pm and midnight. I was going to put the number for requests here, but I can't quite remember it... You will just have to put your favourite radio song in my comments, and we will see what we can do!

can't think of a creative title tonight...

...but this is a picture of the mountain we have in our back yard. We are on a hill 300m above sea level, maybe 100m above the surrounding farmland, the mountain is around 1300m and beyond it is a high plateau and the Great Lake. Water from there powers the Hydro-electric scheme, waters this town, and tastes great straight from the tap!
As you enter Poatina, my house is one of the first you come to. This, however, means I have the furthest to travel of all my classmates as the Training centre is at the opposite end of the town. I'm up here in Poatina Heights and have to travel through the Central Business District to get to school down in the northern suburb of Poatina Links. It's next to the Golf Course. The only further suburb is the new development at Valley Vue. This walk can take in excess of five minutes! Longer, because you stop and pass the time with everyone you meet. Of course I take my lunch every day because there is just no time to get back up here to eat a sandwich, because, by the time you do, you have to turn around and head back down again. If only they would extend the lunch hour beyond 75 minutes...
We are now studying the tragic doomed love story of Hosea. Fascinating insights.

splash

Just a short note to say hi. Last week we started our look in Ecclesiastes (All is Meaningless..) and Victor Frankl's reflections on his life as an Auschwitz resident (Man's Search for Meaning). It's interesting to see how all these things tie in with each other. Even having just studied James, and before that, Haggai we are making all these wonderful connections.

Speaking about making connections, here is young Tim, from Tasmania discovering the meaninglessness of Human Flight, and about to make connections with the deep end of the Poatina Pool...

Life's pretty good here, don't have much time to get bored. Just been for a walk down to the creek through the bush with Sara, my Thessalonikan class-mate, and Layne, a young guy from Broken Hill, via Adelaide.

I have a great group of guys in my class, unusually for this course, two thirds are male, but all excellent people, including three Greeks (one half English, one half German) and three Ghanaians (all African!) and assorted Aussies.

More photos soon!

poatina and Potaroos...

This place is invaded by wild-life every night; from dusk on, the potaroos roam the streets, looking for what they may devour... there are also reports of echidnas and wayward wallabies, a few nights ago one of the boys in my class was accosted and harrassed by a Tasmania Devil. Well, he says he was, it might have just been a sabre-toothed possum.

Yesterday we had a fusion Expo day where people were able to come from al over Tassie to learn how to run Community Festivals as outreach events to build connection and comunity in their areas. Mal Garvin gave one of his famous Key Note addresses, and there were stories of past successes and the chance to learn a few festival skills or explore further how to do these things or discuss issues, network, play a few games, juggle, face-paint, eat a potato or just meet people. There will be one next week in Victoria. http://www.fusion.org.au/vic/Pages/Training/expoday.html

If you have a day to spare, and are interested in ways of reaching your community, check it out.

Like to thank my English/Greek classmate Patrick for the loan of his internet connection, but his computer is bi-lingual, and much of it is in greek. Do you know the greek words for cut or paste?
Anyway, he's been quite happy lately, now that the English cricket team has started to win...

Well, back to Studying the book of James, Quiz first up tomorrow. Consider it all joy...

1st day of school

Well, it's the first formal day of school, and already I've learnt so much. We've had a couple of days of orientation, and before that a week of Foundations, where there were about 300 extra people in town, or so it seemed. It's a lot quieter now.

Anyway, the online access place is only open for a short time each day and there are people who want to check their emails. Unfortunately I have problems with checking mine, so if you are expecting me to answer your email, I can't right now, 'cos I haven't read it... expect to get something sorted soon!

Like to get some photos here, maybe next time...

see ya!

here and now

Well, I've been in this town since thursday and sooooooooo much has been going on. Just to let you know I'm still alive and it's al really good! Catch up when I have more time!!
At the moment access is a bit scarce, and there's so much to say but, it's all good.
Nice town, this.

ch ch ch changes

Yes, a new look Honzablog. But then, changes is all around, as regular readers will no doubt be aware! In 2 days time I will be on my way to a new adventure, a new life in Tasmania. What's in store? God only knows... I mean, I think that this was his idea!

Anyhow, watch this space!