I have just spent the week-end walking

And walking

And walking

And a little bit of swimming in rock pools

It is my husbands idea of hell

So he didn’t come

Which is great because it gave me a whole heap of headspace

Which I filled up in my usual way

Though I did try to empty it

I saw ten different species of butterflies

A dozen different types of dragonflies

Endless other assorted bugs

…obviously not an entomologist

Three different types or at least colours of goanna

Three or four different types of macropods (kangaroos and wallabies) one that was so quiet I almost tripped over him – as I write this there are a family sneaking up on my camp from the shrubbery

And a whole spectrum of bird life that chatted and called from the abundance of trees that I passed beneath

Mother Nature is alive and thriving

I crossed the creek several times – it was gushing and alive with platypus and turtles and fish

Sounds like heaven?

It was

Bloody amazing

The aboriginals believe Carnarvon Gorge to be a place of healing

I walked for 22km this morning and hardly saw another person

The only noise was the trees breathing, the creek trickling and the birds

Instead of getting exhausted I became happier and happier and by the time I hit the car park again on my way to the rock pools for a swim, I may have been whistling loudly

Or it could have been the young man bun guy who was just getting out of his car

“Beautiful day isn’t it?” We both said at the same time and grinned

I was the weirdo who had been up since 4.30am and done the entire trail by 11.30..he was just getting started

Whichever

Whatever

Doesn’t matter what sort of a person you are

Walking in thriving nature heals our senses

Our cells

Our belief that perhaps we haven’t completely stuffed this amazing planet we call home

I don’t know who the spirit is who governs Australia

But I know she is a warrior

And she is strong

She will burn us

Flood us

And heat the hell out of us if we mess up

She’ll bring a cyclone one minute

Bushfires the next

And shake us off like fleas

If we misbehave

She’s okay – more than that – she is thriving

And my God she is gorgeous!