Wwoofing in Stanley

So, easter sunday sees me sitting at a walnut and chestnut farm in Stanley, just out of Beechworth in victorian mountains(ish), kind of half way between Smelbs and Canberra.

Grace and I have been here since Monday, after I spent about a month and a bit in Melbourne hanging out, drinking coffee, enjoying seeing the everyday sites, catching up with melbournians from around the place and the stupid amount of WAliens living in or visitting Smelbs, and vegan feast making with Grace in her hobbly little Willy Wonka style kitchen. And dropping my mobile in a bucket of dishwashing water - doesn't even come with the cred of dropping it in a pint. And yes, becoming very fond of their little cat (Bruce Willis the Adventure Cat). Strange, I've never been a cat person, and I still think they're a bit ridiculous for Australia, but I can now more completely envisage myself as a crazy old cat lady...

So yes, back to the farm. It's been an awesome week. The family is a lovely couple and their 2 cute young kids (1 and 3), who've been producing commercial scale organic produce the last few years, but have scaled it down this year - still with a very big vegie patch and the nut orchard. We've done an awesome variety of jobs and they've taught us heaps, though I've still got soooo much to learn (a lot of what we've learnt is really simple stuff I already should know - like what the plants that our everyday vegies grow on actually look like!)

Day 1 we cleaned up garlic (removing outta shell and getting it ready for use), weeded a vegie patch and airated another for planting. Highlight of day was picking carrots that we ate for dinner. Squee!

Day 2 Spent the morning putting branches of tree lucerne around orchard trees - a plant which fixes nitrogen and releases it as it breaks down. Arvo we planted some of the garlic out. Very cool seeing the full cycle! Also discovered the peppermint bush for awesome teeeaaa. Ah yes, and that's the day some of their extended family came round. Turns out affection for organics, composting toilets and not eating dead animals doesn't always run in families. Go figure. Grace had fun justifying veganism though...! Highlight of day was descovering the walnuts!! Yum, ate them from the tree :-D

Day 3 Planted seedlings of broccoli and cabbage, then went into Beechworth and poked around. Not much to say! Highlight of day was getting back and picking chestnuts! So spikey on the outside, so good on the inside. We roasted them and ate them in bed in our caravan room. Tasty but hard to peel. Totally worth it :)

Day 4 Made cucumber chutney in the morning and helped with the kids then they took off for the easter weekend and we were left with the house, all the fresh vegies we can eat, and a combustion stove we're still trying to work out a few days later, heh.

So since then we've kept doing some handy things around the place and kept discovering little bits of the property (wombat holes!!! - but no wombats yet. But clearly that's a pretty good impersonation). Generally just enjoying the amazing view and mudbrick house goodness. Pruned rasberry bushes today and dug up their potato crop yesterday, heh was way too much fun :p We ate some of them in chips for dinner last night.

So, not sure exactly where I'm going next. Smelbs on Tuesday for a few days but then not sure, yet again!

Most choclate-less easter I've ever had, but good good food, and we've raided their CD stash so right now listening to a waaay too long keyboard solo by the Doors, ha! Incongruous you say? Better than Primus Grace says...

Ah! and before I go, today we found a toadstool that was RED and WHITE! In the real world. Not in mario. Or in my drawings from primary school. One of the best things I've ever seen...that and the wombat hole.

Summing up Otesha

Well, it's been a while since I did any updates here, and there's so much to say about the bike tour but I might just leave that epic story and sum it up with an extended (equally epic) version of a slightly cheesy, but no less genuine article I wrote for Wai (an independent paper being written by a friend in Melbourne)...

Otesha: Cycling for Sustainability
My thoughts for this article began with the question of whether or not the bike tour I’d just returned from was successful. Picture 14 people, 1,300 kilometres by bike on a circle route of rural Victoria, with a presentation about sustainability to perform to school kids – not a bad premise really, and an amazing way to travel, engage with communities and remind yourself what you’re riding in 40 degree heat for...

