Foundations
6 April 2026
Foundations
Getting ‘Back To Basics’ has been a needed and essential reset for most at times, but what does that mean for each of us? How does each season in life affect our future existence?
We all have our origin story. Each a different waveform. Yours may be high when mine is low and on it goes. How best we manage, sets a futuristic tone creating our signature fabric. All one can do is love theirs.
During my 20’s I lived in a vibrant street in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Made up of a trendy retail precinct, old Victorian style brick homes, timber miners cottages and other less trendy but more localised shops. It was a long thoroughfare that travelled through several suburbs.
Where I was situated, in a shared house with students, music, and like most young folk, a minimal budget to live on, I cherished the fact that there was, on my doorstep, a most wonderful retail store called ‘Back to Basics’. The proprietor sold mostly cleaning and wellness products in bulk format, where you could take your own canisters to refill all natural ingredient shampoo, dishwashing liquid, bubble bath, you get the drift.
This lady had cool crystals, books, artwork and the unbelievable gift of seeing spirit around you, and reading jewellery. It was an impressionable age, not quite the beginning of questioning where my place was on this planet, but it certainly stoked a fire within me.
This was a time when something pivots in one’s life. Randomly choosing Western Australia to relocate for a while. Left my job, admin assistant inside an oil refinery, packed my Kingswood wagon with possessions, booked the train from Adelaide to Perth then set the stage for the next two decades.
After two long days on the Indian Pacific train, I landed in a new city on a very quiet Christmas morning, Perth, still and fragrant. Immediately I felt peaceful. A city that was like a big country town, stretching along the coast of the Indian Ocean and parallel, the Darling Scarp, otherwise known as, The Perth hills. A climate, and another kind of, Australian bushland I would learn to love, care for and cherish, the incredibly beautiful flora; on Noongar country, traditional lands of the Whadjuk and Beeloo Noongar people.
The sky there is spectacular.
I found my feet quickly, mentoring young people not much younger than me, in a sector that would fill my cup each day. Education, Training and often laborious conservation and land management projects. T’was a dream job.
Learning about the land, trees, flowers, grasses, collecting seed and propagating was life well spent. There are some things I truly loved about the city too. No trading on Sunday’s other than farmers markets and the like. The Swan River and how accessible it is, and vivid jacaranda trees.
New family commitments, another pivot, establishing a hobby sized propagation enterprise where working from home became a preferred lifestyle. Growth literally became farmers markets weekly with culinary herbs, and native seedlings for landcare projects. Again living the dream ..insert waveform wherever you like ..
Volunteering, planting trees and more trees, with ‘Men of the Trees’
All good intentions, growth brought on more ambition with the bricks and mortar store offering Organic and Biodynamic produce and lovingly locally created health and wellness products and crafts. I guess my muse was that lady, and her little store that also grew to be a most wonderful treasure trove of goodness, moving to the centre of town in Geelong-Djilang, Kulin nation, Wadawurrung country.
It was also a time when Hemp clothing was popular in Australia. When iconic designers were established and flourishing from the 80’s creating quintessential Australiana clothing labels. Representing the country’s unique blend of rugged bush heritage, laid back coastal living and high end resort aesthetics. Brands defined by their durability, use of natural fibres and effortless style.
Music festivals were legendary events touring the country and fashion had profoundly shaped the Australian alternative music scene by serving as a visual shorthand for subcultural identity, political rebellion and regional pride. From the DIY aesthetic of the 1970’s punk scene to the modern Byron Bay boho look, clothing has often signalled a rejection of mainstream values in favour of creative independence.
I loved alternative fashion, my favourite op shop finds and handmade jewellery. A time when I would spend weeks making personalised gifts for friends. I guess I’ve always been mindful about investing in things that would last, whether that is something to wear or creating lasting memories to share.
Next chapter to follow
Living authentically hasn’t always been easy.
#Foundations #OriginStory #BackToBasics #LifeJourney #PersonalStory #treesforlife #treesforhabitat #healmanytrees