Storm crow

Thanks for saving me a lot of typing. If I could choose only 1 piece of equipment it would be a kettlebell

As said, subs not cubes. Amanita muscaria as well, and if you're the cullinary mushroom type, Lactarius deliciosus aka Saffron milk caps and Suillus luteus aka Slippery Jacks. If you did come up to the mountains that weekend, you should have come across quite a few still even though we have had a sunny period. The season will continue for some months to come, just head out after there's a few days of rain The temperature at night has well and truly dropped to the right range for them to bloom

Not unheard of in the mountains, you just need to know where and when to look

Wow I'm surprised to see only 2 mentions of garlic. Slybacon's recipe is indeed a coldbusting remedy and a half, although I wouldn't boil it I'd eat the lot raw. Garlic needs to be raw and crushed to release the allicin, a broad spectrum antibiotic found in garlic. I usually crush up 5 cloves and put them on toast with olive oil to pad the stomach a little if I feel my glands are swollen or other symptoms of impending sickness.

Thanks for the offer Slybacon, we may well drop past in our travels if we head that way. I've got a few friends in Newcastle. Since posting my original post, my campsite dried out(the predicted extended rain didn't eventuate) so I managed to move camp to somewhere a little dryer, although the rain is back again today! I've also gotten 2 jobs offers at vineyards starting mid-January and the beginning of Feb so it looks like my financial situation is picking up. I can always forage mushrooms, introduced Euopean weeds, blackberries and fruit from orchards until then It looks like I'll be ok, albeit a little wet :D

Thanks It will all work out. It is actually clear today so I can head back to camp and see what it is like and hopefully move my camp to a dryer spot. It has been raining so much here that it has been pretty much soaked almost the entire time. I should be able to find some work in this area if the rain drops off as there are plenty of grape and cherry farms and if not, it's travelling time again

Life has thrown a little hurdle in my way, so plans aren't going according to plan, as is the way of plans. I've been camping on an orchard on the Mornington Pensinsula in Victoria, and in return have been doing a bit of mowing and odd jobs for the owner. The problem is my campsite has flooded and I am unable to get emergency accomodation atm(talk about an adventure!). The accomodation I had lined up from the 10th of December until at least Christmas has fallen through so that has left me in a bit of a bind. I was going to be using that time to look for some fruitpicking work in Victoria as a home base makes these things much easier. I thought I'd throw it out to this community that I'm keen to get a dry campsite(or other accomodation) and keen to get some paid work. Work in exchange for accomodation/food etc would be wonderful as well. I do get the pension to get me by so I won't starve. My spirits are high, I know that everything will fall into place exactly as it is meant to. Oh and one other thing, my fiance will be travelling with me (yes recently engaged as of Saturday!). She's keen as to be in the great outdoors doing some travelling and working until our dream property hopefully becomes available So if anyone has any ideas or needs a hand with something, let me know via here or PM and we can have a chat and see how it goes.

I'll be hanging around the uni on Saturday and possibly Sunday so will see a few of you there I can't show support this year by buying a ticket(packing up 8 years of my life and moving interstate has me a little povo atm) but will certainly be up for a good catch up.

I'm camping on an orchard about 90 mins from Melbourne and can make it in pretty easily if I've got notice. I'd certainly be up for a meet and am pretty sure my girlfriend would be keen to come. It is difficult to plan that far ahead given how life is directing me, rather than the other way round

You nailed it! Every single experience, whether 'good' or 'bad' has made me exactly who I am right now and has led me to be exactly where I am in this moment, both of which I am happy with. There will be more lessons and I'll continue learning from them until the day it is my time to leave this body. Age isn't a determinant of character or knowledge either. Some people have many experiences at a young age that 'age' them more quickly than others. My girlfriend is 18 and is far far wiser than I was at her age. My mother at 58 is less wise than most I know The best advice I could give to anyone about life is to do what feels right. It is very simple and will lead you far more quickly to be where you are meant to be rather than listening to others, which is kinda paradoxical given I'm hoping others will listen to that Experience is the best teacher in life if the student is willing.

Howdy all, It has been a while since I've posted on here but my plant friends are always close by I'm moving to the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria on December 7th and would love to catch up with old friends or meet new ones. I'm not necessarily staying there for long but will be looking to settle down in Victoria(the Dandenongs look pretty sweet) in the new year. Oh and I'll be leaving with whatever I can fit into my 70 litre backpack - am really looking forward to the adventure! Throwing a thread out there to see what comes back Cheers, Blake

Looks like the meet is off given 2 of the 3 people who could make it now can't(myself included).

Since when has inducing a state of trance through sound been revolutionary? Whilst searching on the net for this 'new' phenomenon, I found this amusing description of 'how to get high digitally' - "It's not that difficult - simply find a dark room, slip on your headphones and sit motionless." That could simply be edited to 'Find a dark room.' Sensory deprivation, chanting, dancing, singing, playing music, meditating - they all work It wouldn't surprise me with the way the world is going, that 'feeling ecstatic' will be an offence, punishable by law...it is already heavily medicated by orthodox medicine and considered to be an abnormality.

A quick Google suggests there's more to it than the ABC story reported. http://news.suite101.com/article.cfm/sudden-deaths-syndrome-linked-to-barium-in-tiny-yunnan-mushrooms-a261373 http://www.physorg.com/news198239538.html - "Testing found the mushroom contained some toxins, though not enough to be deadly. Chinese scientists need to isolate the toxin and test whether it triggers cardiac arrests. Researchers have hypothesized that there is a second agent. Many of the victims showed high levels of barium, a heavy metal in the soil that seeps into mushrooms."

There's a meet Saturday 24th in the RBG. I assumed someone from AE had already posted here so sorry for the late notice. Edit: will post the time and exact place once it is confirmed