Andrew’s Journey
So how did all this come about? Well this is a story that stretches over most of my lifetime. It is a genuine and heart felt insight into the personal journey I’ve been on, and how I ended up surrounded by these incredible wild mountains and inspirational people today. As with all stories, it contains some serious ‘bottom of the whiskey glass’ moments as well as some incredible highs. All of which I now realize have been invaluable life lessons, guiding me along a bumpy path and to the eventual evolution of Wild View Retreat.
Since my childhood days I’ve always fitted into the category of ‘non-conventional’. I probably didn’t even understand what that meant at the age of 10 nor quite where it would eventually lead me. But as teenager I soon became familiar with the stresses and strains of modern day society, silently observing my father’s struggle to balance the pressures of finances, work, relationships and life. It made me question why we pile so much pressure on ourselves if it is only going to make us unhappy and unwell. Of course I realise now the conventional path is amazing for many, but I started to understand it’s not for everyone. When my father then retired at 53 to enjoy he’s freedom and tragically died a year later from a diet and lifestyle induced cancer, it was to change my life forever. He never got to enjoy the result of 30 years of stress and hard graft and I never really had a father in my life.
Making healthy lifestyle choices is hard to achieve in our modern society. Seeing the impact of stress, a poor diet and no exercise on my Father planted the initial light bulb moment. I feel like he sacrificed his life to pass on these lessons, unwittingly never knowing they were going to have such a profound impact on me.
Pursuing a career in an out of office environment, I found myself working on environmental conservation in Fiji and then the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. This was a fascinating and rewarding experience, but was abruptly cut short when I nearly lost my leg from a terrible compound fracture and open dislocation on a remote Pacific atoll. When none of the medical staff were able to help me, my great friend Brett stood up and carried me for two days on two small aircraft, from Majuro Atoll, Micronesia to Hawaii and on to Sydney, to get medical help. After 3 weeks with my leg in two pieces doctors finally cleared a severe leg infection and were able to drill me back together. It was a very close call and I will always be eternally grateful to Brett for getting me out of there and for the use of both my legs!