Day 2: Sightseeing without seeing sights

Day 2 was a blast and we hardly made it out of the hotel! Let me explain; we are staying in a combination hotel/brewery. End of explanation; need I say more?

I suppose I do need to say a bit more ;-)

Upon waking after a full and wonderful nights sleep, we made our way to a hip vegetarian cafe reputed to serve an incredible vegan breakfast. The place is named Badde Manors (cheeky, right?) and is located in the heavily student-populated area of Sydney known as Glebe. Ironically, it was just a couple doors down from another Iku Wholefoods (which I found out is pronounced ee-koo, so apologies for saying you sounded "icky", Iku). I'm happy to report the breakfast lived up to it's reputation; two lattes and a full belly later we went back to our hotel while marveling at how worldly we were for being able to find our way around Sydney (this was after asking a half-dozen bus drivers and convenience store clerks for directions mind you).

I met with a client at the hotel, did a reading, and went downstairs to collect Keevin from the bar area where he was patiently waiting for me to finish with my session. We had a lovely day of sightseeing planned that never stretched beyond the doors of the bar:

I found Keevin engaged in conversation with an Aussie gentlemen over a pint of in-house brewed beer (which I have a new respect for). They looked happy, so I figured, "What the heck? Let's do this 'no worries' style and have a pint in the middle of the day before we go on a walkabout around Sydney." So I ordered a beer and wiggled my way into the conversation that became it's own sightseeing tour as we heard about all the fantastic spots to visit and places that "we just had to see while in Sydney". I must confess that once I've gotten a couple of beers in me I can get a bit philosophical and found myself educating our new friend about the Other Side, talking about Spirit, and eventually reading his palm (everyone needs a bar trick, right?). One pint turned into another (and another) as the landscape of our conversation morphed itself to new vistas of laughter, spiritual discovery, and cultural acquainting. Before we knew it, the outside light had turned to dusk and our bonding time began to experience it's own sunset.


The Aussies have a reputation for being hearty drinkers; this is not to say that Australia is a country of raging alcoholics mind you, but simply put, they know how to relax and be in the moment. In fact, it seems that they've managed to take enjoying a good pint to a near-artistic level and I personally find this to be an admirable quality of great note. I generally find most people take themselves too seriously and spend an abundance of time worrying about things out of their control (I'm guilty of this myself at times). Therefore, it's quite refreshing to meet people that can take time for a drink on their lunch break and then allow the day to unfold itself one moment at a time. My guides in Spirit have always told me that the key to enlightenment is lightening up a bit, so any opportunity to live in the moment and toss out a day of plans for a day of light-hearted laughter with a new friend is in itself a day of spiritual growth. By the way, our running joke was that I am the "Queen of Justification" and we were in near-hysterics as I kept offering practical reasons for our plans continuously getting tossed out the door.

Something very interesting on a mediumship level did happen that I haven't experienced since I was young; throughout the day I noticed that a man was sitting at a table in the corner of the bar. He was dressed in full nautical attire down to his sailors cap and neckerchief. This man kept catching my eye and nodding at me while tipping his cap in a familiar way that made me feel like he either knew me or was flirting with me. I had no idea who he was or why he kept gesturing to me, and I was getting a bit uncomfortable with the attention, so I eventually ignored him and completely focused on our conversation. I looked back to the table at one point and he was gone. He was in my direct line of sight so if he had stood up and walked out, I would have seen him. But that wasn't the case; he was simply gone. I finally realized that this was a man on the other side acknowledging me as someone who could see him but the thing that was so unique about this situation was the fact that I had absolutely no clue this man was deceased. I can always tell; first, the dead generally appear more in my mind's eye rather than my physical sight but when I do actually see them, it's blatantly obvious that they aren't among the living. It's not that they look dead per se but it seems like the light hits them in a totally different way than it does others, which is (pardon me) a dead giveaway. That wasn't the case with this spirit; he seemed so... alive. I still don't quite understand it but I'll explore it more later.

Anyway, the day ended and we left the bar to find dinner at a vegetarian Thai restaurant; spicy Thai food and beer don't mix well, in case you didn't know. We used our own form of wind-generated power to propel us back to the hotel where we promptly fell into bed, half-dressed and half-asleep (some people may call this "passing out" but I prefer to call it "spontaneous acute narcolepsy"). I awoke with a start around 3:00 am and remembered that I hadn't blogged my day! So now it's 5:00 am (I did a little web-surfing too) and now I have 2 hours before we get picked up by a tour company that is going to take us to the countryside of the Blue Mountains for a day of actual sightseeing (I think... I hope!). I suppose I better get back to sleep so good night (afternoon, day, or whatever it is where you are)!