Wrapping Up My Time In The Northern Rivers
On my way back from a work trip to Queensland, I was scrolling on instagram and saw a pregnancy massage training was on the following weekend, what PERFECT timing! I had wanted to do the last training but the dates clashed with my womb Massage training. I quickly booked my place and was feeling really excited to have all the timing align.
In the 2 weeks left in the Northern Rivers, I had a small list of things I needed to do on my van:
Get a tyre rotation - fun fact, if you get 4 new tyres from MyCar you get a free tyre rotation every 10,000km!
Install my solar panel to the roof - a task I have been putting off since I first bought my van, I had so much resistance to drilling holes in the roof due to a fear of water leaks. It all got done with the help of my aunty and so far so good, no leaks!
I had 4 massage clients to wrap up my time in the area, and honestly, I attract the best massage clients! Feeling very grateful for this area pulling me into this work. I was qualified in Lomi Lomi Massage back in 2023 but only started regularly doing it this year when I came to the Northern Rivers.
Pregnancy Massage training rolled around the following weekend and we were in the hall on a gorgeous community in Tyagarah, near Byron Bay. My favourite thing about this style of massage training is that it is so feminine and flowy, not a structured intense learning type situation. The training was held by Tina from School for the Rising Healers. We sat in circle, discussed the stages of pregnancy, dispelled fears around massaging in the first trimester, heard from mums in the group about their pregnancy experiences and then we moved into learning the techniques. The following day we had 5 pregnant women come to receive massage from us and it felt like such a scared experience being in a room with a group of glowing pregnant women all in different stages of their journey. This style of massage feels really natural to me, just an extension of Lomi Lomi really. I enjoyed dropping into deeper trust of the intuitive flow my body wants to do. It was great to learn some new techniques from Tina on how to massage the face, neck and shoulders. I absolutely love expanding my bodywork practice.
With the massage training complete I headed up Uki ways. This is my favourite area of this region, Mt Wollumbin has such a strong pull on me. The only way I can describe how I felt when I first saw the mountain is it feeling like a long lost friend. It felt very synchronistic to be ending my time in the Northern Rivers at the base of this mountain as this is where I really began my time here back in December last year when I was housesitting at Smiths Creek on a beautiful peace of land - maybe I need to write another blog post on the magic of that time.
Anyways, I was up here for a 4 day Indigenous Culture Camp held by The Returning. It was the most perfect summers day on my drive up to the beautiful Midginbil Eco Resort, which was on the edge of Nightcap National Park. I arrived on Country and was greeted by Ella Bancroft, the founder of The Returning, I found my way to the perfect camp spot by the river and settled in. I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous, I’m kinda a lone wolf so sometimes social gatherings for me can be a little uncomfortable, especially when I don’t know anyone but I just sat with that feeling and decided to trust the process.
The clapsticks were the calling bell at this camp so when they went off it was our que to gather. We began with a smoke ceremony which entailed walking through 2 women shaking wet ecualyptus leaves, we then had red ochre applied wrists. We were invited to walk around the fire, to be cleansed its smoke while we calling in our ancestors for protection whilst here on Country. This led into a share circle where we introduced ourselves, stating our name, our lineage and the Country we are from or that we reside on. I found this a very powerful practice to honour all the threads of our lineages to invite in unity amongst us.
Over the next days we were well looked after, being fed breakfast, lunch & dinner by the amazing volunteers. We would all gather in the shed, hold hands in a circle and share a prayer together before our meals were served. At this camp the elders ate first, then woman, then children, then men and I really liked this order and even though it was my first experience of it, it felt right to me. It was really nice to feel looked after, to be out here on Country with no phone signal as my bleed started on the first day, aligned timing from my body to also be closing out a cycle as I was. I spent lots of time just laying down in my van, going between several books I have on the go:
The Dreaming Path - Indigenous Thinking To Change Your Life by Paul Callaghan, a GREAT book about Aboriginal Spirituality & culture
Sacred Medicine of Bee, Butterfly, Earthworm and Spider By Linda Star Wolf
On my Kindle I also read the samples for Braiding Sweetgrass, Kindling The Native Spirit & The Crossing, with no signal I couldn’t download the full books but I was eager to.
