What? Is an old bloke like you going to climb Mount Alum? And, I said, my old wife is joining me too. Nah, it wasn’t really like that but there was an intimation that we would both be found dead on the track the following day. The two young teenagers at our lodgings looked around frantically for paper and pen (as though I might drop dead before I even started if they took too long). They wanted to be part of this trek no matter how, or if, it turned out.
So they drew a rough map – right, then left then behind the school (probably the one they had left recently), then right again where you see dug up dirt, and there is the last mountain you will ever climb. Their mum, who owned our room, started all this, when I asked if there was anything exciting to do in Bulahdelah that was out of the ordinary. She also cooked us a meal, which is unusual for a motel, and gave us a bottle of wine and some home made biscuits, especially unusual. It was more difficult to explain my unusualness however, when she enquired why, in the moonless night, would I be going down the highway for a walk.
In the morning I bought croissants from the bakerie, asking the server what the word ‘Alum’ meant – she felt embarrassed that she did not know so I told her I would find out. But I would first visit this much talked about sacred mountain. It was quite flat as we entered this vast sacred site where two carvings on two huge trees served as an unusual entrance, like two majestic sentinels. It soon became steep and Corrie struggled with her breathing, so we slowed down. She rested a little and eventually made it the whole way. Meantime my fears from the night before had vanished. I was ‘on’ with my medication, hydrated and feeling energised.
Obviously there had been a fire through this whole area, but the recovery had been remarkable. The ground cover of ferns hid the blackened earth with Australian grass trees and palms scattered between huge boulders that had ventured from the top, some balancing improbably on each other. Narrow cliff pathways and rock covered paths led us to the top. We find it unusual (that word again) that no matter how difficult the walk, when you are excited about it, or you have distractions like this mountain had to offer, it’s not so difficult.
As we skipped down and through this beautiful piece of nature, the sunlight was dancing through the trees with images constantly changing. It was a delightful little adventure and we would have liked to share it with our two young map drawers. But the bakerie’s croissants drew us back, and now the young server will no longer be embarrassed, for she is confident that she knows what Alum means. So if the word Alum is on its own it means phosphate and is good for gardening. It also means ‘purification of water’.

Imagine if we had the power to be
The person who could do most any thing,
Contented so our mind could wrestle free
Away from thoughts that misery can bring.
Imagine that we were not meant to suffer
There is a purpose we’re not meant to know,
And even tough it means that life is tougher
It also maybe means we’re meant to grow.
Imagine that the steep hill leads somewhere
It keeps the mind alert, the body strong,
And when you reach the top, or nearly there
You have more words to sing another song.
Imagination then may free our mind
So many possibilities to find.