Desert Dreaming

What compelled you to travel to deserts while holding down a busy job?

I was responding to a deep ache inside for more space. I felt suffocated by the endless deadlines, the stress, the egos and the fatigue. I longed to be my own person, and for a life with more tranquillity, more purpose.

What changed?

I had a dream about being sent into the desert, and being transformed by it.

So you then went off to the desert - how did you know where to go?

I didn't - at least not at first. Then some months later my husband was planning a trip to the US. I said I'd come if we could go to the desert. It was one of those moments when the words just spill out.

You ended up in the American Southwest. Why not the Australian desert?

I don't know, I just had the gut feeling it had to be the States. At that stage all I knew was that there were deserts in America. We ended up travelling through the Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah area which is awesome, and towards the end of the trip we arrived at the landscape of my dream. I have since travelled across the Tanami desert and across the Gibb River Road, but on that trip it was the American desert that beckoned.

What happened?

Our Navajo guide packed us in his jeep and off we went. We'd only been going a short while when he braked and fixed me with his dark eyes, declaring that I'd not come to see the scenery. I told him I'd had a dream and he simply nodded. The Native Americans have a great respect for dreams. Our guide took us to many places including inside one of their cliffs where he sang the ancient songs of his people. It was a deeply moving experience.

There were more surprises to follow

Yes, we returned home and a few weeks later a friend arrived from London with a CD of sacred music containing one of the songs our guide had sung.

Did these activities not jeopardise your professional status?

No, quite the opposite. I've never tried to impose my beliefs on others, but I've never hidden my passion for life either, and in sharing these experiences I've found many friends and workmates have been inspired to go off on their own adventures.

How did you reconcile the two parts of your life?

They each felt like two parts of the whole. Both fed me. I love being in publishing - the people, the projects, the wealth of ideas, but it's also a fairly demanding world, and if you're not careful you can lose your identity and creativity in your commitment to your authors. Yet without the challenge of work I would not have discovered all I have. It was learning how to create and nurture my own sacred space at work and beyond it that catapulted me into a whole new way of experiencing the world, that gave me my passion and perspective.