Pondering pontifications...

I’ll do the next Blog, says I, I’ve got a few ponderings to share. Mmm, now I am sat in front of the keyboard maybe not so much.  You see, I have had my visions of writing grandeur somewhat boosted by having a piece published in the ‘Valley Voice’.  Yes, I know, not quite the Pulitzer arena but it made me recognise that I quite like writing, I quite like the challenge of sharing an idea, a thought, a picture, a feeling in words.  It’s ok, I won’t get all poncy on you, I know my limits!

We have now been isolating for just over 6 weeks.  Blimey.  For me, it brings to mind the 6 week point in a 6 month deployment; the realisation there is no escape, that your mess mates can be bloody annoying and that there are so few crosses on your ‘days to go chit’.  And, in this instance, we can’t even have a ‘days to go chit’ because we don’t even know what the end date is…

Unlike being stuck in a 200m by 14m metal box, we can, at least, get out into the 100 acres of land surrounding us, a 100 acres that demands constant attention which is how we have been filling our days.  We have cut and pulled out acres of encroaching tea tree, slashed paddocks, mown verges and cleared dead wood; real backbreaking work resulting in sore muscles and dirty bodies.  But my, the reward!  In a previous life, I can recall having days at work where we would be wrestling with a particularly thorny issue which would take the whole day, days, week, weeks and, at the end of it, what did we have to show for it?  Nothing, absolutely nothing!  Because, by that time, we would have moved onto the next thorny issue.  I spent my days rolling from one shit storm into the next and, yes, it too was tiring.  Yet, here, at the moment, I put in the hard work, the graft and, at the end of it, there’s a cleared paddock, the burning pile, the cut firewood - we get to see a tangible result and you know what?  It’s awesome! 

In my last job, where I was responsible for the delivery of naval training, I used to do this thing at the course graduations (of which there were many) where I would give the graduates three things to consider; the importance of feedback/continuous improvement, knowing the mission and their part in it and, finally, to be happy.  The final point was linked to something that a previous Chief of Navy kept saying to sailors, he kept saying ‘have fun’ and it had struck me that it is often difficult to appreciate when we are ‘having fun’ (I don’t think I ever thought those 6 month deployments were ‘fun’ until after the event!) and so, I had come up with my own measure of ‘having fun’ and it was when I thought to myself ‘I cannot believe I am being paid to do this’.  I am not sure whether the sailors got where I was coming from but it helped fill the time between handing out the certificates and getting into the Morning Tea.  Suffice to say, I have been thinking of the ‘fun criteria’ this last few weeks and I think might need to amend it somewhat.  I think I may have to change it to ‘Isn’t it great that I am alive and I am healthy and I get to do this’ (whatever ‘this’ may be).  

I am also starting to appreciate that an ‘escape’ isn’t just physical, we can escape into books and into music and even into conversation.  And whilst my current ‘mess mates’ have their foibles they are still more amazing than annoying and if we just focus on ‘days to go’ then we are missing the point, we are missing the journey and the COVID19 journey might be one of the most important we ever experience.  Kia kaha.

If you are interested, this was the article, I hope you enjoy it:

My 30 year love affair with Kangaroo Valley

“Nyngan?”.  

“No, England”. 

“Nyngan?”

“No, not quite, England”.

“Nyngan?  Oh, we’re raising money for you because of the floods”.

This was the conversation I had with a Kangaroo Valley Public school kid some 30 years ago.  A Pommie backpacker, I had, through amazing luck, managed to secure myself a gig working for Derek Lucas at Chakola and, as a Trainee Primary School teacher, jumped at the chance to go into KVPS for a day in May 1990.  The mix-up of England and Nyngan was a good story to tell once I had returned to the UK and always reminded me of how special my time in Kangaroo Valley had been.  Whether the walks to Red Rocks or Drawing Room Rocks or some amazing food at Trads Restaurant or the Friendly Inn (where Derek’s brother Ray ran the kitchen) or just seeing how resplendent the escarpments were in the evening sun, KV was magical and the love affair had begun.

