About

ME (Les)

A corner of my garden

Woody Allen is very much a city person. “Nature and I are two” he once said. Like Woody, I am a city dweller but unlike Woody, I happily and thankfully admit to being a nature lover. I value my garden and I visit wilderness and other bushland areas as often as possible.

A favourite spot in the Wollemi Wilderness

I enjoy sharing my love of nature with others – mainly by leading bushwalks in the national parks that border Sydney (The photo of the group in the Wollemi Wilderness was taken on one of my walks).

For many years, I ran courses on bushwalking and camping. A spin-off from this rewarding work was a commission to write a bushwalking guidebook to cover parks and reserves in and around Sydney. I had a top-line botanist, Tony Rodd, to help me. The book, A Day in the Bush, was first published in 2000 and a revised edition has been issued. See below for more about the book and visit its website, adayinthebush.net.

During the 1980s and 90s, I was fortunate enough to be an honorary leader for Ausventure, Australia’s first trekking holiday company. This gave me numerous opportunities to take people to beautiful places in the Himalaya of India and Nepal like this one.

In the Annapurna Sanctuary

I spent most of my working days as a college and university teacher and researcher. I trained as an educational and developmental psychologist but moved into health psychology. This gave me a deep and continuing interest in the impact the mind (emotions in particular) has on physical and mental well-being.

About 20 years ago, in one of those ‘Why didn’t I think of that before?’ moments, it occurred to me to marry my recreational and academic interests and investigate the nature – mind – well-being connection. I strongly suspected that there was such a connection and that it was important but I wondered whether or not science had anything to say on the matter.

In no time, I had my answer. There is overwhelming evidence that the human mind is primed to be friends with nature and allowing that friendship to flourish brings all sorts of psychological and social benefits.

I have launched my blog to share this message and to have conversations about it.

BOOKS

A Day in the Bush: The Essential Guide to Bushwalking in the Sydney Region has been in press since 2000. An updated reprint was produced in 2005 and the substantially revised 2011 edition is now available.

The book is mainly of interest to people living in Sydney or visitors who have the time to enjoy the city’s bushland
reserves and nearby national parks; but there is material in the book that is likely to be of more general interest – the sections on the ‘how to’ of bushwalking and family bushwalking, for example.

The book features:

• detailed track notes presented in an easy-to-follow format
• guidelines to aid walk selection for children and adults of different walking capabilities
• precise and easy-to-follow maps
• background information about the landforms, vegetation and fauna of the Sydney region
• cross-references to this information throughout  the track notes, and regular posting of walk updates on the book’s website.

The revised A Day in the Bush contains 45 sets of track notes covering 75 walks. Most of the walks are in, or  close to, Sydney and many of them require only an hour or two to be enjoyed. One of the aims Tony Rodd, the book’s co-author, and I had when choosing walks for the revision was to make bushwalking accessible to busy people and to  parents and grandparents who wish to make bushwalking a family affair.

There are guidelines in the book for selecting walks to match interests, experience, fitness levels and ages (from four to four score and beyond).

The book is distributed through general and some specialist book sellers. It can be ordered on-line by visiting adayinthebush.net.

 

 

Connect with Nature is two books in one. First, it is a practical guidebook that will help you weave nature into your life in a way that suits you, regardless of your age, background, abilities and circumstances. Second, it is book with a message—that connecting with nature is immensely valuable for us individually, for our families, for our communities and for the natural environment.      

As a guidebook, it invites you to approach connecting with nature as a journey. It suggests that you begin the journey with an appealing and easy-to-do activity and then proceed at your own pace and on your own terms. Part 1 of the book, the ‘how to’ part, shows how this can be done by discussing such things as:

• overcoming barriers to connecting with nature
• choosing nature activities that you want to do and believe you can do
• engaging deeply with nature
• sharing nature experiences with children
• turning to nature in difficult times
• caring for nature.

The book’s message is introduced with the story of the author’s own journey to nature connectedness. The journey made him aware of the power of nature to do all manner of good things for all sorts of people. Drawing on examples from life, Part 2 of the book describes the beneficial and rewarding ‘good things’ to be expected from becoming nature-connected. These good things include:

• emotions that expand our mental and emotional boundaries
• relief from stress and mental fatigue
• restored vitality
• enduring building blocks of well-being such as self-understanding, self-esteem, resilience and companionship
• a moral commitment to take care of the natural environment

For children, the good things include experiences that are essential for their optimal physical, mental, emotional and social development.