I thought she would hate it. I imagined her clinging to the tree with white knuckles and a pale face, petrified of being up so high. And if the height didn’t do it, I thought it might be the cold, the spiders and the distinct lack of facilities, that might have her wanting to get back to land.  But no! As it turns out, love overcomes fears, and my Mum faced all her fears head on, stepped well outside her comfort zone and came for a stay in the Observer Tree. Now, anyone who knows my Mum will know what a feat this was. She has never been camping in her life and never wanted to. She much prefers the close proximity of warm showers and flushing toilets, cosy beds and the safety of walls to keep out all those pesky insects. The amazing thing is that she loved it so much she stayed longer than she had even planned to.

I must apologise for my blogging absence of the past week. I hope you will forgive me, as I was just having such a good time hanging out with my Mum. We spent days laughing and talking and catching up on the lost time.

In the two days leading up to my Mum’s visit I was busy renovating the Observer Tree. Giving it a good make over and up grade in preparation for my special visitor. A whole day was spent on making the “en suite” and the “shed.”  My lovely ground crew bought me some furniture. Now I have a little fold out table and chairs. (I’m sitting at it right now typing this. And what a difference it makes too…. not having to crouch over the computer). The ground crew also sent me up some curtains and other items to make my place as homely as possible.

After a whole day renovating, I woke up the next morning and it was freezing, the new extensions were letting cold air in. I was so disappointed, I thought I’d been making things better, but I’d made things worse! I couldn’t have my Mum being cold. So I was up for another day of renovating to make the house more wind-proof. Finally on the morning of my Mum’s visit the place was looking great! The only thing to worry about was whether I should have the brown or grey blanket on my bed and whether the blue or red pillow case matched it best! I felt so excited and I wanted everything to be perfect!

I sat waiting and waiting… I didn’t want to do anything in case I mess up my spick and span house! Then at last I heard voices wafting through the forest. But before I saw my Mum I heard the call  “COPS.” Did I hear right? Was someone calling out that the police were here? And then I saw my Mum, a little speck of red jumper amongst the leaves. Followed closely by the fluorescent yellow vest of a police officer. Hmmm… what were the police doing here? I hoped they weren’t going to stop my Mum coming up to see me! Imagine: for her to get all the way to the tree and then not be able to come up and see me? Well, luckily the police left shortly after. They were just “checking up” on me.

Time for Mum to bravely get on the rope and come up!

I watched my Mum get closer and closer up the rope. Her smiling face and happy wave getting more and more visible. When she was finally here and giving me a big hug and lots of kisses, I felt so happy to at last be seeing her in person again.

I have really missed my Mum while I have been up here, for almost six months now. We are very close, she is like a best friend to me. We do have many chats on the phone, but that’s never really the same as seeing each other in person.

She stayed for four nights in the Observer Tree and having her here gave me a renewed energy. We stayed up late tucked in our swags, giggling away; it was like having a slumber party.  I wont tell you too much more about the visit, because I’m working a great little video blog for you. Stay tuned for that coming very soon!

One thing that can definitely be hard about being up in the tree all the time is the loneliness. Missing spending time with the people who I love. So it was so wonderful to have my Mum come to see me. Tonight as I sit here, alone again, while my Mum is now back in Hobart, I feel overwhelmingly lonely. Although I think the fun and laughter will keep my spirits up and keep me going for a long time to come, right now I also feel the loneliness that comes with the empty space left behind after such a visit. Here’s hoping that the forests will receive the protection they deserve sooner rather than later and I can spend more time with my Mum and all the other important people in my life, on the ground.

Miranda

Click HERE to take action to help protect Tasmania’s native forests.