We are back from our lovely weekend.
We drove up to a coastal town called Forster-Tuncurry on the NSW North Coast, about 7 hours south of Brisbane, seven hours north-east of here, for Chris' cousin's wedding.
It was a lovely, but exhausting adventure.
Over the three days we drove 1300 kilometres through unfamiliar terrain and through Sydney, which was such a crazy traffic experience for us two hillbillies who like country roads...
I kept travel notes on the way to share with you!
Friday, 8 October 2004
Canberra to Sydney leg...
Let me just tell you right now ~
I love travelling.
Even if it's just a road trip to get you someplace you need to be.
I am sitting in the car.
Chris is driving, and it is late morning.
Travel, the beauty and wonder of it.
The leaving behind of everything everday, and driving foward into all that is new.
When we left Canberra this morning, we drove out a different way... and I gasped as we moved down from the highlands and saw the most expansive plain that lived at the shrubbed toes of the mountains... it was breathtaking and beautiful, just the simple flatness of it all.
Everything I see on this trip is new to my eyes - so intoxicating and real that I feel nourished and enlived by it.
I tell Chris how my spirit feels renewed from seeing new land... how good it feels not to be looking into the depths of a computer screen... how my eyes see only the horizon, the land, the sky, and this book in front of me... and soon not even this book.
I will recede back into the seat, stare out at this new old land, and breathe.
I love travel.
When travelling, and seeing everything as new, you see and appreciate things as they are...
you marvel and exclaim at surprise pine forests sprouting amongst the Australian bush; the shape of a tree on the horizon; the colour of soil; the contours of a mountain.
All these things you forget to see in the everyday world of existance.
Beautiful rock gorge creeks below us nearer to Sydney ~
Chris says they are "gorge-ous!" tee hee... even now I giggle!
Through Sydney to Forster-Tuncurry
The crazy~ness of Sydny roads...
Too small Too Cluttered Too many Trucks Too many near misses
just TOO MUCH
I cried from sheer *relief* when we finaly left it.
You forget about the Earth "in there"
but when we left, the mountains welcomed us back.
The road cuts through them, revealing high cliffs of layered rock ~
Mother Earth's chesty magnificence and strength; clasping me to her bosom;
hushing my fears of the traffic and infusing my nervousness with earthly calm.
I was so absolutely overwhelmed to the point of total discomfort...
such a relief to be in the mountains intead.
A peek of water from the coast refreshes me.
So glad to be out of Sydney.
So glad Chris hadn't been able to find a rest stop before Sydney to pull over and swap driving, but I'm so *relieved* it worked out otherwise.
Stop for Chinese lunch at Wyong - a coastal town with the nicest Westfield store I've seen - filled with Sydneysiders wanting to "get away from it all" while still having everything at their fingertips.
A petrol store by the freeway with 50 bikers.
Heatherbrae ~ a relief. The mountains open to undulating plains and I feel comfortable. The roads north of Newcastle quieten and finally returns to feeling like we are again on our travelling adventures; instead of merely navigating roads and dodging traffic. You get the chance to see and enjoy the land again, at our own pace.
The land bcomes more tropical as we near Forster-Tuncurry and the landscape begins to be infiltrated with palms and lush forest with extraordinarily tall trees.
A relief to finally get here after 7 hours on the road.
Saturday 9 October
The Wedding Day!
We met Chris' parents Steve and Terri down here - they drove down from our hometown, Proserpine which was 1300 kilometres away.
It was just so so lovely to see them again.
They are both such loving, earthing spirits, and the bestest parents~in~defacto law a girl could have ;)
We stayed at the same hotel together and had a bit of a celebrity sighting! In the room next to us was the Delltones! Who remembers them hey? They've been around in Aus for 40 years and were, in their heyday, the Australian equivalent of the Beatles. I was so delighted, I just loved 'em on Hey Hey It's Saturday. I'm such a 90's girl... hee hee hee. But yes, as we walked outside of our hotel room, a long tall lanky man walked past us and in the deepest voice said hello to us. The deep voice gave it away ~ I dragged Chris in the room and squealed ~ that's just gotta be Pee Wee Wilson! We saw him a few times again over the day and confirmed it with the hotel manager that it was them. Yup, officially star struck! *hee hee hee*
We spent some time at the beach too... it was beautiful!
Three months since I've seen the ocean, and nothing beats it!
Me and Chris are both water babies.
It's like a relief to be on the beach.
To be in the sun,
and hear the waves,
and put your toes in the water,
knowing that you are apart of this big beautiful beating world,
in the water which touches coastlines around the world,
connecting us to everything else.
To discover life in rock pools
find treasures in the sand.
I wish we'd had more opportunity to frolic and adventure there.
Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the wedding.
Chris' cousin Naomi and her now~husband Brendan tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony on a small beach.
Me and Chris with Chris' parents after the ceremony...
Beautiful beach with my beautiful boy...
It was lovely to see all of Chris' family and meet more of his lovely cousins, and spend time with his parents some more...
The reception went until midnight and was just lovely.
Highlights were dancing madly, crazily, joyfully with Kristy my partner in crazy~dancing crime;
dancing softly, slowly with Chris, my partner in life
and the Friendship Circle at the end ~ everyone holding hands, and hugs aplenty.
The next morning we left early for the trip back home.
Exhausting, but lovely just the same. Drove past the tallest tree in New South Wales and the most beautifully dilapidated old farmhouse ~ leaning at a precarious lean, palings falling, walls missing, and yet so picturesque ~ just divine!
Us Road Tripping Rovers...
Lovely to get back to our doggy
and have the day to recover and reflect...
Good to be back sweet ones,
and lovely to have been away!
love,
L
