Utopia!
Over Easter, we (dominie70 & I, plus our 2 lovely passengers) made the 2,000 odd km trip up to rainbowfish7 & muchfree 's place in Queensland, camped out (first time ever for me), met many awesome people, shared in our friends' collaring ceremony, reconnected with ourselves & each other & generally had an amazing time!
Due to scheduling changes & communication issues, we ended up starting off to R & J's place (400kms from us) at around 10.30pm on Tuesday night. Arriving at 2.30am Wednesday we gratefully sank into the surprisingly comfortable bed already lovingly made up by J in her van; complete with extra blankets & tea & coffee making for the morning. Getting up to fabulous coffee, we left their place about 9ish & set off on the 1700km journey to Utopia.
Since we're totally broke at present, R & J provided gas & sustenance for the journey & dominie70 & I the car & driving. It was actually a lot easier than I expected to drive that far; he & I did roughly 3 hour stretches each & we stopped regularly for short breaks. So after traversing the dodgy NSW & Qld major roads system, where they're apparently big on 'floodway' signs but not maintenance or dual carriageway (incredible that they're still called carriageways...but I digress), we arrived at Utopia Environment Reserve at 2.30am on Thursday. After all that time, we realised that the only map we didn't pack were the final instructions from rainbowfish7 for getting to their place from the entrance! Fruitless wandering down various tracks ensued, followed by giving up & sleeping at the 'mailbox' for the night. The mailbox is actually a 3m across hexagonal building of stunning rustic beauty, so it's not quite as bizarre as it sounds. Waking at 7am the next day feeling very refreshed, the first thing I saw looking across the valley was of course, the house we'd been looking for! Helpful neighbours came across us shortly after & gave directions to rainbowfish7 & muchfree 's house & off we set.
Utopia is well named! If it wasn't for the life I'm carving out here (& perhaps the heat in summer) I'd be up there to stay in a shot! Lush gardens, huge trees which are amazingly only 35 years old as the whole place was once a bare dairy farm, buildings old & new, gorgeous handmade fences & gates...blissful & exquisite! We set up camp in a cosy corner with our tent & R & J's larger one & then had a fabulous breakfast prepared by rainbowfish7 while we worked. Sitting in the outdoor kitchen eating breakfast was one of the most relaxing things I've ever done. We also met some other people who were there by then, E & her partner J from Darwin & C who also lives on the property.
By dinnertime that evening more people had arrived & the lovely neighbours D & C who helped us find our way that morning also came over. We had a fantastic meal cooked in camp ovens in the outdoor fire & got to know some fascinating people. We went to bed early & when we awoke in the morning, even more people had arrived. Later that day a few of us; R &J, E & J , two backpackers from austria & the US & dominie70 & I, walked to the rockpools about half an hour away in the National Park adjacent to the reserve. What a breathtakingly beautiful place! Natural rockpools that are incredibly deep but clear all the way down, waterfalls between them, amazing rock formations & colours. Here are a few pictures, but they really don't capture the place's glory at all.
There's a place just in the cleft of rock in the last photo where I actually lay down for a long time & had the rushing water all around & over me; I'm not much for spirituality normally, but that was a very special experience for me.
Friday night was another lovely meal by the fire, much conversation with interesting people & people powered music from guitars & drumming. After eating I had a bath; outside, in a large cast iron bath heated by a fire underneath; blissful to look up at the sky, listen to music nearby & be in your own little world of bushes & hot water . I really want to set up one of these at home. I think there was also a small doof later on, but I'd toddled off to bed by then so I got to listen to the rhythms from a distance.
Saturday we had the pleasure & privilege of being in the small group of witnesses to R & J's collaring ceremony. muchfree had chosen a beautiful glade of rare white cedar trees for it to be held in & he led us all down there in the morning light. The ceremony was beautiful, heartfelt & very much an expression of the personalities involved. I feel very honoured to have been part of it. Below are photos of the cedar grove & the happy pair walking down to it; I have many more lovely photos but I don't want to be putting people's faces on the net without their permission.
Early on Saturday evening dominie70 & I had a relationship breakthrough; amazing that those can still occur after all this time & probably a good sign for the health of our relationship that they still can. It's incredible how patterns can be so ingrained that it takes a lightbulb moment of awareness to see them.
Saturday night was the major party, with awesome DJing, fabulous video accompaniment & lovely company. I wore the butterfly corset & bustle skirt as Kinkerbell, R & J dressed as the ghosts of fetish past & present & dominie70 was Ebeneezer Sleazer; there were some other costumes but disappointingly most people ignored the dress up request from rainbowfish7 ; you might be fabulous in your own right darlings, but it's much more fun if everyone gets into the spirit of the thing! We celebrated the gorgeous K's 21st birthday with her that night too, & some of us had a very enlightening workshop from the brave R. Being old & somewhat past all night parties, we went off to bed & missed much of the debauchery which ensued later on.
