The following quote is from a true wanderer and free spirit from the late 19th century obsessed with obtaining physical and spiritual freedom. Isabelle Eberhardt died in 1904 after a very tumultuous and fascinating life. The following quote from her book “The Oblivion Seekers” has always been an inspiration to me and hopefully may be to anyone out there who would love to travel but has reservations. I shared it in one of my early blogs but thought it timely to share again. I hope it gives you the same inspiration as it did me and gets you out exploring. If not try reading the book!
“To have a house , a family, a property, or a public function, to have a definite means of livelihood and to be a useful cog in the social machine, all these things seem necessary, even indispensable to the vast majority of men, including intellectuals, and including even those who think of themselves as wholly liberated. And yet such things are only a different form of slavery that comes of contact with others, especially regulated and continued contact.
Not to feel the torturing need to know and see for oneself what is there beyond the mysterious blue wall of the horizon, not to find the arrangements of life monotonous and depressing, to look at the white road leading off into the unknown distance without feeling the imperious necessity of giving in to it and following it obediently across mountains and valleys! The cowardly belief that a man must stay in one place is too reminiscent of the unquestioning resignation of animals, beasts of burden stupefied by servitude and yet always willing to accept the slipping on of the harness.
There are limits to every domain and laws to govern every organised power. But the vagrant owns the whole vast earth that ends at the non-existent horizon, and his empire is an intangible one, for his domination and enjoyment of it are things of the spirit”
Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904) – The Oblivion Seekers
Inspiration
Words from a free spirit
Hutt River Province
On April 25th this year a big celebration will commence for the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Hutt River Province. Following a dispute with the government over wheat quotas Leonard George Casley created an independent sovereign state in Hutt River on April 21st 1970, to avoid imminent legislation. Hutt River Province is approximately the size of Hong Kong and has its own stamps, money and has representatives across many countries worldwide. We were greeted by a spritely 89 year old Leonard himself who ushered us into the chapel where one of his “Prince” sons gave us a tour of the artwork, prince and princess thrones before handing us back to His Royal Highness Leonard to talk a little about his collection of artefacts and the influence the province has had worldwide. Due to the David and Goliath nature of the Province it has attracted much interest worldwide over the years and many countries have donated gifts, or sought interactions in one way or another that has resulted in a very interesting collection. HRH Leonard relishes in spinning a yarn and wasn’t afraid to drop a name or two in the process. There were references to Prince Charles (he has one of his artworks), King Juan Carlos of Spain, and many more.
HRH Leonard has a keen interest in Art and Science. The chapel has religious themed paintings, the characters being modelled on actual people, all of which is explained on the tour. He has also written some very mathematically based papers on life forces and natural constants, with one area devoted to highlight this.
Full details can be found on their site http://www.principality-hutt-river.com/
We had a fabulous time here. It is impossible to do it justice with a short blog so Fifty Toes just recommends you visit!
The Pinnacles, Nambung National Park
We left Perth late as there were a few last minute errands that had to be run, but the Pinnacles were still targeted for a visit. We arrived in Nambung National Park late in the afternoon and it was horribly overcast so the light was not optimal for photography, but the park is stunning. The rock pinnacles appear to be growing from the desert floor, and are the product of an unusual geological process that started with submersion of forests in sand, conversion into limestone over the millennia, and subsequent erosion of surrounding sand over more millennia has left the petrified sentinels littered across the landscape as it is today. The park has walking trail and drive, but you are free to explore on foot so long as you don’t climb the rocks. We walked and drove around twice and reluctantly left as darkness arrived. The flies were revolting, even immune to our special cedar and rosemary cream (that worked fine until now), taking delight in sticking to our faces, shirts, shorts, basically everywhere.
We still had 50km drive to the campsite at Sandy Cape, just north of Jurien Bay. Camp went up and the flies descended on us. Apparently they had only arrived the day before. We put our light on and then super-sized flying “bulldog” ants descended, so we beat a hasty retreat to the trailer for the night.
Next morning, more rain and flies, so the full awning was put up. We revisited the Pinnacles once more, headed into Cervantes, then Jurien Bay for fish and chips.
Stockyard Gully Caves are one of the few free entry caves in the area accessed by 4WD track and the next morning we left early armed with torches and raincoats. From the carpark a pleasant 300m walk down the dry (despite the rain) river bed brought us to the first cave. A powerful torch is required as it is pitch black and approximately 100m long. It emerges at a rockpile which we climbed down and walked on to the next two caves. The last one has no exit and is home to a colony of bats so access is discouraged. All of the entrances to the caves are adorned with large beehives, and the hum of bees as you approach is very discernible, making the kids a bit uneasy. We pressed on uneventfully and had a very enjoyable morning’s exploration there. No flies in the caves either!
On our way home some Geocaching took us to some marvellous beaches and lookouts in and around Green Head. The water was perfectly calm and our camp host informed us on our return that there was a storm coming with potential windspeeds of 100km/h. Whilst a lot of rain and wind followed the worst of it blew south of us and we prepared to venture further north.
The Inspiration
“To have a house , a family, a property, or a public function, to have a definite means of livelihood and to be a useful cog in the social machine, all these things seem necessary, even indispensable to the vast majority of men, including intellectuals, and including even those who think of themselves as wholly liberated. And yet such things are only a different form of slavery that comes of contact with others, especially regulated and continued contact.
Not to feel the torturing need to know and see for oneself what is there beyond the mysterious blue wall of the horizon, not to find the arrangements of life monotonous and depressing, to look at the white road leading off into the unknown distance without feeling the imperious necessity of giving in to it and following it obediently across mountains and valleys! The cowardly belief that a man must stay in one place is too reminiscent of the unquestioning resignation of animals, beasts of burden stupefied by servitude and yet always willing to accept the slipping on of the harness.
There are limits to every domain and laws to govern every organised power. But the vagrant owns the whole vast earth that ends at the non-existent horizon, and his empire is an intangible one, for his domination and enjoyment of it are things of the spirit”
Isabelle Eberhardt – The Oblivion Seekers
Fifty Toes Walkabout 
Recent Comments