In all sorts of writings, the Tree of Life has been used as a symbol the interconnection of everything living that exists on Planet Earth. It has been represented in all sorts of mythologies and cultures for thousands of years.
When I did a trip along the Newell Highway in central New South Wales, Australia, I came across one of the more amazing versions of this iconic symbol. And this one is a physical version!
Check this out and try to figure what this Tree of Life is made of!
Yep, this Tree of Life is made out of thousands of broken pottery and terracotta pieces that are glued together!
This insane creation is located at Pilliga Pottery north of the town of Coonabarabran in Warrumbungle Shire which is further up from Dubbo and is a centre for visiting the nearby natural attractions Warrumbungle National Park and Pilliga Forest.
Let’s look at the Tree of Life in more detail: there pieces of all shapes, colours and sizes here, all stuck together to take the form of living thing.
The Tree of Life Mosaic!
It looks like whoever created this had a lot of time on their hands. Actually, they had about 6000 hours worth of time, because that is how many person hours this creation took to create.
That’s 250 twenty four hour days! Two thirds of a year!
I didn’t measure how big this thing is, but I stood next to it and it was probably twice my height – and I’m 6 feet tall!
Anyway, the Tree of Life was the result the thousands of bits of pottery that are created when a piece shatters for whatever reason during the manufacturing process.
Once you check it out, you can go inside the Pilliga Pottery shop and go out the back and see their creators doing their craft. This is something I definitely would not have the patience for. This takes a lot of concentration!
Pilliga Pottery also has a number of accommodation options. All of them a different, but the most popular is the fantasy like ‘School House’ which has a number of pottery creations scattered throughout the house.
As an added bonus, there is no mobile phone reception out here. So you can book a holiday out in the sticks and no one from work will be able to contact you during your holidays to annoy you! So refreshing!
So there you go – the Tree of Life actually does exist, but it’s not in the form that most people think of!