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This Camping Life

October 13, 2009 · Filed under voluntary simplicity

Benefits of living in a tent:

1. No housework

2. Everything has to go back into it’s place every time you move.

3. When you do the grocery shopping, you put everything away into the kitchen in the car in the carpark, and when you get home, there’s no putting away.

4. You can’t buy or keep any extraneous stuff

5. There’s no TV

6. Everyone goes to bed when the sun goes down, and gets up when the sun comes up

7. Your menstrual cycle aligns with the moon

8. You rediscover novels (normally I can’t concentrate on them – I’m too busy with my ‘important’ reading. I knew novels were often better than non-fiction at probing the human condition – I’d just forgotten)

9. You rediscover music (though unfortunately not everyone wants to listen to blasting 80’s rock as I relive the road trips of my youth)

10. You live outside engaged with nature

11. You live outside and engage with other people

Benefits of living in a house:

1. You have clean feet and you can put them into clean shoes

2. You can choose privacy when you want it

3. You can have a garden

4. You can have an afternoon nap even if it’s boiling hot

5. You can keep the books you love and have them on a shelf

Can these two worlds be combined? I suspect not.

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Dispatches from Timber Creek

September 27, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, environment, health, spirituality, voluntary simplicity

Palm Springs, Duncan Rd

Returned to Kununurra via the Duncan Road that runs along the other side of the Bungles. Caught up again with friends who live there (Yay friends! It’s so good to see familiar faces.)

Lunch at Timber Creek, and we finally met up with the ‘camel man’ we had been hearing about on and off since Karijini. He is travelling around Australia with two camels, towing a buggy made from an old car. A true incarnation of the simple life. It was a privilege to meet him.

Aged 62, originally from Germany, he has been touring Australia for seven years. He started on a bike, and then moved to camels for lifestyle reasons. He travels around 20km a day. 10km first thing in the morning, and then rests in the shade. Sets off again at 3pm for another 10km. His only expense is food, and decent walking shoes. He advised that he is on the pension, but generally saves about half of it. He said when he does spend more than half the pension, it’s on things that harm his health – eg smokes, junk food – so it’s best not to. He definitely has a clear philosophy on the value of the simple life for both him and the environment, and has set out to achieve this.

Part of me felt I couldn’t cope with that lifestyle… but the other, larger part, felt envy. Trying to unpick what it was he was doing that appealed to me, I came to the conclusion that he had done a pretty good job of creating a monastic life. The self-discipline, the daily rhythm, the lack of belongings, but mainly all that uninterrupted *time* for contemplation. (The joy of being alone!) Plus a real connection with nature, through being outdoors and care of the camels.

I never occurred to me when I was younger, but now I can really see the appeal of becoming a nun. I think it would be easier for me than being a parent. I would have issues with the hierarchy….. but this would just be another avenue through which I would interrogate my control issues.

T feeds Snowy an apple

home

No caption required

Dispatches from the Pistol Club

August 13, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, cooking, voluntary simplicity

Back in Broome, but this time we’re staying at the Pistol Club – one of the overflow camping sites, where “shootin’ comes first” and camping is a lucrative sideline. The Pistol Club is run by a chap from Yorkshire, with an open neck shirt displaying various rocks and chrystals. A total legend, he knows everyone’s business, and is equally skilled at yelling at grey nomads as they back up their caravans and shutting down binge-drinking backpackers. His policy is “no-one gets turned away”, and so far only two groups have had to camp in the actual firing range. I can report that my kids are able to sleep through close range gun shots.

We’re now in the tent, which I’m told has moved me along the continuum from softcock to “hardcore”. We have sold the camper trailer here in Broome…. which has provided further evidence that my life purpose is actually to “sort stuff out”. I’d sorted stuff into the car with the remainder to go home in the trailer….. and now I have to sort the remainder, to determine what, if anything, is worth paying freight to post back. Sigh. Is my resistance to stuff manifesting in this wierd way that I have to constantly deal with it…. until I am reconciled?

In answer to the query on logistics, I provide the following details:

Fuel: We have 80l in the tank, and two 20l jerries. So far, we haven’t *really* needed the jerries, though we have emptied them for better weight distribution. In this petroleum based society, you can get fuel at places where you can’t get fruit and veg.

Water: With the trailer, we carried 120l of water (80l tank and 2 x 20l jerries) We now have 110l (2 x 20l and 7 x 10l containers) Usually there is water around, even if it’s not potable – so in those locations we use our water for cooking and drinking only. When there’s no water available, I’m astonished by how frugal with water we can be. Washing up takes only half a breakfast bowl of water and if we *do* wash ourselves, we share water and use a flannel.

