Bright and Early - Rotary Talk at 7am … a wonderful and engaging crowd

Is 7am too early to broach the topic of Death?

Clearly not….. a wonderful crowd at the Rotary Breakfast in Narooma. It might have been the delicious fruit platters or the free chocolate I handed out or the stunning views overlooking Narooma Beach - but we had an enthusiastic and energised group for Thursday breakfast!

The talk encompassed a few things other topics other than Walawaani Way - it was also about Bodalla in general and the amazing effort my mother and father and sister have put behind revitalising this little town. In 1989 when we bought some land down here (the conservation burial land) it was a town so small that….. blink - and you’d miss it!

The potential was screaming out - the Bodalla Pub built in 1887, the incredibly beautiful Anglican All Saints Church built in 1881 and it’s incredible natural beauty of the trifecta - Ocean, Forest and Farmland.

Let’s “bring the village back to life!” my father would say. Bodalla once was, in the mid-late 1800’s a thriving town with cheese factories and tenanted dairy farms, all created by the renowned Thomas Mort who came from England and saw Bodalla’s potential for cheese production.

To prepare the crowd with details of life ending and bodies returning to soil (and maybe some more non-palatable topics such as microbes and decomposition) - I sent through the group some large slabs of Bodalla chocolate - My favourite of Almond dark chocolate and Chestnut milk chocolate made from the Bodalla Chocolate Factory - and this warmed up people to broach the topic of death….

What I do constantly find fascinating is the interest in the topic … and how people’s faces actually “light up” when it’s being discussed… it’s as if the cat had finally been let out of the bag, the elephant in the room eagerly tossed out the window - everyone has a story of death because it’s around us all the time and removing the stigma of “not wanting to lower the mood” I find is a relief to people.

We need more talks and discussions - it’s crazy that most people I talk to don’t realise you can have your person at home for up to 5 days in NSW (with a cooling plate please) …. this might not be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s important to know the choices.

Having your person at home for a morning or one night is truely a gift and should be considered. I’m not saying it’s easy - it’s not. But it’s harder being left with nothing and not having that time to really say goodbye.

Thank you to the fabulous and welcoming hosts David and Rachel McInnes and Laurelle Pacey for having me to talk at the Rotary Breakfast!

Fiona McCuaig - Founder of Walawaani Way