It’s hard to describe the Oteshan experience to anyone who hasn’t done a tour before, but it’s much like building a large, like-minded family around yourself, only one that’s from all over Australia (and a few token siblings from the US and Canada), then far too soon revealing to them those grumpy, manic, manky and delirious sides of yourself that were usually only reserved for your Mum during year 12 exams. Then you put yourself into strenuous, often very beautiful surroundings, during which you spend many hours making up songs to get you past the 60 kilometre mark and your mood does 360-degree turns until the next meal, while you debate when and why it became appropriate to call 8am a sleep in. Then you go all roaming Von Trapp family style and start performing to kids, only we didn’t dig the hills so much, and the lycra was way spunkier than those dresses. Then you wake up and do it all again. Needless to say it was amazing, but success can be measured in many ways...

At the beginning of the tour I had rather humble aims, and success was weighing in my mind as a measure of whether I’d even make the 1300 kilometres. As a softcore commuter whose skills to offer the group were in consensus rather than bike maintenance or anything practical, my greatest anxiety on leaving Melbourne wasn’t about community living, running workshops with people I didn’t know, or even performing in front of school kids (with a grand total of two semesters’ drama tuition in year eight, the largest part of which was spent learning to juggle). I was more concerned about my ability to survive even the first ride, riding for the first time with panniers and of a distance greater than uni/work/city/parties. So, on that scale, I “succeeded” – including several 40 degree plus days, a 110 kilometre ride, freeway riding, and riding with a trailer with a bent axle.

But won’t somebody think of the kids? Well, the point of the tour was to deliver an “educational program” to schools, aimed at students in years 7-10. To measure the “success” of the presentations could be difficult, but I was looking to feel like at the very least one of the hundreds of kids we presented to would leave thinking harder about the impacts of their choices and be inspired enough to make changes in their own lives. The performance, called ‘Morning of Choices’ is focused on solutions that young people can use to “be the change you want to see in the world” (Otesha’s key philosophy – à la Ghandi). It goes through the lives of two average teenagers and the simple things they’d do every day; showering, packing lunch, buying clothes, watching TV and getting to school, and addresses the impacts of these habitual actions. We then look to them for solutions for how these impacts can be reduced, and suggest some of our own solutions while exploring the positive impacts we can have. In some schools we also fleshed these issues out with four follow up workshops on food, consumerism, climate change and biodiversity.
From the very first performances I could see that kids were listening and in particular being moved by the opening slideshow, which is essentially a series of photographs exposing the reality of the military-industrial complex and the impacts of the over-consumptive, hyper-sensationalist society in which [we] participate everyday...but we didn’t put it in as much words to the kids. In revealing the reality of the destruction we’re wreaking on the planet, the other 15 million species we share it with and each other, the presentation performs a simple but rare function. A lot of people just need that connection between their own unsustainable practices and others’ suffering to be made to actually start paying attention and schools are a good way of delivering that message to a receptive audience.

So how do you make sustainability appealing to that age group, and how do you ultimately put yourself out there on something you’re passionate about and serve yourself up on a platter to be eaten alive by school kids still way too cool to be anything but apathetic (or so my increasingly hesitant scepticism told me)? Well, Otesha’s all about walking the talk, so we ate as sustainably as we could, we “mellow yellowed” our way across the countryside, and we created compost bins in each town (even when we had to perform 6am guerrilla composting in other peoples’ compost bins). And of course, we rode into each town, and then out to the schools we performed at. Kids, and everyone for that matter, get sick of rhetoric, and sick of the “blah blah blah” of climate change solutions. So I think most of them were responding to the commitment tour members had made in riding it as much as anything else.

I think it was also really important that we talked to students as people. I first got involved in activism while I was still at school so part of my motivation for going on the tour was to catalyse younger people into action and give them the tools to get involved. Because of this I was anxious to not be patronising to the students and empower and inform them rather than “teach at” them. Radical concept I know, but just how refreshing some alternative schools felt and how open and responsive they were to us is an indication of how stifling traditional education can be. I think they also responded well as the solutions we offered were tangible, accessible and achievable. By riding our bikes the 1,300 kilometre distance instead of driving we saved the equivalent of 2.4 average Australian homes’ annual carbon output. Similarly the kids could relate this to the possible positive impacts of their everyday choices such as riding to school every day instead of getting a lift in a 4WD.

