Lessons from the Open Road - What I discovered outside my bubble

When people found out about my plans for a career break after question one, “Why are you doing it?”, generally the next question would be a quizzical, “What do you expect to get out of it?”. And on return, “So what did you discover?”.

Before heading off a likely response would have been, “I’m not exactly sure, but I know there will be something” and on return it’s been, “Lots”.

I covered motivation for the travel to the USA and across Australia in my previous post, but with further reflection there’s something I touched on, but didn’t really explore and is especially relevant following the recent federal election result. This was my desire to better understand how macro-global trends are impacting people at a micro level, and, if I’ve been living in a bubble, are my personal views (which I’ll declare as being “lefty”, but not quite “leftard”) representative of the broader lived experience or shaped more by myth, nostalgia and narrowcast media.

Where does reality sit between #blessed and the divisive mess that is #auspol? Especially in areas outside major cities… the regions, underrepresented in media plans, but over represented in 60 brand TVCs.

What I learnt from a month in America doesn’t stray far from what you’ll find on TripAdvisor and read in opinion columns, so I’ll keep it short, but there are a few things worth saying.

• If you ever get the chance to belt out Piano Man with Billy Joel and 19,000 close pals at Maddison Square Garden do it
• As long as Trump doesn’t close the Mexico border smashed avo fans are well catered for
• The squirrels at Niagara Falls look cute but are ruthless
• Boston in fall is beautiful, make sure to check out the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• For a country obsessed with security they are terrible at managing it efficiently
• Size gives more choice, but not much that couldn’t be experienced in any global city
• The divide between rich and the rest is immense
• Just as divided (and painful to watch) is the media, both right and left
• New York might never sleep, but the country feels tired and cranky. 

I flew out of the States with a sense of sadness knowing it’s still true if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, but in my eyes anywhere is now the better option.

The 22,000KM of driving across every state and territory of Australia (except the NT), spending 106 nights in a tent, country pub, motel or jammed into the lowered front seat of our car and one night in a water tank, taught me a lot more.

In no particular order here are the top 11 things I learnt.

1) The Agapanthus is the real national flower of Australia – It might hail from Southern Africa and the wattle might be on our coat of arms, but this flower is everywhere. Seen in every state it marks affluence in the city and driveways in the bush. Its long stem and bright flowers achieve that often illusive design aspiration of combining beauty with purpose.

2) There’s little debate about the merits of “renewables” when they are needed – So much solar is being used around campsites and in country towns. It powers caravan luxuries, cellar door signage, street lights and farming essentials. Surround by red dirt in the Flinders Rangers I even saw solar panels powering a windmill which was pulling water (a sight that might have given Joe Hockey a heart attack!). However to reference Tony Abbott’s concession speech perhaps this has more to do with acceptance of climate change as an “economic issue” rather than a “moral issue”.

3) There is a vineyard, coffee roaster and brewery in every town - If we used to live off the sheep’s back it’s quickly being replaced by the cellar door and brewhouses. Along with primary producers having “side hustles” – farmstays being a prime example.

4) The state can provide better than the market - Much to my surprise I was very quickly happier to pull off the highway to have a quick picnic and use the loo in a public park rather than make a Maccas stop. Same goes for using tourism information centres vs. TripAdvisor.

5) Just because something is new doesn’t mean it will work – There are so many stories about riches made and ultimately lost when the harsh Australian landscape couldn’t be tamed by industrialists. These colonial pioneers used the cutting-edge technology and “big ideas” of their times, but now all they’ve left are ruins. Are we so arrogant to think that our tech and thinking has advanced so much over the past 200 years that we can now outsmart Mother Nature in a land that is over 150 million years old? The same goes for my failed thinking we'd be cooking amazing meals every night just because I'd bought a top of the range gas cooker called The Gladiator.

6) We have a dark past and it needs to be recognised for us to all move forward (and address the racism that is still prevalent today) – There is so much history about our country that has rarely been taught, is chosen to be ignored or glorified through myth. It is often argued that the past is the past and we should just move on. But I’ve always felt this sells us all short, something reaffirmed on my time on the road.

While nationwide debates about asylum seekers, terrorism and Australia Day swirled around on the front pages of newspapers and the crackling AM radios of country town bakeries, it was the seemingly “everyday” acts of racism I witnessed, both casual and outwardly malicious, that really stood out.

For example, the very helpful and otherwise pleasant family man who gave us advice about getting to the 12 Apostles early because if you leave it too late it’ll be overrun by “The Chinese” and their selfie sticks, with a bonus tip of if there is a group of The Chinese, “Ya just gotta barge through ‘em”. Or the cop at the start of the Nullarbor who decided to pull into a petrol station and breathalyse an Aboriginal man but not give me a second glance. Or walking around my own hometown and seeing “No Muslims” scrawled on park benches. This isn’t a country vs. city thing it’s an observation of where we are at as a nation, where people feel comfortable to say and do these things. An unwillingness to constructively address the darker parts of our history feeds the ability of these racist views to continue as part of our contemporary national character.

Finally, by ignoring the rich history of Indigenous Australia and the substantial contribution of non-European migrants we are really missing out as a nation and setting ourselves up to repeat the sins of the past. I’ll leave the sins of the past for now, but in terms of missing out, if you haven’t already then read Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu to get an insight into the sophisticated and often ingenious approach First Australians took to agriculture and land management, and on your next lunch break take a look around the food court to see the benefits of multiculturalism. Hopefully one day soon next to the rice paper rolls, kababs, pasta and sushi will be stores selling kangaroo, wattle seed & marsdenia leaf salads and the Sudanese favourite Goraasa be Dama.

