Let Nature, Nurture You
Forest Bathing. What a great term for swimming naked in the woods.
Reasonable enough assumption given the new wave of outdoor activity trends such as ‘wild swimming’ which became a thing despite the fact that humans throughout our existence have been finding waterfalls, rivers and billabongs and taking a dip.
Nothing could be further from the truth, Forest Bathing is not a fleeting cultural phrase but a learned technique to let nature, nurture you.
Its not a walk, a hike or even technically exercise but rather a sensory journey invigorating your sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch to bring you closer to the natural world. In Germany, where it originated, it is known as “Waldtherapie”, in Korea it is referred to as “Sanlimyok (산림욕)”, in China and Taiwan people call it “Sēnlín liáofǎ (森林療法)” and in Japan where it has gained international media it is called “Shinrin-yoku” (森林浴) or “Shinrin-ryōhō (森林療法)”, Shinrin in Japanese means “forest,” and yoku meaning “bath.” So shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses.
The trend is growing with accredited professionals now mastering the art of this mindful and wellbeing practise so much so that in a few years experts predict its popularity will equal time-tested yoga and meditation as primary relaxation options. In Australia we have only a handful of accredited professionals who practise this wellbeing technique and I am delighted that we have been able to include Forest Bathing into Wildfest this year thanks to Christie Little at Frontier Wellbeing. Studies are showing it has real health benefits.
So what is it all about? This is about listening to nature, taking in the sounds of the forest, feeling the clean fresh air on your skin and in your lungs, taking in the scent of the trees, feeling soil and water underfoot and the texture of bark. A guide helps you block out all other thoughts, leave work behind, push stress aside and slow down enough to let your senses start to work so you can focus on where you are. Some cleaver techniques and targeted activities to kick off your Forest Bathing adventure and you finish with a tea ceremony.
And where is it all going? You relax, you inhale phytoncides, the fresh air lowers your blood pressure, you create endorphins and it all leads us to a sense of wellbeing as you let nature in and start on your path to happiness. Seems pretty simple really and as you get better and better at it, you benefit more and more.
Time to activate your sixth sense and let nature change your state of mind.
For the first time in the Southern Highlands you can try Forest Bathing with a qualified instructor at our annual festival.
Go to Wildfest Experiences for more information
Wildlife Rescue South Coast
Woody and Kerstin are two of the dedicated members ensuring that animals such as wombats, kangaroos, possums, koalas, echidnas, reptiles, bats and birds all find their way into experienced care until they can be safely returned to the wild. An ordinary day for them consists of safeguarding the many creatures in their care which often involves four to six hours of individual animal feedings.
It takes great commitment to be a long term wildlife carer.
Additionally they educate the public on the issues facing our native wildlife and offer advice on what you can do to maintain an environment that helps our unique fauna survive.
We salute the work they do and not only is festival supporting them with much needed brand awareness and donations but we are also committed to an annual fundraiser to help with their ongoing vital work.
Every dollar helps from providing essential formulae for young mammals or medicine and necessary vet care. They receive no government funding so rely solely on public support and the personal investment of their many carers. Please help them continue their volunteer service by offering a donation – no amount is too great or small when it comes to the protection of our Australian wildlife.
For more information please go to http://www.wildlife-rescue.org.au/
Our Highland Guide
You can tell a lot about a man by his dog.
Hartley is part dingo, part cattle dog and completely enamoured by his owner Travis, so it’s no wonder that he is about as true blue as they come these days. Don’t let the north American accent fool you – he knows more about the parks and waterways in the Highlands than many people who have lived here all their life. And just like Russell Crowe, Peach Melba and the Beef Pie – we made the smart choice and have adopted him as one of our own!
Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to see what is right in front of you and that is what happened when Travis Frenay was coaxed to Australia in 2003. He came from a culture of outdoor adventures where hiking and canoeing are normal weekend activities to find a region so untouched, undiscovered and unknown to most Sydneysiders that he knew he wanted to explore it. Life here started in Robertson where he had easy access to all the National Parks and wilderness areas.
“the Highlands and bushland surrounding it, are amongst the most diverse and amazing places on the planet….it has everything that interests me from bushwalking to paddling, canyons, waterfalls, rainforest, sandstone escarpments, caves, climbing, mountain biking and even proximity to the coast and the beach when you want a change of scene. I was hooked first visit and knew this was my new home.”
