frost in mid- July ... who could imagine such a thing?

frosty morning for Tess & Taz's Papa's who slept out under the stars ... & the morning FROST!

Greetings my dear family & friends!

It's been awhile since I've been able to hop into cyberspace to let you all know what I have been up to ...

As I mentioned on my last posting, my ASSIST with Taz went extremely well. It was a great feeling to be able to connect with the participants as I did. They were a keen, mature group of teenagers from the U.S. who have come down to OZ for about 7 weeks with the big kick-off being their 9 days Outward Bound with Tess & Taz. Their "teacher"/chaperone, Sandi, who was with our group was also great to have with us. She shared stories of the activists doing tree sits up in Humboldt County in northern California where she currently lives and our group travelled quite well through the circuit that we did for their OB program.


abseil briefing by Tess (Teresa)

hoisting Tess up "Tinkerbell" the 27 meter tall Abseil Tree

Tess near the top of "Tinkerbell" ... preparing to abseil down, Yeehaa!

As you saw in my last posting, we also had the splendid fortune to enjoy a stunning sunset over Bells Bay the night before we went rafting.


Rafting our way along the Toonumbar Dam reservoir ...

One of the most excellent rainforest plants we saw along the way was the Staghorn, which is an epiphytic plant (grows on rocks or on trees without having a negative impact on them) ...

large staghorn growing on the underside of this big boulder

many staghorns hanging on & enjoying their shelf-like homes on the sides of the big trees

Part of the OB circuit includes this section of rainforest, we had our AFS participants doing their "Buddy Walk" at this time.

sunbeams lighting up the rainforest

rainforest splendour

So the participants were walking in pairs, getting to know someone else in their group that they didn't know very well (or at all) before coming to the OB course. They were to explore the following questions ... the impact of their OB experience that they felt would carry forward with them in 6 months, 1 year, perhaps even 2-3 years or longer; happiest & saddest moments of their lives, 2-3 values they have. I was at the front of our pack with Sandi, who was my buddy for the Buddy Walk, Taz held up the rear and enjoyed a solo walk through the splendid rainforest.

flowing water fun with my camera

Our "Papas" opted to sleep under the stars, without bivvies overhead ... the result, over this very cold night, was the lovely formation of frost that covered all sleeping bags, backpacks, and anything else that was not under cover ... Taz, Sandi, & I were protected from the frost by our bivvy, that we cleverly chose to put up :)



