The Brobdingnagian People you Meet!

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, Zanni and I were given a lift to the start of our journey by a bloke I met in Bourke. A really interesting guy, a kayaker of amazing proportions. Of biblical proportions. Of brobdingnagian proportions.

I wonder if that's a word by the way. Brobdingnagian. Sounds like it should be. It Sounds HUGE! And that is what this man has accomplished. Huge things. Before I go into that though, let me tell you how I met this person.

The logistics of an expedition such as this are many and varied. Food, equipment, scheduling and more all become issues at one time or another. Organising equipment for the Melbourne Mob (an eclectic medley of mad Melbournians) who are to join me on the river meant that, amongst other things, ensuring kayaks were available to actually paddle in. With this in mind, Pip (my brother and one of the Melbourne Mob) rang a guest house in Bourke and asked if it would be possible to hire a kayak or canoe. Much to his delight the guest house owner said yes. In fact she even owned a canoe - and she knew of a bloke who was a keen kayaker and owned a couple.

Anyway, one thing led to another and Pip gave him a call only to find that this guy was indeed one of the dead set hard core kayakers of the world. A man who has kayaked or canoed in various parts of the world. He's paddled a large part of the river - down to Wentworth in fact. That paddle helped him fall in love with the area and today he lives out here, teaching kids and loving the bush and lifestyle out here.

Now I can understand that. On the face of it, Bourke is a pretty rough town. Crime is high and petty theft common. Windows on houses are protected by wire mesh and peoples property are behind big huge fences. Cars being left on the streets are almost assured of being broken into during the night. not a pretty picture, right. Well true, but that's just one side to the place.

The people that you meet here, the community which is clearly thriving is just beautiful to see. People are quite friendly and are keen to help in any way possible. It is wonderful really. On hearing that I was looking at kayaking down the river, James (for that is the name of the kayaker) was only too happy to give a helping hand.

"Where are you launching?"

"Whose property are you going through?"

"Who do you know around here?"



After an hour or so of discussion, James volunteered to drive Zanni and myself out to the start of the river. He's also keen to call ahead so that some of the people on the river can expect to see a mad mob kayaking down.

I love this place. The people here are great. Sure the youth is disaffected. Sure petty crimes are rampant. but the people here are like gold and the country is just beautiful to behold. I can really understand the reason why people would far rather live in places like this instead of those cosmopolitan places they call cities...

I can't wait to discover other people of such brobdingnagian proportions. If its a word anyway...

Regards,

Christo