They say it takes 3 days out in the bush to de-colonise your mind, but I believe if you bare your soles to the earth and immerse yourself in the wild, it can happen within minutes.
It was a never-ending loop of people descending and spreading like ants around our mountain town, making our home their temporary abode for the summer holidays. In some aspects, it felt overwhelming because we are blessed to revel in these rivers and mountains unbothered by the masses. However, it is magic to share this place. It has the ability to transform worlds with its sacred country of cold, pure waters, fresh air that energises, and these ancient mountains that hold and give us the strength we may not have met yet. With this in mind, we sought space for the night as the new calendar year of twenty-four dawned. We chose to return up the mountains that held us to this beautiful place, made us the women that 'Wanda' and first met us as friends.
When you're on top of a mountain, the reality you've ascended from disappears, times slows, and morphs into a non-linear construct governed by the sun, moon, stars, and where they are positioned in the sky. We didn't have much time, only an interlude to view the transition of the setting sun on the year that was to meet the first light of the year ahead. It took me a few hundred yards of walking to ditch the suffocation of my shoes and have my feet kiss the rough ridge line of the 'Razor Back,' after a short while, Cass joined me in this free reflexology session courtesy of mother nature, on our now barefoot hike.
We had no expectations or plan, for that matter; our only wish was to be alone under the night sky. We found our spot where you could view both solar rotations and made camp here. With a fresh brew of warming spiced cacao (Shakao), we walked over to what we jokingly titled our new lounge room to watch the greatest show on earth. The cinematics were epic, with light and colour transforming moment by moment until the myriad of mountains returned to darkness and the sun left us for the final time of the year; what a year! This is my favourite time in this landscape, the in-between of light and dark, where silhouettes become the only form. We sipped the last of our warming drink, the sustenance to nourish and warm our bodies on this cooling mountain evening, and we lay under the sky, watching while the stars, planets, and satellites arrived.
I was torn between the trance of the fire flames dancing under the Milky Way and staring at the layers of stars, reminding me of how insignificant we are. Not many words were transferred between Cass and me, rather a mutual appreciation for this little glimpse of time away, each other's company, and the mountains. After many mountain hours, we pulled ourselves away from the big screen and slumbered into our feather-filled bags. Our intention to rise with the sun turned into a much-needed snooze through the early morning, occasionally woken by the eager trail runner seizing their new year. Finally, the beaming heat got us out, and just like that, our mountain time was expiring. We snacked on a date, had some cold leftover Shakao, and slowly walked back through the wildflowers, picking edible greens and sucking on mountain pepper leaves. We arrived at our 4-wheeled time machine around midday and returned to the reality below, where time, tourists, and work constructs awaited.
We climb, we hike, we ride, and connect to this wild world, not to say we've climbed a mountain but to bare our true nature to the earth, to be witnessed by not another human but instead be seen by the trees that allow us to breathe and the wildflowers that give sight to beauty, the rocks that massage our feet and the sweet water that hydrate and rejuvenate our beings. We do it to feel a part of nature, not separate from this earth's sacred sequence of unspoken agreements. There is something so livening about being in the wild without humanity's interruption. Nature has a way of weaving together a deep remembering of spirit, strength and knowing that an unlimited potential exists within your pumping veins. The only distraction is the brain and mind that wanders and makes up stories of limitation. So if you can do one thing for yourself today, go outside, you'll like it, connect with nature, and have some time with her gentle whispers of wisdom; this life in your human vessel is short and precious, so don't waste it.
'Up the mountains and into the wild we 'wanda. to lose our minds and be nurtured by the mother of nature.'
Written by the ladies from | @WYLDWANDA |
Re-wilding, women's nature immersion, foraging, and cycle wisdom in the Victorian High Country.
IG | @wyldwanda
