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...

Mount Kosciuszko...

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!"

~ Dr. Seuss.

Gosh, how time flies! We're due home in less than a week. I can hardly believe that 5 weeks have flown by already. It just doesn't seem possible! But alas, the calendar says that it is so. We're heading north east in the direction of home, cutting through central New South Wales in order to make it to the Blue Mountains in our last week of road trippin'. 

Today we woke up in Jindabyne after having followed a crazy, and lonely dirt track through Snowy River and Alpine National Parks yesterday. After a hearty breakfast we headed towards Thredbo to get the chairlift up to the start of the Mount Kosciuszko summit walk. Oh boy! I've been wanting to do this walk for quite a while so I was eager and raring to go. However, just 4 kilometres into the 6.5 kilometre track we realised that we were ill prepared to get to the summit. The weather was horrific - the guy who sold us the chairlift ticket said it was the coldest day they'd had in over 3 months! The clouds were thick and low and the wind was whipping the sides of the mountain. We gave it a good shot but at the three quarter mark we were freezing and damp, and I thought the wind was going to knock me over. It was so cold up there ice crystals the size of fat fingers were forming on the ground. Being without wet weather gear (and proper coats!) we thought it best to turn around. We were disappointed, but never mind, it just means we have to come back another time. 

In spite of my aching cold hands I was able to take a few snaps on the mountain. The bottom few images are from Charlottes Pass...