The Abandoned Bushman’s Hut
The filming of Abandoned was a memorable and unexpected spiritual adventure. I was determined to record the poem before the place which inspired it became inaccessible. Abandoned is part of the Waiorongomai poems from All Revolutions Begin This Way. The collection opens with these poems, exploring the history of Waiorongomai and the search for gold.
The poem stands out in a preview by A. Pelletier, featured on the back cover of the book. He describes it as a ‘dilapidated cottage’ based upon the poem’s depiction. At the time of writing it was. Since then, the old bushman’s hut has become virtually unrecognisable, now a complete ruin covered in towering ferns. I originally wrote the poem six years ago! Our last visit was in 2019, when we chanced upon the relic while on another, more ambitious quest.
The Return
Our return to the abandoned hut brought joy and fresh discovery. The emergence of an inner world woven into the fabric of nature left an impression on our being which lingered for days.. Equally, I felt we we had left some kind of imprint in the places we passed. A resonance of location became a key which we could unlock with memory. On the way to our desired destination, I noticed the absence of the Portals which I had sensed previously. Especially at the river crossings where the frisson or shimmer of air indicated their proximity. Or so I thought.
Elusive Music
While I was filming on my own, I heard music drifting up from the river below. It intrigued me. It sounded like live concert music, but far away and elusive. Flutes and voices. It could have been a Bach chorale. The sound wasn’t tinny, like it would if belched from a mobile phone in a public place or from a passing tramper. That was in fact my first impression. that someone was walking the track below with a device playing. I expected a visitor to come blundering up the track in the next few minutes. Our precious enclave would no longer be a secret!
But no one came. I noticed interesting orb effects in some of the photographs I took while I could hear the strangely beautiful music.
I called out to my film editor and fellow adventurer, Mr Possum, ‘Can you hear that music?’ He heard nothing.
More Mysterious Effects
Other anomalies occurred. It was impossible to get the camera in focus for filming. It would flick in and out of focus on a whim. Videos I loved were unusable! Misting effects and distortions of time and place recall similar experiences an author describes in his book Brigantia: a Mysteriography. The book is out of print, but its mysteries are curiously relevant. A fairy shoe kept in a cabinet in a Yorkshire residence was unphotographable. It always appeared on film as if sheathed in cloud. No matter the angle. or lighting, it eluded any photographer. It took us two visits to get usable footage for the video.
During the second visit, we both heard laughter drifting up from the river below before crossing it to reach the path on the other side. I bemoaned the idea that we might encounter bathers or explorers on our secret path, but on reaching the water’s edge, no one was to be seen anywhere!
Later, it occurred to me we may have passed through the Portals into another world, slightly out of phase and displaced from the place with which we were familiar. Filming Abandoned unveiled an unforeseen magic.
Finally, with much editing wizardry, we produced something close to the original vision.
And here it is, the published YouTube video.
More about the collection All Revolutions Begin This Way can be found on previous blogs, here and here.
The Books page provides a link for purchasing the book – or contact me directly for a signed copy.