The training begins!

Well this is my first attempt at a schedualed post, so lets see if I can get this old girl working for me.

The training begins..

You know whats the worst part about planning a big hiking trip? It's the training... Take this weekend for example, while my friends have arranged a terribly enjoyable night at the Casino on Saturday I'll be, probably lost somewhere in the bush sleeping on a plastic ground mat.

Then again I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it! And probably the best bit about training is the fact you get to do other hikes in the meantime. Last weekend for example was a short 40km hike down the Murray River (WEST OZ).. Yes that is the one I'm supposed to paddle, always next week :)

Enjoy the weekend guys and girls

Nothing as good as a camp fire!

ps. The new home arrived today just in time for some testing. I'll keep you updated if it was a wise investment.. Can't be to curious in this crashing economic!

Labels, Part 2

We label people to help us understand certain behaviour, the same way we would label a food group. It simply makes it easy for us to understand something. Take honey for example, we know what it is but we may not know what this particular wattle gum flavour tastes like. Back to that is a second. My last post hinted on things we may understand and expect from a hippy. But clearly this stereotyping has little use when characterising someone’s attitudes, opinions and behaviour. I don’t think this really matters though because as long as we label someone we can then either choose to befriend or avoid. Fair enough..

I don’t like honey, so why would I like that particular wattle gum flavour?

It’s this way of life beneath the label which intrigues me the most and how it applies to our own life. We’re all taught to believe in certain ideals, maybe not from our parents or peers but over time we form our own opinions and thus we hopefully bind our own persona. I think it would be nice to believe we then live accordingly making our idealistic reasoning a realistic virtue. But is this what usually happens?

I’m speaking as a 20 something that is relatively fresh from school, first career etc. Did I know what I wanted to do, did I know what I believed in and enjoyed. Well yeah, but that’s hardly the point is it.. Being brought up as a right-wing christen capitalist, yes how that works is rather bizarre but let’s not get too bogged down in it. Earning money for a rich, successful and comfortable life was of the upmost important factors. So I trudged off not into the bush but into an office. Earning what I consider reasonable money making something of a delusional career.

Have you ever looked back and thought about what you would have done if you didn’t do this? Did you lose that special something you had so much passion for when you were younger.. A couple of years ago I caught up with a friend who I used to ride BMX with when I was about 14. He was about 17 years old now and we got talking about what he was planning to do now that school was out. “Ride my bike”.. I remember being a little taken back by this comment at the time. I think I even laughed and asked him again this time focusing the question on work. “Ride my bike”. Hell I would have loved to kept body boarding/surfing, but seriously I had to get real didn’t I. Anyway as it turned out about another couple of years later I was told even his teachers had given him stick about his BMX riding, saying stuff like “You won’t get anywhere riding your bike”. Pretty uninspiring stuff really, but I don’t think it ever stopped him..

Check the interview from the bike company he now rides for in the Pro Team.

When I got back home I divulged my plans with some friends to travel around Tasmania with a tent and hopefully not work. It was received with some very mixed feelings and fair enough though, it’s not exactly for everyone is it, living with only the essentials in a very remote wilderness. But something I did learn while I was away is that everyone has a different comfort zone or tolerance. Clearly the Northern Territory was a much harsher environment with its sweltering heat and nasty as hell inhabitants who for the record hate you! (This is the animals and insects I’m referring to!) But the people who live there generally thrive in it, fishing with the crocs and sand flies every chance they get.

So what is that makes someone want to live here, or do that. The movie/book Into The Wild, featuring the life of the intrepid adventurist Chris McCandless is distinct in my mind when I think of inspiring people. Not the unfortunate ending of his life or the emotional baggage he had to deal with but rather his abundant fullness of life without being caught in the whirlwind of normalcy. Honestly that is what I think it is, that line between being YOU without getting caught up in all the distractions. We enjoy the simple things that make us, as a person happy not what is expected of us from others.

“I’m not superman, I’m super tramp and your super apple!”

Labels, where do you fit?

So I guess there has been some confusion with my returning back to Mandurah land in recent times. You see when I left at the beginning of the year, some would have described me as a “typical southern metro”, but when I returned I had changed my appearance… I didn’t have the same short back and sides which I have sported my entire life, I had a sensational bloom of facial hair and my clothes were weaved with exotic natural fibres.

Now this seemed to be a bigger problem for other’s as it was for me, because somehow I now looked, well different. The typical manner to deal with something different though is to label it, because once labelled it can be readily identified and categorized and thus the risk of the unknown extinguished.

