Quest Down Under

Some holidays can change your life; you meet a person or you do an activity that resonates with you to such an extent that you’re never the same again. You can actually make such a significant holiday happen by ‘questing’; setting the intent that you will get important spiritual information by visiting a particular part of the world.
Everyone from the ancient Celts to Indian holy men knew the importance of going travelling to look for signs and omens from nature and the world around us. One of the most well-known advocates of this idea are the First Peoples who see the signs in the world around them so clearly that the landscape doesn’t merely represent symbols of our spiritual past, it is the ancestors and the ancient stories that we need to remember. As such, for my first proper ‘questing’ holiday, I chose to go to Australia on an Outback and island combined tour.
Before leaving, after a frantic hunt for my passport and clean knickers, I sat down for a second to take a breath. Questing requires you to pause and think about what you want from your holiday instead of just doing the mad, tourist dash to everything. I had just come out of a relationship and I knew I wanted to get some insight into what went wrong and how I could move forward and get over my ex. So I lit a candle and, while looking into the flame and breathing deeply, said out loud the intention to find out why my relationships always tend to go pear-shaped.
I then ran for the airport and began the 26 hour journey to get to Cairns in Far North Queensland. The journey does sound harrowing but it actually isn’t as you get to catch up on films and TV sitcoms (strangely, they were playing The Holiday – a story about two women who swap homes for a holiday after one of them finds out the man she loves is marrying someone else – were the signs and omens already beginning?). There is a stopover for four hours at Singapore airport so plenty of time to stretch your legs and argue by text with your ex.
Finally, after a short flight in a tiny six-seater plane from Cairns, we got to Wrotham Park Lodge. This is a luxury property set in the middle of a working cattle station in the Outback. It is on the edge of the Mitchell River and has 10 separate villas so you only ever have 20 guests staying at any one time. As they had just opened for the season, there was no-one there when I arrived and I was all alone – a reflection of my current relationship status? I was so keen on the questing that I’d started to see signs in everything!
I was greeted by the lodge’s resident dog Diesel and a member of staff with lemon myrtle scented towels for me to freshen up. The homestead is the communal part of the resort with a large deck that has a restaurant, a lounge with a bar for guests to sit and relax in and an infinity swimming pool.
I was then shown to my villa. While the rugged scrubs of the Outback and the Martian-like red ravine into the Mitchell River is as rough and remote as you’d like, the villas are in complete contrast. As I slid open the door, a gorgeous smell – lemon myrtle again – accosted me from a burner in the corner. The room was all plush teak and high thread count linen. The shower room, however, was the best of it all – a stunning floor to ceiling window that lets you look out over the escarpment while you shower in the morning.
There were binoculars in the villa in case I wanted to spot wildlife but I didn’t need them as I spotted more wildlife after five minutes at Wrotham Park than I have in all my time in the UK. There are reptiles, bugs and birds of all sorts in the Outback. In fact Australia generally is teeming with life. The only things that made me squeal were the cane toads that line your route back to your villa at night; there are hundreds of them and they don’t move out of your way at all. I remembered all those fairy tales about princesses kissing frogs to turn them back into princes but, given that cane toads are poisonous, I wasn’t about to pucker up.
All meals, drinks and even the mini-bar in your room is included in the price. Since I was the only guest at that time, the lovely executive chef Dee asked me what I would like for lunch. I can have anything I want. Suddenly I feel like I’m going to cry. Only my mother and my ex allow me such airs and graces when it comes to meal times. ‘Do you want a fish pie or shall I make steak tonight?’ He’d ask me, always letting me decide.
I propel myself back into the present and ask Dee for her suggestion. She offers lamb chops with a fresh mango accented salad. Other meal choices during my stay include smoked crocodile, barramundi (a tasty river fish) and even emu. It is all delicious and beautifully presented. An accompanying pinot and the surrounding greenery makes the lamb chop lunch a memorable meal.
As I was eating it, I saw a beetle out of the corner of my eye, perched on the table to one side. It had beautiful colours, all greens and blues. It sat so still that it looked just like a brooch or something but, when I reached out to touch it, it moved its antennae but stayed where it was. For some reason, this seemed really significant to me. My heart rate had slowed down a lot since coming out here and I was very, very relaxed but this beetle seemed to explicitly be telling me not to do so much, arguing, chasing, manipulating, trying to get my partners to do what I think is best. Just sit still a while, it seemed to be counseling. I’m not sure if that was wishful thinking but it did have an impact on me.
While at Wrotham Park, I took part in some activities that were totally new for me, like going up in a mustering helicopter. Crocodiles ran for the water and cattle came running out  of the trees at our approach and it was a stunning sight. I also went horse riding, on nature walks and a station tour to find out what the jackaroos (cowboys) and jillaroos (cowgirls) do on the cattle station. Strangely though, despite all these amazing, active experiences, the beetle’s stillness seemed the most important sign from that leg of my trip.

The island part of the trip consists of stays on two islands: Dunk and Bedarra. Dunk is a family resort and is a bit like an Australian Butlins. There are lots of activities for kids but also plenty of places to spend time alone contemplating life. Activities like diving and snorkeling off the Great Barrier Reef are particularly popular. Both islands’ restaurants are superb for seafood; Dunk has a not-to-be-missed buffet night and Bedarra can arrange a platter for you if you order it in advance.
The First Nations name for Dunk is Coonanglebah and there are rock shelter paintings from tens of thousands of years ago that show the long Aboriginal associations with the island. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders take part in the management of Dunk today and their creation story for the island is that Girroo Gurrll, an ancestor spirit who was part man but mostly eel, came up out of the water and swam along the coast of the island, naming islands and local waters as he went.
Dunk is also famous for being the home and final resting place of Edmund Banfield, the author of Confessions of a Beachcomber. You can walk to his grave on which are inscribed his famous words: ‘If a man does not keep pace with his companions, Perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer…’ This really inspired me as I have often felt out of pace with the world around me.
However, sat by his wood-sheltered grave, I saw that his wife is buried there too and on her grave is written: ‘Whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge… Where thou diest , will I die and there will I be buried’. This irritated me a lot. That a woman’s life is reduced to just being a ‘wife’ and a follower. What about her life?, I wanted to ask. What did she achieve? Who was she?
This burst of irritation also felt important and I realised that I am often happy to just support my partners rather than highlight my own achievements. The revelations were coming thick and fast by now!
The final leg of the tour was back in the lap of luxury as Bedarra is one of the most exclusive island resorts in Australia. Fans include Cameron Diaz and Salma Hayek. You reach the island by a boat transfer and the beaches are perfect white sand with dazzling blue seas. The villa at Bedarra was again top notch with a bottle of chilled champagne waiting for you when you arrive.
All the time I was at Bedarra, I felt like I was being stalked by this large lizard that I kept seeing in the undergrowth. I was reminded of the Aboriginal songs that tell of lizards who can turn into men and vice versa. I decided that the lizard must be an enchanted man desperately in love with me. Well, it was better than thinking about the frog I’d left behind at home!
My quest didn’t yield a complete answer as I haven’t stopped making foolish decisions about men and relationships but I now feel much closer to nature. Australia is famous for great beaches, delicious food and a laid-back attitude but it was the first time I actually felt like nature is a part of everyday life rather than something to visit or seek out. That knowledge alone made the ‘quest’ worth it.