Madura to Coolgardie

I drove from Madura to Coolgardie today and clocked it at 694.5km. It was a long drive and I had to stop every 2 hours to try and revitalise myself. Not much exercise on these trips, much sitting and endurance, I realised today endurance is not about physical it is about mental toughness. I am pretty good on that front when I commit my mind to a task.

First thing in the morning I was thinking about my car. There was a strange noise when I moved it. I saw a guy playing with tools and thought I may ask him. I went over and told him I had a problem with my car, being a good bloke he came on over and had a look under the bonnet. He cleverly found a bracket had come loose, the nut and bolt had worked itself loose and it had touched the fan belt. I was lucky I didn’t drive it or I would have a problem. He found some wire and did a quick job on it and suggested I get a nut and bolt. Which I will do. The car ran like a charm.

I left Madura at 8am. I went through Cockabiddy (funny name) and then onto Caiguna and then onto the straightest road in Australia (the sign says) straight for 90km. What I found interesting is the next town turned out to be roadhouses. So for a long stretch of road I am finding just little posts where petrol is available. I travelled onto Balladonia and then onto Norseman which appeared to be the only town. I got wireless connection there. I kept bumping into some German folks I had met in Madura, so it was nice to see friendly faces. The petrol prices were scarey at 1.90 per litre and my funds are getting low. I never can be sure if I have enough, as I am winging this trip. I do have to move fairly quickly as my income is low and I am travelling large distances. I have to live cheaply or free, otherwise I can’t afford to do it. Of course that is part of the fun of testing out life. I don’t mind but do have limits financially but that just fuels my interest spiritually.

I checked my bank balance at Norseman and credit card. The credit card is not allowing me funds and that became the corner stone of my decision do I go to Esperance (coastal route) or Coolgardie (country route). When the card was refused that was my fork in the road. So my thinking was practical. Just go the fastest route to Perth.

I am working out where to stay for free or cheap as funds are very low. I have enough to get me to Perth but very little to last a week. I don’t panic in these moments, this is when life get’s interesting I am fascinated to see what happens. Always something comes, but I have no idea what will happen. The friend I was to stay with just can’t put me up, so she is sending me house sitting and caravan park info. Which is kind of her. My other friend has friends so it will be interesting to see if they agree to have me. I am putting out couch requests. My wireless runs out tomorrow so will have to find a way to get that happening. Wireless I find is important. Anyway, whatever I don’t mind.

I arrived at the Tourist Park Caravan Park in Coolgardie. Started off in a debate with the caravan owner, a strong minded cynic it seems who had much to say about the global elite. A former navy man himself he wasn’t happy with them. Although he said he envied their life, I was surprised, as I don’t. I said why, he said he wants to be able to push a button and get what he wants. I was interested in this as I prefer to do it myself, the last thing I want is servants serving me. Anyway, I explained to him this was the carrot held out by a system which states you have to work hard to get to the top and then you are success. When you get there you have what you want. However, in reality many get there and don’t feel complete, or they keep acquiring more but it doesn’t fill the gap. I tried to explain to him true happiness in self-knowledge. He said he was listening although I wasn’t sure if he understood. He believed in the security paradigm whereas I was playing with life that appears insecure. I said things come. So threw in the mystical card as that is what happens for me. I said we can’t go on the way we are, I felt happiness should be the goal of life, it certainly is for me and has nothing to do with materialism. Anyway, he wanted to read a book I have on the elite, I was a bit hesitant as he is already cynical, however he wanted to learn. So why not.

He showed me my camp site and I went about setting it up whilst chatting with my mum. She is missing me so felt to talk. I happily got organised and got my cooking gear together. I met a lovely couple, Paul and Tracey in the kitchen. We had a great discussion about life. Paul is a Ranger and Tracey an assistant Ranger. They have travelled a lot without resources and had friends puzzled as to why. Paul said he acquired new furniture for the first time in his life, he is around my age in his 40′s. I didn’t find that surprising as I’ve never had new furniture, I have chosen experience and creating a home has never been important. I have wanted to explore. It seems they are the same. They are into environmental issues. They live in a town called Hopetown which I believe is near Albany. It is a mining town, with a nickel mine recently reopened. They said the town as grown from 400 to 1,000. We talked about world changes and they seemed switched on. They said they had seen a lot of people opting out of the rat race and starting communities. They felt there were many discussing this and people are aware of change. I found this on my world trip last year. So we had much in common. They felt people couldn’t imagine a financial collapse, food not in the supermarkets, not being able to get what they want. I felt the same, it is outside people’s imagination, particularly in developed western countries where we grow up unquestioningly of this way of life. Tracey saw the financial market as a false economy. I felt this was a good description as it is based on speculation not real things. They mentioned the sub-prime crisis in the US and how money was just lent out willy nilly. I felt it was greed that undermined the stability of the system. We spoke of people lending to get bigger commissions, or large banks trying to force the International Monetary Fund (IMF) countries to borrow to support the financial institutions. We all agreed there is so much corruption around the world now. Something has to give.

