The ‘Sunshower’ 🌦️🌈

A little bit of news to brighten your day

Wangat Lodge - Simply, How Life Should Be!

Sunshowers are these beautiful, incomprehensible moments in nature that pause us, raise our shoulders, chins and eyes and bring us directly into that moment to see what is really there; for most of us in the throes of modern life, is the hardest thing of all to see.*

So this, ‘The Sunshower’, is a communicable burst, sporadically issued in between my Quarterly Wangat newsletter, ‘The Dubya, Dubya, Dubya’, to share with you all the sunshower moments of my days here at the lodge. I hope they will be inspiring, life affirming and full of hope for you too!

*I have coined and paraphrased this truism from J.A. Baker, The Peregrine and learnt of it from my great mate and co-facilitator of our Bird Language courses and retreats. 

COMING SOON ways to spend time in nature with Wangat Lodge…

Wangat On Tour to the Blue Mountains
Treat yourself to a yoga, bushwalking, wholefood and wellbeing (but VERY down-to-Earth!) 5-day retreat with Back to Nature Retreats and Wangat’s Dan. Staying at historic, gorgeous guesthouse, Glenella, in Blackheath, Blue Mountains.

May 20-24 2024. There are ONLY TWO SPOTS LEFT!!

More info and bookings… https://www.francescadavyyoga.com.au/retreats

Bird Language Online

QUICK! Our world famous (yes we have had international participants!) 6 week Bird Language Zoom Course begins THIS THURSDAY! Whilst not entirely “outdoors”, I guarantee you will be more inspired and connected to birdlife and natural spaces for the rest of your life! Not sure what it's all about? Then join us and find out!

More info and to book - https://andrewthebirdguy.com/

n.b. All sessions are recorded, so if you miss one you can catch up.

Friends of Wangat Family Camp

The epitome of a stay at Wangat. A family is any way you want to define it! Each family gets their own sleeping space (go to website for options) and a magical stay as the Wangat mentors facilitate bushwalks, bushcrafts, nature-play, music jams, and share their own passion and experiences that have made them deeply connected to nature and community.

Winter camp July 15-19 2024.

More info and bookings - https://www.wangat.com.au/friendsofwangat

And check this OOOUUUTTT! Made by previous custodian of Wangat, Ken Rubeli’s daughter, Freya Rubeli, a beautiful little slice of the energy that is Friends of Wangat Family Camps - Friends of Wangat Family Camps

Food For Thought…

📖 Regenesis, Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet. By George Monbiot, Penguin Books 2023

This is the first Monbiot book I have read (to be honest at this moment I am about ¾ through it, as I am an extraordinarily slow reader) but already readily agree with so many of the testimonials on it’s jacket, including this one: ‘Monbiot exposes, with journalistic flair, the “gulf between perception and reality” about where and how our food is produced…bristling with ideas and imagination’, by Laura Battle, Financial Times. Laura nails the concept that so many of us have for most of the biggest issues in her words, “the gulf between perception and reality”. Honestly, I feel like a different person (for the better) for having read this book. It challenges many of my daily choices, at the same time empowering me to make better ones with a deeper more nuanced understanding. Yes, it is very confronting, but also so inspiring and exciting…whether reading about the mind-blowing ecology beneath our feet, or through the wonderful characters and the sympathetic, in-touch work they are doing! I have a page full of questions I have jotted down as I read, but also a heart, mind and soul full of gratitude for having read this book and thus connected more honestly with the way my species interacts with land and resources for the most important aspect of all, our food. I love the premise that managing for biodiversity on Earth, we also create a more wonderful, beautiful and resilient planet (and still eat well!). 

🎧 The Solutionists, with Mark Scott. S2 E4: ‘Turning pages, changing lives - How the humanities teach us to live in uncertain times.’ A podcast from University of Sydney & Produced by Deadset Studios

I have grown to love this newish podcast. And this episode had me buzzing! A discussion with Sophie Gee (alumna and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at University of Sydney) got me even more motivated to set aside purposeful reading time everyday! I wake specifically at 5am most mornings to spend an hour reading. Sophie Gee spoke evocatively how reading literature (and investing time and energy into the arts) prepares for the most certain of all things in life - uncertainty. I’m not going to try and explain what the podcast does so engagingly, but that it resonates with one of my guiding philosophies of facilitating experiences here at Wangat - that experiencing uncertainty (no we can’t control what will happen over the next 5-10 years, let alone the next 5 minutes - just try, and tell me if any unplanned thoughts came into your head!?), discomfort and difficulty are guaranteed - even on a daily basis - and acceptance in the moment is the key. And then our resilience to walk forward to founded on what we have prioritised in our life…and as Sphie and Mark Scott (podcast host) explore, is our diet of the Arts - and the brilliant and wise minds that mould years and decades of deep thought into the works! 

Thanks so much for reading. Please get in touch with any thoughts, questions and comments that arise and share the love by forwarding this newsletter forward.

Go well! Dan