Every morning started with some kind of movement practice: Indigenous yoga was on the Tuesday morning, we learn the Indigenous names for various Australian animals and correlated these to traditional yoga poses, it was such a playful practice and it was so nice to stretch out under the gumtrees. Wednesday morning we did dance with Waangenga blanco, which was SO fun, his energy was unreal, he was so embodied in his movement and it was such a vibe seeing everyone, of all ages getting into it - such inner child healing right there. Thursday morning was Wayapa Wuurrk which was kind of an infusion of a storytelling medicine wheel with some movement, honouring 14 elements of creation
Every afternoon there was a workshop: Weaving, screen printing & fire making. I was excited for the weaving and it’s actually so much harder than I thought it was going to be! or maybe I just don’t have the patience for it. Camille was a gem and she really got mine going and I made a rouge necklace type thing which is now hanging as a decoration in my van. Throughout the whole camp most woman were holding their weaving creations in hand at all times. These creations are not only physically woven threads, they also hold within them the conversations that were had at the time they were being made. I was so impressed by Camilles creations - small multicoloured baskets created in such a unique way.
Some of my favourite moments of camp were the yarns. Fire side yarns Uncle Mark. He shared about his travels of Country, which was making me even more excited for my travels. He also shared with me a little bit about his life journey, just be with Country, slow down to hear the messages was a key take away and something that already deeply resonates with my soul. Yarns after our fire making workshop (who’s I can’t remember his name unfortunately) also lit me up as he was more of a fuck the system - there is a sinister entity controlling the elite/hollywood/mining giants, learn the law and the lore type man and if you know me, you know thats my language. Seriously, I love an out of the box authentic conversation where someone is just speaking completely unfiltered. An Aries love language. I think some people in the group were like what the fuck?? but I was like yessss!!!!
This camp was with in collaboration with Plan C, a Northern Rivers disaster resilience and regeneration organisation which was created after the 2022 floods. John held a couple of workshops where we went into conversations about how we can be prepared for natural disasters as individuals and as a community, how to even create community and the challenges that come with it in our modern Australian society. We learnt about different communication forms for when we can’t rely on mobile phones - in groups we unpacked the different options - satellite phones, radios, message sticks, telepathy (lol our group) and reading Country just to name a few. We had a play around with UHF radios which was fun and honestly low key scary when its your turn to talk, having to break into a strange lingo, copy that. I think I’m going to get one for my travels, just as a backup option. I learnt what to do if you get caught trying to flee a fire in your car or in my case if I get caught up in a fire at a national park or something in my van - very empowering information really. I learnt that embers can travel up to 40km and start a whole new fire somewhere else which is wild…. also why aren’t we taught this stuff at school?! These workshops lead to me into a conversation with my mum (post camp) about what their plans are if fires come this summer since they live in quite a dry area, conversations a lot of us should be having if we live in Australia.
The final night finished with a woodfire pizza night and they catered for us vegans with literally the yummiest vegan pesto pizza - so good! We had a closing circle and the night closed out with a talent show. This healed something so deep within my inner child. I forgot to mention this camp was full of families mostly, so lots of kids. At first I was kinda unsure about if it would ruin my experience (just being honest) but it was actually so refreshing to see kids being kids. No screens in sight, no parents screaming at their children, just kids of all ages playing together for days on end, it was giving 90’s vibes.
Getting back to the talent show - all these kids (and some adults) got up to perform something whether it was a dance, a joke, a song & everyone just cheered and went ballistic celebrating their performance they finished. It was so healing to see kids being fully celebrated, I don’t know about you but when I was growing up I was laughed at on multiple occasions when I was expressing myself creatively, whether it was doing a dance or singing, they are the 2 major ones. This is something I’ve come to learn has absolutely affected my creative expression and my ability to be seen over my entire life - something I’m continuing to work through and rewire to this day. Witnessing this supportive talent show, validated how fucked my experience had been as a child on several occasions while simultaneously healed a part of me while I celebrated and cheered for those that had the courage to get up there.
So, yes! What a beautiful way to wrap up my time in this part of Australia. Leaving a place on such a high is quite foreign to me, my old patterning is to burn bridges and claim I’ll never return lol (unhealed Aries things). I’m sure I will return at some point but for now the call of Country is strong.
Links:
For massage trainings with Tina: www.schoolfortherisinghealer.com
Learn more about The Returning & their future camps : www.thereturning.com.au
Learn more about Plan C: www.planc.org.au