The most memorable moment I had with a student was when a kid called Lighty, a year six (from one of the primary schools we were able to visit), told us that the issue he is most passionate about is racism. When we asked him what he wanted to do about it he said he was going to get some friends together and put up “NO RACISM” posters around town. Other students were less outright inspiring than this twelve-year-old kid, but in every workshop there were at least a few kids with genuine concerns and an eagerness to talk about what their families were already doing or what they personally wanted to do.

Combating climate change – the big scale, the little scale, and the stuff in between

I’m not someone who advocates for changing the world by changing your light bulb, but this experience has also reminded me how important it is to work on campaigns on a number of levels. Consumer responsibility alone is not going to stop large scale corporate recklessness, but we also need to remember that locking on to coal fired power stations is not going to stop your average person from using the Australian average of 400 litres of water per day. For me the tour was a reminder of not getting caught up in either bureaucracy or rhetoric and although you can’t be involved in everything, some of the most radical concepts are in the smallest of actions – from our intimate relationships to introducing new educational concepts to people, and it is through a combination of methods that we are building a movement.

Why “youth” education isn’t the be all and end all...

I do still consider there to be limitations in the attitude towards climate change that focuses heavily on “youth education” and very little on the current state of affairs. The empowerment of the next generation to combat climate change “when they grow up” is a cop out which excuses the sort of pathetic emissions reductions targets Rudd announced in 2008 and allows the continuation of status quo coal industry development...while kids are taught to switch the light off and learn climate change is happening so they will be empowered to deal with it “when the time comes.” But climate change and unsustainable practices aren’t an issue for the next generation, and while it will only really be our children’s children who really start to suffer from it in countries like Australia, it is the responsibility of people right here and now to start responding. So while educating students is incredibly important, it is neglectful to focus on this area alone and expect climate change to be dealt with, as the longer we look to the next generation for solutions, the less of a future we’re giving them.

Fun activism, now that’s a radical concept...

I probably wouldn’t describe the Oteshan tour as a life changing experience, but not for not being amazing. It was probably more accurately an affirmation of some core values that have been shaped by past experiences. I’ve always had the staunch belief that activism shouldn’t be a chore. Part of the empowerment associated with grass roots organising is that it takes real lived experiences and accessibly translates this into action, establishing actually relevant responses to the screwed up world we live in. If activism is a chore to you, you’re doing it wrong. Odds are selling a newspaper or even attending a rally alone won’t quite cut it, but having been involved with groups in which meetings were over good food, co-conspirers were a real support network, and actions were, essentially, fun I have only ever been reminded that we must work in ways which embody the world we want to live in – starting with community, equality and empowerment. And of course activism isn’t all sharing food and beautiful sunsets, but it is only as fun as we make it, which is why humour and theatre are such awesome ways of communicating with “the unconverted” – never underestimate the power of laughter...

Although the tour was at times quite challenging, I never strayed far from an awareness of my own privilege in being both physically and financially able to be on tour, and through it have exposure to amazing sustainability projects going on and the amazing people behind them. From renewable energy coops to small sustainability groups producing incredible feats of community, to thriving permaculture education centres, to Social Justice and Democracy student groups working on fair trade, to fair trade cafes in the smallest country towns. Not to mention school initiatives such as bulk buying solar panels, bush regeneration projects, bike camps, and my favourites – one in Woodend with a compost bin in each classroom and no-package lunches prepared at school, and Ararat, where the science teacher had started up a guerrilla garden in the court yard with the year nine class! Each of these projects are the sort of thing that goes completely under the radar, yet points to a growing awareness about the mess we’re in and the stubborn resilience of grassroots solutions to offer real effective change in new and exciting ways.

So at the end of the day and end of the tour, Otesha was most decisively a success to me because each of us were ourselves empowered and inspired by the experience, and will take our strengthened convictions and terrible jokes back to our homes towns to keep spreading the word...

we're in hippy country now. n it's awesum. you bee totly jealus

Got a bit of extra time so I'll update some more bits and pieces...