His business started out of the need to really educate the local market. Working in the Outdoor Education industry for the Outdoor Education Group and now for TAFENSW he was pretty stunned by the poor quality of canoes and kayaks available so he started importing a better product, Wenonah Canoes. And that was when Paddle & Portage began and it has since evolved into a guiding business also with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Now for those of us not in the know, canoes and kayaks are different not due to the boat shape but in fact it’s all about the paddle. In a kayak you use a double blade paddle and sit lower in the bottom of the boat than you do when canoeing, which uses a single blade paddle usually while you are kneeling or sitting higher in the boat. So, when we reached out to Travis and asked him to be interviewed for The Fold its seemed appropriate that we chat in a boat on the water so he could show us some of his favourite local places and there are a lot. And that is exactly how he started to explore the area. He made friends and asked them to show him a few cool spots and it just grew from there.
“Visitors here don’t realise the extent of the wilderness and nature based activity options. Its endless and the animals in this country are incredible – everyone knows about wombats, koalas, kangaroos etc , but there are so many other creatures… water dragons, goannas’, azure kingfishers…Seeing my first quoll was mind blowing. “
Back then Travis had a huge education if front of him from learning where to go caving, paddling or hiking to studying local flora. “The only trees or plants I recognised were either weeds or introduced plants so most of the knowledge I learned from the Australian bush came from the National Parks Aboriginal discovery rangers and other guides. I had to start from scratch in terms of learning about the bush but the culture felt very familiar so that was really easy to assimilate into. Once I meet and married Sarah the process was complete and of course my kids Samson and Estelle were born here”
Life now is a juggle between running a business, teaching at TAFE, managing the kids and working with local companies like Wildfest running our programs. And both Travis and Sarah have found a way to make it all work. Quite often the whole family, Hartley included, are off together exploring some waterway on the weekend and just spending quality time together doing what they love best. So where are Travis’ favourite spots? we had to ask and whilst the list is very long a few stand out for him: Kangaroo River Gorge below Carrington Falls, Gerringong Falls and Bridal Falls in Robertson were top of mind. And exploring cool spots in the region is the future Travis hopes for his kids.
“We need to adopt the US mentality here for our National Parks. Given the size of the land and resources we need better access and infrastructure in place to allow more people to visit spots like Belmore Falls safely and to do that the NSW Parks need revenue. The money pit from government is not endless and this is a vast continent so something has to give. So if we want a well maintained track to the base of Belmore Falls, Carrington Falls and Fitzroy Falls then park fees are the way forward which can be topped up with sustainable tourism visitors. Not huge fees but something to help invest in the preservation and protection of these areas. Its workable if we get the right systems in place.”
In a recent article Travis wrote for Wild Australia he describes an incredible family canoeing trip into Tallowa Dam and up into Bundanoon Creek and we feel that his words best finish our insight into our adopted Highlander far better than we could. What he may not realise is that when he takes out guests to explore the area, his likeable nature, guiding style, respect for the outdoors and great tales of adventure make him the seasoned paddler they just want to hang out with.
“Canoeing and paddle sports have become the way in which I make a living, but I ‘ve been careful not to force this onto my children. Rather, they have been able to sample smaller and more enjoyable, experiences in the outdoors from a young age and they have come to the conclusion that it’s a wonderful thing to do……..I occasionally meet an old paddler who tells captivating tales of the Kangaroo River and the Shoalhaven before Tallowa Dam existed and I think how magical it would have been. 40 years later because of the dam, we have the unique privilege of paddling among the standing ghosts of the former trees which, in and of itself, is an incredibly magical experience. It’s fascinating to think that, in another 40 years, those trees will no longer be standing, but my son or daughter might be the older paddler telling stories of what is it was like to canoe through them as a child”
Mineral Rich Far Ago Hill
Award winning wine producer and interior designer Katrina Hill chats to Amanda Fry about the colour psychology of beige soil, why she wants to meet Francis Mallmann and how nature guided her first Syrosa. From colour watches to malolactic fermentation, Katrina Hill never set out to own and run a vineyard. In fact, with a busy interior design and colour consultation business in Redfern it was the furthest thing from her mind.
