We protect what we love

FRIDAY 10.02. 2023.

It's that time of the week again, folks! Time to (almost) put the laptop away, take a deep breath and get ready for a weekend of reconnecting with nature, catching up with friends and maybe even partake in a lazy Sunday morning sleep-in 😏

Unless you are one of the thousands of people descending on the beautiful and sulfur-scented town of Rotorua in Aotearoa/ New Zealand for the long-awaited return of Tarawera! 🙌🏽 Many Australians make the pilgrimage to this event each year, however, travel restrictions have hampered race plans for the past two years. Like most major events of the past few months, this event has also been affected by 'unprecedented' weather, with incredible amounts of rain falling across the North Island in the past few weeks, leading to flash flooding, landslips, widespread flooding and devastatingly, deaths.

We wish everyone taking to the trails this weekend a safe and fun experience, and a special shout out to FWP crew Lauren and Julie who are taking part. If you see a FWP teeshirt out in the wild, be sure to say hey! 👋🏼🙂

In this week's newsletter, Will is bringing you some stories from the locals of the Illawarra Escarpment, to find out what it's like to run through this varied and beautiful ecosystem. We are also excited to welcome friend of FWP Majell Backhausen back, to hear more about the campaign to create the Great Forest National Park in Victoria's Central Highlands, and what initiatives Majell and Patagonia have underway to help make this a reality.

Sit back, enjoy and let's get on with the show!

🦆 🌧️ 🦆

EXPERIENCE THE ILLAWARRA ESCARPMENT

with Will Williams

Firetrail running into escarpment mist (Photo: Red Barnett)

Talk to anyone who runs regularly in the Illawarra escarpment and you’ll immediately be overwhelmed with the urge to go do it yourself. The escarpment is the stunning mountain range, just south of Sydney, that hugs the coastline from the Royal National Park down to Kiama. The city of Wollongong is lucky to have the Pacific Ocean on its doorstep to the east, and the escarpment to its west. Those who live in Wollongong or the surrounding Illawarra will know the familiar ‘I’m home’ feeling as they start the descent down one of the escarpment’s passes.

Running in the escarpment ‘connects me to nature and brings a sense of peace to my mind’, says Michelle Zammit.

‘It fills my cup’, says Red Barnett. ‘It brings so much joy when you are out there on a run with like-minded people’. 

‘It makes me feel free’, adds Ange Tokley.

Zammit, Barnett and Tokley are regulars on the escarpment trails and members of the Seacliff Coasters. The Coasters are an Illawarra-based group for trail runners who run the coast and in the escarpment and Royal National Park. If you want to get a feel for the escarpment experience, the Coasters are your people!

 Looking out over the Illawarra (Photo: Red Barnett)

At For Wild Places, we want to shorten the gap between passion and nature; the way things currently are, and the way they should be. We aim to reconnect trail runners with the places they love to explore, and through education, awareness and action allow them the agency to become sports activists. The escarpment is a perfect, wild place to ignite a passion for environmental activism.

Connection between people and place is key to this. ‘It's raw beauty’, says Zammit when reflecting on what makes the escarpment special. ‘The greens, the beautiful melodies of the birds, particularly the lyrebirds’.

‘The wildlife and amazing foliage’ added Tokley. 

‘There is no education without nature’, said Barnett, quoting Charlotte Mason. The escarpment ‘holds so many stories and houses so much wonderful wildlife and foliage; so much knowledge to be taught’, she added.

Descending into escarpment rainforest

Photo: Michelle Zammit

There are varying ecosystems and ecological communities in the escarpment including eucalypt forests, subtropical rainforest and temperate rainforest. These provide wonderful habitats for a wide range of native bird species including the Noisy Pitta, Australian Brush-turkey and Superb Lyrebird.

The escarpment has an incredible array of sounds that take you out of everyday life and enable you to be present. ‘The whip birds singing!’, says Tokley, imagining the sounds.

‘Nothing beats hearing a lyrebird calling out’, says Zammit. ‘I also love hearing the raindrops fall on the big leaves and the ferns’, she added.

‘The sounds of water trickling or the wind blowing’, says Barnett. ‘The crunching of different terrain underfoot and the sounds of the unknown. During the day you can hear the birds chirping, cicadas singing, and at times just quiet. At night you can hear the rustling (sometimes a bit spooky) and scurrying of the local wildlife and the occasional hooting owl!’.

All women noted the benefits to mental health of running escarpment trails. Zammit runs to ‘get answers. Running allows me to think about things and work stuff out in my head’, she added.

Zammit, Tokley and Barnett all stressed their ‘luck’ to live so close to such a beautiful, wild place. But only by exploring these places; discovering the sounds, micro-climates, terrains etc, can we really connect and appreciate their importance.

Running among escarpment eucalypts (Photo: Ange Tokely)

So if you’re visiting the Illawarra, check out the escarpment trails. If you haven’t already, explore and discover the wild places near you; you’ll quickly fall in love and want to join with others to protect them from harm.

For now, happy trails! I need to chuck some shoes on and head on up into the escarpment for a few hours! 🙂🏃🏻‍♂️

🌊 🏃‍♀️ 🌊

TRAIL CHAT #10 WITH MAJELL BACKHAUSEN

Talking all things Great Forest National Park

Image: Jarrah Lynch for Patagonia

Join our next Trail Chat to hear from Victorian-based runner, advocate and oats addict, Majell Backhausen. Majell recently ran 273 km across the proposed Great Forest National Park to learn more about this special place, and why it should be protected as a National Park. Majell is an ultra-trail runner and an environmental advocate, as well as one of the co-founders of For Wild Places. Majell has since joined the team at Wild Allies to bring Dakota Jones' Footprints Camp to Australia, with the support of Patagonia, which aims to create the next generation of sport climate leaders.

Tune in on Thursday 3rd March at 12 pm to hear about the Great Forest campaign and other campaign initiatives including Patagonia’s ‘End to an End’ film and the upcoming Footprints Running Camp.

RSVP here, and see you there!

🌳 🐨 🌳

And that's it for another week, folks! Next Friday we are excited to bring you BIG NEWS of the launch of TRACTION: Trail Action, an initiative to empower trail users to help maintain and care for our incredible network of trails.

If you're a current member, keep an eye on your inbox for your digital copy of the FWP Quarterly, which gives you a behind-the-scenes of what FWP has achieved over the past 12 months and or plans for 2023. If you'd like to get in on the action, sign up today to become a FWP Member (monthly & annual payment options available) and you can join in the fun!

Thank you as always for the ongoing support, and have a wonderful weekend exploring, snoozing and soaking up the summer sunshine! As always, THANK YOU for taking the time, for wild places.

Hilary, Will & the For Wild Places team

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UPCOMING EVENTS

25/02 TRACTION: Yarra Bend | Details coming soon!

03/03 Trail Chat #10 with Majell Backhausen | RSVP

05/03 TRACTION: Gariwerd | Details coming soon!

11-12/03 TRACTION @ Waurburton Trail Fest | Details

We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This email was compiled on the lands of the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation. To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.