We're staying at Winter's Flat Primary School in Castlemaine at the moment. It's a really nice little school with a really awesome community feel about it. I got a really good feeling from when we very first arrived (well, after the information centre which served [as I've discovered is typical] a usual blend of disinterest and patronising, but hey, if you're after a cheesy postcard and a map...)

I think this may be the town where hippies come to breed. Seen lotsa tattooed parents walking round with trailing children in multicoloured toweling pants, had someone ask me what brand my panniers are and have had a few people just approach us and ask us what we're doing – general, open friendliness in an everyday way. Also free interwebs at the (very populated) library, which had a bunch of bikes out the front. Annnd easily found a spunky little organic, fair trade cafe with lots of vegan options. Way to find the way to my heart :)

Then this school! When we got here, the kids were doing bike riding lessons, and they have a giant chess set, and had a kid speak over the PA about the chess club (mini indication of empowerment!) And when we performed yesterday, for our second primary school presentation (years 4-6), they were really engaged, had heaps of answers and suggestions in the “any ideas for ways to save water?” section, and a bunch of them even put up there hands to answer at the end when Kate (Julia) asks our rhetorical question “if you could be the change you wanted to see in the world, what would you do?” Squee! They also have a community class here, which is multi-aged (I'm sure there's a better way of saying that), and has a curriculum worked out by the parents, who also help do some of the teaching I think. Still haven't clarified exactly how it works but it sounds really interesting. This place and these kids make me want to be a teacher! It's nicer performing to younger kids because they don't have the “too cool to give a shit about the world” attitude that year nines and up tend to have, though some of the stats are lost on them, and it has been really awesome performing to older kids too, especially those that you can really see it getting through to.

Needless to say, I'm feeling quite wholesome. Not super buff, no, but feeling fitter and more able – 30km sounds like nothing to us now and our second last ride of 17km is going to be breezy. Saskia's generally been behaving. No flat tyres yet, cushy seat still doing it's thing. The mud guards are kind of annoying me, and the kick stand is shitting me to tears (nice imagery innit?) because it keeps coming loose and letting her fall over, but I'm still very much feeling the bike love and would love to have future adventures with her. There's already some scheming going on with some of the crew planning on doing a cycle tour of Tassie combined with WWOOFing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms work – what I'm planing on doing after I get back to Smelbs), which sounds quite appealing. So the fact I'm even considering something like that is a good indication of the bike touring experience I guess!

A highlight recently was seeing a sign saying “You have been guerilla gardened” at the Ararat Community College! Turns out their science teacher had read about guerilla gardening in a Science Teachers journal (?!!), talked to the kids about it, who got captured by it, so they came in at night time as a class and gardened an abandoned part of garden in the centre of the school! So random and awesome!

Another highlight was getting out to an Aboriginal Rock Art site on our day off in Stawell. The site's called Bunjil's Cave and is a painting of the creation spirit for that area and much of (now) Victoria. It was very cool to get to see some ancient rock art. I've been really keen on getting up to the Burrup Peninsula to see the art up there that Woodside is busy destroying, so it was awesome to get to see some while travelling. The art hasn't been dated, or at least they don't say the age in any of the information – I have the impression that it probaly has been dated but the local mob didn't want to put a superficial Western time scale date on it. It was cool to be able to relate to why they'd chosen it as a significant site though, however old it is. The area had these amazing boulders everywhere and looks out over a valley. Definitely made up for the 4km along a corrugated dirt track to get there!

I should also give an update on Anna, I felt bad that I had to quickly brush over that! So the lovely Anna fell off her bike a few days ago 10km into our 90km ride. She fell onto her face and has a lot of bruising and had to get taken to the hospital in an ambulance, but the bone isn't fractured afterall, and the only lasting damage is a chipped tooth. Unfortunately she's gone home to Adelaide to recover though, so we're all just really hoping we get to see her again before or at the end of the tour.

