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G'day, guys! Welcome to this episode
of Aussie English, the number one
podcast for anyone and everyone
wanted to learn Australian English.
Guys, today I have a great interview
for you, so alright, what's the
story? How did I find Will? Will was
a mate of mine when we were going
through high school and I haven't
caught up with him since then since
the end of Year 12. I haven't seen
him, except for you know on the
social medias, right? So, I've been
following him more recently on
Facebook and watching his adventures
up in the north of Western Australia.

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So, he's been up there in the
Kimberley and he's been posting a lot
of amazing videos, a lot of amazing
stories and I thought, you know what?
Man, I need to get him on the podcast
to talk about what life's like in
some of the most rural and remote
parts of Australia where many of us,
many of us city slickers, many of us
who grew up around the cities never
actually end up treading foot.

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So, without any further ado, guys,
let's just get into the interview,
I'll give you Will Maas.

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Will is a mate from high school, I
haven't probably seen you in... It
would be at least 14 years now,
right?

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00:01:27,340 --> 00:01:30,510
Yeah. Did you go to the 10-year
reunion?

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Nah, I was up on the other side of
Melbourne and miss it. So, yeah it's
been donkey's years, right?

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Yeah, right.

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00:01:41,180 --> 00:02:04,959
I've been following you online on
Facebook and everything with the
social media and you kind of sort of
popped up again on my radar. I don't
know, it would've been a year or so
ago, and you're on the complete
opposite side of the country now up
in Western Australia. I wanted to get
you on, obviously, to tell the story
about how the hell that happened and
what life's like like. How did how
did you go from being, you know, in
Geelong, at Geelong College with me
back in the day, to now living in
W.A. working full time there?

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00:02:05,690 --> 00:02:36,969
Yeah, it's a bit of a crazy story, I
still sort of pinch myself how I
ended up here really. So... When was
it? March, the start of last year,
well it was actually a few months
before that, I had a van that I
kitted out with false floor, you
know, pull-out kitchen just turned it
into a camper and I had a mate's
wedding on a weekend and then a few
days later, I was like, oh, just
shoved the heap of stuff in my car,
packed the roof racks and then I was
off.

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How easy is that to do? Because I'm
sure a lot of people listening will
be like 'oh, man, that's my dream to
get a van and kick it out and then
travel around Australia', was that
something that took ages to prepare
and cost you a small fortune?

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Yeah, it did, it sort of help that I
already had the van that I was using
initially I bought it as to work out
of, because I was a plumber back
then. So, I was going to kit it out,
you know, it's so worked out that on
the road, but then prior to March
last year, I think it was about
September of the year before, I was
reading an article by a photographer
who was travelling around Australia,
just take... You know, working and
just moving from place to place. So,
I was just like 'whoa, that's so
amazing!'.

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Yeah, like I said, like September,
from then on, I just gradually, you
know, researched different things on
how to set it up and that sort of
thing, put in place.

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You did it all yourself as well, did
you?

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Oh, I had a lot of help. I had a lot
of contacts, obviously, being in the
trade industry. I had a mate who was
a cabinet maker.

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Oh man, too easy, then.

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He made a really high-quality
kitchen, so he...I'll just like
'mate, I'll pay you what you want,
just do that', and it came up a
treat. It was perfect, just like I
said. At the back it had like two
pull out drawers. One was a pull-out
sink with a bit of bench space and
then the other one was I had my
fridge there, a 40-litre fridge and
then that also acted as a pantry.
Another mate of mine, his dad used to
work for Telstra, so he had the
knowledge to put the solar panel on
the roof. So, really self-sufficient
in that way, so that obviously if i
was camped up in a spot for a few
days, I didn't have to worry about
continually turning the car on and
off to charge the batteries, I had
the dual batteries set. So, it all
sort of comes together, I think, the
final touches were probably in
February. So, it didn't really....

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February of last year?

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Yeah, yeah. And then it didn't really
give me much time to do any test runs
anything like that, so...

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So, what happened? You just Left, you
were just like 'alright, I'm ready,
bye!'.

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Pretty much. Yeah, so I jumped, like
I said, I had the mate's wedding and
then a few days after that hit the
road and then headed, my plan was,
because I've done already a lot of
the East Coast in previous years with
other mates, you know, short trips
and I've got family up in Brisbane as
well, so...

