Today we are honoured with a visit from author Kate Belle who lives, writes and loves in Melbourne, Australia. She juggles her
strange, secret affairs with her male characters with her much loved partner
and daughter, and a menagerie of neurotic pets. She holds a tertiary
qualification in chemistry, half a diploma in naturopathy and a diploma in
psychological astrology. Kate believes in living a passionate life and has
ridden a camel through the Australian desert, fraternised with hippies in
Nimbin, had a near birth experience and lived on nothing but porridge and a
carrot for 3 days.
Blog/website: http://www.ecstasyfiles.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/katebelle.x
Twitter: @ecstasyfiles https://twitter.com/ecstasyfiles
‘No story really ends, it only
links the past and the future.’
At 22 years of age I ran away. I packed a tent, a small pot,
a wooden spoon, a bowl, plate and cup, sleeping bag, a guitar I could barely
play, and boarded a bus to Byron Bay. In my head I pretended I was free, but
all my confusion, aimlessness and a whole swag of unfinished business came with
me. I left behind a job, broken hearts, damaged friendships, and the
restrictive expectations of my parents to go and ‘find myself’.
These days it’s called a ‘gap year’. And it was probably one
of the best years of my life.
I have always been a diary writer and I filled five or six
of them in this year (1988) of travelling to nowhere with no one. There was
time back then, to experience, learn, relate, and write. Looking back over
these self-indulgent tomes I discovered my travels were about more than soul
searching. They were about discovery – of diversity, generosity, and divine
coincidence.
‘Sometimes it’s nice to have someone else take care of you.’ – waitress,
The Beach Cafe, Byron Bay.
I arrived at a Byron Bay vastly
different to the busy tourist centre it is today. Byron in 1988 was quiet and
beautiful. The famous fondue restaurant was still there and people took the
time to wave and say hello as you walked by.
My diaries offer back memories long forgotten. Everywhere I
went, strangers offered me favours. Apparently Barry and Donna, from the Danish
ice-cream shop, gave me a lift to the Bangalow markets, and Jack – a man I
describe as ‘a surfie, come smoker, come would-be-racing-car-driver who has a
heart of gold and head full of sawdust’ – sets up camp next door to me,
alleviating the solitary days of my first week there.
‘I’m not sure I’m here because I want to be, or because I have nowhere
else to go.’
I meet Jacob on the beach. It’s the day the tall ships of
Australian’s bi-centenary celebrations are due to stop at Byron Bay and the
place is overrun by families, tourists and protesters. Jacob is very hairy and
a bit older than me. A German hippy, he has no real job or home, just a trail
of life experiences and people he communes with.
Mt. Warning. Photo by Pouts31 |
At the time I was immersed in books about spirituality and
Jacob and I strike up a friendship. We talked a long time on the beach while
kids played around us and the hippy community the area was so famous for sat on
wide rugs under trees with hand written protest signs. Our conversation turned
to spiritual places and Mount Warning,
nearby, was one of them.
Mount Warning is the Australian name for Wollumbin, a
mountain with a rocky peak at its crest and a flat space at the top where the
local Aboriginal Bundjalung people
conducted sacred initiation rites and ceremonies. Because of its height and
location, Wollumbin is the first place on the Australian mainland to see the
rising sun.
At the time, Jacob and I understood the mountain was a
sacred place, but were ignorant of its significance to Aboriginal people. We
didn’t realise that climbing it is forbidden to anyone other than the fully
initiated. We decided to stay that night on the mountain to witness the morning
sunrise. We collected sleeping bags, food, and warm clothes and set off in
Jacob’s van.
We began our climb late in the day. The sun was setting and
soon we were climbing in moonlight. The last part of the ascent was up a sheer rock
face with only a chain for assistance. In the dark it felt close to vertical. The
folly of our undertaking never entered my head.
‘Freedom comes from within, not the world around us.’ – Max
We found a sheltered spot under some shrubbery out of the wind
and settled down on the hard ground for the night, gnawing on raw carrots,
apples and hard pumpernickel bread for dinner. I woke to the sound of Jacob
whispering my name ‘Katie! Katie, it’s nearly sunrise.’ We crawled out of our
sleeping bags and scrambled up to the flat surface at the top of the mountain.
