After the Heat, Colour

I’ve done many trips through the Australian outback, and there’s something about the vastness of it that has always stayed with me.

From a distance, it can look harsh and empty. But when you’re actually in it, it’s anything but. The colours are constantly changing. The light hits every rock, tree and patch of dirt differently, shifting the landscape like a kaleidoscope every few minutes.

One of the most life-changing moments of my life happened somewhere between Port Augusta and Coober Pedy.

My brother, sister and I foolishly decided to drive onto a salt lake and got completely bogged. It was 49 degrees, we were stranded, and for a while we genuinely thought we were at death’s door.

Eventually, some passers-by found us and helped us out.

It was terrifying, but it also became this strange, formative experience for the three of us. We bonded in a way I’ll never forget. And that night, after everything that had happened, we watched the most incredible lightning storm roll across the desert.

I still think about that contrast, how quickly a landscape, or a moment, can shift. Fear into relief. Isolation into connection. A place that felt completely unforgiving becoming one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen.

There’s something in that which connects deeply to Side Quest Stories.

Healing isn’t always about becoming who you were before. Sometimes it’s about learning to see yourself, and the landscape of your life, differently. After something has shaken you, slowly the colour comes back. New things grow. You notice things that perhaps you couldn’t see before.