frosty morning at our expedition campsite near Iron Pot Creek

All in all, it was great to get out with this group of young adults from all corners of the US and to introduce them to some of the amazing landscapes and spaces that the Land of Oz has to offer. They came together very well as a group and connected with each other and themselves in a variety of ways that will help carry themselves through the rest of their adventures and service activities here in Australia and when they return back home to the U.S. Thanks heaps to all the AFS gang, it was great to get out & about with you near Toonumbar National Park :)

~~~

In the couple of days off that I had between my ASSIST with Taz & my ASSESSMENT course, I had the chance to go to the podiatrist in Lismore, who then set me up to see his colleague in Ballina (a town 30 minutes closer to the coast) so that I could get fitted for some orthotics. Just yesterday, I was finally able to pick up my new orthotics and will slowly start using them (an hour or so each day, increasing the time I wear them as the days go by).

Sending big hugs & a huge WELCOME HOME to my traveling, multi-lingual sister Nadia. How awesome that you were able to spend this past term over in Deutschland and to do the studying & traveling you did over there!!

To my twin nieces Roo & Boo, although I couldn't talk to you directly for your birthday while I was in Ballina, it was fun singing "Happy Birthday" to you on the answering machine. How fun that you were up in the Canadian Rockies when you celebrated turning 6 with Dad, Cecilia, A. Evelyn, U. Jerrold, and Schmookie Loo & Mommy & Daddy too!! Sorry I missed your visit to Canada ... I look forward to seeing you on your next visit once I return from the Land of Oz.

Trudy, I hope that you received my special delivery birthday card and that you had a most splendid time celebrating your special day as well ... same day as my twin nieces :) Did you get out for a wonder-full hike or other groovy outdoor adventure??

Margaret, I imagine you were in the thick of winding things down with your work in Colorado & preparing for your big move to D.C. when your birthday arrived. I hope that you were able to take some time to treat yourself to something special and that Jesse took you out for a little time outside to get some fresh air & take some time to stop & smell the roses.

I also have birthday wishes to send out to my cousins Kathy & Michelle, all the best to you in the coming year. I am sure A, A, J, & J & the rest of the Sheptak gang helped make your day extra special Kathy and perhaps Michelle, you had some fun out near the ocean in CA for yours or did you head up to Canada for a family visit??

There's a few more birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions that I am afraid I am not around to help celebrate ... To all of you, I send my best wishes for another great year and many wonder-filled moments with family & friends, including all your 4-legged friends too!

Ollie, it's very excellent to get your e-mail updates and encouragement as I have been moving through this OBA internship. Your support is much appreciated! So glad you received my latest cards and that you have been able to share my greetings to the rest of our DOE friends across the country. Thanks heaps :)

It would be great to hear how things are going for Shelley & your lovely "Bubby Bunch", also, M-F, what news have you to send my way. Cheryl, thanks for your recent note, it was great to hear from you & that you were preparing to go to the Summer Festival. I look forward to hearing about your Dharma adventures in the UK and more on how you, Gleb, & Aidan are settling in to life in Palo Alto.

I still have an update to share with you about my last course, which was my ASSESS with one of the international OBA guys from the Czech Republic. I will post that in a new note ...

But before I sign off from this posting, I wanted to let you all know that I will have a chance to be plugged in a little more often for the next few weeks because my big RDO BREAK has finally arrived, YIPPEE!!!

Soooo, I am now off until I return to Tharwa (where our National base is located SW of Canberra) for August 23rd. In the time between now & then, I will be getting myself organized to shuffle on from our mobile base here near Kyogle & Toonumbar National Park.

1st on my calendar will be spending time with Nan & Hugh Nicholson, some wonderfull folks whom I met during my time in northern New South Wales 2 years ago, when I was volunteering at the Womyn, Earth, & Change conference. They have extended a welcome to me that includes an opportunity to WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) for them (help with their organic gardening activities) while they work on finishing a few big updates on a couple of their Rainforests of Australia books that are no longer in print. I'll also have a chance to rest & work on finishing up some of my Cert. IV assignments.

I am also looking forward to reconnecting with one of my Seed Mates, Bobbi, and her partner John, who are also out in the Terania Creek area near Nan & Hugh, in a town called The Channon. Nan & Hugh live among large tracts of splendid Rainforest which were protected back in the late 70's by their very own activist efforts (those of Nan, Hugh, Bobbi & John, & their kids) plus those of many, many other concerned folks. Nightcap National Park was formed after the peaceful protesting that went on for over a month was successful in changing the minds of the politicians at the state & I believe federal levels to ensure that environmental impact assessments that the government stated in its policies were required before logging of such diveres areas could occur ... the EIA's then revealed how important the rainforest diversity in this area was, especially given the quickly shrinking areas of rainforest in Australia because of the intense logging pressures ... & the government decided to protect this area which then led to numerous other areas in NSW & I believe elsewhere in Australia to be protected as National Parks & other protected areas.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

Ruth Rosenhek & John Seed (directors of the Rainforest Information Centre & colleagues of Joanna Macy) are up in this area as well & it will be great to meet up with them sometime soon.

After spending time up in the Terania Creek area, ... resting, catching up on a bunch of my assignments, reconnecting with these splendid folks I know from my previous trip to Oz, & perhaps spotting a platypus or two in Nan & Hugh's pond, ... I will head down to Sydney (on the ~12 hour train ride) to reconnect with my Sydney Seed Mates & hopefully even Claire in Newie on the way down ... plus Fumi, John, & Julia and some of the Dharma folks in the Harbour Bridge city ... then the fun of reconnecting with my Canadian mates Jilly Peanut & her son Ethan as they wind down their month of adventures Down Unda.

As it turns out, our ROMEO internship graduation day will be August 28th, ... there may likely be preliminary celebrations taking place on the Sunday, August 26th as well. Sooooo, if any of you lovely beings have occasion to be in the Canberra area around that week-end, or want to connect with me via, any of the vast media options available to us, please do so, it would be lovely to hear from you & share this milestone occasion with you :) WOWEE, not long now until this internship really winds itself down ... I just need to knuckle down to complete a few major assignments ... planning & coordinating an expedition (I am doing my in Wilson's Promontory National Park in the southern tip of the state of Victoria, a very beauty-full space!), emerging technologies (I am working on introducing the Work that Reconnect and Non-Violent Communication into OBA's programming ... stay tuned, I will share my paper once I have written it up & handed it in), and a number of smaller assignments that fulfill our Cert. IV requirements.

Lots to do over the next couple of weeks, as well as a bunch of eagerly anticipated time off to rest my paws ...

Know that I am wishing you well wherever you are, ... amid the high temp's hitting Alberta and the busy schedules that are filling your lives with new adventures and challenges in the journeys of your lives. Please take a moment or ten of them, to visit some of the places that you enjoy or that you know I am fond of, ... take some deep breaths and soak up the beauty, peace, stillness, joy, abundance, and whatever other wonderments abound in the special spaces you seek out.

Be well my dear family & friends,

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa