Seeing Beyond

I wanted to get away from all the gory news from last week, so we set out on a beautiful trip to the Blue Mountains on Sunday...yes for the umpteenth time. I never get sick of scenic places, mainly mountains, rivers, beaches and the bush. On the way we stopped at this beautiful little church in Mulgoa (a Schoenstatt shrine- pic1). It's located in a beautiful isolated place and the peace I get from being there is just inexpressible. This church has been one of my favorites and we visit it whenever we can. After some silent moments in the church followed by a nice warm brekky, we were about to drive to the Blue Mountains when I witnessed something rather tragic. A little orange caterpillar on the ground was being savagely attacked by a big mob of black-ants. The caterpillar was alive but since the ants were too powerful and there were many of them attacking it, it couldn't do anything but wriggle it's body helplessly. I immediately went to the rescue. I picked up a dried leaf and scared the ants away (believe me it took some time to chase the greedy team away!). And then I moved the poor baby on to the leaf and put it up on a nice green shrub. It then fell down...I picked it up again and left it on the shrub. This time it could grab hold of some leaves and stay properly. I was as happy as I could be...so I clicked a shot of the caterpillar I saved that day (pic2). Have a look at the dude...now isnt he a handsome bloke? May you live happily ever after matey!

After the huge rescue operation :), we all set off to the mountains. There is a Buddhist monastery (a place where Buddhist monks live and meditate located in a forest) near the Blue Mountains. We went there first cos this is also another favorite place of our's. The silence, the trees, the little path to the meditation spots in the forest (pic3) , the bush, the birds chirping, the orange robe-clad monk, the shrine, the wild flowers (pic4)...it was a world away from the world. I felt total bliss. After spending some time praying for the lives lost and thinking of positive thoughts, we left the monastery (with great hesitation ofcourse) to a place called the Wentworth Falls. It is a beautiful spot with a view of the Mountains and a lovely waterfall at the bottom of it. The walk to the Princess Rock view was about 20mins and it was through a beautiful dense forest (pic5). The view from there was just amazing! I couldnt capture the magnitude of it through my mobile phone camera so this is the best I could do (pics 6 and 7). I know the waterfall isn't visible in pic7 but hey atleast I tried - hope you can spot it. Then we walked back to the picnic area and had lunch, chatted a little and got back on the road around 3pm. The worst time to be on the highway. Traffic was awful...saw a terrible accident on the way...the car was a total write-off. I hope the driver and any passengers are safe.

Came home and thought this to myself...there are so many things in this world to see...to do...to find joy in. But in the given period of our lives, we can only see and do so much. We all leave this world without seeing all of it...so many leave without even taking a glimpse of it. But what really matters is grasping the beauty in every little thing you see and experience, learning from it and applying it to your life for the well-being of yourself and others. Then you'd have 'seen' and 'done' more than any globe-trotter has ever seen and done.

Tomorrow is ANZAC Day (click on the link to read more on it) so it's a public holiday over here. Australia has always stood for peace, harmony and goodwill, because that's what the great ANZACS of this country achieved for their land many many years ago. In the wake of this very special day in Aus, lets remember all the precious lives that were sacrificed in wars all over the world. Lest We Forget. Today's song is "I still call Australia home" written by Peter Allen, and the video is a one-time Qantas ad performed by beautiful kids with sceneries from around the world. Enjoy!

Current Music: I Still Call Australia Home by Peter Allen