Could it be a travel blog with that title? As much as any journey, the life cycle moves through time and territory not travelled through before. So yes, it can also be a travel-related blog while deeply rooted in the “big stuff” of life.
I arrived in Bergen, Norway just over a week ago. Since then my mother has passed away, not unexpectedly, and my daughter has given birth to her first child. What a whirlwind of emotions as I truly have inhabited a liminal space, within a time, within a physical displacement from known anchors to place and time, halfway around our beautiful planet. Also, it is nearly the equinox which is also a place marker for seasonal change and despite the obvious climate differences between subtropical Brisbane and subarctic Bergen, I am observing the awakening of the natural world while holding the momentous life events in a mystical way.
Choosing to turn towards life in planning to leave my homeland while my mother was moving towards her death from a degenerative disease she had faced with unspoken stoicism for 40 years, was not an easy or typical choice to make. I did find an inner peace about the decision however it required a quiet, honest determination that was counter-intuitive. I judged myself and felt the weight of societal norms, so navigating through that was at times difficult and troubling. Lightly holding onto my commitment to nurturing the perinatal period of my first grandchild and his parents in their own family evolution is fundamental to my understanding of individual and collective wellbeing. It was this that kept me on the journey before the plane left the ground.
Last time I was in Bergen I was here to celebrate the wedding of my daughter and son-in-law. It was June 2023 and unusually sunny which was very welcome and special in its own way. This time I have had a more realistic experience of Bergen weather – rainy, windy and cold. The kind of weather that would make your average Queenslander metaphorically run for the hills, which in reality would mean the weather would be colder and darker on any one of the seven mountains surrounding the city, so not at all feasible as an escape. Actually there are quite a few Australian accents floating around the city as some Aussies take advantage of Norwegian fjord cruises that have been well-marketed to the wanderlust that is embedded and celebrated as a unique characteristic of the national psyche as much as “mateship”. I am here for about 10 weeks so I am able to take a meandering approach to experiencing a different place and culture. Such a luxury! One of which I am aware and grateful for, in equal measures
Of course, my primary purpose for being here is to support the beginning of a family, a new branch of my family tree and not to be a tourist. However, in the everyday and often mundane things I get to explore in minutiae cultural norms that expand my own life experience. And isn’t that what we all want from travelling? I am going to document here some of those small things through photos.
Presence in Place 