Others, who had begun their trek in the early hours of the
morning, emerged from the track to join us. People searching for enlightenment,
people ticking boxes, people conquering fears and mountains. A magnificent view
lay below, the land a mass of dancing colour. Jacob and I smiled at each other
as the first golden rays of sun stretched over the horizon.
A small gathering of travelers stood in the quiet, listening
to the wind and the song of the rising sun. Each person on that mountaintop put
their arm around whomever they were with and hugged them, basking in the golden
light of sunrise. The mood was delicious.
As the sun rose higher we introduced ourselves and shared
our reasons for making this journey. There was something about being on that mountaintop
that made us want to connect. We formed a small circle and, joining hands,
breathed in the fresh energy of a newly begun day.
It was the 25th August 1988. Unbeknownst to me
this date would be a special one, as my daughter would be born on the same day
sixteen years hence.
Jacob and I remained friends for a while. Being of no fixed
address, he wasn’t the sort of person you kept in touch with. After we went our
separate ways he seemed to just reappear in my life when I needed him most,
until I became more settled and found a comfortable place within to live.
‘Divine love brings into my life the right people who can help and make
me happy, and whom I can help and make happy.’ – Jacob
The Yearning by Kate
Belle
Synopsis:
It’s 1978
in a country town and a dreamy fifteen year old girl’s world is turned upside
down by the arrival of the substitute English teacher. Solomon Andrews is beautiful, inspiring and she wants him
like nothing else she’s wanted in her short life.
Charismatic
and unconventional, Solomon easily wins the hearts and minds of his third form
English class. He notices the attention of one girl, his new neighbour, who has
taken to watching him from her upstairs window. He assumes it a harmless
teenage crush, until the erotic love notes begin to arrive.
Solomon knows he
must resist, but her sensual words stir him. He has longings of his own,
although they have nothing to do with love, or so he believes. One afternoon,
as he stands reading her latest offering in his driveway, she turns up
unannounced. And what happens next will torment them forever – in ways neither
can imagine.
Buy links:
Νіcе post. I learn ѕomethіng nеw and challengіng
ReplyDeleteon websiteѕ Ι stumbleupon еverydaу.
Ӏt's always useful to read through content from other authors and use a little something from other websites. click through the following internet site
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Blogs are a great way to discover the world without leaving your loungeroom.
DeleteWhat an experience to treasure. It makes me want to buy a tent and go to Nimbin :) Think I've probably missed that boat now!
ReplyDeleteLove the sound of your book too. Good luck with it!
Thanks Kez. 1988 was a great time to travel in Australia. Our population was a lot smaller, places were easy to get to and the world felt safer (probably because there was less of us). When they finally invent time travel I think Byron Bay 1988 will be a popular destination.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience, Kate. What an amazing trip it must have been and how lovely to revisit and bring back all those memories.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun (and horrifying - the SELF INDULGENCE!!!) to read over old diaries. Has inspired me to do a few more of these. x
DeleteThanks for sharing a little of the peace you found there, Kate. It sounds wonderful. High places draw me too; I guess that's why I live on the edge of a mountain!
ReplyDeleteCheers, Susanne
Lucky you living on the edge of a mountain Susanne! Wollumbin is certainly a very powerful place. I climbed it again many years later with a boyfriend and it was very different. The sacred space was much more protected and there are a lot of stairs etc to make it a safer climb. Well worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteKate, thanks for sharing your experiences of Byron Bay in 1988. I've lived in Byron now for nearly seven years. It's still a fabulous place but much, much busier than back then! I climbed Mt Warning not that long ago. Unfortunately its was cloudy, so no view, but still fabulous to trek up the mountain.
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer. You lucky thing! I've always wanted to live in Byron - it really is heaven on earth i think. I did get disappointed to see the amount of development and tourism that had beset it last time I visited. Still, I can't get past my love affair with it. There's something magical about it.
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Kate, thank you. It reminded me of that not-so-distant past when the world wasn't hustling and bustling so much, the low-tech technology (not even cell phones, if we can remember that far back...and definitely no Internet or emails) and no information overload to keep distracting us. It's hard to remember that time now. And boy, do I sound like an old-timer or what? :) Thanks again, and best wishes on the book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us Kate! It sounds like you got a lot out of that trip.
ReplyDelete