3 Aug Nearly Leaving Brisbane to start Trip Around Australia

I am squeezing the last of my things into the car and am about to head north up to Melany. I am thinking of staying at a Buddhist place as a way to meditate upon what I am going to do.

I am going to conduct this trip around Australia not by planning, although I have a basic route. I am going to see what comes up. I am teaching myself to allow life to show me what I am to do. So there is trust in just allowing what is.

I felt strongly called to do this trip and I did have strong feelings about going to the desert. I even thought of indigenious Aboriginal people up in the north. I wondered about those who still live on from the natural world. I also thought of those pioneers 200 years ago shipwrecked or as colonists coming here. How vulnerable they were given they didn’t have adaptive skills to know how to live in the Australian countryside. The desert is a harsh place by european eyes, yet for the indigenous aboriginals they knew where to find food sources, water courses and places abundant in life. I never forget the fact that you could find honey underground by honey ants. I always thought honey came from bees. So there is so much we don’t know about the country and so much we don’t know about nature. This ignorance reflects our disconnection to our true nature. It shows me that I was trained in ways that were totally out of harmony with the natural world.

I see my car chock full of things to keep me going – a tent, sleeping bag, lamp (rechargeable in car), blow up bed, ground matt (keeps cold out), repellant, sunscreen, clothes, pots and pans, tin food, music, cooker and of course my clown gear. I thought I can pull out my juggling stuff when I take a break. When I head to Charleville (about 900km) from Melany where I am going today. I will start to be heading west. As I go the runs between towns will be long and I feel the strongest desire to experience the desert. This time I am alone, 25 years ago I was with my partner. This time I will really take it in and if any fears come up, I can explore that on the journey. I will be alone with my thoughts, I am going to examine my inner world on this journey and I am going to learn to love and appreciate the country that I was born into. Hopefully I get to meet indigenous people along the way. I could teach them some juggling. I am sure I will meet a lot of characters. For now I will take it a day at a time.

I had a feeling to go north first along the coast to camp for a few days, to try out my new stuff and get some experience putting up the tent, fitting the gas to the stove, charging up the lamp etc. I have an inverter and can plug in my lap top and charge it as I drive. It is better to spend the money on this then find I can’t access power. As I travel further inland I am told Telstra (local phone company) is not 100% reliable, there are plans for rural areas, but I got the general one so will try and see how it goes. However, I am not concerned about not having telecommunications, won’t do many any harm to trust life as it shows up, rather than hanging on to the umbillical chord of technology to give me a sense of security.

I know I’ll be fine, just have to tackle things as they happen.

So welcome to my journey let’s see what happens.

In peace and joy,

Susan Carew
3 August, 2011