Spirit of a Place

A fifty-eight year old landscape architect from Brisbane, Australia who spent his entire life living within twelve square miles from his home is thrust out on his own after writing a note to his wife of thirty three years and leaving it on the kitchen table. He is leaving her and takes a journey into the unknowns.
Wil Sinclair was married with two grown up children. He is conservative and sedate, a traditional man. It all started during a holiday in Turkey with his wife, Betty. The Led Zeppelin words, “Babe, I’m Gonno Leave You”, echoing in his mind as they explored this fascinating land.
A flick of a coin in his trusty RAV 4 motor car outside of now closed architectural office in Toowong led Wil to a rented caravan beside the Pacific Ocean at Woolgoolga in Northern New South Wales. It’s here he chances a conversation with a bloke called John who says to Wil, “There’s a spirit in everything. Our surroundings are collections of individual spirits, resonating, mingling and creating the feelings we have with our surroundings. Our surroundings are collections of energies and spirits and we can reach out and connect to them.”
Was it a silly thing to say? Not for Wil. He had a need to search for something new and decided to journey to places unknown to find their spirits, hoping he could attach himself to them and receive them as some form of enlightenment. It became a journey of questioning, frustrations, bitterness and awakening to something deep and emotional. Wil realised there are spirits and they are in the land. The land holds its spirits. The place is the spirit and not the spirit being the place. So many conundrums on offer as he explores the complexities of spirituality. How to relate with them becomes his journey.
Something of nature, history and knowledge help to open pathways to spirits. Although for Wil it became the simple act of resonating with nature and connecting with his surroundings.
His discoveries opened up a new pathway for him as a landscape architect and producing a ‘new’ Wil. He had discovered harmony and connectedness to nature and the wonderful gift nature’s spirits offer.