Food: This is my on-going concern and I will definitely have to carry less food in our new arrangement. Generally if I have tinned tomatoes and lentils I have the basis for a variety of meals. Obviously we don’t carry meat, and this is a big space and cold storage saving. At the risk of sounding like a pioneer, my main concern is being able to carry enough flour. I can see why stations sold flour to travellers in days gone by…. once you are making all your own bread-type products, you go through it really quickly.

These are the main things we’ll be carrying from now on, with everything else up for debate. On the roofrack we’ll have the tent, two double swags, table and chairs and the extra diesel. In the back we have the fridge, food, water, air compressor, cooking stuff, clothes bags, and guitar. Amongst the passengers we have toy cars, lego, books, paper and pencils, tools, spare shoes, laptop and yoga mat.

It’s a challenge now to see how little we can manage with. I suggested to P that when we get back we could just live in our own backyard and keep renting out the house. It would be comparatively salubrious, as we would have access to the shed as well.

cable beach sunset

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Dispatches from Rocky Pool

July 1, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, being present, environment, voluntary simplicity

WARNING: gritty details ahead.

P felt that information about my period was “too much information.” But I’ve decided that these issues are in fact the essence of the trip. Is this the difference between travelling and a holiday? When you have a holiday, you have paid – generally in advance – so that these issues have already been resolved. Someone else miraculously produces a flushing toilet in a third world country. When you’re “travelling” this can be the main focus: Where are we sleeping tonight? How will we wash? Will there be a toilet? So anyway, these issues came to a head at Rocky Pool for me, when a man spotted me doing number 2s in a ditch. NOT a happy camper. I then overcame a bout of diarhoea by will-power alone. That night I was battling the end of my head cold, diarhoea, an incipient cold sore and thrush. My suburban body was not coping with the rapid deterioration in my living conditions. I sat outside on an upturned bucket, looking at the stars, and surprisingly, it was all worth it. I teared up the sky was so beautiful. What must it have been like to have lived when myth and legend alone explained such a nightly wonder? Awe-some.

As it happened, in my hour of need we met a great older couple, who spend most of the year prospecting and living the simple life. Their ablution system is worth reporting. They have a shower tent (an item I previously discounted as unnecessary…. before I realised that free camp sites are actually populated) and in the tent they have a toilet seat and a bucket with a lid. They wee into the bucket, which is emptied as required, and they poo into plastic bags – which are tied off and disposed of at the next bin – like a doggy bag! Ingenious! I must confess some slight concerns about the public health aspect, but desperate times call for desperate measures. As a shower, they have a Napisan container with holes drilled in the bottom. You heat up your water, half fill it and hold it over your head. You then shampoo and soap, and then another half container rinses you off. Ron even made me one! (He carries a drill with him, which I thought was amazing until P told me that we also have a drill with us….. oh.) And I can report from the frontline that this is a very effective shower. We have added “shower tent” to our list of “things to buy next time we get to a town with shops.”

Back in the virtual world

May 22, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, homeschooling, voluntary simplicity

Sorry for my absence dear reader. Further PC problems came to haunt us. It’s like technology can recognise a luddite at 100 paces, and enjoys playing with our minds. Come the rise of the machines, we’ll be the first to die.

Which segues neatly to the topic du jour: Gadgets, Gizmos and Gazingus Pins.

We leave in 5 days. Gasp. After a recent farewell picnic, a friend noted a phenomenon that has become so commonplace that I had stopped noticing. Namely, that in the context of the trip, everyone has an idea for a “must buy” item. More often than not, they are gadgets (eg GPS, EPIRB, IPOD). None of which we own, and most of which we probably couldn’t operate. My favourite suggestion was from one friend who obviously has a part handle on us. He queried whether we were deliberately setting ourselves the challenge of going around Australia using only paper maps. If this was the case, he recommended that we purchase a GPS – just kept in its box – in case we really needed it. I was able to stun other friends with the revelation that we had purchased a “CD case” rather than an Ipod. Truly retro.

I must confess that I did investigate a SAT phone – only to baulk at the price. This involved one lovely conversation with a Telstra employee – an even greater luddite than us – who advised that there was no such thing. Another employee recognised a potential cash cow, and recommended that we upgrade our regular mobile phone to a “rural and regional model” on a monthly “plan”. Further investigation revealed that the plan did not cover the purchase price of the phone – $1100!!!!!! Come on! Is *anyone* paying that??

I would like to suggest a modernisation of one of my favourite quotes from E M Forster: “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes”. In the book it was written on a wardrobe, and in a previous life I painted it onto my own wardrobe… a suitable reminder that I could just wear something I already owned.

So I propose: “Beware of all enterprises that require new gadgets”. Code: you don’t need them.

But just in case you think I’ve gone completely monastic, I *have* discovered something new to spend money on. A whole new world of *audio* has opened up to me. So far I have bought Barack Obama’s “Dreams of my Father”, Helen Garner’s “The Spare Room” and “The Greatest Speeches in History”. Can’t wait!! For the kids, I also have the complete collection of Frog and Toad, some Roald Dahl and am awaiting delivery of the complete Susan Wise Bauer history of the world for children.