7) "The Bush" is under resourced - Drive 5 minutes outside a country town or even regional centre and get used to no phone reception or one bar 3G if you’re lucky. I’m not using this as an opportunity to bash the telcos, but as a proxy for the often-substandard services that are provided.

In reality this was a “first world problem” for me, but incredibly isolating for many and crippling for those running a business. It made me think about all the projects I’ve worked on where for seemingly the right reasons an experience has been designed mobile first, a new service created as digital only or a campaign has promoted a competitive advantage provided to the majority whilst simply neglecting those it doesn’t reach.

It’s not that people and communities don’t want to participate, it’s that government and businesses aren’t providing a level playing field.

There are only so many times a person can ask politely and be ignored, this frustration is currently being vented at the ballot box with the rise in popularity of independents and minor parties.

Expect a similar outcome for Australia’s corporate giants as loyal profit driving customers once rusted on due to superior service and intergenerational trust, now fused due to lack of choice, are rusted off breaking away to join new brands and businesses as soon as the technology allows.

8) Our national identity is still intertwined to a land we rarely seek out – “We open on a shot of the early morning sun rising from the distant horizon, it climbs to reveal the expansive and unique red dirt of the Australian desert, a mob of Kangaroos captured as the camera zooms out, cut to an aerial shot of a surfer with the crystal blue water a strong contrast with the cliffs of a rugged South Australian coast, next a kelpie rides in the back of a workers ute he jumps, we see two kids smiles wide launch themselves off a pier, from the splash we’re transported to a remote waterfall surrounded by some of the tallest trees in the world…etc, etc, etc…, then the sun sets behind a large mountain range the sky morphing from a bright orange to pink until dark it is filled with an impossible amount of stars” 

Underneath the vision bed the track of your choice, The Triffids “Wide Open Road”, Christine Anu “Island Home”, The Go-Betweens “Streets of Your Town”, GANGgajang “Sounds of Then (This is Australia)”, Powderfinger “These Days” and pretty much anything by Paul Kelly.

This is a clichéd view of Australia and could be the accompanying hype reel for many brand manifestos, but they’re also all things that we saw and were never quite able to accurately capture on film. I can’t recommend enough going and seeing it for yourself.

Beyond the clichéd you might discover the mundane can become irresistible, people will surprise you and every so often an instafamous #mustsee location will really disappoint.

9) Community still exists – The WikiCamps app, caravan parks, the highway wave, local produce markets, silo art trails, bushfire community centres and rejuvenating small towns showed how people still look out for each other and do so in a more altruistic way than I’d seen for a long time. Participation felt more genuine rather than designed for boasting, belittling or self-promotion. A reminder that sometimes you should participate just because you should, not just because of how it will reflect on you.

Though if you want to see community at its worst jump on a local Facebook Community or Buy, Swap & Sell page to see it in action!

10) There is a real enjoyment in simplicity – Stripping my wardrobe back to fit in a duffel bag and our possessions to fit in the back of an SUV didn’t exactly “spark joy”, but it did bring into focus how much stuff I have that really isn’t needed. And by choosing to stay in low cost accommodation we gained a degree of flexibility that gave freedom and generated a different type of enjoyment. Some of the most enjoyable experiences we had were while staying at caravan parks I previously would have been judgy about, opening the door to a country motel not renovated since the 1970s but where the attention to detail, care and unique personality beat many 5-star hotels I’ve stayed in, the crunch of pastry in a country bakery pie, a shared joke, seeing the landscape change both slowly and dramatically, the routine in making our morning coffees.

However, hiding behind a simplicity = enjoyment formula when I was really being unprepared or too cheap, didn’t work. It had a similar outcome to adopting “Agile” in the workplace to try and cover up for a small budget or poor planning, resulting in a less than ideal outcome with unnecessary stress and a budget overspend!    

11) Everybody can adapt to change, but we all have our limits too – There were a few raised eyebrows when I told friends we’d be swapping the Paddington terrace for a tent. Hardly herculean I know, but in doing so I learnt some lessons about adjusting to your surroundings and accepting what is and isn’t in your control. In the language of the HR managers (or is that Employee Success Directors) a swarm of mozzies helps build resilience, rain clouds rolling in is the perfect time to pivot, the infuriating task of folding tarps presents an opportunity to be mindful and getting stuck in Noresman WA (a firm favourite to win Shit Town of Australia) due to bushfires is a perfect way to reflect on your sphere of influence.

As for hitting limits, for us it was the need to adopt a new form of clothing called “indoor socks”, a pair of socks exclusively worn inside the tent and especially while sleeping, used as a final (often futile) barrier to prevent black soot and sand that refused to be scrubbed from our feet somehow magically transferring to every surface it touched. 

To wrap-up what has ended up a much longer post than intended, here is a summary of what I learnt (or was reminded about) on the trip that I’ll be applying equally to my personal and professional life:

• Try not to ignore the past nor let it dictate the future
• People are more willing to embrace change than we give them credit for
• Our greatest successes are often the result of a strong community rather than an individual’s aspiration
• Stand by your convictions without losing your compassion

And finally, to quote the writer Harry Miller – “One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things”.

If you've made it this far thanks for reading and I hope you found my musing interesting (and useful).