Sure I’m extremely guilty of the above myself, especially when these new young gun types started coming out dressed in black, canvassed with slogans I still don’t understand, Band names I’ve never heard of.. It was different, so I labelled them Emo. The same as the rest of the population not listening to “The Used” or spending hours doing whatever an Emo does.

Ok I’m getting off track here, so back to me now finding myself in the epicentre of a branding phenomenon. The first and probably the most obvious was Jesus, son of, well God I guess.. But a quick re-evaluation of this term revealed very little real connection. In fact only two things: A beard and the popular phase from the movie, The Life of Brian; “He’s not the Messiah, He’s a very naughty boy!”



So the second category and honestly a much loved idiom by most is the humble Hippy. WTF is a Hippy? Really one moment I’m supposed to be gassed off my nut on some psychedelic Pepsi cola concoction, stumbling around hopelessly through time not giving a s*^t about my body. But in the same breath I’m an earth loving, mong bean eating, tofu fluffing, sex panther… I’m confused and to be honest, I don’t do drugs.. Which seemingly is a crucial part of the hippy way of life.. So again the re-evaluation program is stimulated.. Enter one B_O_B_D_Y_L_A_N. While the garments have a outwardly likeness to the late Dylan era, and I’m learning (hopelessly) the harmonic.. Well there’s not much else, and despite my willingness we could probably rule out “sex panther” from the inventory of hippy similarities while we’re at it.

My favourite is the Greenie. This is a bit like the Hippy but without all the wild experimentation with psychedelic narcotics and spiritual self discovery. And well the free love and all the other good stuff the Hippies were into. I guess I could fit in here somewhere, but more like that crazy cat man conversationalist from South Australia. I don’t have a problem with eradication type programs.. Hmmm I’ll leave that one there I think.

So what else do we have, Moses (Refer Jesus). Mongolian Sherpa, closer maybe. Actually I’d probably agree with this one apart from some small inherent problems:
1) I have enough trouble carrying my own gear.
2) I’m not a Mongolian.

So what is it, I can’t not be labelled! If I wasn’t labelled I’d be “A threat to other’s way of life” – Fear and politics by Carmen Lawrence. (A book worth reading) So one must label another, in fear of what this person may or may not represent. Sleep easy little one :S

Anyway that’s another tangent, overall in a roundabout way I guess there is one label I’ll wear if I must wear one.

Now signing over, your freak

….Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you….

So yeah, share away.. Where do you think you fit?

Juice, the home owner!

Everyone keeps telling me it’s a great time to buy a house. “The markets crashed and you can pick up some real bargains”. So after yet another weekend sleeping in a wet sleeping bag I decided it might be time I take up this advice and “get responsible”

So after much deliberation I present to you the new home.



I know you’re probably thinking it’s a bit small, but I was never good at cleaning so I wanted an area I could handle. Originally I was actually thinking something a little smaller but decided this would suit me better seeing as I never know when I might get lucky!

The pro’s of course are pretty extensive but I think the views are probably the best. Everything from beach front to mountain ranges and whatever else I can be bothered with in between.

Just can’t wait to entertain my guests, the Possum's, Koala’s, Kangaroo's and even the occasional Asylum Seeker. Well time for another well deserved drink.. Here’s to maturing and becoming a home owner..

Ps. my much loved swag is probably going to feel some reject. But in my defence I can’t carry it over distance..

Love and sex, it's all the same!

Love letters, so can you remember these little guys from your school yard days. The hours spent hiding the letter as the teacher would brush past, thinking you were some kind of magician performing some sort of disappearing act. Artfully passing them across the room, feeling flush and rosy cheeked knowing at any moment the teacher may intercept. The unthinkable, she would accuse knowingly,

“What is it that you have to say without saying it to the class”.

The elaborate paper folds offering little security for your top notch secrets. It would lie open in her hands, as she would scan the awkward text with those beady little eyes purposefully stalling to gather the students attention. You can feel the lump in your throat building up to chocking point, and your face burns with humiliation.



Of course she’s going to share it with the class. A whirl wind of prepubescent emotion is dropped down like a bomb, and you’re in the centre. Is there any other punishment as impetuous and useful as this?

But have you ever wondered what happened with those little top secret missiles of destiny or ever wished for one last peek at who you were when you were fifteen and life seemed so easy? Well last night something quiet strange happened. I was drinking some wine with an old school friend after helping her move into a new unit, when she reveals that she has carefully stored every letter from school. And too my amazement she produced an old short bread tin from her bedside.