Fast forward nearly twenty years and I, again, found myself in Australia.  I had spent most of the intervening years as an Officer in the Royal Navy (yes, not quite a primary school teacher but that’s another story) and had been given the opportunity to take up a role at HMAS WATSON in Sydney.  In fact our first weekend in Oz saw Sharon (my partner) and I, drive our hire car down to the Valley so that I could introduce her to Derek and Irene.  It was the first of many jaunts to the Valley during our three year sojourn.  The intervening years had not changed the Valley very much although there seemed to be a lot of more coffee machines and cafes than previously!  We had some excellent nights in the Bowlo and Bellas and, again, walked some of the great tracks in the area although I am not sure my legs have yet forgiven me for the 50k Trek for Timor done in 2011.  We attended Anzac Day Parades and the Kangaroo Valley Show and we talked about whether we could emigrate permanently.  

Like all love affairs however, there was another who stole our hearts and, in our case, that was New Zealand.  In 2012, I ended my Royal Navy career and switched it for a career with the Royal New Zealand Navy.  Of course, it was still close enough to visit KV reasonably regularly which we did and we were kept abreast of Valley happenings by the monthly mail out, by Irene, of the Valley Voice.  Although, be warned, the Queens Birthday public holiday is a different date in NZ than Australia which was why, one June evening, Irene was very surprised to hear we were at the top of the Barrengarry Mountain and would be with them shortly; given she was expecting us about a week later!

We certainly love being “Briwi’s” (as our Kiwi friends call us) but we still had a hankering to spend more time in Australia and last year took the momentous decision to ‘do the Big Lap’.  And if you are going to drive around the continent of Australia then you need to do it properly so, we sold our house, left our respective jobs, bought a fabulous camper van and flew to Australia (along with Dennis our Border Terrier) with a view that we would spend at least two years exploring this vast land.  That was at the beginning of December and as most of you will recognise, into the most severe fire season in living memory.  We spent the month of December basing ourselves in KV and then doing ‘tests and tries’ in the van (you can take the girl out of the Navy…) out into the wider Shoalhaven area.  

Christmas was spent with Derek and Irene but we recognised we were likely to be more a hindrance, rather than help, if the fire jumped the Shoalhaven and so departed and the adventure began.  New Year in Sydney and then we headed north along the NSW coastline to friends near Burleigh Heads.  Once in Queensland we decided to take a look at the land beyond the Great Dividing Range and got as far as Goondiwindi and Chinchilla.  The ravages of the drought shocked us and gave us a new appreciation of what ‘farmers doing it tough’ really meant.  By this time, the rains had come and we wanted to pick up our original ‘Big Lap’ clockwise route so headed south via the New England Highway which also meant we could attend the Kangaroo Valley Show; and what a show it was!  To see the Pavilion teeming with crafts and cakes and artwork was truly inspiring and illustrated the tenacity of humans.  We again said a cheerio to Derek and Irene and joked we would see them in a year after doing our Lap.  Mmm, not quite.  Having weathered the fires and floods it was the pestilence that finally scuppered our plans.  

By early March it was becoming clear that COVID19 was to be our next challenge but, at that stage, there was nothing to indicate that we would not be able to continue with our journey.  Ulladulla, Broulee, Moruya, inland to Canberra, Tuross Heads, Narooma, Mystery Bay, Bermagui, all the fantastic sights and sites were being ticked off.  However, as we neared the Victorian Border, the tone of the press conferences had changed and, over the Ditch, all our Kiwi family and friends were going into a 4 week lockdown.  Facebook was rife with rumour, counter-rumour and supposition and it was likely we would not see any specific direction to “nomadic travellers from New Zealand who do not own a house in Australia”. It became clear that we needed to have somewhere to hunker down and the most obvious place would be back in KV with Derek and Irene.  And here we are, helping with the maintenance and gardening on the property, supporting Irene, and Nicole, in the Kangaroo Valley Store and spending time dreaming our ‘Big Lap’ dreams.   In the meantime, it would seem my love affair with Kangaroo Valley continues.