Meanwhile Down Under...

On October 28, Ashlynn started her next big adventure when she flew to Cairns, Australia, a common jumping off point to get to the Great Barrier Reef. Rather than stay at a hostel in the city center, she opted to stay at Tropic Days, which was a little further out and less likely to attract visitors who just wanted to party. She was very pleased with her choice as it was clean...

...in a lovely setting and was full of nice people. Her goal was to find a job for three months so that she could earn a second one-year holiday/working visa. Although she only had limited restaurant experience beyond dishwashing, she hoped to find a job in hospitality. Her backup plan was to work on a farm, which would be grueling in the summer heat. Luckily she found a job fairly quickly and started on November 10 as a food server at Howlin’ Jay’s, which ironically was an American bar and fried chicken restaurant (she didn’t mention that she’s vegan).

On her third day in Cairns, she met Bjarne, a 20-year-old from Berlin, and they soon became inseparable.

Bjarne was a carnivore, but enjoyed cooking vegan meals with Ashlynn at the hostel.

Besides meeting a boy and finding a job, Ashlynn got a tattoo while in Cairns when a German tattoo artist stayed at the hostel.  

She had originally thought about getting this Korean symbol for Dream (the meaning of her name) while in Seoul, but the opportunity never really presented itself.

While I’m not a big tattoo fan, I like that it has truly special meaning to her and it kinda looks like a hare.

Fall Hashing...

We had several scenic hashes in November in Amsterdam...

...with good turnout and decent weather.

Despite losing trail, I still loved The Hague H3’s hash in forests of Clingendael and the Haagse Bos, both of which were very colorful.

The drink stop was in front of Huis Ten Bosch, the official residence of the Royal Family.

Sadly, no one had the connections to get us invited inside the gates.

Opee had been recruited at the start to report on crimes committed on the runner’s trail...

...which he was happy to do...

...including calling up me and Tasty. We were clearly wearing matching shirts and jumpers, but he embellished greatly to come up with an alternative story about us. Unbeknownst to us at the time, the Zwarte Piet fiasco would hit The Hague H3 the following weekend and this would be our last hash with them for a very long time as we stood in solidarity with those who dared to stand up for anti-racism.

Fall Trees...

Mother Nature was very kind on November 25, allowing me to capture this cool shot of a tree’s shadow...

...and lots of pictures of trees with that beautiful blue backdrop.

What was once trees has been converted into an Air Bee & Bee to encourage more bees to live in the park. 

Here’s the last photo of the tree in our front yard, taken just days before the giant fall.

Fall Reflections...

Even on the smaller canals in our neighborhood, it is rare to see the water completely still. Ironically, I walked past this tiny canal today before writing this post and couldn’t even see the water since the plants along the side have grown taller than me. The sides of the canals have always been mowed several times per year by a combination of sheep and machines, but they have now been left to go natural (although I don’t know if this is a result of COVID-19 or a new environmental plan). 

A few days later, I ventured out on another windless day to capture some images in the village...

...and the town park.

Fall Dog Walks...

In reality summer has just started, but as my blog is still in November, here are a bunch of photos from dog walks during the fall.

We live on a main road, so Kati is always on a leash until we reach our front yard. You can see that in late November our giant tree still had a lot of leaves...

...but the hedges were completely dead. Sadly, this was not a weather issue, but they were destroyed by killer caterpillars and eventually were removed by the landscaper hired by the owner of our house.

Ironically, dogs are banned from this small park featuring a cute dog statue. Instead it is mostly used by smoking teens.

Amazingly, I managed to capture this shot just before Kati scared this blue heron away.

There was beautiful soft light on the morning that we walked around Vlietland...

 ...and a conveniently parked bike for a colorful shot.

Field Trips in Devon...

It was cool that Veronica’s course on sustainable agriculture included taking several field trips.

 This trip to a farm included seeing a newborn calf.

Her professor seemed truly baffled that she could really love cows even though she’s a vegan.

She was glad to finally get the chance to visit Dartmoor National Park...

...where she loved getting doggy kisses.

From Activist to Artist...

 Veronica enjoyed participating in a Youth Strike 4 Climate in Exeter.

Started by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg in August 2018 as a strike from school to wake up politicians to the climate change crisis, these weekly Friday protests now rotate between difference cities worldwide.

Veronica’s love of nature extends to her desire to capture interesting self-portraits amongst beautiful scenery.

I bought her this lovely blue dress at a charity shop in Totnes during my visit.

She couldn’t resist using some computer magic to change the mood of this urbex photo.