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That tends to be the case with
Aussies on the on the East Coast too,
right? They tend to go up and down a
lot but they rarely go to the west,
right?

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That's right, yeah. Prior to that the
further west I'd been was Adelaide,
which is, you know, it's only like
eight-hour drive. So, yeah that was
the furthest I'd been, so I thought,
you know, why not see a bit more of
the country, so yeah headed just from
then yeah, I obviously was living in
Geelong, for those who are listening,
it was obviously just near Melbourne
there, on the coast, just followed it
along the coast, had friends in
Adelaide, caught up with them and...
A.

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And was there a plan at the time or
were you just sort of like 'I'm just
winging it'?

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Obviously, those few places that I
wanted to say just, you know,
obviously the main ones that pop up,
but then at the same time I was
pretty open about it all. I didn't
really want to have a routine so to
speak, so I just sort of just almost
left it to fate, like just see what I
just have, which is called Wikicamps.

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And that tells you, what, where you
can go and stay everywhere?

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You know, that's all pretty much run
by other campers they put in little
spots that you can go, places of
interest and camp grounds and if
they're free or if they're asking for
a charge and that sort of thing. So,
that was really helpful, I think it
cost like ten bucks, but the amount
of time and things that it saves you
it's just, it's...you know ten bucks
in the scheme of things is pretty
good money spent, so... yeah.

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Exactly.

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Did you find any good spots? Were
there any good stories of things you
came across whilst you were
travelling west?

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Yeah there is a few eery moments,
where I did. I think the first spot
was... I was on the Nullarbor. They
were coming across the Bite there,
and there was this... I was actually
at a bush camp just a few days before
and I stayed there a couple of times
just to change it up because I was
continually on the coast and one of
these guys was saying... Gave me the
absolute rough as directions, he's
like 'once you get to the Nullarbor
Roadhouse, you go... it's exactly 10
kilometres and there'll be a dirt
track on your left hand side, just
follow that, there's no signages or
anything. There's a fence line that
you sort of follow. Follow that down
south towards the coast, and then
you'll eventually find this old
telecommunications tower' and I was
just like...the way he explained it
was just like yeah,l it's pretty easy
to find and then found the road, and
it was like he said it was pretty
much 10k on the dot, so to find this
road for about... I think about half
an hour 45 minutes in I'm like 'where
the hell am I going?' Like, this
is... he's lead me down the garden
path, like... but eventually, true to
his word I got to this spot and it
was funny, there's actually another
camper at the same spot.

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It wasn't Ivan Milat, was it? What's
his name? Mick from Wolf Creek.

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Oh I had a lot of stories running in
the back of my mind, I was just like
'oh man, if I stay here, it was,
yeah, a bit of an eery feeling about
it, but I sort of got into this
little open, it just opened up and I
got so, like, overlooking the ocean,
got out of the car, stretched the
legs and then I've got...got to be
close to the cliff. I'm like, oh
shit. That's pretty decent. And I got
right to the edge and looked down. It
was just... It would have been a 60
metre drop to the bottom of this
cliff and I was like had the car
about, I don't know, 10 meters away
from the edge.

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Safety first.

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That was my first real experience of
just like, you know, bush bashing it
out in the middle of nowhere, but at
the same time it was one of the most,
probably, the top five camp spots
that I went to.

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Were you just there alone to?

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Ah, there was just this one other
camper, which turned out, it was
funny actually, they had actually
camped two cars away from me at
Streaky Bay, which is sort of on
the... oh, back about a two-day drive
or something like that.

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You'd already seen them or something.

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Yeah, we've just got, I just went
over and started talking to them,
Because the old boy was playing
guitar and sort of got into a chat,
you know, where did you come from?
Streaky Bay...

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Did that same guy tell you the
directions he told me?

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He must have. And then I'll just
like, what are the chances? And,
yeah, but then there's other spots
where you go into like from there
it's only a day or two after that. I
went into another thing that I found
on Wikicamps which was an old
homestead, same thing, you drive off
the highway about half an hour or
something and yeah there is this old
homestead, which back in the day was
a pretty pivotal spot where
travellers stopped for like picking
up supplies and whatnot, but nowadays
it's just abandoned, there would have
been about 50 old vintage cars,
they're just rusting away.

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Really?

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Because people just left them there
or they would've been owned by them
originally?