Hmm, so what's been crappy..should porbably mention that in case people are worried the cyncic has left me...Well, riding along highways is awesome in many ways, but crappy in the sense that you have to breathe shite loads of car fumes when they pass. There's also the sheep trucks which never cease to depress me, and all the litter in some areas. I can't believe the sort of litter either, I have no idea how some of it get's there. The road kill is a pretty persistent horrible aspect too, because you really see weverything up close. Brings on thecar hate. It's been crazy seeing how dry the landis too, the drought over here is pretty intense. But then again, the general population also has a much better drought consciousness, far more than i've noticed in Perth. Other than that stuff, it's all good. Only I've been eating too much, but hey, whose fault is that? :p Have been missing people a bit lately, not intensely, and I wouldn't want to be anywehere else, but it would also be nice to be in Perth for a night and see some of y'all. Felt strange to not be at Casey's 21st the other night, and knowing I'll miss a bunch of 21sts this year is a bit sad.

Ok time run out again, so will sign out, but here's a picture of us swimming in Hall's Gap. In retrospect it look's like we're naked, but we're not. There was a skinny dip plan later but it got too cold :p

safe n trundling on my tredley

hey kids
not going to back-blog and catch up from where I left off, but just wanted to priopritise and let everyone know I'm doing ok and haven't been affected by the fires. There was one burning about 70km away on the really bad Saturday when we were staying in Halls Gap in the Grampians, and that was a bit worrying (given our lack of support vehicle..and that we were surrounded by big trees for kilometres around), but it didn't move closer. So, safe n sound, and none of the towns we'll be going through have been directly effected either as we're mostly in the West of Vic and they were mostly eastern.

The fires have hit home to me a lot more than the ones 3 years back, which I thought sounded terrible and everything, but didn't seem quite real or tangible. But now I can really imagine the communities they've effected, and have ridden through areas effected by the last ones, and heard what it was like being a town over from those ones (not being able to see you hand in front of you from the smoke), and met an awesome woman who we hung out with for a few nights, whose uncle lost his whole family in Marysville. It's just a lot more real, shocking, and sad.

Can't believe Bolt and other right winger's are taking it as a chance to sledge "the greenies", but not all that suprising I guess, given past patterns.

ok moving on, only got a really short time left on the computer.
In Castlemaine right now, seems like a funky little town, nice people, bikes. We arrived a few hours ago, rode 50km from Marysboough.
So far gone...Smelbs->Geelong->Winchelsea->Colac->Camperdown->Warrnambool->Portland->Hamilton->Dunkeld->Halls Gap->Stawell->Ararat->Marysborough->Castlemaine.
Next stops are...umm.. Bendigo->Kyneton->Woodend->Smelbs..and I thibnk I've forgotten one town but whatever, you probably don't know where I'm talking about anyway :)

So...it's really amped up since I last wrote. We've done way more schools and had a much busier schedule, which has actually been in some ways more energising rather than exhausting. Had some really awesome responses, from all different sorts of age groups (we presented to year 5's and 6's yesterday!), who respond to different aspects of the play and workshops.


ok really really have to run. But otherupdate is that we've lost 2 of our team members. Anna fell off her bike a few days ago and has had to go hometo Adelaide, which is really sad, but should hopefully visit us again before the end of the tour. Be has had to leave us, as we knew she would, too. It's funny how much yuou feel 2 people, or even one, in a gorpu of 14 but you really do feel their absence.
But, I'm doing well and lovin it, as a conclusion! Here's a snapshot of the beautiful things we see each ride...complete with bushfire fluorescent red/orange sun

2 weeks into riding

So..harlo...
Had very limited access to computers but we've been generously allowed to use the computers at the school we've just presented at in Hamilton so will try to get a few things down…

Am feeling my standard level of exhaustion at the moment – our average schedule is get up 4.30am-ish, leave 5.30 or 6, ride the 30-100 kilometers until the next town in groups of 4 or 5, then chill out, work on workshops or whatever, find a nice little café or just nap. Then the next day doing school or community presentations or both (in the form of our “humorous theatrical skit”), then pack up after the second night and head out to the next town. It’s pretty intense but will only get more intense as more schools are back now.


Just for the record, yes I am just as sexy, buff and tanned as you expected I'd be coming out of this trip.

