The spirit of Australia.



Our very first sunset on the road (at the start of our trip around Australia with our caravan)



We have wanted to live this way - in a van travelling Australia - for quiet a while before we actually managed to get there. We day dreamed about it, talked about it, planned it, everything. But nothing can truly prepare you for the way you actually feel when you attach that van to the back of your car for the first time and head off into the unknown.

The way the endorphins flow, the way every teensy thing you see, hear and feel brings you intense joy and excitement. It's the kind of therapy no counsellor can provide. It invigorates you and brightens your soul. It makes you experience this deep, intense sense of positivity.

Before we left for our new lifestyle, we have nothing. I'm not exagerating. We slept on a mattress on the floor in a spare room in my brothers home (Zac had his own bedroom and bed). We never purchased anything that might potentially be big enough to "hold us back". We made sure we were ready to leave at any point. Like I said - we lived and breathed this dream of travelling Australia.

A camel, in the wild in outback Australia. Such an unreal sight.

However, when we did it, when our day came... The internal feelings were indescribable (but I'll try to describe them). My husband (whom isnt generally one to blabber on about "Senses" and "feelings", couldnt help but describe the experience as overwhelming. Everything we saw, everything we did seemed to have this second, spiritual presence. We were seeing such beautiful landscapes and interesting historical artifacts but everything touched deeper than our eyes and our brains. The history and culture seeped in deeper.

Nothing can prepare you for the spiritual aspect of travelling this beautiful country. No amount of grocery shopping or mapping can prepare you for the sight of the sun setting over the beach after travelling from Port Augusta (at the bottom of SA) straight up the middle (or "Red centre") of Australia to the opposite side of Australia - Darwin.

One of the first times we looked in every direction and realised there really was nothing and no one nearby.

Your endorphins flow, your heart races, the air feels different, smells different, is different. The sun sets over the waves. The beauty and spirituality of it will stay with you forever but will shock you everytime you feel it.

Positive thinking by seeing the world through the eyes of a child.

I was walking on the beach with my two and a half year old son this morning. We were wandering around sifting through the sand for shells. I would search and search to find the prettiest, most perfect unbroken shells then I would pick them up and show them to him and talk about how beautiful they were, their color, shape and size. Eventually he began picking up shells too and genuinely exclaiming over their beauty, describing their colors and talking about how special he thought they were. He seemed in awe of the shells and their beauty, which was wonderful.


Then came an extremely humbling realization, all of the shells he picked up were broken, faded, cracked or simply just tiny fragments of what I am certain would have been magnificent whole shells prior to them breaking down. Yet to this small boy unaffected by the emotions and opinions of the adult world, these fragmented shells were of extraordinary beauty and were just as special and worthy of collection as any of my perfect handful that I so carefully selected.

 I know it's a completely unoriginal idea to try and asses your surroundings, the world you live in through childlike eyes with only childlike opinions but I have to say, to me, this was the most clear example of that concept I could ever have experienced. To me this was not just a beautiful moment but a fundamentally important life lesson. A lesson about the obvious need to slow down and really experience the world. It was also a lesson about allowing yourself to soak up beauty in all of it's natural forms not just the refined images presented by the media.

When you look at the world through childlike eyes and you process it through a childlike mind it's like attaching a sieve to your brain, the horrible things, the problems, the constraints of time and financial obligations cease to exist. Suddenly stopping to smell the flowers along the side of the pathway becomes more important than than arriving at your destination on time. putting chocolate cake mix on each others noses and licking it off through fits of giggles becomes more important than baking the perfect cake and eating it after you have finished all your vegetables. Suddenly the concept of fear of death or illness dissipates and you begin to experience the rejuvenating feeling of childlike energy and young blood pulsing through your veins.

  

You let go of all the pain and sadness and even though it's momentary, it's blissful and reassuring. Faith is restored and subconscious storage areas within your being are topped up with love and excitement and positivity. Your dormant imagination is slowly ticking back into action and even though the cogs are creaking the motions are taking you further into a captivating world of innocence and fun.

Exploring the world and accepting it into your mind with childlike innocence seems so foreign and difficult to many people, and even to those who see it as simple - implementing it into their lives rarely proves as simple as it seems. Were naturally inclined to over think things especially when we know they have the capacity to change our lives for the better. But as with any healing or enlightening change, you should allow it to naturally flow into your life. Don't try to remind yourself to focus on adapting the changes into your life. Don't think at all, just slow down. Walk a little slower, look a little wider, hug a little longer and chat a little 'sillier'.