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Yeah, I think, I'm not too sure if it
was just... It was pretty weird, it
just sort of turned into like a car
graveyard, but all the, you know,
once beautiful looking vintage cars
they're just scattered around this
property, and then same thing I was
there by myself, decided to walk into
his old homestead, like beautiful old
homestead that was actually built out
of old railway sleepers.

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Oh really?

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Yeah, yeah, and was in still pretty
good nick for the age and has sort of
started walking through the house and
it just had this feeling of like
someone's going to jump out, you
know, there's...

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What am I doing?

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So, that was another moment, I'm
thinking what if my parents,
especially my mum, was watching me do
this, she would not be happy with me.

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It sounds like something out of Blair
Witch or something, right? Or you
need to be taking a selfie camera and
then you see someone's reflection
behind you and you just like...

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00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:53,409
Yeah, which... Because a lot of my
trip I was filming it on Instagram.

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Yeah, yeah I remember.

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And a lot of people were just like
commenting like 'what the hell are
you doing there by yourself?' yeah,
they couldn't believe it, but, you
know, when you're looking back at
that sort of thing it just makes the
journey, you know, it just makes for
a better story, really, I guess.

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Did you have to worry much about
things in terms of safety whilst
you're out there too? Were there sort
of dos and don'ts for the average
person?

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Yes, so probably the first... Once I
passed Adelaide and I was really by
myself, it sort of sunk in, I
actually got a little bit homesick
cause there's a few days there were
you walking around small towns and
you might not say a word to anyone
for the whole day, and then you sort
of get to a few different spots and
you're buy yourself and then you hear
cars coming in late at night, which
turned out to be local fishermen or
something just preparing their boats
and that sort of thing.

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It must be a totally different
experience too because I know,
especially... I noticed, have you
heard of Lord Howe Island?

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Yeah, yeah.

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We went there and when we got to the
island, because there's only like 300
people who live there permanently,
everyone waves to you and they always
come up to you and wanted to talk to
you, like, 'how's it going blah blah
blah' and you're just like 'what the
fuck's wrong with you, man, like,
this is so weird' because you're so
used to being in a big city like
Melbourne where you're around
thousands if not millions of people
who just ignore each other.

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Exactly.

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Was it a weird thing to then go out
into somewhere like the bush where
now, anytime you come across someone,
it's almost rude to not talk to them,
right? It's like.. You guys have to
have a conversation because you could
rely on each other if something goes
wrong.

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Absolutely. Yeah, it's especially
once I started going...so, I think
it's... I can't remember what the
peninsula's called... near Port
Lincoln, in South Australia. Once you
sort of get into those areas that
community feel really does shine
through really strongly and, you
know, you can go anywhere and just
ask for help and people are so
willing, if they can help you,
they'll give you a phone number or
point you in the direction, you know,
of someone who can, and that really
came through I was pretty surprised,
you know, that some of these spots
are just... In some of the most
barren parts of Australia, yet, the
people they are just so helpful, but
like you said it doesn't really...
when you're in those metropolitan
areas, that's something that a lot of
people forget.

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It's like there's so many people
around you expect someone else going
to pick up the baton, right? The guys
on the ground having a heart attack,
ah it's all good, there'll be someone
here who can help you know, so and
then no one actually helps, right?

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00:14:32,430 --> 00:14:47,690
Well, that's exactly right, yeah.
It's funny, isn't it? Even the whole
way around, then got adjusted to like
when I got to Perth it's not, you
know, compared to Melbourne, it's not
as big, but it's a major city.

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Still, what is it about a million and
a half people or so?  Two million
people?

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I'm not exactly sure, but even just
going to a town or a place like that,
you know, I was there for a few days
catching out with people and I was
like...I want to be here I want to
get back to the smaller communities.
You have so much more fun, you can
walk into a pub or whatever, be in a
campsite and...

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00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:34,470
This tends to be that kind of split,
right? Between country people, the
country folk, and the city slickers,
right? Where we kind of don't tend to
understand each other very well,
unless there's, you know, that go
between by people, but quite often at
least I'd feel like a fish out of
water if I went into the sticks, at
least to begin with, I think, and
vice versa. You think and how much
they shit themselves when they have
to come to the city, right?

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00:15:34,474 --> 00:15:35,474
Exactly.

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00:15:37,660 --> 00:15:48,340
When you went out there though, into
those communities, did you get kind
of like, you know, you embraced it
and then whenever you came back you
were like 'oh, man this is not my
world anymore' Like, I don't want
this, this is horrible.