Apparantly there is a book around called “Homeschooling in the Car”. I’ve never come across it, but it may be that at the end of the trip I’ll be able to write my own version.

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Creating Space

May 1, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, homeschooling, voluntary simplicity

Sorry to bore you all with ongoing discussions on the joy of getting rid of stuff. BUT. The clear out continues. I’m being far more ruthless than I ever would have thought to be if this was just a ‘business as usual’ sort out. And I am finding that I am genuinely creating space for new things.

Exhibit A. Now, when a housekeeping moment strikes, I am able to do cleaning, rather than tidying up. Normally, by the time I have tidied up in order to clean, the moment has well and truly gone before any cleaning actually occurs. Now, I am wiping things that I don’t think have ever actually been wiped before. Grotty corners have been discovered and dispatched!

Exhibit B. As I have systematically got rid of kids paraphernalia, they have not enquired about anything, AT ALL. Play continues to occur at the same rate, but am *I* imagining *more* imagination??

Exhibit C. I bought myself a jigsaw puzzle. I had thought that I *might* be able to do some jigsaws while we away. (I haven’t actually used one of those roll up jigsaw mats before, so cannot yet vouch for their effectiveness.) Anyway, once I had it, I couldn’t wait to do it, so used some *space* on the dining table, and some *time* found by not having to do so much tidying. I really enjoy jigsaws. I had thought that I would get back into them when the kids were older. As a fun family project (if they were into it) and also as a way to really explore art works. There’s nothing like a jigsaw to help you study and appreciate the details in a work of art. Plus, after all the effort of putting it together, you tend to spend quite a bit of time appreciating the whole work!

I thought the kids were currently too young – and they were too young to help with the pieces. But surprisingly they were quite into the project as a whole, and quite excited about my progress. I was experiencing the John Holt phenomena (the example when he sat writing numbers sequentially on a long piece of paper. The children would come up every now and then to engage with him/see how he was doing, and there was a palpable excitement in the air when he got close to 100.) Joe often asked to have boobie “at the puzzle”. Once complete, they really did want to closely look at the picture. Tom also initiated ”I spy”. This was an extension of an idea we got from a children’s book where you play I spy in a work of art.

Like any holiday, there’s always that “getting ready” time when it feels like so much work to go, you wonder why you’re bothering. And I guess as we’re going on a *long* holiday, we seem to be having a *lot* of getting ready. But the main reason I like to travel remains the same. The different perspective you get on your normal life is literally life-giving. I’m loving it already. Bring it on!

Civil Disobedience

April 23, 2009 · Filed under ethics, homeschooling, politics, society, voluntary simplicity

T is now officially in Year 1. By law in Western Australia, I am supposed to register him with the education department as being home educated. This would involve a “moderator” visiting me about once a year to discuss our progress (or lack thereof). Well, stuff that. I figure this is a crap system. I mean, come on. Either attend school 30 hours a week for approximately 40 weeks (1200 hours), or they come *one* hour a year….. to offer what, exactly?

I’m not a Ronald Reagan fan, but I understand his point, when he said the nine most frightening words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. The ideology of schooling is such that it is a *compulsory* government service. Along with gaol and being committed into a mental institution. Hmmm.

I am deliberately rejecting their service… so I am obliged to notify them of same, and welcome them into my home so they can moderate us against their service’s benchmarks? No thanks. The only legitimate reason I can think of for the government to want to do this would be as some kind of child welfare check. Which it demonstrably *isn’t* as

1) they don’t turn up till the child is 6; and

2) under their own rules they can’t insist on actually interacting with the child.

A few months ago I was getting riled up about this bad law, and started looking into civil disobedience, as I was intending to deliberately break this law. And who should turn out to be the father of civil disobedience…. inspiration to both Ghandi and Mandela? None other than Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden and inspiration for the whole voluntary simplicity movement! I love this guy! I confess I find the old fashioned style of writing somewhat turgid, but when he writes that it is the *duty* of every thinking (wo)man to disobey bad laws, I’m reading him loud and clear!

If the education department ever tracks me down (sirens might start sounding at their HQ when I press “post” on this) I’ll be

a) suitably impressed by their big-brother capabilities, and

b) interested to see what they actually do.

I’ll also be interested to see whether I am more or less welcome than outlaw bikie gangs down at the Australian Council for Civil Liberties. I’m not yet saving the world, but I’m staking a claim on our own space in the world.

