A winter escape brings new experiences and some unanswered questions.
By Etsuko Yasunaga
ONE of my favourite times on our caravan travel is early in the morning. Still lying in the bed, not quite awake, I start to hear various birds’ songs. When we move to a new location, I won’t know what sort of bird call wakes me up until the following morning. Melodious butcher bird songs were delightful in Port Stephens and Mullumbimby, and the distinctive duet crack calls of the eastern whip bird entertained us on the Barrington River. Kookaburras often woke us up very early in the morning.
During our ten weeks travelling, we stayed at various places – commercial caravan parks, farm stays, pub free camps and low cost camps. The most expensive place wasn’t necessarily the best or most enjoyable. In fact the opposite was true. Our favourite places were often low cost (sometimes free), peaceful, quiet and surrounded by nature. Sometimes you find those places by chance, too.
ONE of my favourite times on our caravan travel is early in the morning. Still lying in the bed, not quite awake, I start to hear various birds’ songs. When we move to a new location, I won’t know what sort of bird call wakes me up until the following morning. Melodious butcher bird songs were delightful in Port Stephens and Mullumbimby, and the distinctive duet crack calls of the eastern whip bird entertained us on the Barrington River. Kookaburras often woke us up very early in the morning.
During our ten weeks travelling, we stayed at various places – commercial caravan parks, farm stays, pub free camps and low cost camps. The most expensive place wasn’t necessarily the best or most enjoyable. In fact the opposite was true. Our favourite places were often low cost (sometimes free), peaceful, quiet and surrounded by nature. Sometimes you find those places by chance, too.
Poley’s Place in Barrington was such a place. Initially we planned to stay in Gloucester but were warned that an event was happening that Friday night, so instead chose a farm stay in Barrington right on the beautiful Barrington River. It’s quite basic with no power, BYO water. The water in the showers was river water heated up. I felt most wild and free on this campground. There were a couple of over-30 degree days while we were there, so swimming in the cool river water was refreshing. The beauty of green water plants in the river fascinated me the most. They were like peacock feathers with the tinge of gold, absolutely mesmerising, flowing and swaying in the crystal clear current. Oh how much I wished to stay in the water forever observing this spectacle! Eventually I had to come out because the water was rather cold.
On our way to our campground near Ipswich, called Harding’s paddock, we drove past an Aboriginal cemetery. I noticed a young woman sitting in the chair in front of a mound of fresh soil. The solidity of her presence was striking even from the car window. I was intrigued but there was no way of knowing anything about her presence there. We spent two relaxing nights in the quiet environment. On our way out Rob said “I would like to have a look at the Aboriginal cemetery”, so we stopped there. We entered the place quietly and started walking around, looking at headstone inscriptions. I noticed on one tombstone the words “Sunrise” and “Sunset” were used instead of “Born” and “Died”. A beautiful painting on the rocks dedicated to someone who had passed reminded me of a mandala, intricate, precise and detailed. In the cemetery there was a dead stump with a totally different tree growing from it. We were amazed at the tree’s life energy. That’s when we heard an unusual piercing bird’s song. We couldn’t figure out the bird, but it turned out to be a pied butcher bird, high up in the tree. He flew away after a few more striking calls.
I was drawn to the newly mounded fresh earth. This was where I saw a young woman sitting on the chair on our way in. Rocks were placed around the mound as a border but it was still incomplete. It dawned on me that each individual rock may represent a day passed since she’d been without her beloved. I don’t know whether the person who passed away was a relative or a friend. It’s only my guess but she might come to this spot to place one stone one day at a time, and sit and process her feeling. The number of the rocks around the mound is the number of the days she’s been grieving. I also don’t know how many rocks she needs to complete the border. Hopefully by the time she has placed enough rocks as a border around the fresh mound, enough days have passed for her to move on to the next phase of her grieving. I know grief never ends but as time passes the waves tend to be further apart and less overwhelming.
While I was having an amazing time exploring new places and revisiting our favourites, I often thought of her sitting in the chair looking down on the fresh mound of earth. I visualised her placing a stone each day every day until a border was complete. I quietly and genuinely wished her to be in the calm state of acceptance and to start making her way forward through it. It could be all in my imagination though. I will never know.
I was drawn to the newly mounded fresh earth. This was where I saw a young woman sitting on the chair on our way in. Rocks were placed around the mound as a border but it was still incomplete. It dawned on me that each individual rock may represent a day passed since she’d been without her beloved. I don’t know whether the person who passed away was a relative or a friend. It’s only my guess but she might come to this spot to place one stone one day at a time, and sit and process her feeling. The number of the rocks around the mound is the number of the days she’s been grieving. I also don’t know how many rocks she needs to complete the border. Hopefully by the time she has placed enough rocks as a border around the fresh mound, enough days have passed for her to move on to the next phase of her grieving. I know grief never ends but as time passes the waves tend to be further apart and less overwhelming.
While I was having an amazing time exploring new places and revisiting our favourites, I often thought of her sitting in the chair looking down on the fresh mound of earth. I visualised her placing a stone each day every day until a border was complete. I quietly and genuinely wished her to be in the calm state of acceptance and to start making her way forward through it. It could be all in my imagination though. I will never know.