It is the 6th of June, my 3rd wedding anniversary and I am about 500km from my husband in vegan activist Jodi Ruckleys mums house.  I am watching her dog get trapped in the laundry, we have walked today and packed our new wicked camper with vegan perfection sauages, rawganic chocolate and tons upon tons of vegan flyers. It is pretty amazing how much stuff we have, i blame the dog (he's a hoarder). 

Today is a good day to reflect.  We started our trip 14 days ago at the Animal Embassy tent in Canberra. It was a windy clear day, and we were late.  We rocked up to a group of students who had attended Jodi's animal workshop the day before.  As I pulled on the pig costume, a TV crew and reporters arrived - argh. I had no idea what to do, but wayne the dog did - as jodi went through the pros of vegan living to AAP, wayne did a massive turd on the lawn. 

We walked slowly along the lawn, away from parliment house and the turd.  As we took the first steps on our journey home,  I remember thinking, i hope my legs survive, i hope it doesn't rain, i hope i don't have to wear this pig suit the whole sodding way. 

I was right about the pig suit, the next day, I was walking in a cow suit in the rain. I had a cold, there were trucks pelting down the highway spraying me with an elegant mix of dirty highway goo.  Nothing would deter Jodi though, she was on a mission for the animals, i trudged behind, my fluffy legs wet and sodden - thanking the animal gods that we were staying at a farm tonight.  To be sure, I nearly wept when I saw the fire place that night and the pasta they made us was the finest I have ever eaten. 

The next days were a haze of teeth chattering and determined walking.  We had many toots from passing drivers, either they had heard jodi on the radio or they were having a laugh at the miserable animal suited bastards that were walking in the rain.  We finally arrived at Goulburn. As a Brit, I have never heard of Goulburn.  I was excited about doing our first vegan outreach.  Having lived in a hippy bubble, i imagined that we would be greeted with hugs from locals in every main street.  My first hint that Goulburn wasn't a southern bryon, was the massive wool industrial site we passed.  Goulburn even has a massive towering wooly sheep at it's entrance.  This monument to the sheep is only a 5 min drive from the abbotair.  As we walked closer, I saw the unmistakable signs of a farming town, I saw the burly outlines of farming men and wondered whether they would beat us to death with our soy sausages.   

My worries about an untimely death in Goulburn were far fetched, the people there were lovely and hungry for information.  Bakers Delight gave us a discount on bread rolls and the vegi deli sausages made a great hot dog.  We managed to set up a small stall with help with two lovely local vegans in their 60s and the local paper published a delightful photo of the cow and a small terrified child who was hiding behind her mother.   The local radio didn't interview us, though they gave us a informative lecture on how we are naturally carnivores.  Jodi tried to tell them that humans were classified as omnivores but the gentleman was having none of it - perhaps being taught high school science by a girl dressed as a pig was a bit much. 

Ladened with fruit from the locals of Goulburn, we set off for Bowral with high spirits.  It was a two day hike and we were to stay in a field near some turkey factory farms tonight.  Jodi was trying to teach me how to mediate with the heart or something.  I didn't get it and am still working on it.  As we walked past the factory farms, I was amazed by the scale of it all.  Massive metal boxes with no windows, just vents to let air in and I guess this was barn farming.  This is were we grow turkeys, without consideration for their needs to satisfy our tastes.  It's pretty sick really. 

We walked on, the landscape was beautiful and owned by a mining company.  That night, our gas cooker exploded and we enjoyed a raw supper of tahini and apple, tahini and carrot and tahini and celery.  We soon huddled in our tents and waited for our bodies to warm our sleeping bags.  In the morning, we broke the ice off our bowls and played with the frost on our tents.  The night was cold but the sky was clear and it was going to be a sunny day of walking - we would reach Bowral that night......

Love Suki

Suki is walking the whole route - ACT to Byron Bay and is from Roar Food