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Having a Party

April 16, 2009 · Filed under being present, cooking, parenting, relationships, spirituality, voluntary simplicity

OR: How to fast-track your divorce

What are the dynamics of preparing for a home-based entertainment that trigger intense feelings of antipathy to one’s spouse? After about 17 years of this partnership, I thought I had this licked. But no. How depressing. So for those that suffer from the same phenomenon, I offer the following tips:

For men:

1) Work tirelessly to manifest the vision of the lady of the house. TIP: Ask a lot of clarifying questions so that all details of the vision are understood by you. Do *not* improvise.

2) Take the kids out.

For women:

1) Start preparing at least two weeks in advance with long meditation sessions. A lifetime would be best.

2) Find your sense of humour. Hold onto it.

These insights are belatedly triggered by hosting a birthday party for T’s sixth birthday, consisting of ourselves and three other families. As P noted afterwards, I could not have been more stressed if I had been hosting the G20 summit. The source of my stress was J, who woke up early, was then tired but unable to fall asleep, and wanted to spend the day having boobie. This was not conducive to cleaning, food preparation, birthday cake baking, or pinata completion. My carefully compiled “to-do” list sat balefully on the kitchen bench. And was later inadvertently thrown into the bin…. leading to an apocalyptic explosion from me, before it was re-discovered.

Expectations breed frustrations. I’m so far from being the zen mama I aspire to be. Worse, I am revealed as someone with a value system that prioritises “house proud”. I really want to move on from this.

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Preparations

March 27, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, homeschooling, relationships, voluntary simplicity

Incredibly, I am *still* sorting stuff out. P has confirmed his last day of work (12 May) and this has given us a real deadline to work towards. We have come to the realisation that our original plan to put our stuff into the granny flat and rent the rest of the house may be a bit limiting, so we’re now thinking that we will *store* our stuff while we’re away. Paying for storage is the ultimate test of how much you actually like something….. there is not much I am prepared to pay to store. So the sort goes on. Ruthless sorting through “memorabilia”. We’ve done a huge photo cull (from the days before digital) we’ve thrown out our wedding cards, and cards that were given to us when the boys where born. Hard to make that decision, but surprisingly easy to live with…. I mean really, do the boys want these? No. My next task is all the stuff I kept from before I met P. AARRGGHHH! I should have done this years ago! (like 20!)

Another book cull is on the cards…… I do this reasonably regularly, and I am always astonished that 12 months later there is a whole pile that I no longer want….. but must have decided to keep 12 months ago. Weird. I’ve done the clothes – again if I’m not taking it with me, it will have to be an amazing piece of clothing to be worth “storing”. So far I have put to one side a motorbike jacket, two long coats and an evening dress. Items that I never wear, but pertain to some dream life where I *might* need to wear them.

My preparations also include trying to dump some psychological baggage. Our financial situation shifted underneath us, and we are now going on a wing and a prayer, with unresolved business left behind. Let go! Let go! In discussion with a friend I disclosed my secret hope that T would start reading while we were away. While sympathetic to my angst, she felt I was probably aiming a bit low. She suggested an alternative purpose for the trip: to build an amazing strong family bond that can never be broken.

Thank you, thank you friends for keeping me focused on the big picture. She’s right of course. Why do we live this “alternative” life of homeschooling? Of course it’s easy to poke holes in the education system. But our aspirations are *much* larger than just providing a better educational option. We want to be together. How’s that for alternative?

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Cricket Tragic

March 8, 2009 · Filed under The Big Lap, environment, society, voluntary simplicity

In order to understand this post, you need to know that P & I do *not* follow cricket at all. In fact, we don’t follow any professional/spectator sports. My mum is a big football fan, and when I was young we used to follow Swan Districts and go to their home games at Bassendean. It was actually fun, and I get the yearning for tribe that can be met, at least in part, when you commit to a team and follow them through their ups and downs. But it’s a huge time commitment to do this – you have to actually attend matches, and watch others on TV etc etc – and frankly, we’ve got other things to do.

So, where is this leading? Well, the 4WD is being “kitted up” for the big trip. One of the items potentially needed was wheel covers for the spare tyres on the back. (Yes, we have two spare tyres. That’s because we are such road warriors we might have *two* blow outs before we can make it to a repair shop.) I was somewhat sceptical of the need for wheel covers…. I mean aren’t tyres designed to drive for very long distances on hot bitumen and rough tracks? Aren’t those two on the back just having an easy life, coming along for the ride? Well, apparantly there is a school of thought (put out by vinyl product manufacturers) that those poor tyres on the back might start to perish a little in the sun.

The first wheel covers priced (at the 4WD shop) were $65. Then P found one of the bargains of the century at an auto shop. You could buy plain black ones for $30 each. OR, for just $6 each, you could have Ricky Ponting ones! So now we proudly sport Ricky on the back. And when the second tyre goes back on (it’s in the shed at the moment as a token nod to fuel efficiency)…. we’ll have double Ricky! Who would have thought that being a tight wad could have such comic benefits?

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