You got cotton in your ears boy?

Sleep comes and goes. The amount I sleep is directly proportional to how much I physically output during the day. There is not any getting comfortable and nodding off. There is no easy drift into an unconcious state of rejuvination. There is simply a point where my body says it has had enough and decides that the 3/4 inch air mattress and a bag stuffed with clothes impostering itself as a pillow will just have to be suitable sleeping domain. The growing nights of restless sleep does does allow for one positive aspect, that being that I have more vivid dreams. Since the intense hours of cycling no longer fill the majority of my day, vivid dreams are something that fill a majority of my night. Many I cannot remember, however there are many that stand out when I arise.

On the second night of Abel Tasman track I had a very strange dream. I dreamt that I woke up and felt my ear because it seemed as if it were clogged. Inspection found that it was over flowing with wax. Disgusted, I decided that an ear candle would be necessary in the morning. Clearly, at morning my ear was not in any need of any wax removing procedure. This dream had me focusing on my ears and sound for many hours as I walked the track. I was playing around with sound production concepts influenced by my sorroundings and conciously taking in as much of this sense as possible.

As this final day narrowed down, visions of cliffs hanging over clear seas boyishly envoked only one thought, "Where can I jump from?" Influenced by the same thoughts, Brandon, Sep (a guy we tramped with), and I found ourselves at Separation Point taking off our clothes wondering who was going to go first. We all took that plunge hoping that the nearby seals would not act teritorial. Once the waters were deemed safe with the initial conservative jump, I found myself needing to feed the adrenaline junky that lives within me. I stood at the edge with my feet touching each other and imagined a swan dive with a quick foward flip just before I hit the water. I wondered if my muscle memory from previous jumps would get me through this. I wondered if I had enough time. There is only one way to find out the answer to these queries, and that is the moment when one takes a final deep breath, gets a kick of adernaline, and does everything that the body was telling them not to do. Muscle memory - Check. TIme - ... not enough. I landed short of the full rotation on my back with my head sideways. I imagine my readers thinking, "Ow, back smacker!" Sorry to lead you astray. Yes, there was a notable pain from this, but that was completely overpowered by the rupturing of my ear drum! Once again my undivided attention was focused on my ear. Sea water drained from my sinuses for the rest of the day, pressure built and built making it unbearable to move, and all I could think about was how aniticipated this was. It was in my dream that something was going to affect my ear and I chose to ignore the warnings. I took the pluge with doubts and now my ears are popped 100 percent of the time, while my right ear has minimal hearing. I plan to see a doctor if an infection sets in, otherwise I am hoping that it will clear itself up with time.

I landed in Melbourne this morning. Good times on the plane with all the changes in cabin pressure. I have not even had the opportunity to give this city a once over and it is already standing out. The jobs are plentiful, the mass transit system works, the neighborhoods seem ethnic, there are neighborhoods, etc. I suppose that I should do more than just get to my couchsurfing accomodations before I pass judgement.