Australia: Katoomba - where forest spirits and magic mushrooms live
My farewell with Australia happens in the Blue mountains. I cannot leave without going back to this place. (My first encounter with the Blue mountains in the post on Blue mountains - where bliss is a choice) This time we visit the mountain town of Katoomba.
This is a parallel world existing just an hour away from Sydney. In my memory it will basically remain the home of: mountain spirits, forest ghosts, elves, the Forest Santa Claus, magic mushrooms, (surely) some marijuana culture, aboriginal art and hippy communities.
The spirit of the town is what I would imagine the spirit of a mountain town would be in a fairy tale with dwarfs and creatures with a few heads which have appeared after they have gulped a piece of the magic mushroom. The forest people in Katoomba are somehow different, they have their own irradiance - they radiate freedom, calmness, friendliness. They work in their little ateliers for lamps and woven clothing and one could see they have made conscious choice to not obey the conventional lifestyle imposed by the world. There is murals painted on the houses around town, which tell even more stories about what exists beyond the visible.
We take a meal at the Yellow Deli, which sort of tops the peculiarity of this place. The Yellow Deli is basically a home of some people from a world religious community called Twelve Tribes. The sources about it are diverse and very controversial, so I do not have enough knowledge to judge where the truth lies, but I would base my opinions simply on what I saw there and the conversations I had.
The people running the Yellow Deli (a little restaurant) are members of the Twelve Tribes community. Their community rules lay on the beliefs that people should only be driven by love and care for one another. In practice that means - they have a common wallet, no one owns their own money, all the money for the community is earned in a common fund from the activity of the Deli, all their kids are home schooled and they can only marry people from the community. Their principles and controversies go on and on, but the fact is - the Yellow Deli offers the coziest atmosphere, the most real food and the most friendly and welcoming staff...
This is a parallel world existing just an hour away from Sydney. In my memory it will basically remain the home of: mountain spirits, forest ghosts, elves, the Forest Santa Claus, magic mushrooms, (surely) some marijuana culture, aboriginal art and hippy communities.
Beyond the visible
The spirit of the town is what I would imagine the spirit of a mountain town would be in a fairy tale with dwarfs and creatures with a few heads which have appeared after they have gulped a piece of the magic mushroom. The forest people in Katoomba are somehow different, they have their own irradiance - they radiate freedom, calmness, friendliness. They work in their little ateliers for lamps and woven clothing and one could see they have made conscious choice to not obey the conventional lifestyle imposed by the world. There is murals painted on the houses around town, which tell even more stories about what exists beyond the visible.
Translating unconventional living into reality
We take a meal at the Yellow Deli, which sort of tops the peculiarity of this place. The Yellow Deli is basically a home of some people from a world religious community called Twelve Tribes. The sources about it are diverse and very controversial, so I do not have enough knowledge to judge where the truth lies, but I would base my opinions simply on what I saw there and the conversations I had.
The people running the Yellow Deli (a little restaurant) are members of the Twelve Tribes community. Their community rules lay on the beliefs that people should only be driven by love and care for one another. In practice that means - they have a common wallet, no one owns their own money, all the money for the community is earned in a common fund from the activity of the Deli, all their kids are home schooled and they can only marry people from the community. Their principles and controversies go on and on, but the fact is - the Yellow Deli offers the coziest atmosphere, the most real food and the most friendly and welcoming staff...
