Take your shoes off

My son Ben and I followed our guide Tim up a narrow path through the Australian bush of Bouddi National Park. Our vision was hemmed in by the trees and vegetation that reached far above our heads and grabbed at our ankles. As we emerged into a clearing and stepped foot on a sandstone rock cliff, a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and the Central Coast appeared. 

 

Tim intoned an aboriginal greeting and introduced us to Mother Ocean, explaining that Aboriginal people like him believe that all life emerged from the sea. 

 

As he pointed out a wallaby petroglyph pecked into a nearby rock, he looked at my Hoku covered feet and said, “Take your shoes off, Sue.”

 

Tim is a barefoot tour guide and, although I didn’t take my shoes off (foot injury coupled with a healthy respect for the poisonous Brown Snake), I knew his statement was an invitation to take the journey with him – to connect my soul, and not necessarily my sole, to the land.

 

Over the next two hours of our journey through the park, Ben and I learned about the political and social challenges facing the Aboriginal population as we hiked through sarsaparilla vines and Sydney red gum trees, studied petroglyphs at several historical Aboriginal sites, and experienced a ritual cleansing ceremony. 

 

We learned that Aboriginal culture is based on an inverted pyramid system where everyone helps the youngest and the least, rather than one where everyone works for a leader. This system stresses the importance of helping one another and of the connection of the body and soul to the earth. 

 

Tim explained that the vegetation, rocks, and stars – and all the earth, living and inanimate – are Aboriginal ancestors and that everyone is responsible for one another and for the land.

 

This tour was a great introduction to Aboriginal culture and history. More importantly, it reminded us that both spiritual journeys and physical journeys are enhanced when you open your soul to the experience. 

 

Take your shoes off.

 

“Dispatches” explores observations, thoughts, places, and learning experiences from life’s journeys. It aims to be wise, sometimes whimsical, oftentimes nostalgic, always authentic. Suzanne Detar is the publisher of The Daniel Island News and shares the journey and dispatches byline with her husband, Tom Werner. Tom missed this adventure due to illness.