When I think back to those earlier heady days, I am swept up in a deep sense of connection and belonging. A connection to this land and to her crystal blue oceans and an affinity with the people who reside in these tiny treetop villages and with the magic that is created here in these hills.
It has taken the arrival of an old Melbourne friend to wake me from my tired, apathetic slumber. Seeing this place from her perspective, with brand new eyes, has made me remember why I fell in love with it so many years ago when I first came backpacking up the coast as a teenager. Even though it rained day and night during her first week here in paradise, my friend made everything about this place seem magical. She was just so delighted to be here.
During the last few days while I have been sitting on my arse smoking cigarettes and watching TV, my friend has hired a car and driven up north through Coloundra and Noosa, camping overnight in caravan parks and sleeping in her car. Each photo she posts is more spectacular than the last and it makes me wonder why it has taken me five years of living up here to even contemplate organising a similar adventure of my own. Actually it makes me feel quite sad.
Life is short and I am tired of wasting mine sitting around waiting for something good to happen. Bad things happen to people everyday, all over the world but I have been blessed to live in a country as magnificent as this one, where we are safe from the perils of war and famine, where we all have more than we could ever need. What I need now is to get out there and experience the magic that this country has to offer, that my life has to offer and I cannot let anything hold me back.
Once upon a time, I was so smitten with this stretch of country that I made my children leave their friends and extended family to come with me on an adventure. It is high time I started giving them that adventure.
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