kateking48

Always we begin again

Always we begin again St Benedict At the last moment I had to cancel my Overland hike from Dove Lake to Lake St Claire in Tasmania in April. My father’s surgery was urgent and I was the only family member available to look after him post-op. I forgot my disappointment as I coached my fatherContinue reading “Always we begin again”

Another pilgrimage

In 3 weeks I will join Sarah Bachelard on a Pilgrimage along Tasmania’s Overland Track. In six days our small band will walk from Waldheim and Cradle Mountain south to icy Lake St Clair. Contemplative community leader Sarah will keep us in a “spirit of pilgrimage, attentive to the voice of the country and toContinue reading “Another pilgrimage”

The Journey Inward

I’ve been absent from A Contemplative Camino lately setting up a new website The Journey Inward. My journals formed the basis of my book A Contemplative Camino and I decided to share my small wisdoms on journal writing on a new blog. I’ve been writing a journal since I was 10 years old – andContinue reading “The Journey Inward”

Western Plains Zoo

I’ve never been a fan of zoos. Animals confined to small spaces in foreign climates and fed alien foods break my heart. But if you have to have one to save a species then the Western Plains Zoo is a good compromise. We had a perfect spring day to cycle from one paddock to another.Continue reading “Western Plains Zoo”

Where have I been?

Walking with my sister Deb in north-western NSW! On the first day we left her home near Molong and drove to Goobang National Park near Parkes. Our bush walk was stymied by a closed road so we took a rocky road up to Caloma trig and a stunning vista. From Caloma the plains spread hundredsContinue reading “Where have I been?”

Lessons from a forest

When I enter the embrace of a forest my jaw slackens and my heart rate drops. Birds swoop and flit among the leaves overhead lifting my spirits skywards. Whenever I need a rest, I search out trees. Solid and grounded they teach me how to be still.Light filtered through the newly budded chestnut leaves deepContinue reading “Lessons from a forest”

Home in pandemic times

We live in pandemic times. There has been no Camino for me this year. The world has been in ‘lock-down’, we have been ‘sheltering in place’, the latter being a more inviting term for staying home from work and play. Many of my neighbours have discovered or rediscovered the small pleasures of home: planting aContinue reading “Home in pandemic times”

Coming home

It seems to me that we need to leave home to value it. The going out sharpens our appreciation of the coming in.When I came home from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port after the last pilgrimage I wrote in my journal: “I’m home. I’m at home. This work, this landscape, these birds and trees, the kangaroos grazing over theContinue reading “Coming home”

What to take on Camino?

I thought I’d cut the contents of my Camino pack to the bone – until I climbed the first mountain out of Valcarlos. On my bunk in Roncesvalles, aching and exhausted, I agonised over what to throw into the huge box of rejects at the back door of the monastery. In Pamplona I sent aheadContinue reading “What to take on Camino?”

The long waterhole

My hometown Gilgandra hugs the banks of the Castlereagh River. The river runs underground for most of its course, for most of the time, but at Gilgandra surfaces to form a permanent waterhole. Of course the Aboriginal people of this area flocked to the waterhole, especially in dry times. The waterhole was a meeting placeContinue reading “The long waterhole”