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00:15:48,810 --> 00:16:10,779
It is funny. Yeah. So, it continued
on my trip obviously made it up the
West Coast and before I left I had
this thing in the back of my mind,
that Broome was going to be a spot,
whether it be, or just make it to
Broome, then I'd come home or just
make it two a three month mark, some
days and that was just it's going be
a place that I'd end up.

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Yeah.

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00:16:12,850 --> 00:16:24,429
And eventually I actually got this
job, which so I did four months with
a company in Broome working all
around the Kimberley, started that in
late June of last year.

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00:16:24,730 --> 00:16:25,730
How did you score that?

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00:16:26,370 --> 00:16:28,360
It was on Gumtree, actually.

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00:16:28,799 --> 00:16:29,799
No kidding.

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00:16:30,630 --> 00:16:34,115
So, I'll just put out a... Because I
was just looking for casual work.

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00:16:35,273 --> 00:16:39,700
So, you put the ad out, wasn't them
who put the ad out? You were like
'hi, I'm here, these are my skills,
give me work'.

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00:16:40,230 --> 00:17:15,039
Yeah, yeah because I just wanting to
change it up, you know, the money
side of things wasn't... I sort of
could have gone another two three
months. I would have been
comfortable. It was just mainly just
to meet new people and whatnot. I was
actually travelling with three other
people at that time, so, you know,
just to change things up a little
bit, got this Job and realize how
good it was, so that's why I stuck
around for like four months or
something. But it was funny. I was...
I think it was, so we did our rosters
three weeks on and one week off.

75
00:17:15,460 --> 00:17:16,460
And what were you doing?

76
00:17:17,530 --> 00:17:33,945
So, we do all the essential services
for Aboriginal communities around the
Kimberley, supplying power, water,
all that sort of thing, maintain all
their power stations, water
compounds, at the moment I'm more of
a maintenance in a front-end loader.
So, we do all firebreaks, tidy up
their tips, their roads, and all that
sort of thing.

77
00:17:43,368 --> 00:17:44,368
Yeah.

78
00:17:45,270 --> 00:17:48,877
So, I'm travelling around a fair bit,
but yeah...

79
00:17:49,150 --> 00:17:55,329
Does that have you going around like
hundreds of kilometres not just a
small area, but you're like the
Kimberley is where I work?

80
00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:07,030
So, we're based in Broome, but we for
our run we travel as far as
Kununurra, which is pretty much about
40 Ks short of the Northern Territory
border.

81
00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:11,079
I interviewed a chick from Kununurra
yesterday about riding bulls.

82
00:18:12,011 --> 00:18:13,011
Is that right?

83
00:18:13,650 --> 00:18:15,461
It's such a small world. Anyway.
Sorry, keep going.

84
00:18:17,110 --> 00:18:23,676
Yeah. So, it's like a
ten-and-a-half-hour drive in a car,
but for us being in a truck, you
know, we have to break it up into two
days.

85
00:18:24,887 --> 00:18:25,887
Yeah.

86
00:18:27,130 --> 00:18:39,037
So, just going back to the earlier
point, in July last year I had to fly
back back home and even being away it
was only what, four months or
something, flew into Melbourne and I
was just like this is just too full
on. I've got get out of here.

87
00:18:46,548 --> 00:18:49,980
Was it just sensory overload, right?
Because there's so much noise...

88
00:18:50,780 --> 00:19:12,429
Because I'd actually come from a
community called Kalumburu, which is,
I think it's one of the most northern
communities in Western Australia, so
it's right up the top, bit closer to
the N.T. border. I actually got a
small charter plane back to Broome
for our break and then from there I
had to fly down to Sydney then to
Melbourne.

89
00:19:12,970 --> 00:19:13,970
Holy molly.

90
00:19:16,091 --> 00:19:43,180
Yeah, that was a hectic trip, but
coming from there, a small community
and then flying into Melbourne, was
what? About twelve hours later, it
was just like yeah, nah, I'm not used
to this. Yeah, you just get used to
that small community feel, And yeah,
just not and particularly our work,
you might not see another car when
you're driving for an hour or two.
So...