Opening a box like this may not seem like much of a deal, but in actual fact it is. Here within lies the truth of a young man, desperate to learn about life and its intricate details.. Sex, love and alcohol… And all he has is one weekend to learn it all. This was definitely heavy stuff for one to grasp, a terrible insight to what was once forgotten. I was only disappointed really, to read the ramblings of a young insecure gent, fumbling along looking for acceptance all the while pretending to boast a rich superiority over his peers. (Read: A transparent cover up). But worst of all, here was the entire entourage of characteristics I can observe in my own Mother. The very person I judge so harshly. Ouch!

I guess it’s not all bad. Actually it was quiet enjoyable to be honest. It was like I was reading the secret life of my best mate who let’s face it; I had a mega huge crush on at the time. All the little notes from the other guys in the class, and there unforgettable personalities.. Including a good friend who has sense passed. It felt a good as digging up a time capsule, though I’ve never actually dug up a time capsule but I’ll assume. Because by default it really had become one, and for that moment I felt like I was just a kid again.. Horny as hell, and the most important topic on the mind was getting laid then drunk.. In that order!

I can’t help but feeling like it’s a shame we have the convenience of emails, texting and social networking site’s. All the creative personal touches and individuality.. From the forming of letters to the style of writing..

I miss love letters.

A beacon in the dark..

Dear Sir,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my interest as well with my girlfriend, in the Maatsuyker Island volunteer position recently advertised on your Parks site.

I am a 25 year old male, currently working as a Building Surveyor in Western Australia for Local Government. A position I’ve held on and off over the past 6 years. I have recently returned from a six month working holiday in the Northern Territory as a Building Technical Officer for the Department of Planning & Infrastructure. As for my girlfriend, she is currently operating in Vietnam as an English teacher through a GAP volunteer program, due back in late January.

After visiting Tasmania on a short stay in 2004, I was convinced I would be returning to explore the more remote areas of the wilderness in the future. And as such, will be travelling to Tasmania in early November to take part in a few self guided walks through the south west on established walking trails etc.

I have no official plans of returning to Western Australia and am open for this position should you find me a desirable applicant. I understand you will have processes and would be grateful if you could forward any further information regarding this position, as I believe this would be a great opportunity and experience.

Kind regards

Juice..

The advertisment..

The Parks and Wildlife Service is seeking self-sufficient volunteers able to withstand the buffeting Roaring Forties for a four or six month stint at Australia's southernmost lighthouse on Maatsuyker Island.

Parks and Wildlife Service general manager Peter Mooney said Maatsuyker, which is part of the Southwest National Park, was famous for its rugged setting 10 kilometres off the coast of Tasmania.

"Volunteers have been assisting the Parks and Wildlife Service in its management of the natural and cultural values of the island for a number of years and we are again seeking expressions of interest from people willing to undertake these duties during a four or six month placement on the island.

"The volunteers help to maintain the buildings and machinery on the remote island.

"Volunteers also work with the Bureau of Meteorology under a separate contract to carry out daily weather observations."

Mr Mooney said the volunteer caretaker program enabled people to contribute to the ongoing preservation of lighthouses and the islands on which they are located.

"Volunteer caretakers on Deal and Maatsuyker islands are very important in preserving the cultural heritage of the islands."

Mr Mooney said that people interested in the position should be aware that the weather on Maatsuyker was frequently cold, wet and windy, that the island had limited facilities and access was by helicopter only.



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Five Fun Facts, as stolen from wikipedia..

1. Maatsuyker Island is the southernmost island of the group and of the Australian continental shelf.

2. Maatsuyker Island, is approximately 2.6 kilometres long north/south at its longest on a bearing of 196°, by 1.2 kilometres wide east/west at its widest on a bearing of 105°

3. Reportedly, the first keepers of the light took chickens with them to Maatsuyker but the fowls blew away into the ocean.

4. Vegetables get blown flat by the wind, but surprisingly, can be grown successfully (Helpful if you are supposed to live on it!)

5. To add to the wind, there are an average of 249 rain days a year..

:)

The Nerve

Well it's alway's nice to be the subject of a Blog post. Hmm on second thought, I'm not sure I should be to proud of this rendition. Anyway, I can't descibe how good The Nerve is, so I urge everyone to have a geez.

Matt


Monkey Boy and the Big Blue endorsed.