time to check in ... long overdue

Teresa at Protestor's Falls (near Terania Creek, NSW - August 2007)

Hello my Dear Family & Friends,

So sorry it has taken me much longer to post another update. I've been waiting to do so until I have something more concrete to report on my next steps, but alas, it is taking longer to get these details sorted out ... so here is a little update from me now & a few pic's to fill in the overview I shared about my recently successful assessment course.

Given the state my "paws" have been in since our Expedition Training mid-March, and more significantly since April/May and even more significantly since August ... I am now able to be giving my feet a break from the long hikes with a backpack adding extra weight to distribute over my feet. My feet & hands are not as majorly tingly this week as they were the past few weeks & I have had a chance to get out to my Shiatsu massage therapist, my chiropractor, (once each of the past two weeks) ... and out to the swimming pool (4 times in the past 2 weeks this is expecially excellent since it is not so easy for me to get any decent exercise out walking ... or even cycling just yet :(

Resting my "paws" is exactly what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks & will continue to do until this tingly/numb toe thing finally clears up. Instead of going out on any of the more recently offered OBA courses, I have been diligently finishing up the last half dozen outstanding written assignments that I need to complete for my Certificate IV in Outdoor Recreation. Only 1 major assignment left for me to write up, which I intend to do by the end of September, along with a few outstanding practical sign-offs that should be fairly easy to take care of.

The details I am awaiting are pertaining to decisions by OBA on the timing they would like to proceed in moving forward on the proposal I gave them, to rejuvenate OBA field approach with some new facilitation processes such as The Work that Reconnects of Joanna Macy & Molly Young Brown which includes the deep ecology, systems thinking, and spiritual traditions that I have come to be quite familiar with since 2003. Another main body of work I would like to introduce more completely to OBA is that of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) ... I'll post a new note once I know more hopefully later this week ...

As much as I would like to share pic's from my assessment course with Tom, I haven't been successful in downloading this last batch of pic's yet, so that will need to wait until I sort that out. In the meantime, I realize I haven't shared any pic's or many stories from my great time off in the Terania Creek area of northern New South Wales.

So, I will share some of the higlights of this 3 week break with you now ... I will also endeavour to share more than just a few pic's with you throug my BLOG by way of posting them to my new Facebook site ... you can search me out through the "badge" I have added to this blog.

Highlights of my 3 week break go like this:

* similarly, reconnecting with Nan, Hugh, & Teri Nicholson, the friends I made from Terania Creek when I was volunteering at the Womyn, Earth, & Change conference 2 years ago

Nan & Hugh Nicholson in their splendid, sustainable "home sweet home"

* staying out at Nan & Hugh's farm near Night Cap National Park with their chooks (chickens) running across the open grass as I sat every day out on the verandah (of their first house just near their second, somewhat larger but still very modest sized house, where I had the house to myself) ... eating breakfast, working on assignments, & reading ... listening to all the lovely bird songs, watching birds, chooks, & Amber the Australian cattle dog, and just immersing myself in this most peacefully delightful, beauty-fillled place :)

"chicken run" ... chook running across the grass

* visiting with Nan & Hugh (& Nan's mother Erma) and enjoying the stimulating, entertaining, and thought-provoking conversations we had over lunch & dinner ... as we enjoyed fresh veggies, fruits (heaps of bananas & oranges, plust many others), macadamian nuts, pecans, & eggs from their gardens, orchards, and chooks

* showering and HAVING BATHS in the outdoor tub ... what a TREAT!!!

relaxing under the clear, star-filled skies was a most delightful treat at Terania Creek :)

view from "the loo" (outdoor composting toilet) ... of the banana trees in the garden

Nicholson Farm at Terania Ceek

blue skies, lush rainforest terrain, and the tranquility of Nan & Hugh's farm


rainforest solitude of Terania Creek

It was lovely to hear the cows calling out from the section of the farm on the other side of Erma's home
cute little chocolate coloured "calfer"

Nan's delightful Brahma bull

Since I had offered to make myself useful to my Seed Mate Bobbi, she aranged for me to help her good friend Anne with some of the final sorting and cleaning up of things as she prepared to move from The Channon to Melbourne ...

"tea time" with Bobbi & Anne

* reconnecting with my Seed Mate Bobbi (& her partner John) in The Channon, the little town where they live in northern NSW

After spending 3 nights with Nan & Hugh, I hopped over to Bobbi & John's & spent 3 nights with them in The Channon ... on the second day of our visit, I joined Bobbi for a trip out to Byron Bay to pick up her grandchildren ... it was great to finally make it out to this amazingly beauty-full coastal area of Oz again ... & to have access IN & OUT without getting caught up in the tourist side of things!

Bobbi's grandchildren playing in the tide at Byron Bay

Bobbi & her granddaughter looking for whales off the shore of Byron Bay

lone goat still living on the cliffside by the Byron Bay lighthouse

Teresa at the most easterly point in Australia along the shore of Byron Bay ... I waved to everyone back in North America when I was here ;)

It's time I finally post this update ... I'll post pt. 2 of my splendid adventures during my time off in northern NSW much sooner than it took me to finally post this one ... stay tuned ;)

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa