Main page of my world trip

The wilderness of Australia is so much wilder than that of New Zealand and the biodiversity much richer. I have only been here for a week and have already seen countless wild animals. Different kinds of parrots, crows, all kinds of butterflies and other birds. Today Josie and I ran into a monitor lizard about 60 cm long, plus tail. This was the first time we both saw one in the wild. Later he was creeping along the other side of the river, about 5 meters away from us, when he suddenly made a leap from one branch to the other to attack a snake that must have been over a meter long. He tried it a few times and also bit into it until it finally managed to free itself and fled into the water.

Mount Solitary

I was again very surprised about how easy it is to get from downtown Sydney to the jungle. A train ride took us from the center directly to the start of a trail in Katoomba.

From here we only had to climb 900 steps down a steep rock face and we were in the wilderness. We noticed after a short time that the trail is closed. Experienced hikers as we are, we didn’t let that stop us, of course. Except for a few fallen trees that blocked our way, nothing else got in our way.

What Australians mark as a campsite is usually nothing more than a flat area with a fire pit. In comparison, in New Zealand you could safely count on water and a toilet. Therefore, it requires a little more planning, especially as far as water is concerned, we had to learn to rather take more with us. Especially on the sections along the ridge, there were no streams from which we could draw water. To our rescue, it had started to rain, creating a small stream that we were able to tap into. We set up our camp under a rocky outcrop that had been used by the Aborigines as a retreat for many centuries.

On the way to our last camp spot for this hike, which Josie had located earlier, we were suddenly considerably more cautious, each step carefully planned. We had jumped into the river where the snake disappeared just an hour earlier for a swim, unaware of how close nature was to us after all. Since we are both not yet familiar with snakes and animals, we will probably have to plan our steps a little better in general.

See you soon

900 steps up it was time to say goodbye again. Hiking alone is not really fun for me anymore. In twos it gives me great pleasure. You talk to each other instead of just playing with your own thoughts. Here I don’t have a real goal anymore, not like in New Zealand. There I was marching towards something. Here it feels more like running away from the city than really wanting to be in the wilderness. While I enjoy the variety, especially in terms of plants and animals, it somehow feels like an extension of the trail, but without a destination.

Settled

I’m realizing more and more that I don’t want to travel just to get from one place to another, checking off certain sights as I go, but to create a base to come back to after smaller adventures. It’s certainly an adventure in itself, not really knowing where you’re going to spend the night, but I don’t need that kind of adventure day after day, for the rest of my trip. Just as on the trail, roaming around always results in very superficial acquaintances who sometimes leave a lasting impression, for example, by demonstrating particular worthiness of love or igniting an inspiring conversation. Still, the encounter remains fleeting. I tend to look for somewhat longer-lasting relationships with whom I can build new shared memories. This works, I think, only if you also spend a longer time somewhere, rather than just standing in a stockpile somewhere waiting for the next train.

Meditation

Meditation wears me out and makes me more restless the more I practice it, and I feel like my head is firing more nonsense at me instead of getting calmer. I had this feeling once before about 7 years ago when I had to stop meditating at some point because I couldn’t stand how much my brain was chattering. It really threw me off. This time I have the same feeling after a shorter time of practice. What I notice about it this time is that I am more aware of the constant bombardment now, just as I was then. So it’s a first step towards not taking the things my brain wants to deal with so seriously and just letting them be. Insight, as we all know, is the first step to improvement. So I have extended the antennas and should especially now continue with the practice to eventually be able to deal more calmly with my thoughts.