Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

Sand is sacred. We make mandalas and trace stories there. Sand is ancient shells and a measure of time as it falls. On Moreton Island I spent a night sleeping alone atop the sand dunes. It was dusk and the sand was gold, shifting slightly in a soft wind. At twilight a large crow landed on a dune above me and rested there, as though a guardian. I slept lightly through the changing moods of the night. Wind sculpted the sand with force, echoing in different pitches through the dunes. The stars sent me soul searching, begging universal questions of life. This moment was spiritually and emotionally transforming. I emerged from the dunes even more dedicated to stewardship of our wild places. From this image I savor the peace of being close to nature, without light pollution or manmade sound but just me, a crow, wind, sand, and stars.