A Nod from Nature

by Elliot Irwin (United Kingdom (Great Britain))

A leap into the unknown United Kingdom

By now I had gotten used to living in my tent. It had been two weeks and I had come to be very comfortable, living constantly in a temporary state; in my not very waterproof, very humble abode. There's something so freeing knowing all that I own and need is on my back, even my home. By now I had gotten used to living in my tent. It had been two weeks and I had come to be very comfortable, living constantly in a temporary state; in my not very waterproof, very humble abode. There's something so freeing knowing all that I own and need is on my back, even my home. It became instantly clear when I arrived at the Mataranka hot springs, that I was the only person there. As riding also on the flash floods from further North were salt water Crocs. Which doesn't make the family friendly thermal pools all too appealing as your weekend getaway. However not deterred, I was shitting myself. Setting up camp in the middle of a very empty campsite, as the sun quickly plummeted I began to notice a noise from the bushes behind me. But to my relief, out popped this majestic gent of a Peacock. Who didn't leave my side all the time it took me to set up and start cooking. Quite possibly because I was feeding him bits of my food supply which had started to go off but I like to believe it was because we had a deeper connection. Later that night the sweat of the days heat began to make me cold in the lack of a sun, so I decided to start a fire. Looking around I noticed I was surrounded by dead palm leaves, which burned better than anything else I could find in the damp aftermath of the days humidity. Funnily enough as the flames began to lick my eyebrows I became hot and sweaty, so stripping down into my underwear I edged closer cross-legged to the fire. Listening intently to the silence, feeling extremely peaceful and also extremely alone. Feeding the fire more as the time ticked by and feeling ever more peacefully alone as the bottom of my wine bottle became more visible. A wave of misery quite suddenly washed over me. Though this serenity is what I had wanted; it had been around a month since I had even had a proper conversation with someone who wasn't a road house attendant. I remember, sitting in the silence and feeling as though my throat and mouth had never made a sound before. I'm not one to talk to myself, so it was at this moment that I realized how it must have been a couple of days since I had last spoken. In this moment of absolute loneliness, I began to hear movement from the darkness that lay beyond the light of the fire. The cautious shadowy figures began to take shape; Three then Four and then Five curious Wallabies edged out the night toward the fire. Completely uninterested in me and utterly mesmerized by the fire. The Wallabies set themselves up, each one no more than two feet away from me. Me and my new animal friends, perched round a campfire, covered in filth; all admiring the crackling and smoldering of the only other light in the night, shy of the moon. For that moment, I felt safe and comforted by the call which the wild also has to admire the unknown. An almost, nod from nature towards my safety, all alone from humanity yet not far at all from life. When the fire had eventually died out, my two-legged one-tailed friends dispersed. Taking this "nod from nature," that I was safe in my surroundings. I took the chance to strip off completely, stumbling in the darkness towards the thermal pools which I had formerly been too scared to enter in the daylight. Feeling for the wooden path with my feet, my eyes busy mesmerized by the billions of stars I had never known to exist. Creeping into the deep unknown waters, deafened by wildlife sound and feeling at peace in the safe hands of nature.