Since our new landlord said he would get some rennovations done on the cottage while we're away, we needed to pack everything up; not just what we were taking, but also to box all the rest of the stuff and get it out of the way.
Of course this meant that I decided to bring way more stuff than we needed, since we packed it anyway, and it seemed easier just to chuck it all in the car than decide what to take and what to leave.
We were just about ready to go when Littletree decided she had to eat some spaghetti. Of course, That was a fun clean-up, and just moments later I went to get the feather sleeping bag that was sunning outside when it snagged on a stick and ripped open, feathers EVERYWHERE.
No worries, I picked up the spaghetti and sewed up the sleeping bag, and without too much stress and very little fighting, we got into the car. One last moment of excitement; a bit old koala came down to the trees by the car to say goodbye.
The drive was long, and we stopped often so Littletree could stretch her legs. Arriving out to the site, we found that the exact site had been moved. Turns out the land we were on was the same land the rainbow family had been invited to gather on by the local Bundjalung Aboriginal elders back in 1996. Only then the rainbow family had turned the site down; we weren't ready for it.
Somehow, by chance, we ended up gathering there, and the locals were really happy about it. The only problem was that the local cattle farming co-op was mustering their herds right thought the gathering site then, so they moved us a couple of Kms upstream. No problem.
When we arrived, there was just a handful of people, 20 or so, and many of them seemed a bit bitter about having moved from the "better" site. But we grinned, and saw the beauty of the new spot, and put our tipi up in a choice location.
I thought the gathering was amazing; the site was really beautiful, with a crystal clear, fast-flowing, sweet river - Washpool Creek. It was a little chilly in the water for some, but I found it very refreshing and went swimming every day.
We had hot sunny days and fresh starry nights. It only rained seriously one time, and that was just one night of rain, though it was raining when the seed camp got started and it rained a little right at the end of the clean-up. We were truly blessed.
I did a bit of focalising in the kitchen; here's one of the yummy dishes we made:
The gathering was smaller than we expected; just under 200 at full moon. It seemed a lot of the local 'core' rainbow crew didn't come, but that was nice too. There were lots of workshops; singing, dance, meditation, massage, juggling, fairy-wing-making, herb and bush tucker walks, healing, capoeira, sisters' circles, mens' circles, hunting, weaving, music, dreamspell, knot-tying, rocket-stove building, cooking, and more.
Purple built an amazing oven and a sister called Odd and I used cow shit to sculpt a big pregnant woman around it, so it looks like the door of the oven was her yoni, from which she birthed lots of yummy sour-dough breads, pizza and cakes. We called it
The Bun In The Oven Bakery!I was so impressed with Purple's effort in making it; he'd never built an oven before, and he didn't announce in the circle that he was planning to make it, and didn't ask for people to help him. He just snuck off when no one was looking and did it. I think Odd and someone else helped him a bit in the end, but still, it was a great effort. So now I'm gonna get him to build me one at home too :)
I did some Capoeira workshops for beginners and a couple of goo capoeiristas came, but I've come to realise its just not a really huge sport in Australia. Oh Well.
Here's me playing with a girl who's name I can't remember:
Purple gave a great Intuitive Massage workshop, and some other workshops too. We also talked a lot about Unschooling, and a couple of people even came up to me to say they'd seen my blog and they were inspired to start unschooling!
The best part of the gathering was the people; there were loads of kids which was fantastic, and a reasonably functioning kids' kitchen, with a self-service breakfast and a prepared kids' lunch every day. We hardly saw Littletree at all, she was so often running around with some other kids or grown-ups.
It was so great to see all the rainbow kids running around together, hanging down by the creek and playing in the forest. Some people brought canoes for the kids to paddle in and some people did workshops for the kids and storytelling. Some of the men took the boys off on a bushwalk, and taught them how to make spears and eel traps for hunting.
Nicole did a workshop with the kids to make fairy wings that was a real hit.
Anyway, it was a great gathering. Littletree managed to catch the flu towards the end, so of course I caught it from her, and then Purple did too. But it wasn't so bad and we got lots of healing from many loving people. I'll do another post to share some more pics, but that's about all I can write for now!
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