The trip so far
Tuesday 20th 30km riding around Smelbs, send off party with a great little representative body of WAliens. Was really nice to have Grace, Ania, Daniel, Ben, Jesse, and Jess all come down. Would’ve felt a bit weird being sent off by a bunch of strangers and was an awesome little end to a week of hanging out in Melbourne with people I hang out with all the time in perth – as strange as it was to just migrate across the country to do it

Wednesday 21st first 5.30 start, left Ange’s In Footscray, caught the train out to Weribee then started the tour properly, rode 42km to Geelong. I survived. This made me happeh. I wasn’t last. This comforted me. Found the group supportive and fun, and the weight not too overwhelming and only really noticeable on hills. Went to Geelong beach, was a relief to swim, did a performance in a funky little pub to the Geelong Sustainability Group (who started up out of a GetUp meeting) then stayed in a Guide Hall that night.

Thursday 22nd Day off in Geelong. Sleeping until 9am is being called a sleep in. ?! I’m slowly getting used to it! Had a day working on workshops, hanging out at the beach, and searching out a newspaper to read Obama’s speech (thank feck for that! EVEN if it’s all rhetoric, and there’s the Ruidd effect of the apology, followed bvy a pathetic 5% emissions reduction target, which I cynically reminded Mum, at least it’s a starting point of good rhetoric and not Bush or Howard rhetoric.)

Friday 23rd Geelong to Winchelsea, 38km. Took a trailer. Died a little but survived, despite repetitive hills. Our presence brought the town’s population up to 1350. Was the town I was in charge of organising.. It’s also the town from which the rabbit plague in Australia started (some tool wanted rabbits to hunt! Go team). Stayed at the Scout Hall.

Saturday 24th Winchelsea. Funniest outing yet – a few of us heard about a “Barn Dance” on that night and went to check it out. One of the most ridiculous nights I’ve had – picture a room of sixty 60-70 year olds, doing fox trot, three step, etc, enter seven 20 somethings, no ability to dance, who’d be just as happy at the pub across the road. But it was awesome! They showed us the dances and if I may say so, a few of us kicked arse at the Chicago Swing (which may or may not have been the easiest dance). Had Devonshire tea with milk milked that morning by one of the guys there. Saturday nights out in Winshelsea J! No husbands found, but not for not trying. We became the highlight and got waved out when we left early because we had to get up the next day to ride! Am I still hard core?

Sunday 25th Winchelsea to Colac, 36km. Stayed at a scout hall with an amazing view over their famous lake, which was dried out (first time in 20 years or something). Go global warming, go go. The cold shower helped me practice the “staggered shower” method our play tells kids to use, which I’ve done since, so..well no, a hot shower still would have been awesome. Practiced some “urban gleaning” (dumpstering) with J-train (as I’ll refer to her having not checked it’s ok to mention her by nameJ), which all the group was cool with, which is both surprising and amazing given the variety in the group.

This day by day thing is getting boring to read I’m sure...think I’ll persist out of stubbornness but hopefully I’ll get to interesting stuff soon…but cumawn, a barn dance?!

Monday 26th Colac, Day off. Ausvasion Day – went to Forrest, a small town out of Colac. Went op shopping, had a walk. I was very hesitant to go given it was a citizenship ceremony and I wouldn’t be able to deal with the flag waving, but it turned out to be quite cool, well, in a strange sort of way. There was a huige Sudanese community there, so it was kind of nice to see people looking happy about becoming citizens and that act7ually being an option for themn, even if the community is largely based there because it provides cheap labour for the abbatoir from what I’ve heard. But yes, there was a welcome to country form a local elder, and yes, there waere heinous plastic gflags, but they were of both the blue/white/red variety and the black/yellow/red variety, so that was surpising and quite cool. And then their little café they had running for the day not only had soy milk, but had fair trade organic coffee, and were peddling it in a little country town, very cool. Would have been awesome to be at the Tent Embassy in Canberra to support the mob there, or to have experienced the surreal access to a high rise building in perth to watch the fireworks, but was still happy to be in the little scout hall, playing cards and trying to get to sleep so we could get up early again.

