The Next Stage

I'm sitting at my new desk - the table of my motor home whom I've called Lucinda.
I'm watching cockatoo and crow fossick through the un-mown grass searching for any food droppings from other campers.
Much loved crystals glisten in the sun beside me.

No coffee at the Red Door today.  Instead a plunger brew of Gloria Jean's and two spoons of an exotically spiced sugar, made by a friend, to chai it along.

I haven't been able to write until now.  I needed to get back in touch with the earth, her energy and that sense of oneness which somehow evades me in city and town life - even in a village as beautiful as Leura.

From my last blog until I moved out of the house I was renting, life was frantic. Packing up a household and moving it into storage is never easy.  Cleaning, clearing and organising is stressful and exhausting.

Then getting photographic gear to Adrian in Vietnam after his camera was stolen, and solving internet communication problems in China only added to the pressure.

Finally there were the farewells with friends ... one possibly forever.

Yes a frantic and turbulent period.  As I drove off in my new 'snail' home for a test run - a one week trip to Sydney and Camden, I heaved a sigh of relief.

In Sydney I saw two people who may assist with promotional ventures for Downloading Spirit later in the year.  After this I briefly returned to Blackheath before leaving for Dubbo to see my horse Orlando.

Orlando is from an earlier time in my life; my time as a farmer and horse breeder. He's a beautiful straight Egyptian stallion I imported from Germany.  About six months ago he had an accident and severed the extensor tendon in his left leg. This was then complicated by a stress founder in his right hoof, his pedal bone rotating through the sole of his foot.  Both conditions are life threatening, but together ... ?

It's been a long haul.  He's not completely out of the woods yet ... the healing and recovery will take another 8-12 months, but he will make it barring any further complications.

I wanted to be near him again.  No, I needed to be near him again.

I also want to see parts of Australia I've never seen, and see where I'd like to live and buy my next home.  Possibly a few acres where I can be with Orlando and my dogs, in touch with the earth again.  Lucinda, my motor home was the ideal solution.

So here I am, parked at Terramagamine Reserve, just out of Dubbo, on the Macquarie River,
only a few kilometres up the road from Orlando.  I'm looking out onto the Macquarie River whose banks are lined with majestic gums and Silky Oaks.










I slip easily into that numinous space of oneness, wrapped in the warmth of the sun and rainbow crystal light dancing around me.

I'm looking at ways of promoting Downloading Spirit here in Dubbo.  Promoting a book is not an easy thing.  It's another lesson in life that re-enforces the reality that nothing is simple or easy.  You always have to go through an immense learning curve.

To keep Downloading Spirit and my travels as separate (though linked) parts of my life, I've started a travel blog called Raven's Road.

My next Downloading Spirit entries will give excerpts from the book, which may lead to comments and discussion.  It's now in print and available to purchase.  It can be ordered through bookstores and is available on line or through either of my websites.

Producing it has taken seven years of my life - time now for the next stage, to promote and sell it, and complete the writing of Book Two, Downloading Spirit, Gaia and Galactica.