I have just been up to Kalamunda in the foothills of Perth to welcome home Geoff Quinsee and Lee Hancock, a father and son-in-law team that have trekked from Albany in the South West of Western Australia to Kalamunda in Perth.
Firstly, I have witnessed the whole journey for these two. I was there to take the photos when they were training. I witnessed their throwing up after pushing themselves hard in the gym; their attempts at dehydrating fruit and vegetables to keep them nourished as they walked; their wives anxious anticipation of their departure and then their glee at their eventual return. I saw it all and I stand in awe of these two guys and their family who have put everything on the line to film a documentary of Perth’s beautiful South-West in the hope of inspiring others to get out into the world and have an adventure.
Geoff Quinsee is 51 years of age. He is an enlisted Sergeant in the Australian Army, currently not actively serving due to an injury. He is working in the private sector and is a team leader in an Engineering Company in Perth. He also works casually as a Physical Trainer and Life Coach. We have shared many sessions where Geoff has put the hard questions to me, passed me the tissue box and told me I can do it! He has really been instrumental in helping me to expand my horizons and to pursue my dreams with confidence.
If you can imagine it, Geoff is regimented, structured, self-disciplined and very grounded.
Enter Lee Hancock. Lee is 31 years of age, a father of four young children and someone who lives life day-by-day. He is a fly-by the seat of your pants type of guy and you can imagine how hard it was for him to knuckle down and do the disciplined preparations necessary to get physically fit for this HUGE challenge.
But both walked the full distance and emerged stronger men for the experience. I’m sure we will hear funny stories over the coming weeks. Feel free to pop over and have a look at all the wonderful pictures from their journey and I’m sure there will be some clips up soon of the footage they captured for their documentary on their site and their free membership site.
Keep your eyes open for the End2End Adventure Bibbulmun Track documentary due out in 2010.
Hayley Solich - "Within us all lies seeds of greatness but it is up to us to plant those seeds, to water them, to nurture them and to ensure that they grow to fruition."
A young man stood in a room with the Master who had been teaching him for most of his life. He turned to the master who was suddenly very serious. The Master spoke. “Son, I have taught you all that I know but now you must learn from the one who knows you better than any other. This one has all the answers to all your questions. This one can teach you how to overcome every obstacle that stands in your pathway. This one has the amazing advantage of knowing who you were, who you are and who you will be. Are you ready to meet them?”
The young man was excited and looked around the room but could only see a door. He thought, they must be waiting behind that door. He looked back to the master and said, “Yes, Master. I am very excited to meet them.”
The Master sighed in his satisfaction, although there was a twinkle in his eye that hinted that already he knew something more than the young man did about who was waiting behind the door.
“When I introduce you to this person, my Son, you must promise that you will remember to respect them, to listen intently to what they have to say and to embrace the wisdom that they possess.”
“Of course, Master,” the young man replied. “I will honour them as I have honoured you.”
The Master nodded and smiled his approval. Then gently took the young man by the arm and led him to the door. Turning to him he said, “My Son, I am very proud of you and I know you will journey well together. I will leave you now and when you are ready, open the door and embrace the new wisdom coming to you.”
The Master turned and left the room. The young man stood looking at the door, hesitating. He was anxious to open it and embrace this new person into his world but at the same time, he was sad to be letting go of his Master. After a moment he walked forward and turned the knob pulling the door open expectantly.
The young man was shocked to find that there was not a person behind the door but rather, a mirror. He came face to face with his own reflection. Following the shock of the realisation of what the Master had said and done, the young man smiled. For he realised that what the Master was saying was, “You are enough. Enough for now. Enough for tomorrow. Within you lies all that you require to obtain success.”
In life we stand in the room and the door lies in front of us. Are we going to have the courage to open the door and embrace the mirror? It reflects back at us an image of our lives. Are we willing to look deep into the mirror and to embrace what we see – oursevles and realise that we are more than enough for today, more than enough for tomorrow, more than enough for both the good and the bad that may come into our lives?
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.” My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick.. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you, really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone, everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36.. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.
You wouldn’t think that a time of loss could be happy, but apart from the occassional downpour of tears long suppressed, my Dad’s funeral was a very joyous occasion. I sat next to my brave uncle with a broken neck and wearing a halo (screwed to his skull) who held my hand throughout the service on one side and my widowed step mother on the other. I felt both their shaking bodies as they mourned the loss of my dad – for one his dearest brother and the other a love found late in life. I was also surrounded by family and friends which just seeemed to warm me to the core having been so isolated by living on the opposite side of the continent to most of them. My best friend from school and her mother, sat a few rows back smiling their encouragement as I delivered the Eulogy I had prepared (with a few embellishments that drew laughter from the sombre gathering) and there was also a smattering of relatives I hadn’t seen for many years.
Then after the service, we sipped pumpkin soup from foam cups and ate jam and scones in the rectory. It was a really lovely service where a few shared their memories of Arthur and the reconnection with my family and friends had only just begun.
We then did the customary visit to the RSL Club, of which my Dad had been a long term member. He’d taught me how to play Snooker and Darts, but fortunately I’d never developed his love of the pokies. My brother and his fiance had a punt on the pokies in Dad’s honour and managed to cash in $500 cash between them – we all felt that was Dad’s way of being part of our day. I played Snooker with my best friend on one table and my brother with his on the next. The four of us had many adventures as young people and we sat and traded insults as only brothers, sister’s and their friends can. It was a lovely day, which we decided should extend into the evening and we all gathered together at my girlfriend’s where I was staying. We played pool and ate pizza. We clowned around like when we were kids, giving warm fuzzies and laughing until our sides ached. I would never have imagined that a funeral could bring me so much joy and closure, but Dad’s did.
You see, that is the Martin style of funeral. My Dad’s side, the Martin side, always celebrated the passing from one world to the next. They remembered the good things and enjoyed the chance to be reconnected with family and friends.
Not only was my day special but the whole trip fulfilled all my secret desires that I never voiced. My brother drove me to the funeral and as we passed through the town we’d grown up in, he stopped off at the cemetary where my mother and grandparents are buried. He allowed me the time to walk and to look, to be moved to tears and he didn’t hurry me to get over it. Then he slowly drove me through the town and showed me where we used to live and where we used to go to school. Then after the funeral, he took me to my uncle’s farm. He could not have known how much I wanted to smell the fresh bush air and the stench that comes from cow patties. Yet, there we were, looking out over a beautiful valley from my Uncle’s house up on the hill. He also couldn’t have known how much I wanted to catch up with my cousins. One cousin in particular, whom I’d thought was still living in Sydney, but discovered had moved to the Barossa Valley. And when I phoned her home and said I was in Sydney, the lady that answered told me I was in luck, because she had decided to go to Sydney for the weekend. And we met and spent the whole day together. It was sincerely magical.
And as I reflect back, I can see that my Dad must have been talking to God about how to make my week special. A week that started with my sister gifting me an airflight and my husband (we are separated) gifting me with money to use on the trip and ended with my flying back to Perth to be met by my family at the airport.
This funeral will be one to be treasured forever. Rest in peace, Dad and thanks to my lovely family and friends who made my leaving my children for a whole week possible. You have given me a treasured memory.