We even got to the subject of near death and Paul said he had an outer body experience where he remembers coming out of his body and looking down. He said it was really joyful and wishes it could happen again. I told him about my former husband telling me that he had seen a giant angel, it had a white beard and kind eyes looking down at him. It went through the ceiling. He was awake and felt he was given a sign. He was in a religious group and grappling with the idea of leaving, after he saw the angel he left.

We all agreed there is more to life than meets the eye and it is important to be open minded. We even talked about quantum theory and possibilities, the idea at this level it seems illogical, yet it seems to be a place where intention creates outcomes.

We have built up a world on perceptions and we think this is real. I told them I feel we need to question more, we need to think about what is true for us and who we are. These are important questions these days. What I am seeing is massive denial about the reality we are in and this behaviour of business as usual to make it all seem normal. I would like to see people prepared for the possibility of collapse and at the very least be self sufficient. I don’t think collapse is a bad thing I think it is a wake up call, sometimes people need to have an illusion shattered in order to see it is not real. I know the economic system is based on telling people economic growth gives us security. Yet the flaw in the model is that the resources are not infinite and if everyone acquires the same lifestyle as the US, the system collapses. On my world trip that was exactly the aspiration. This fundamental belief in material security as the panacea to happiness. When true happiness in reality is based on values such as love, truth, peace and freedom. It is not based in the material reality we have created. So as the world is based on the notion of greed and self-interest, inevitably the system cannot continue, it breaks down as it is not based on values of unity. One way of envisaging this is at the sub atomic level the positive and negative and neutral ions. What I see is that the biology is balanced when the negative and positive are in balance. If we become very negative the body, in my view, the body breaks down and becomes ill. If you live a life of positive intent, healthy food, self-love and love for others, the positive ions fill the body and you stay in good health. The clowning that I have done confirms this, I can feel the energy in a room when it is positive it is palpable, when it is negative, same but in the opposite direction, people want to leave. If it is loving, people are drawn, this is the unity playing out that most people don’t notice. We are often drawn to like-minded etc. So the dynamics on the planet are positive/negative and I believe any system that promotes the positive is constructive, any that is based on negativity is destructive. We see that in war zones where people kill each other on orders and the post traumatic stress that results. So it isn’t hard to see the merit in positivity or unity.

Speaking with these people confirmed my own perceptions and I guess I confirmed there’s. I felt the friendship with them. They also confirmed that country people are happier. That slower life with less pressure and the fact people know each other. There is a sense of community.

With that, I may get myself organised for bed. My backside is sore from driving and sitting. I might add one more thing I saw a strange bird yesterday. It looked like a waterbird standing on the road yet it had the feathers of an emu (grey). It was a strange bird, I’d never seen it before. It was slow to take off but eventually took to flight. I watched it fascinated, strange eyes in large sockets and grey feathers and quite large like an eagle. I am still wondering what it is. It made me think of the wild life we have never seen and human impact on wild life. The fact we run them over without a real sense of the sacredness of all life. Not all indigenous people can be wrong, they all value mother earth, they worship her intimately and they understand how she works. This does tie into the economic discussion which is all about our needs being met. Yet the difference is we are seeking more than we need, we don’t feel fullfilled with what we’ve got, always filling that gap rather than feeling a peacefulness with one’s life. Being able to be still in the moment, to be alone, to listen to nature, to see it as part of yourself. We have disconnected and this journey for me is reconnecting. I found more rocks today, really strange clusters of rocks for 100′s of km, couldn’t understand geologically why. They looked arranged in stacks yet they were naturally placed there. White rocks amongst the scrub. I got out of the car and took pictures marvelling at them. There is something to rocks I don’t understand yet, energetically they attract me. It is interesting. I wish to connect and indeed that is happening on this journey.

I will wind up in Perth tomorrow from there I don’t know. I may work for a while. I don’t feel it is my final destination but I will pause to get a sense of my direction. I am thinking about children and have written a children’s parliament, if I get funding I may go ahead with that. Otherwise I may just see where life takes me. My mother asked me today will you clown there. I said yes, after a rest and I will meet the right people. I’ve been invited to Haiti next year for humanitarian clowning. I want to sit with my work and reflect deeply on why I am here. I didn’t get much demand in the schools for what I do which indicates to me they don’t understand the importance and to give them credit, I didn’t give them much time to plan me into their schedule. However, my priority was to move and the money limitations didn’t allow me to stay too long, so I had to wing this experiment. I am not discouraged as I have been at this a long time and it is a calling, I will know what to do at the right time. I am learning that there are no mistakes in life, indeed there is no failure, just experience asserting itself.

I am at peace with that. I am the change I wish to see, I don’t mind how that manifests, for me every day is about peace. Learning to allow life and not force outcomes is one of the keys. No expectations and no disappointments, only horizons to explore. That is what I feel.

 

Blessings and much happiness to you and your family.

 
Mohandas Gandhi

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.”

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