Observing Culture

It is staggering to wrap my head around the fact we’re coming up on almost two months in Australia. One thing I’ve noticed when you stay somewhere for weeks, or months, is that you transit through layers of discovery. I guess this is pretty obvious but nonetheless it’s cool to experience. We’ve experienced this a few times on this odyssey. Justin has taken to calling our trip an odyssey. We have both been teasing him and picking up the term ourselves. So, we’re several layers deep into the southwest of Western Australia and still learning new insider tips about the region. Still getting new tips on trails, beaches, surf, food, activities. Justin has some bike bros which has accelerated our insider knowledge. More than anything it’s just fun to keep learning about the place you’re in.

People are less in a rush here, in life but not in driving!! I’ll dwell on the driving first. The driving culture is a bit wonky. Cars have the right of way, always, and they always take it. A car will almost never slow down to give space or time for a pedestrian to cross. In fact, they will probably speed up. It doesn’t match their personalities at all so it’s really hard to compute. Maybe it’s the macho vibe? You just have to accept it. I’m definitely a different kind of pedestrian here!! I actually think there’s safety that comes with this clarity. I know exactly how cars will behave. Still weird though. But more importantly, these people are definitely all working to live (not living to work). This whole “one precious life” is not lost on Australians. Hustle culture has not reached these shores. My favorite example is the “apres coffee” that happens following group bike rides on weekdays!! I did many a group weekday ride before work and the minute we got back to our cars everyone hustled to the office. Not here. The Aussies even told us “they do it in Perth too” :) so proud that their big city brethren are equally chill.

Men’s community is visibly a thing here. And to be clear, I think it’s great. Of course since the dawn of time we’ve congregated in gender-based groups, but back home I had no awareness of men’s clubs, networks, meetups except for one annual “men’s summer party” in my town in CA. One could argue society is a man’s club. One could also argue North American society doesn’t let men meet like this, because we’re so fed up with their structural and systemic advantages? So, back home it seems rare to find visible, welcoming, community-based spaces for men to let their guard down. It is cool to see them here.

From a small window in, it would seem (some) Australians may have fallen into the overparenting trap that grips North America. To be clear, I do not rise above this phenomenon!! My data point is roped activities - mostly zip lining but canyoneering too. We’ve done them in Newfoundland, France, Spain and now Australia. And we’ve done ziplining many times in Park City and other places in North America. These experiences give you a window into (1) Does the business trust you? Will it let you take risks? You see this in how safety is implemented (2) Do parents trust kids? You see this in how parents shepherd their children through these activities. ‘Trust’ is also a proxy for ‘confidence they can figure it out’. The differences in (1) are wild and vast. In Europe they have high expectations of you as a functioning adult, and high expectations of kids!! So much higher than us!! They have confidence you will figure it out!! They are not afraid of a little risk. There is less safety gear, very brief safety talks, and encouragement to go figure it out and have fun. In North America and Australia there are so many layers of safety it can be disorienting and distracting frankly. Risk is not OK. So many clips and safety features. Some of it is good for sure but the approach and underlying philosophy is very, very different. No surprise that (2) is similarly different. In France I still remember a guide gently asking me to back off telling Hazel what to do, “she’ll figure it out” he said. Of course she will. We had little 8 year olds on our very adventurous canyoneering experience in France. I’m guessing that in North America the age cut off would have been 14. It was wild, and cool and hard for me at times. And 8 year olds were doing it too. By the time we got to Australia I couldn’t help but notice all the well intended staff and parents that wouldn’t even give space for kids to figure it out. I’m still wired that way subconsciously to be honest, while consciously working to unwire. And in a few years they’ll be driving cars, drinking and whatever else.

Speaking of drinking, we’re in Wine Country here in the Margaret River region and we don’t even drink!! But with wine comes good food and good coffee. As we’ve transit through layers of discovery, we found a farm grocery stand and coffee shop in the middle of a field. On Easter weekend which was bananas, we had an afternoon outing to this farm stand and had the place to ourselves. Justin loaded up on vegetables as though we’re a family of ten. Bless his heart.

Unrelated to all this, both kids have really buckled down on homeschool and are making big strides. A little effort goes a long way. School really took a backseat through Africa and India. In fact we left it at the side of the road ;) I’m amazed at how creating the simplest of simple plans has made all the difference in making progress with Hazel. It reminds me of a James Clear quote I love “we don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems” or something like that. Will does a lot of school in the park. This is school!!

Another window into culture is flyers. Funnily enough both Justin and I are obsessed. Love to see the activities, the art, and the vibe that is conveyed through local events. Sometimes we sign up and partake. I went to a watercolor calligraphy class. We went to a movie about Western Australia. It was called “Welcome to the West”. The promo said it was about West Aus culture. It was literally 40 minutes non-stop footage of mostly men and a few badass women surfing barrels. Just barrels. It was cool and very bro. Endless barrels. After the film the filmakers got up on stage. They asked if any groms (young surfers) had questions. One of them was “what’s your worst accident” and the guys on stage went into vivid and gory play-by-play detail of their most miserable and horrible surf accidents. I was thinking a headline or two would suffice. Honestly it was funny if not a bit gross!!

I’m still finding new-to-me town murals in my wandering. Hard to believe.

On Anzac Day (National Day of Remembrance) there was endless rugby in the field across from our place. There were a lot of players on the very big field!! And so many spectators simply rolled up the chain link fence and sat in their cars to watch!! Or backed in!! There was a lot of shouting and grunting. When I say lots, I mean LOTS.

A few more cultural gems below. Australia!!