My life is too often crowded with people, photographers, time constraints, expectation, and clutter. Those things combine to distract me from inspiration and meditation. So, taking advantage of a twelve day window in Australia between contests, I turned away from the multitude of options involving standard experiences with familiar people, rented a campervan in Brisbane with the goal to drive solo to Melbourne. I asked friends and locals how long that would take and they estimated 26 hours. A 26 hour drive spread out over 12 days, perfect!
I had quite a few people offer to come along, and several others absolutely shocked that I was eager to make the journey alone. It was something I needed to do and I was determined to do it. I began every morning by brewing a strong cup of coffee on the small propane stove, then looked at the map, made a goal of how many kilometers to cover, looked for a good hike, a great wave, and a peaceful campground in which to spend the night, then popped a beer, did some reading and writing. It's been a few months now, and the memories of that trip have helped sustain my excitement through the doldrums of summer. Looking back through my journal, below are some excerpts:
Driving along in my Sopranos van, left hand stick shifting on the “wrong” side of the road, I look out over the calm highway at the expanse of green surrounding me and feel giddiness bubbling up into a smile not to be erased anytime soon. All the responsibility of the last so many months to family, friends, boyfriend, photo shoots, contests is left in the dust as the dashboard kilometer ticker spins. Sure I’ll meet up with those things once again, but right now the sense of freedom and adventure is so dangerously euphoric to my addiction prone personality that I’m a bit worried about losing any impetus whatsoever to return home. This morning marks day four. Four days wandering alone down the beautiful coast of Eastern Australia. It’s been one long candy necklace of perfectly sweet moments in which I fully realize that at this all-important “now”, I’d prefer to be absolutely nowhere else in the world.
Sandy dry grass beneath adventurous toes
White rocky plain and shadow fallen cliff
Topped with trees a rustlin’,
Wind a dustin’ off the cobwebs,
And inspiration rushes in.
The steady sound of nature roaring to spite the din
Of the drone of a thousand hands reaching
Now left behind
Allowing me retreat within
An effervescent feeling’s rising,
And sunshine’s closing in.
There’s a smile that warms completely,
Beneath this devilish grin.
Certain evidence to be used by those insisting
That solitude pleasures are a sin.
Smooth black pavement stretching
Two lanes through plains of grass
Left hand controlling shifting
From this right here
To that long since passed
And now my thoughts are circling
Round how might I make this feeling last?
for more, go here: http://hollybecksurfs.blogspot.com/2008/03/galloping-time.html