Seed Bearing Fruit: brooke's travels to shark bay

Melbourne has welcomed me home with it's symphony of seasons after my travels to the beautiful Shark Bay in Western Australia to visit my beautiful cousin. I've not been on an airplane for nearly two years, so this time I was very aware of my need to travel as well as I could (airplanes and airports expose us to radiation) without worrying about being free of my normal self-care routine. I'm pleased to say that my body has handled the travel better than ever before despite long hours on the road, eating more conventional than organic produce, and a routine that did not include my normal self-care practices. Hooray!

Denham, Shark Bay, Western Australia

Getting my earthing on!

I had such a great time with my cousin it's hard to know where to start! My travels to Shark Bay saw me facing many of my fears, like holding a thorny devil and riding a camel, as well as going on a scenic flight in a small plane! Shark Bay is located at the most western point of Australia and is a place almost untouched by humans. I stayed with my cousin and her awesome trivia-loving, karaoke-singing flatmate in Denham, which is a coastal town down the highway from Monkey Mia. The air smelled of the ocean and the locals walked around barefoot, never bothering to lock their cars or their homes. It's a beautiful place with beautiful people.

My gorgeous cousin Skye and I...

...in her beloved van, The Skoobe Van

Some of the many highlights from my travels were seeing my first shooting star at the hot tub fed by a natural spring in the middle of the desert, hanging out with my cousin and her friends at Monkey Mia, flying over Shark Bay, seeing dugongs and dolphins on a wildlife cruise, hugging a camel after riding a camel, road tripping to Perth with my cousin after my bus was cancelled and sleeping in her van at a 24 hour servo! And then giggling hysterically as we quoted Austin Powers "this is me in a nutshell" as we tried to go to sleep, her in the back, me in the front, rugged up, with a pile of stuff between us that any hoarder would be proud of!

The plane and pilot...

... and me ready to fly

The jetty to the boat at Monkey Mia

Do you think sitting on a net above the water is like walking on water?!

During my travels, I made sure I maintained a baseline of self-care every day. I drank up to 3 litres of water a day, I took chlorella tablets to help my body detoxify as well as daily probiotics and digestive enzymes, I did dry skin brushing before my showers, I went walking, I ate a vegan diet, and I spent quality time with my cousin. Thanks to my cousin's stash of dry organic food I was able to mix in some high-quality food with conventional produce and still ate more than 50% raw food, including fruit bowls for breakfast and fresh salads during the day. Eating out was a bit trickier as the vegan food available was slightly outside my day-to-day diet, but the good thing is I didn't suffer any digestive troubles! In fact, my body was efficiently getting rid of waste, which tells me my body is healing well and can cope with the stresses of travelling without negatively impacting on my health and my long-term recovery from ME/CFS.

Hello, there's a thorny devil on the road!

What a dopey little guy...

...but awake enough to wave at us!

Now that I am home, I am cleansing my body through juice fasting, coffee enemas, oil pulling, chlorella tablets and lots of sleep! I've come down with a cold and cough, but to me, this is a sign that my body is trying to get rid of the nasty bugs. With this self-care routine, my body only took a day to get over the travel fatigue! I feel so satisfied with my travels to the other side of Australia. Even though I've needed to be diligent about how I've travelled and made some compromises along the way with my diet, the memories shared with my cousin make it all worth it! My love tank is full and this keeps me healthy just as much as my plant-based diet and self-care practices!