Sunday was taken up with driving home again, arriving at R & J's place at dawn, followed by a nap & then back to our place. I'm looking forward to much more camping & shenanigans with new & old friends; anyone want to shenanigan with me sometime?
Due to scheduling changes & communication issues, we ended up starting off to R & J's place (400kms from us) at around 10.30pm on Tuesday night. Arriving at 2.30am Wednesday we gratefully sank into the surprisingly comfortable bed already lovingly made up by J in her van; complete with extra blankets & tea & coffee making for the morning. Getting up to fabulous coffee, we left their place about 9ish & set off on the 1700km journey to Utopia.
Since we're totally broke at present, R & J provided gas & sustenance for the journey & dominie70 & I the car & driving. It was actually a lot easier than I expected to drive that far; he & I did roughly 3 hour stretches each & we stopped regularly for short breaks. So after traversing the dodgy NSW & Qld major roads system, where they're apparently big on 'floodway' signs but not maintenance or dual carriageway (incredible that they're still called carriageways...but I digress), we arrived at Utopia Environment Reserve at 2.30am on Thursday. After all that time, we realised that the only map we didn't pack were the final instructions from rainbowfish7 for getting to their place from the entrance! Fruitless wandering down various tracks ensued, followed by giving up & sleeping at the 'mailbox' for the night. The mailbox is actually a 3m across hexagonal building of stunning rustic beauty, so it's not quite as bizarre as it sounds. Waking at 7am the next day feeling very refreshed, the first thing I saw looking across the valley was of course, the house we'd been looking for! Helpful neighbours came across us shortly after & gave directions to rainbowfish7 & muchfree 's house & off we set.
Utopia is well named! If it wasn't for the life I'm carving out here (& perhaps the heat in summer) I'd be up there to stay in a shot! Lush gardens, huge trees which are amazingly only 35 years old as the whole place was once a bare dairy farm, buildings old & new, gorgeous handmade fences & gates...blissful & exquisite! We set up camp in a cosy corner with our tent & R & J's larger one & then had a fabulous breakfast prepared by rainbowfish7 while we worked. Sitting in the outdoor kitchen eating breakfast was one of the most relaxing things I've ever done. We also met some other people who were there by then, E & her partner J from Darwin & C who also lives on the property.
By dinnertime that evening more people had arrived & the lovely neighbours D & C who helped us find our way that morning also came over. We had a fantastic meal cooked in camp ovens in the outdoor fire & got to know some fascinating people. We went to bed early & when we awoke in the morning, even more people had arrived. Later that day a few of us; R &J, E & J , two backpackers from austria & the US & dominie70 & I, walked to the rockpools about half an hour away in the National Park adjacent to the reserve. What a breathtakingly beautiful place! Natural rockpools that are incredibly deep but clear all the way down, waterfalls between them, amazing rock formations & colours. Here are a few pictures, but they really don't capture the place's glory at all.
There's a place just in the cleft of rock in the last photo where I actually lay down for a long time & had the rushing water all around & over me; I'm not much for spirituality normally, but that was a very special experience for me.
Friday night was another lovely meal by the fire, much conversation with interesting people & people powered music from guitars & drumming. After eating I had a bath; outside, in a large cast iron bath heated by a fire underneath; blissful to look up at the sky, listen to music nearby & be in your own little world of bushes & hot water . I really want to set up one of these at home. I think there was also a small doof later on, but I'd toddled off to bed by then so I got to listen to the rhythms from a distance.
Saturday we had the pleasure & privilege of being in the small group of witnesses to R & J's collaring ceremony. muchfree had chosen a beautiful glade of rare white cedar trees for it to be held in & he led us all down there in the morning light. The ceremony was beautiful, heartfelt & very much an expression of the personalities involved. I feel very honoured to have been part of it. Below are photos of the cedar grove & the happy pair walking down to it; I have many more lovely photos but I don't want to be putting people's faces on the net without their permission.
Early on Saturday evening dominie70 & I had a relationship breakthrough; amazing that those can still occur after all this time & probably a good sign for the health of our relationship that they still can. It's incredible how patterns can be so ingrained that it takes a lightbulb moment of awareness to see them.
Saturday night was the major party, with awesome DJing, fabulous video accompaniment & lovely company. I wore the butterfly corset & bustle skirt as Kinkerbell, R & J dressed as the ghosts of fetish past & present & dominie70 was Ebeneezer Sleazer; there were some other costumes but disappointingly most people ignored the dress up request from rainbowfish7 ; you might be fabulous in your own right darlings, but it's much more fun if everyone gets into the spirit of the thing! We celebrated the gorgeous K's 21st birthday with her that night too, & some of us had a very enlightening workshop from the brave R. Being old & somewhat past all night parties, we went off to bed & missed much of the debauchery which ensued later on.
Sunday was taken up with driving home again, arriving at R & J's place at dawn, followed by a nap & then back to our place. I'm looking forward to much more camping & shenanigans with new & old friends; anyone want to shenanigan with me sometime?