During the second year "on the Road" I travelled to Australia with Fabien, my Swiss travel buddy. We were passionate didgeridoo players – a musical instrument played by the Australian Aboriginals. Our passion for playing the didgeridoo led us to David Blanasi, a highly respected Aboriginal shaman in his mid-70s.
By the time we met him, he had already made a name for himself in the West for his art, especially because of his traditionally manufactured Yidakis (didgeridoos). He painted them himself with natural earth pigments using the cross hatching technique. In the "Northern Territory" (Arnhemland) he was a highly regarded figure because of his ability to guide the souls of the dead to the world of the ancestors. According to a legend that David shared with us during one of our many walkabouts that we carried out together in Arnhemland, most of the souls of their ancestors reside on and around the most sacred mountain in central Australia, namely Ayers Rock. This way, he sent us on the road to central Australia under the motto of "follow the lifesigns". There we discovered that, in the midst of a gigantic desert, lay a small lively town of Alice Springs. Why I had to be there was not entirely clear to me at that time. We left the Blanasi and Beswick houses behind to drive to Thé Power Place of Australia.
Frankly, Australia is a backpacker's paradise. It is such a vast continent that you could easily cruise around for years without running out of places to visit. I quickly got the taste of this vastness.
During the following years I continued my nomadic lifestyle. It took me to many countries with an almost unsurpassed range of adventure and life experiences.
Practicing Yoga and many meditation techniques was a part of my daily life. I felt life flowing through me and I enjoyed almost every moment. This is something that I can recommend to every young adult today.
The following years I kept returning to Australia every 5 to 6 months a year. I financed my trips through street art – creating street animation mainly in Circular Key in Sydney, where all tourist boats arrive. Often I worked as a "statue" near Harbor Bridge and the world-famous Opera House.
This state of being (working as a statue) was tailor-made for me. My ability to get into a meditative state helped me stay still for many hours, up to ç hours a day.
Other top locations in the 1990s in terms of international street animation art were Japan and Hong Kong. Although I never got to go to Hong Kong, life send me to Japan one day. Tokyo became one of my annual destinations for a long time to come. I mainly worked there in Ueno Park, a vast park with a zoo. The place was specially known for street theater. We worked with over 200 street animators in Tokyo when the Yen was still high.