Saturday, 31 July 2021
JC Slaughter Falls Context
Two days after the Bonfire Yoga class (Day 210), I’m feeling good and pumped to do some more ankle challenging activities. Today, we planned a bush walk of JC Slaughter Falls from base to summit.
Since the last lockdown at the end of June (Day 180), it’s been mandatory to walk around with masks indoors and outdoors unless you’re participating in strenuous exercise. The walk up to the summit counts as rugged.
We’ve (Queenslanders) been lucky to escape a lockdown, and it looks like the NSW’s Premier (Governor for you American folk) hasn’t acknowledged or believed that the Delta strain of COVID-19 is more contagious than the previous virus variants.
So, Gladys Berejiklian implemented the old strategy of suppression rather than eradication, which worked for a time. She probably thought it was impossible to eradicate COVID and opted for suppression instead.
The Queensland Premier has always gone for eradication within her state. If Gladys’ strategy had worked, she would have looked like a hero. Unfortunately, Delta came along and has potentially changed things. She has it under control at the moment, so here’s hoping it’ll pan out for her. My mother will be distraught if her trip to Queensland postpones, yet again! But that’s still two whole months away; I think she’ll be right.
JC Slaughter Falls
It was a beautiful sunny day and heading over to JC Slaughter Falls for a bushwalk. For those from the UK reading this, a bushwalk in Australia is not walking through a heap of English Box bushes in a manicured English garden.
In Australia, the bush is a path through the natural environment. As you might be aware, Australia’s natural environment could mean encountering a wide variety of “unfriendly critters”.
The JC Slaughter Falls walk goes to Mt Coot-tha’s Summit, which provides a magnificent uninterrupted view overlooking Brisbane. One of the good things about the path, it has a bit of everything. The track is a partially groomed track with water drinking fountains along the way. There are steep bits and has some rocky areas as well. This variety of terrain is perfect for working the ankle parts, which simply don’t get worked unless you do something different apart from a walk.
Getting to the walk is about a half-hour of suburban driving, giving us plenty of opportunities to listen to a decent audiobook. The walk distance is about a four-kilometre round trip and takes about an hour from start to finish. At the top is the previous summit, where you can grab a bite to eat and enjoy the view. And that was out plan.
British Bush
Australian Bush
Enforced Change in Plans
Going to JC Slaughter Falls was cruisy, and the audiobook provided plenty of relaxing entertainment for the drive. Once we arrived at the bottom carpark and picnic area, we put on our hydration packs and headed up the trail.
As we were ordering lunch, we have overheard snippets of conversation that contained the word lockdown. Initially, we thought it must be the NSW lockdown expanding. The summit receives a large tourist trade, and the borders weren’t closed between NSW and Queensland, as far as we knew.
When we sat down waiting for lunch, we checked the news on my phone. It turns out it wasn’t NSW; it was Queensland going into lockdown, and we had four hours to get home before its enforcement.
This shutdown was a serious lockdown, four hours! Typically lockdowns preparations were more extended, 72 hours or at least until 1:00 AM.
We finished our lunch and headed down JC Slaughter falls Summit track back to the car. Our offices were on our route home, and we both had jobs where the office was accessible to us after hours; we swung by and grabbed IT equipment to work from home.
The supermarkets are always open during a lockdown, so no need to panic buy. However, our shopping day is Sunday. We picked up some meal staples, and we were on our way to another lockdown.
Today's Cards
JC Slaughter Falls Analysis
Carryover Cards
One card carried over from yesterday; Ordinariness moved from Now to Outcome.
Cross
The Creator is in the Now influenced by Healing and Understanding. In the Distant Past has been Traveling, and Patience has been a virtue. Awareness is in the Future Energy spots.
What does that mean against the context of the day? The Creator is about working with the knowledge and skills you’ve learnt and encourages its expression. With the Healing card as the influence, it appears there has been a lack of use when it comes to my ankle’s recovery.
Since the walk was about Understanding how well my ankle would cope on a hike or trek, today was a test of whether all my exercises for its journey back to health were successful. My husband thinks it might be me proving the point that I could have done the seven-day walk around the Northern Territory’s Larapinta ranges. There could be a little of that, but I’m not going to admit it – even to myself. 🙈
The Traveling card either refers to when I broke my ankle back on Day 018 (18 January) or, more recently, the cancelled New Zealand trip.
Since my husband’s logic persuaded me to wait for the Larapinta trip, I have recently learnt Patience (Recent Past). Maybe I should say newly reactivated Patience. After all, I always have Patience. Stop choking, darling, and by “darling”, I’m referring to those who know me. 😎
Base
My Feelings are that this confrontation or isolation is from my Past Lives, whether real or imagined. In this case, Day 018, which feels like another lifetime ago, so much has happened, contributed to today’s walk. There are other reasons, like enjoying the bush and getting fitter, but in a sense, they’re side-effects of testing my ankle.
Others’ Views; if I handle the Summit trek of JC Slaughter falls, it opens up my Possibilities.
Hopes & Fears are We are the World hoping that things will stay harmonious or restriction-free as we all head toward the common goal of reducing the effects of COVID to that of a common cold. My fear is everyone will be out for themselves or suffer from suppression fatigue.
Finally, the Outcome is Ordinariness and getting back to the basics of lockdown and simply surviving.
References
- Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
- Landscape images from Shutterstock
