ABOUT PLUM GORGEOUS

Plum Gorgeous is a private conservation habitat on Australia's Sunshine Coast. We welcome visitors who are interested in environmental sustainability, rainforest rejuvenation and learning about Australia’s unique bush heritage and wildlife.

At heart, the aim of our work at Plum Gorgeous is a perpetual practice of mētta meditation – a practice of cultivating loving awareness and deep appreciation for the world around us.

It is from this centered space that the clarity to act wisely to create positive change arises.

Metta is a recognition of the basic solidarity we have with every sentient being – our shared aspiration to escape suffering and experience fulfillment. Our guiding philosophy at Plum Gorgeous is to show loving kindness for all species and aspects of the ecosystem.

To make the most of your time in the rainforest, we invite you to join us in this practice. Below are some details for how you might get started.

Worlds hidden in plain sight

The rainforest is home to many species that have learnt throughout history to be wary of humans. Our initial presence signals danger and for good reason – we’re the most dangerous and destructive species on earth.

With the exception of indigenous cultures and a select few others, as human civilisations have developed, we’ve largely lost sight of ourselves as part of the natural environment.

Instead, we have come to rationalise the Earth’s resources as ours for the taking, but this sense of separation and superiority is itself irrational.

Did you know that bats communicate in sentences? That crows and magpies can work out complex mathematical equations? Trees speak to one another through networks of fungal undergrowth and send nutrients to protect one another if they’re hit by disease or hazards.

In the forest – as picture-perfect as it may be – you’re never in a two-dimensional hallmark card. In the forest, you’re steeped directly within a network of symbiotic relationships, complex patterns and hidden languages.

In the forest, entire alternate universes are playing out in real time, right before our eyes. Every bird learns its song, every beehive has a workforce culture, every bandicoot digs it’s burrow.

Daily life plays out differently across the species but the same sun shines on all of us.

Nature itself remains in tune and perpetually communicating, despite humans having let go of our fluency of that language. Being sensory beings ourselves, we can begin to reconnect anytime by tuning into the experiences of other sentient beings as they go about their lives.

The music and rhythm of the rainforest

Take the songbird for example. The songbirds found in gardens around the world today have a surprisingly distinct origin. They all evolved from a common ancestor that emerged from Australia around 24 million years ago. What you’re hearing is music handed down from generation to generation.

Most Songbirds learn their songs from their parents along with the distinct sounds of the environment around them. Once they grow up, they stick with their songs for life. So, when you listen to the songbirds, you’re being offered insight into ancient languages and the evolutionary history of the world.

Our natural sound world is rich in cultural history and when we “get the sound right” everything else falls into place.

Sound has a unique role to play in helping us see things afresh and go beyond our single species bubble of communicating only with ourselves. With the extinction of each species, we lose that cultural history forever.

Tuning in, on the other hand, teaches us about other worlds within our ecosystem and the impacts – both positive and negative – that human behaviour can have on those worlds.

Listening to a whole ecosystem you can learn about life as it developed over millions of years.

…But how exactly can you do that, you may ask?

Through the vibrancy of stillness

At Plum Gorgeous, we encourage stillness and noble silence in the rainforest. It’s a simple way to settle into mētta meditation and tune into the countless vibrant details and experiences happening at any given moment across the environment and all its inhabitants.

If you sit quietly at the Billabong, for example, take your time to look, feel, smell and listen.

It’s a process of becoming acquainted – assessing the surrounds and grounding yourself within it. The forest will do the same. It too is sitting still, looking and listening. It too is assessing you. What energy do you bring, and can this human be trusted?

No need to overthink or try to rationalise. Use your senses to senses to explore and connect with your surroundings.
Begin to find language to identify what you experience. Become curious about the individual experience of various creatures along the way. Tune into how similar or different their perspective of this same scene may be. Are they alone or in a community? Are they chatting away in a language you just don’t know? Become curious about the rhythms and patterns that emerge, and consider: how do these natural systems work? How might I move, think and operate in a way to enhance the sense of security in this space, nurturing all within it?

If you take the time to open up and honour this grounding process, then within the stillness, this wondrous place will in turn embrace you.

When trust is built, relationships emerge in the most magical ways.

Familiar birds will join you to welcome the day – a magpie swooping by to say hi or the fairywrens performing a circle dance all around you on a quiet walk among the trees.

Animals have been known to drop their fear and approach the house when in need of help. Others will drop the instinct to hide in favour of sunbathing in full sight, if they feel safe to do so.

When we pay attention to the multitude of worlds that exist here, we see familiar faces return as sure as the seasons, often bringing babies with them. The new generations of Plum Gorgeous. This is their home as equally as it is ours.

The quieter and more finely tuned we become collectively, the more diverse the collective becomes — and the greater the chance that ancient songs will continue to pass down through generations to come.

We hope Your experience is A gift you will take with you

Plum Gorgeous is our family home and a protected home for a wide variety of Australian flora and fauna.
They live here quietly, in the wild, alongside us and all the other families in the ecosystem.

Visitors to Plum Gorgeous often report experiencing the natural world in a new way during their stay.
The experience inspires a deeper relationship with the environment, and leaves many with a new or reinforced desire to make a positive difference. We are committed to helping you make a difference too - if you choose to.

For more information or to apply to work at Plum Gorgeous, click here.

We look forward to welcoming you.

Written by Jana. ❤️
Special thanks to filmmaker, Diane Din Ebongue, for creating the above video snapshot of Plum Gorgeous (2019).