Mount Warning and its attendant national park are known as Wollumbin meaning ‘cloud catcher’ in the Bundialung language. I sat calmly exercising my eyes, sighting Mount Cougals twin peak as the sun set and I often wondered if those stories I heard from the locals has any significant of how I felt while I was there, in the heart of those beautiful valleys between those two mountains. It was said to be a sacred place for the natives once upon a time ago. Mount Cougal represents the feminine energy while Mount Warning the masculine energy.
I felt magnetized as I continually sat gazing the shining stars above and those winkling lights moving towards the west boundaries only to realize it was the lights from moving planes flying towards Coolangata Airport. It is only a 45 minute drive from where I was staying then.
A day before I left Murwillumbah…I met Alain….a ranger from Wollumbin State Forest….
"Everyone's so domestic," he said. "People who have settled into their lives, gotten married, having children and some almost stuck in a rut. "
What he said reminded me of my younger days, I was so young and passionate and thought I could change the world and the challenges that came with it. I was idealistic and not yet tinged with the cynicism of age and the responsibilities of family.
For some people being domestic is the closest they get to their happiness and their inner peace. Not everyone is cut out to change the world, and not everyone is interested in doing so.
It's frustrating at the number of people especially intelligent ladies who have so much potential within, but choose to give it up by early marriage and once they do, it's almost as if they're shackled down, trapped in their personal bubble of domestic bliss, oblivious to the fact that there is a world, passing them by.
"Is, being married and settling down automatically makes people boring?" I ask Alain
"To a lot of them it's a sacrifice of their personal hopes and dreams. It's entirely fair to do that, because it's a personal choice, but I feel as if marriage and children are just a waste for some people - and for others, - let's just say I don't feel that certain people should get married at all!"
"I'm commitment phobic, so I can't say - but I do believe that having children is something that should be thought through well. Some people are so focus with family life and they lost interest in other things outside their family."