Tuesday 27th Colac to Camperdown 46km. Amazing sun rise as we rode, with mist everywhere, listening to Bright Eyes ‘I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning’. It’s been mostly farming country that we’ve been through so in general it hasn’t been thaaat pretty, but it really was beautiful that morning. It’s funny riding past cows, they stare at you as much as the locals. Moved on to Bowie then Talking Heads, went surprisingly well :p. The other awesome part about the ride was that the whole highway route was lined with Bush Plums (or something like that, we ate them and didn’t die and they were like small plums), and there were apple trees, and some fennel. It was like someone had guerrilla gardened the princes Highway for us! I made crumble out of the plums. I feel wholesome. We were staying at Camperdown showgrounds which was a little bit hellish – it was a 42 degree day and we were in a big tin shed in a big dry grassy field. But that night 5 of us didn’t end up sleeping there that night anyway, because J-train had suggested we get up early and see the sunrise from the lookout behind the showgrounds, which I thought was a little bit crazy talk on a our day off so cynically said I’d rather sleep out there that night, which Be thought was an awesome idea. So we rode up there and slept out under the stars. It was so beautiful! We took a stove up and woke up, had some tea and watched an amazing sunrise! How’s this for an ad for my sneakers? Adbusters/Crimethinc would be pleased…

Ok have to go…but that’s a pretty huge update. So much more to say, nevermind the other days’ catching up! Argh…

So,
- arse not too sore, but getting there!
- The group is awesome, niche-ing up a little, but that’s cool, really connecting with some people
- Longest day has been and gone
- Probably the shite-est day (42 degree heat and one of the women getting hospitalised from heat exhaustion) been and gone
- First school presentation passed the test
- The original play passed the Grace hazing test, whose more cynical than me, so felt better after that :p
- Being really inspired by small things like fair trade coffee shops in small country towns, the incredible generosity of people, and loving the unexpected adventures

In the words of Mr Bowie
“I am happeh, hope you’re happeh too..”

Nice living day to day

So it begins...

Contrary to popular belief, this blog is not a record of my conquests of school children. I've always considered blogs pretty narcissistic at best, but have recently been won over by a few good reads and figure I may as well share my limited wisdom/experience with the world, if even only to help a few friends through boring computer monotony (I'd like to think I can contribute to that), and more to the point, to give me an anonymous venting means. Nothing like good communication skills to get you through 6 weeks in a micro community on a bike, right?

So, not sure how this whole thing's gonna go, or if I'll even update it once we're on the road, but I'll give it a shot and if I realise engaging with the real world is actually more rewarding, well…beer and a comfy couch in a few months? Your shout? I won't have been working...

So, I actually want to be quick as a first edition. I got about 2 hours sleep the night before last after helping cook a feast for friends as part of my send off into the world of bicycle touring, so I'm pretty nackered – as is my custom. And tomorrow's a 6.30 start, in prep for even earlier starts on the tour (eep). Caffeine free, I also managed to be an hour and a half late for the very first meeting point, so go me…well at least I'm not giving any false first impressions..?

The trip across the nullabor was good for my head. After a few weeks of trying to catch up with everyone in Perth and feeling pretty laiden with goodbyes and a bit of uncertainty about what I was doing and where I was going (on my first completely independent and indefinite-ish travels) it gave me a good long stretch of things to stare at blankly. Bitter sweetly it also made me really think about all the amazing people I was leaving behind in Perth and what a special year 2008 was for unexpectedly getting to know an array of amazing people better. (nyaw)

I forget how apt the desert is for that travelling transition. You jump in a car after shite loads of build up, all simultaneously adrenalin filled and knackered, then all you can do is sit and stare out the window for hours. The more I travel overland (rather than fly) the more I'm reminded what an important part that plays. The scenery changes drastically, but slowly, and then you see a sunrise, sunset, eagle or the endless (out to sea shepherd and antarctica) ocean view from the bite and remember how beautiful it is. And it's not all about the destination, go figure. So..ahuh...all symbolic like, eh eh. Which is convenient given I'll be stuck on a very long journey from Wednesday, with the same destination as the start.

