What a wonderful world

What A Wonderful World

Written 16^th May, Lord Howe Island

The rain stopped overnight so at sunrise I headed out from my cabin to run the scenic and flat 5km road along Lord Howe Island’s main beaches. I figured I’d go up and back for a 10k run then maybe find some hills for a bit of higher intensity training.

The plan changed when I got to the start of the road- about 1 km from the cabin- and I saw the mountains above me in the dawn light. Hmmm, I thought, I haven’t been up there yet. Why not see what the view is like at the top.

208 metres up a mountain track later I found out. To use an over-used word, it was awesome! Stunning. Definitely picture postcard perfect.  

In case you didn’t know, Lord Howe Island is a small island in the Pacific. It has a population of 450 and a maximum visitor number of 420 at any one time. There are few cars, few people, no large mammals or marsupials,  and lots of birds, flowers. Inhabitants of the island are mainly 6^th and 7^th generation descendants of American whalers, and the architecture is British Australian. Annual rainfall is high and the place is a cacophony of green and blue. Small cattle farms and cottages dot the island giving the panorama the look of an English village framed by the iconic and majestic Mt. Gower, a shallow lagoon and the deep blue ocean. The view is most definitely worth the climb. As I said - its picture postcard perfect.

 

The climb itself was reasonably hard when done at pace, and very much uphill but I handled it well, the view was spectacular, the early morning stunning, and the feeling of achievement was amazing. One of those moments when you say to yourself ‘What a wonderful world’

“I see trees of green........ red roses too
I see em bloom..... for me and for you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.

Oh, yeeeaahhhhh.”

So here’s today’s lesson –

It’s a wonderful world. Let’s take the time to look around and really see it. Stop and look, and see the beauty of our lives.

And let’s also remember: we might just have to climb a hill, or do something hard, in order to get the best view of our lives.

Lastly, let’s be prepared to change ‘the planned road run’ (our usual routine) for a last-minute ‘climb up the mountain’ (do something different). Cape Diem! It will almost certainly be worth it.

Till next time, 'keep living, laughing, lovin' and runnin'

WJ (Wandering James, the Slow Runner)