Friendship on the Larapinta Trail

 

Friendship on the Larapinta Trail - link to Podcast

When people step out of their comfort zone together and share a unique experience, it creates growth and a relational bond.  When the salvos ran an adventure trek along the larapinta trail we ticked all these boxes.  It was fabulous!

 

I have always loved hiking.   There is something about being in the great outdoors for extended periods of time that has been good for my soul.  I can still recall when I was a young teenager going on a hike through Lorne on the Victorian coast and pitching a tent under a massive fern and having a fire and a cup of tea under its canopy surrounded by towering rainforest.  I was with a mate of mine and his two friends who I had never met before.  I recall enjoying this time together at a level that I was not accustomed to in my regular settings of lounge rooms or cafes. 

Ever since that time I have been trying to say yes to every opportunity to get out there into the bush.  Into the wild.  I’ve been in bushwalking clubs and most recently started trail running.  So when the salvos invited me to participate in a one week trek starting at Alice Springs along the MacDonnell Ranges to do sections of the larapinta trail I was as keen a mustard.

The idea was to leverage the corporate adventure market and get companies like Virgin Australia to use this opportunity to foster team work and camaraderie amongst its employees and raise some much needed funds for the work of the salvos.  My mate Peter was the organizer and wanted a front line salvo type to be on the team to share stories and experiences with the participants. 

So off I toddled with Peter to the airport and then to the hotel in Alice Springs to meet the 10 or so participants in this adventure.  Complete strangers but we were excited to get to know each other and experience a classic outback Australia adventure. 

Well it was just fabulous.  The scenery and vast expanses of the Australian landscape was awe inspiring.  The weather was perfect and the sky’s revealed the stars with a clarity I’d never seen before.  The sunrises and sunsets were spectacular and the ravines, gorges and water holes were refreshing and stunningly beautiful.

We trekked together every day and shared meals and before long became a comfortable and fun group.  The tough times and the wonderful times all blended together to create a shared experience with people of different fitness levels and life experiences that made a lovely supportive bond.  Even today some 5 years on I still smile and connect with these guys on facebook as they share snapshots of their lives. 

Two experiences I will recount to illustrate this fellowship.

We woke at like 3.30am one morning to climb Mt Sonder which is 1380 meters high at its highest peak.  There are two somewhat obvious but extremely relevant aspects to this introduction that I want to emphasize.  At 3.30am it is pitch black dark and 1380 meters is a long way up.  We were wearing headlamps and the track was not exactly a smooth well marked path.  There were varying level of fitness and I ended up sharing the journey with a lady named Sophie and we literally kept chatting to reassure ourselves that we were not alone and lost, to reassure each other that we were not completely insane and that climbing an enormous mountain at 4 o’clock in the morning would eventually turn out to be a good idea.  I think you could say we bonded. 

Eventually we reached the top and sat expectantly with the others who had arrived before us to watch the sunrise.  However there was one dynamic that dominated out minds.  Bridgette and Mandy had not arrived and we had heard from one of the guides that they were really struggling and would probably be turning back.  We all hoped they would make it and we could all experience this sunrise together.  Well the sun was just starting to discolor the sky when we heard the sound of walkers.  It was Bridgette and Mandy.  We all cheered and hugged and even cried together as we watched this once in a lifetime sunrise from this magnificent mountain top.  A shared experience none of us will ever forget.

A few of us flew to Uluru after the Larapinta trail experience and at one point Peter, Katie and I headed to the base of the rock one night and found a wooden seat, beautifully fashioned out of old branches.  The three of us sat there, in the dark and in silence for a few moments and just absorbed the deep presence and mysterious power of this amazing place together.   

We raised thousands of dollars for the salvos and Richard Branson even boosted this and matched dollar for dollar what we raised; so, at so many levels it was a great success.  But for me the most enduring memories are of the people, the amazing country and the surprising amount of love we experienced together in just one week. 

Here’s to adventures with friends we haven’t met yet! 

Can’t wait for the next opportunity!

 

Bless ya,

 

Bryce