The 125-acre property she owned with then husband Ricardo, was a weekend retreat which her husband decided to turn into a vineyard. It turns out the property was perfect for grape growing and whilst the marriage did not survive, the grapes thrived in the mineral rich soil and Katrina found herself a single woman juggling two companies. She did what any entrepreneur would and threw herself into learning all about viticulture and through sheer hard work mixed with a lot of determination, a decade on, she has carved herself a name for being a vigneron to watch with her Canyonleigh property, Far Ago Hill.
Whilst her title reads interior designer and vineyard owner, we would argue that Katrina Hill is also gifted storyteller. She makes it sound so easy but we all know every overnight success has usually taken a decade of blood, sweat and tears as well as 80 hour working weeks to achieve. And what started as a country getaway went on to become one of the most extraordinary learning curves of Katrina’s life so far. As she says “You don’t know what you don’t know. But looking back, would I as a single woman get into agriculture? …..unlikely.”
“In Australia agriculture is a really unsupported industry. The government does not make it easy. We are taxed on wine sales, stock/pest control tax, wine levy tax, WET (wine equalisation tax) …and it goes on. The actual person on the land is making less than every other business in the sales chain. Tackling this industry for the first time is definitely something I would have preferred to do as a partnership but here I am.
It’s a love hate relationship. Some days I want to scream at my wombats who were offered 119 acres of land to roam on but of course choose the 6 acres my grapes are planted in to make their home or the universe for making every netting day, the hottest on record. As if it is not hard enough!!
But then there are the good days like today when my friend Carla calls from Wildes Meadow to tell me she is in love with the new Syrosa and taking some to dinner tonight to share with friends so they will all buy a case.“
Katrina has taught herself how to drive a bobcat and a tractor towing a 2-tonne sprayer, she makes emotional business decisions, regains her sanity with yoga, listens to angels in her dreams, unapologetically zigs when everybody else zags and generally defies convention. But make no mistake her shrewd and intelligently planned business decisions have created one of the most celebrated Pinot Gris in the state. As she said at an industry lunch “94 points from James Halliday, the highest rated Pinot Gris in the regions, served in fine establishments – the fairytale came true” And the magic continues with her sell out Shiraz and her newly released Syrosa that has the industry buzzing.
Initially her copper hued Pinot Gris was looked upon by some as breaking the mould, as it was not the expected yellow colour. Now 7 years on, at a time when aromatic wines are on trend, her characteristic hue is recognised and celebrated. The choice to add Shiraz to her wine portfolio in 2014 and 2016 was a self-confessed ‘emotional decision’ that produced an elegant wine with subtle pepper flavours that she refers to as, at her own peril, ‘Chick Shiraz’ as it’s a stark contrast to its punchy Barossa and Coonawarra cousins. And this year her Shiraz grapes became Far Ago Hills first Syrosa due to the what she describes as an episode right out of GOT “the rain is coming….the rain is coming” and boy did it. Picking early meant saving her grapes, so mother nature made the choice for her.
And it is the connection to earth that she respects and is the key driving force behind everything Katrina does. She trusts her instincts, respects the land with bio dynamic farming practises and never loses her sense of humour. She jokingly commented when describing her two worlds” the real struggle for me as an interior designer is that my soil is beige. I actually have the Dulux colour card for my soil! Do you know how boring the colour psychology of beige is? Now copper the colour of my grapes, that is a different story…”
Talking to Katrina is like laughing with your bestie but there is a very serious side to this trail blazer. Her global wine knowledge reveals her passion and love of this industry and her taste in dinner party guests reveals her interior design nature with her willingness to break bread with life’s more colourful characters.
When asked who she would most like to meet Katrina replied “A crazy South American chef called Francis Mallman who I have seen a Netflix documentary on – he is a misogynistic bastard, married so many times its outrageous but he does incredible things with food. Tying beasts to a cross and char grilling them…now that is someone I would love to chew that fat with”
After researching Francis we too would like to chat to this Argentinean chef. When asked about his menu and the vineyard his restaurant is located in, Francis replied “I love these wines. But I don’t believe in pairings.” He laughed. “I believe in clashes in the mouth, I like to eat something that’s delicious and a wine that contrasts with it, and they both fight me to convince me who is the best.”
Now that is one dinner party we would like a seat at.