91
00:19:45,550 --> 00:20:24,049
It is weird that you kind of get used
to that, right? Like, I had a kind of
similar thing happen to a much
smaller degree, when we moved to
Canberra and you just realise how
much smaller the place is like and
it's almost like you see the same
people all over the place and you can
just go for a walk and all of a
sudden you're in a reserve where
there's 100 kangaroos in front of you
and you kind of like... Man, when we
moved back from Canberra to Geelong,
I was just like.. My God, this is
so... I miss being able to just walk
from the house and get to the bush,
you know, and just be like... I'm
alone. You know? There's people
everywhere, but you don't know them,
we moved into a house, I don't know
my neighbours, I don't talk to them,
they wave to you sometimes, but
that's about it.

92
00:20:24,450 --> 00:20:27,229
That's as far as the relationship
usually goes, isn't it?

93
00:20:27,301 --> 00:20:39,179
Do you think you'll ever get back
used to, you know, city life or is it
the kind of thing now that you've had
a taste of what it's like to get to
the country and you kind of like this
is... I need to make sure that I
maintain this kind of lifestyle one
way or another?

94
00:20:39,710 --> 00:21:00,890
Absolutely. You just get used to
that. Especially like our work at the
moment we can like, we go into spots
where people might not have been
there, like we went into one
community to tidy up and people
hadn't been there for some reasons or
not for a year or something.

95
00:21:01,390 --> 00:21:06,680
What? You mean like the outside world
hadn't just come in and, you know,
had anything to do with them. They'd
just been doing their own thing.

96
00:21:07,150 --> 00:22:00,529
Yeah, yeah. So, we just go in there
it's usually like one family or, you
know, two families just living in the
middle of, you know, nearly an hour
or two from the closest other town
and you just get used to that. We
roll out the swag sometimes instead
of, you know, setting up a proper
accommodation and you just get used
to that, like I said that isolation,
with no one around you, you haven't
got phone reception, you might not
have phone reception for two or three
days, so you're completely switch
off. I mean, you've got a satellite
phone if anything is to go wrong or
anything like that, but yeah, just
getting used to that, just switching
off two or three days, it's just...
Yeah, it's magic, really. And then to
fly off flying back home, no, I'm
sorry, I drove back home in November
last year.

97
00:22:01,310 --> 00:22:02,420
Which route did you take?

98
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,049
So, I actually finished work in
Kununurra, so I had my van there.

99
00:22:06,050 --> 00:22:06,155
Yeah.

100
00:22:06,156 --> 00:22:33,383
And then I went, just did a month
going up to Darwin and down through
the middle, then to Adelaide and then
onto Geelong from there. So, that
took, yeah it took about a month and
then I was back home for December to
mid-February and then, yeah,
obviously this role came back up, so
flew to Perth for about a few days
and then I was back up to Broome by
February.

101
00:22:33,700 --> 00:22:36,380
So, you didn't drive this time, you
were just like 'van's staying home'.

102
00:22:37,480 --> 00:23:05,269
I've done about 30 thousand Ks, so I
was like no, I think driving can have
a rest for a while. Flying was a
little bit easier and quicker. So,
but even being back home for two,
three months I was like itching at
the bit just to get away again, just
to, even you know, as you know
Geelong isn't a massive town, but at
the same time is always, you know, a
lot of people around, it is even
pretty busy for what it is.

103
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:24,688
Did you miss the stars? I mean, that
might be a weird question, but like I
can imagine at night-time somewhere
like Broome must be about as far away
from any other big city in Australia
as you can, get except for maybe the
Pilbara or even, I guess, Uluru's
still near Alice Springs, but did you
miss the sort of night sky out there
compared to, you know, trying to see
it in Melbourne?

104
00:23:25,430 --> 00:24:12,519
Absolutely, yeah. I mean, even just
flying into Melbourne at night-time
and you just see the amount of lights
and you try to look up and all you
can see is obviously that light
pollution and you're just like...
Nah, this isn't good. So, I actually
got lucky when I was home, I just
went solo camping over New Year's up
to snow fields near Mount Buller, and
even up there I was just constantly
looking up. I mean, it's nothing
compared to what we get to out in the
Kimberley where you've got hundreds
of thousands, if not millions, of
stars that you're looking up at every
night because you do get clear nights
every day. Because obviously in the
dry season, you probably get a few
cloudy days here and there, but for a
good six to eight months you've got
clear blue skies and then clear
nights. So, the amount of stars are
just... oh, it's... I've just
actually bought a new camera, so I'll
go and try and get into that sort of
the, you know, night photography.

