The real...

All forests are one... They are all echoes of the first forest that gave birth to Mystery when the world began. 

~ Charles de Lint

I have this thing that I do. When the world gets too busy, chaotic and full of drama, I just sit and stare at the wall and remember how small I am, how completely insignificant and unimportant. This brings me great comfort and a sense of freedom. The other thing that I do is head for the mountains and the forest. The sub tropical rain forests of the hinterland are a great reminder of how each of us plays a teeny tiny part in a larger system, and that we are not the centre of the system ourselves. The rainforest is my leveller, a place of grounding - a space in which I can shuffle the cards in my mind and find that everything makes perfect sense. If you walk through the forest the right way, curious and quiet with eyes wide open, it will reveal its magic to you. My grandfather taught me how to do this. It's the greatest gift I've ever been given.

I spent yesterday in the mountains. Here is some of the magic I found...

The bit in-between Great Ocean Road and Adelaide...

Wowsers, we have been going non-stop over the past week or so! So much to see and so little time! I can’t even really remember half of what we’ve done so it’s a good thing that we’ve got photos as evidence of our adventures. The trip from the end of GOR to Adelaide has been quite a surprise. We didn’t really know what to expect from this journey, but we’ve had no problem finding things to do. The coastline is just beautiful so we’ve spent plenty of time walking along beaches and submerging ourselves in crystal clear seawater. We’ve also been attacked by over-aggressive march flies (seriously attacked! I’m still itching 5 days later!), climbed the highest sea cliff in Victoria, checked out the cobalt tones of the Blue Lakes, experienced the natural baroque-like wonder of the Tantanoola Cave, dodged bush fires, and stood in awe of the Big Lobster. It’s been a whirlwind I tell ya!

We’re in Adelaide now, staying in the coastal suburb of Glenelg and preparing ourselves for a family wedding. We’re taking much needed time out to relax, watch tv and indulge in the luxuries of urban living until we turn ourselves around and start the journey back East. We’ll scoot back to Melbourne and then start to explore the coastline of Eastern Victoria and Southern New South Wales before heading home. But that’s a long way away, there’ll be no thinking of home yet! 

There's a lot of blue in the pictures below, but that's what you get when it's all sea and sky! :)