Not so much waking up; just opening my eyes and deciding I had been laying there long enough. I had to rub the ice out of my mustache. It's a cold day. My not-overly intelligible thoughts are quickly confirmed by rolling over and glancing at Lisa, who only has her eyes showing. A hat and a scarf wrapped above your nose while in bed seems normal here.
We have been in the van for three days. Lisa, Neil and I. The look I got when I mentioned another week in a van was a perfectly balanced cocktail of murder, memories of mice, and a beautiful resignation that we really couldn't turn down the opportunity. It's a talent I feel; to filter out the parts of something that are outside of comfort, to siphon the valuable things an experience can offer. Lisa is getting much better at it. 'Just one week before we start work'. 'besides when are we gonna be able to do it like this again?' 'How cool would it be seeing Neil again!?' - He said, hoping he wouldn't get punched in the face.
We have been in the van for three days. Lisa, Neil and I. The look I got when I mentioned another week in a van was a perfectly balanced cocktail of murder, memories of mice, and a beautiful resignation that we really couldn't turn down the opportunity. It's a talent I feel; to filter out the parts of something that are outside of comfort, to siphon the valuable things an experience can offer. Lisa is getting much better at it. 'Just one week before we start work'. 'besides when are we gonna be able to do it like this again?' 'How cool would it be seeing Neil again!?' - He said, hoping he wouldn't get punched in the face.
Her eyes opened and blinked from under the second hat she was wearing, and somehow she managed the exact look again. Either that or she had slept with that look on her face. I immediately started costing flights in my head. Three days was maybe enough. The moment held. Balanced in the breath cloud of decision. Which side of this particular experience would we come down on? She smiled. "**** It's cold". The door had frozen shut. Neil had to elbow the thing to get it moving. I slid out of bed in my long johns and four day old clothes, and we made our way to the pub we had slept behind. A perfectly timed offer of a free mug of tea and a hot shower tipped it from an "interesting" story to a good one. An hours work moving wood for the owner nudged it to brilliant. The owners wife saying she had three left over pies from the weekend if we wanted them before we left... well, I'll just leave that there.
This was our saving grace. Before this however had been three days of close quarters van living, in the rain, with lots and lots of driving. A stiff upper lip was maintained and I think I did well to dance around the glances I got. It was only every now and again that I got impaled upon a comment referring to vans never again being on our horizon. I thought it was odd she wanted to sit in the van rather than come 'play cameras' with me and Neil. More than once it was too cold. The other times it was too scary. We all ended up huddled in the van. Neil found the most beautiful Gordon Dam. Obviously it sat at the very end of a very long road with no other roads connected to it. Welcome to a two hundred year old infrastructure. The size was jaw dropping, and it soon reverberated with the stunning echoes of my wonderful voice, that were marred only by my clear over excitement.
This was our saving grace. Before this however had been three days of close quarters van living, in the rain, with lots and lots of driving. A stiff upper lip was maintained and I think I did well to dance around the glances I got. It was only every now and again that I got impaled upon a comment referring to vans never again being on our horizon. I thought it was odd she wanted to sit in the van rather than come 'play cameras' with me and Neil. More than once it was too cold. The other times it was too scary. We all ended up huddled in the van. Neil found the most beautiful Gordon Dam. Obviously it sat at the very end of a very long road with no other roads connected to it. Welcome to a two hundred year old infrastructure. The size was jaw dropping, and it soon reverberated with the stunning echoes of my wonderful voice, that were marred only by my clear over excitement.
It rained and hit minus seven in Tasmania, and yet every time someone asks us how our time was, we reply with "amazing!" "Tasmania is beautiful". Are we just doing what all humans do and justifying our decisions and forcing ourselves to see the positive? In actual fact we did genuinely have the best time. We staked out platypus three different times and all went completely numb. The bare feet being held in front of the dash fans was like something out of a horror movie. We hiked to see wild wombats and drew an enormous penis in a sand dune. (My first ever proper sand dune). We got lost in the actual wilderness which was fun, until it wasn't. Then got to tour the very same wilderness on a boat. much more safe, and the lovely lady in the kitchen even gave me a wink as she agreed to toast the crumpets we had brought because we couldn't afford the cabin prices. "as long as you don't tell the other guests." Neil has become a real friend, and Tasmania is beautiful. Sometimes I think experiences don't have to be perfect to be appreciated. They can actually have most of the chances turn against you and still be the best times of your life. I think it's true that the way you view things doesn't just give you a different perspective on the situation in front of you. It changes the reality which is in front of you. What you bring to the situation will alter everything around you. Whether for good or for bad. There are very few truly bad experiences in this modern life. They feel bad in comparison to normality, but the way we look at the majority of what is in front of us is key.
There is a rule it seems, that we have to look around us and have the stars of comfort and excitement aligned to perfection to have an amazing experience. I don't agree, I don't think we need things to be perfect for them to be amazing. Sometimes it's the little bit of wrong that makes something so stand out. For example: Fighting the cold to enjoy some unique places is one of them. Had we slept in comfort, the kindness of the pub owners wouldn't have been worth half of what it was. Had we had a moving hotel on wheels instead of an old holey rattling van, the warm glow of racism in the pub wouldn't have had quite as much charm. Or the fire for that matter, wouldn't have been as comforting. Had we not been stuck behind a snow plow, I wouldn't be able to say I got stuck behind a snow plow. We also wouldn't have accidentally filmed ourselves stopping and having a snowball fight in time-lapse on a "sports camera". Tasmania is one of our favourite places, and we didn't need it to be perfect for it to become that way. I'm not trying to rehash an old cliche of "the unexpected makes the memory" as a way of pretending you had a good time. Because the bad times obviously are just that. Bad. But I think we throw away certain moments and circumstances way too easily. There is a moment to remember and cherish and love in a faded photograph even if you have to brush off the broken windscreen and frostbite. Sometimes it's the sense of pride and achievement and other times you just realise you don't need things a certain way after all.
There is a rule it seems, that we have to look around us and have the stars of comfort and excitement aligned to perfection to have an amazing experience. I don't agree, I don't think we need things to be perfect for them to be amazing. Sometimes it's the little bit of wrong that makes something so stand out. For example: Fighting the cold to enjoy some unique places is one of them. Had we slept in comfort, the kindness of the pub owners wouldn't have been worth half of what it was. Had we had a moving hotel on wheels instead of an old holey rattling van, the warm glow of racism in the pub wouldn't have had quite as much charm. Or the fire for that matter, wouldn't have been as comforting. Had we not been stuck behind a snow plow, I wouldn't be able to say I got stuck behind a snow plow. We also wouldn't have accidentally filmed ourselves stopping and having a snowball fight in time-lapse on a "sports camera". Tasmania is one of our favourite places, and we didn't need it to be perfect for it to become that way. I'm not trying to rehash an old cliche of "the unexpected makes the memory" as a way of pretending you had a good time. Because the bad times obviously are just that. Bad. But I think we throw away certain moments and circumstances way too easily. There is a moment to remember and cherish and love in a faded photograph even if you have to brush off the broken windscreen and frostbite. Sometimes it's the sense of pride and achievement and other times you just realise you don't need things a certain way after all.