Train Journey from Brisbane to Coffs Harbor - Bellingen NSW for an NWTA

Unable to secure a ride to the "Bello", Bellingen, NSW Mankind Project Weekend Training (NWTA) Colin took me to the Fruitgrove Train station down the street in Runcorn at 6 AM so I could get to the Roma Street Station to get the 7:30 train to Coffs Harbor.
Here is the interior of the train that I rode on for 5 hours. I was picked up by a van in Coffs Harbor and then we all took that drive to the site in the "bush" that the Bello Community has for their "organic" trainings. This was the word I got from Joe of Perth of how Organic the weekends are here!



Here is the view from the train of the Brisbane River as the train pulled out of the city going south.


With only 6 states to the country, both NSW and Queensland are larger than Texas. I got to see I lot of pasture land from the train.



Here is more of the varying landscape that looks to be grazing land for cattle and perhaps dairy cows.



Here is the pole shelter that one man mentioned was created 4 years ago, that is used for the trainings. Meals are created in this shelter, and Marquee's (Aussie for big tents) were set up) on here on Thursday. Here is where I reconnected with Billy Hill a local leader whom I first met when I served on the MKP International Executive Committee some 10 years ago. Wonderful heart felt connections...a home away from home in the Australian bush. It is here where I me the aboriginal elders, Uncle Larry and Uncle Tommy who supported and blessed our weekend.

I am grateful that I contacted a man, Peter from Victoria who was bringing a "caravan" translated, "camping trailer" to the sight, where my computer would be safe from the rain. This part of Australia is really a temperate rainforest and I learned on the weekend, how quickly the footing changes when the soil is saturated. :-) Water IS, the FiRST MEDICINE THE CREATOR GAVE US! Part of connecting to nature was the kookaburra who sang and laughed in the evening and morning. One I remember sitting in a meeting was swooped on by what some of the men call miner birds. Awesome!

In the background are thinning gum trees that Peter and some of the men explained are being thinned with the Bell Bird population. Some of the online writing: http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Manorina-melanophrys

"Bell Miners feed as part of a colony, remaining in the canopy at or above eight metres from the ground. They mainly eat insects, especially psyllids and their lerps (sugary secretions used as protective shelters by the tiny psyllid insects) from the foliage of eucalypts."
Read about the Bell Bird http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Miner


We only had this generator to keep some of the lights on at night, so it was easy to stay connected to the land and trees, as we had to access to internet and the wider world :-) Grateful I could set this up with Peter on Thursday to be part of the set up for the weekend.