So, the epic drive...The vessel; a Black commodore. The crew; a strange and usually unusual combination of peculiars I know n love. The music: a more peculiar mix of heavy metal, psy-trance, JJJ Hottest 100s and Kimya Dawson. Our best crew/band name; Jesse's Bogan Chariot and the Hardcore Night Drives (cheers dave). The best photo-->

The best stop over point: Caiguna, where I reminisced about my diesel/unleaded mix up on the way to Climate Camp in Newie July last year. I don't think Jesse would've been as forgiving for me for doing that to his car...

We left Monday 5th Jan 10am, arrived 8am Thursday in Smelbs after deciding in Adelaide that we may as well slog it through the night and arrive sooner. I slept most of the night then woke 3am, took a no-doze and did the last stint into town, which I'm actually really greatful for because I got a very beautiful dawn and my first witnessed Victorian sunrise, with a windfarm in the morning mist to boot. It's pretty inexplicable, and the photos do it no justice, but yes, pretty - even when I felt like I was going to crash the chariot because I couldn't see through the dead bug/glare concoction on the windscreen...

This is the salt lake you drive along going to the camping spot we stayed at on our second night across, Cactus (at Point Sinclair). It was a crazy pink colour and I dug this photo. Blogs are strange. But yeah, i kinda just wanna show this one off :)

And enter a "pumpkin face" photo of me (a la facebook for anyone whose seen that photo) in front of a wind farm. I bet $20 Ania would have the same photo when she passed the same point (in SA going into VIC i think), and yup...Unfortunately no-one took me up on the bet. But I can feel smug.

Ok, so onto bike stuff. In reality, the tour starts Wednesday. We all met each other yesterday (Sunday) and will be on tour until March, so luckily I'm feeling like it's a pretty awesome crew of 14. I'm actually the baby of the group (as the 9 year old and parnetals dropped out), which isn't an issue but sounds like a nice excuse for potentially being the slowest?! And a good position from which to disown the word "youth", urgh. It's been funny how quickly the usual personal barriers stuff hass broken down in the last few days - when you know you're going to be stuck with people for 6 weeks in a tight little roaming community, people let down the facades pretty quickly. There's already been the tears, farts, sex jokes, nakedness and underwear swimming I knew would unrole but didn't expect so soon. And not even all from me. I'll keep you up to date on the first tears day :)

So, enter my amazing bike:

!! She's called Saskia, in hommage to it being an awesome name, and my ex-car was called Saskia and has since been substituted by bike commuting, so seems apt. She's worth around $700, which is a bit nuts, but she was donated by a place over here called Human Powered, who supported what we're doing and decided after I'd come in to chat bikes and see what they had on offer that I could just have it for the tour, no strings attached. I'm still a bit in shock. They're a spunky place too, set up by someone passionate about recycling old bikes, and the giuy who runs it used to primarily just do them up in a backyard workshop (from what I understand) for refugees living in Melbourne and now they've grown to have a proper shop and workshop in Thornbury. There's a lot of funky little bike places in Smelbs like that, not to mention Ceres, etc etc. So, having the bike donated has meant money people have given me to help me out has gone towards a proper decent set of panniers. So technically I'm feeling bikily prepared... (p.s thanks n thanks n thanks)


On the eve of our first ride though, thoughts are...

• eek I'm still farken unfit!
• eek, my knees are starting to ache, and I don't think it's from increased riding. I'm really hoping they don't get aggravated by the tour...
• Looking forward to getting out of the Smelbs city, I think the air in this place actually makes me a little sick - have had a headache a few days
• Hope I whinge less to the bike crew than to you kids on this blog :D
• I hope the kids watching the play aren't as cyncial and harsh as I would've been/am!
• I hope the bike crew melds well (i think it will)
• My bed for 6 weeks is a centimetre thin. Please explain.
• I'm gonna miss Perth and Smelbs kids about the 2nd week in when the novelty wears off
• I should go to bed!

Yeah. I really should. Gnight and yup..if you didn't find that one entertaining..at least it's good procrastination from whatever you should be doing right now. Like sleeping...