I scheduled today off… just for me.

The past few months have been crazy…. actually the whole year has been HUGE… and I needed to take time to just be with ME!

I hopped up early and attended to a few things and I was sharing via email what I was going to do for the day…. and I just wrote that …” I am taking today off… to just go into the forest and take some photographs… find a stream somewhere and have a swim.. and just connect with the earth and myself. Time for regeneration.. rejuvenation and connection with myself. I am going to nurture myself by being loving and kind to myself… ..and laugh with myself and just love myself for who I am and enjoy my own company…Today I am going to be my own very best friend. :-)”

…and I WAS !

It was the summer solstice – and for me a day for connection… so I decided to head to the forest and bush! I drove to a nearby State forest and walked; sat; cried; laughed at my own jokes LOL… meditated quietly and found a wonderful sense of Peace.

I held my camera in my hand and listened to what I saw. I felt the sounds of the bush. Eucalyptus oils wafted as the engine warmth and tyres released the fragrance of the bush. I reconnected with myself. It was wonderful.

My first pleasure and comfort was slipping on my walking boots, which seemed to have been abandoned in the past few months.

I then hoped for a splash in a stream… but alas… no water in the streams… only dry creek beds… so my desire for a splash didn’t eventuate.. Oh well.

The resonance of the sounds of the bush truly moved me… my cells tingles and buzzed with the vibration of the bellbirds; king parrots… birds in general (LOL) and CICADAS!!! OMGosh!!!… Have a listen to the sound which recorded here is only a fraction of what it was like to experience! Video quality is abysmal ..and thumbnail sideways.. LOL.. but just have a listen to something of what it was like to stand in the bush with these insects just going ‘off’!!!! AMAZING!!!

My new best friend and I were having a wonderful day. We both pleased ourselves what to do… LOL.. no problems…no issues… no complications… just hung out together – experiencing the sounds; the smells; the sensations of being in the forest.

Another pleasure and comfort was to stand quite close beside a yellow tailed black cockatoo… one of my two most favourite birds…. Have a listen to his quite mournful cry. Two videos here.. one as I was walking and I heard the mournful cry… and then when I came close to where it was sitting on the branch quite low down.
Yellow tailed black cockatoos – mournful cry

resonance of cicadas
The honey scent of blossom oozed in the humid hot day.  

The forest was varied and as the soil  and micro-climates of the different sides of the slopes changed…so did the species of trees and types of forest and bushland.

The roads were very quiet.. actually I didn’t see another car all day on the dirt roads. My new ‘bestie’ wished she was in the Cruiser though… but I hadn’t communicated clearly to Max that I wanted it  – so it was booked in to have a windscreen replacement… so although my car is perfectly adequate, some of the spots were a bit tricky.. and I didn’t take pics of the ‘hairy bits’ because i was busy with two hands on the wheel!

Throughout the day I found spots to put out my picnic rug and just meditate and absorb the sounds of the bush. I found a sense of clarity and was really happy. I recognised a real strength within me that I saw in so much of the forest. Strong tree trunks… tall… enduring… powerful… sustaining… protecting… providing – characteristics of myself which others also see, which means that I am often overlooked as ever needing any support.

I saw the remnant stump of a HUGE old tree which was felled some time ago. I reflected on the sense of time..age… and how ignorance caused the death of something so magnificent. It came to me that I just recognised how important it is to ACT and have action on something when one is ignorant no longer and has awareness of something…. otherwise the consequence is that so much is lost.

Thunder was rumbling all around and the sky became dark. I decided to take the ‘adventurous’ track home.. 76 km which ended up taking me nearly 5 hours!  (a few stops on the way though) LOL. It was narrow, bumpy and my new best friend was excited but also had a few OMGosh waves as it started to rain and there was no phone range… and I forgot to tell Max which forest I was actually in ! It was so much fun though! Driving through the rainforest I saw this sign… I didn’t stop and it is hard to read…but is says… “Impassable Road – when WET”….  OOPS!  No way were we turning around!

The sky to the west was filled with black storm clouds.. and the rumbles of thunder spoke to me gently to carefully get out of the rainforest otherwise I may get bogged and then I would have to work out what to do! LOL. Thank goodness that didn’t happen and after 5hours of doing about 20km an hour, with a few stops along the most wonderful track we came out to Bellthorpe to a bitumen road.

I had a wonderful day of connection – with my new best friend. Think I might have her hang out with me all the time!