Selectively Juggling

The irrepressible dreamer within is obsessed not just with travel but also with the mere thought of travel. This includes planning all the intricate and obscure details whilst still allowing for the wonder of spontaneity. I am lucky to have travelled the depth and breadth of my country, Australia. I’ve travelled deep into the outback with its vast, starstudded desert skies. I’ve sat under ancient river gums (trees) that were alive with the screeching of Red/Yellow Black Cockatoos. Enthralled by the dancing flames of the campfire as ancient river water snaked its way through the timeless landscape. The nightscapes are second to none, resembling a sky of black velvet awash with a billion sparkling diamonds. I crossed the Nuilabor. Spent time in the tropics, the beaches, mountains, rivers and cities. I visited ancient deserts with timeless sandstone escarpments. I’ve marvelled at the incredible beauty around me time and time again.
I’ve travelled to many other countries. I’ve skied in the Alps, dinning on paella and mojitos in Spain. I’ve sipped champagne in Paris and cried at the Ballet in Amsterdam. I’ve stood speechless at seeing African animals running wild in the Big Karoo. I’ve enjoyed (okay, not liked) a Guinness in Ireland. I’ve visited Viking ruins in Sweden and built Lego in Denmark. I enjoyed Iceland’s stunning, otherworldly atmosphere, and it lives up to its moniker as ‘the land of fire and ice’.
I’ve clung on for dear life, half laughing, half crying as the 4WD haphazardly charged its way through the Bedouin desert in Dubai. I’ve honeymooned on a private island in Fiji. That in itself is a whole other story. I’ve travelled to many other countries and experienced phenomenal sights, tastes and sounds. I met remarkable people from all over the globe. Yet still, one heart-felt desire has thus far alluded me. That is the indescribable Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. I travelled to Iceland, hoping to stand in awe as the lights danced across the night sky. Suffice it to say they did not show themselves. I encountered freakishly bad weather that, in a way, helped contribute to a very memorable trip.

Covid sort of stuffed up my travel plans. As I had envisaged travelling to the Arctic Circle two years ago. However, that didn’t happen, and instead, I’ve been saving and planning for my most fantastic adventure yet. I also believe that Putin’s play for Ukraine and the resulting war also affected my desire to be heading to a part of the world that is geographically so close to the war crisis and chaos. I might be a dreamer, but it’s underpinned with a healthy dose of pragmatism.

So my obsession with the Arctic Circle has led me to have Finnish Lapland, and Northern Norway, squarely in my sights. I plan to stay in a glass-domed igloo where I can lay in bed and marvel at the dancing lights. I intend to go on incredible adventures deep into the Arctic winter wilderness. I long to be deeply immersed in the cold frigid weather, the deep snow, and the incredible ambience, all the while knowing that it will be mid-summer and boiling at home in Australia. I desire to feel insignificant compared to the enormity of the surrounding nature. I plan to hire a remote and rustic log cabin with a sauna and ice pool, where we can do the quick nude run on the ice and then jump into the sauna and spa. I will travel with my sisters, as we all deserve the time away. We plan to explore, laugh and immerse ourselves in the culture. I can’t express how connected I feel to the Arctic Circle. There is something that calls to me as though it is part of my DNA.

We will also travel to the magnificent Faroe Islands, where we plan to stand atop the cliffs and stare far out into the swirling waters below. Since photography is essential to my identity, I plan to update my camera in time for our trip, as it will play such an important role. My camera enables me to see the world around me much more intimately. It is like a conduit that enables me to feel, see, perceive and process time, life, events, and experiences differently. It is hard to describe to someone who doesn’t get photography, but photography is a process, an experience, even a state of being. Photography can be literal and figurative; it speaks metaphorically and can capture incredible candid truths. Even the mere sensation of holding the camera, contorting my body, and controlling my breathing as I capture macro shots feels purposeful. It truly is my flow state. Time as I know it ceases to exist, and I am swept up in one elongated moment, in an extended breath of creativity, and of being. I feel at home in my body, spirit and mind.

So I can only imagine how I will feel standing beneath the Auroras, breathing in the freezing temperatures, the pure sense of awe and uninhibited joy. My hands and mind will slip into auto-pilot as they dance with the camera. The camera’s lens and my mind’s eye will merge, hoping to capture the unfolding composition before me. My mind’s eye capturing the moment in my visual memory, just as the camera captures it on the card.

It is in moments like these I feel like the most privileged person on the face of the earth. This is when I feel life’s energy course through my veins, awakening my spirit and fanning my internal creative flame. I feel the merging of my physical, emotional, spiritual and mental states. While at the same time connecting to the abundance of nature around me. I feel both grounded and untethered. For a person like myself who sees things visually, in images and metaphors, holding a camera is like speaking my purest form of language. It requires no transition, just experiencing and being. Hence, one can understand that so long as I have my camera bag, I am packed. I long to travel, experience, taste and feel. I prefer the quirky, off-the-beaten-track type of experiences. I’m not into the flashy, commercialised, pretentious aspects of travel. My next travel destination calls to me; as if there is an elastic band attached to my soul. It’s just a matter of organising my husband and kids, so they can survive without me for a short while. This sounds a little narcissistic however, I assure you it isn’t. As I have kids with special needs and medical issues that need to be planned for. Last year my husband got to go back home to the Netherlands for 4-weeks, spending time with his parents and brother. So I think it is definitely fair that I get the same opportunity. I have waited my whole life to see the Northern Lights. My Inner Child is desperate to stand and marvel at their splendour. My Inner Child got me to adulthood, so I owe her that. She’s a warrior, a wanderlust warrior with an irrepressible twinkle in her eye.