105
00:24:29,610 --> 00:24:30,610
Oh, definitely

106
00:24:31,550 --> 00:24:34,227
Try and cap, you know, you try and do
it on an iPhone, but yeah...

107
00:24:34,430 --> 00:24:36,920
That doesn't do it justice.

108
00:24:39,410 --> 00:24:45,771
Nah, yeah got the tripod and the new
camera set up, so hopefully I can get
into that. I've just got to figure
out how to actually use the bloody
things.

109
00:24:46,010 --> 00:24:52,279
Are you going to do wildlife
photography as well?Because the
wildlife must just be off the charts.

110
00:24:53,050 --> 00:25:18,960
Yeah, I mean, it it's funny, you sort
of, you think there would be a lot of
animal wildlife, you know, with that
wildlife around. It goes through
stages that you might go through
parts of the Kimberley where it's
abundant with a lot of animals and
whatnot, ranging from, you know, your
kangaroos, emus, but then you also
get, a lot of people forget there's
actually camels that roam around here
as well.

111
00:25:19,060 --> 00:25:32,646
I was wanting to get on to then ask
you what it's like with all the
camels there because I watched a, I
think it was called The Track or
something. I've forgotten what it
was. But the woman who walked through
the Simpson Desert in the '70s and
she walked all the way to Shark Bay
and she had to fend...

112
00:25:33,259 --> 00:25:33,931
I've heard, yeah, amazing story.

113
00:25:33,932 --> 00:25:48,352
It's a good movie. She had to fend
off a whole bunch of camels that came
at her, because she had a troupe, a
group of camels that she was taking
with her and the males were in rut or
whatever and were really dangerous.
What's it like there with all the
camels that are running around wild?
Do you have to be careful?

114
00:25:50,490 --> 00:26:19,555
I guess if... It's mainly only when
you're in a car, especially with
cattle, like dusk or dawn because
they do hang pretty close to the
roads. They can't just be driving
along, you know, a lot of dirt roads,
you mainly sit on between 60 and 80
Ks, and then obviously you'd be
driving along, might be a little bit
fatigued and then it's a cow or camel
would just jump out of the bushes and
you're like, oh shit, like...

115
00:26:20,420 --> 00:26:30,070
So, and obviously you've just not
expecting, I'm still trying to get
used to camels being in Australia,
like a lot of people don't associate
them being here, but they're actually
a bit of a pest.

116
00:26:30,510 --> 00:26:36,589
And we've got the biggest population,
right? They came over from
Afghanistan in the eighteen hundreds
and we've got the biggest population
in the world now.

117
00:26:37,490 --> 00:26:49,579
It's crazy, isn't it? Which when I
first saw the signs when I got across
the Western Australia, like you see,
you know, emu, kangaroo, wombat, then
you see a camel you're like... what?
Like, what's going on here?

118
00:26:50,300 --> 00:26:58,700
But do you ever see them on the side
of the road dead where they've
actually been hit by a truck or it
tends to be the camel doesn't die,
kills the car and then the camel
walks off.

119
00:26:58,850 --> 00:27:34,720
Yeah they are very solid animals and
I've seen a few up close by and you
sort of walking near them and you're
just like, that would do a lot of
damage to a car if it was to hit it.
So, yeah, I think the car would come
off second best if that was to hit
it, so the road trains would probably
be alright, but yeah it's... They're
an incredible animal just to see up
close how big they are. I guess
coming from where they have like, as
you said, from Afghanistan and that
sort of region, they are pretty used
to these sort of conditions anyway,
so that's what they've probably
thrived so much.

120
00:27:36,470 --> 00:27:40,941
They make weird sounds, right? Don't
they make some kind of like... When
they..

121
00:27:41,930 --> 00:27:43,150
You nailed it, that's it.

122
00:27:44,070 --> 00:27:57,429
Well, I was watching that movie and I
was like... I didn't realize these
guys sound like that animal out of
Star Wars or something, you're just
like wow, that would freak me out if
I was camping on the side of the road
and just suddenly I heard that
murmuring of, you know, a camel
somewhere, you'd be like 'what is
this?'.

123
00:27:57,770 --> 00:27:58,219
Yeah.

124
00:27:58,220 --> 00:28:09,784
Especially because they do hang
around in groups as well, so you'd
get them all roaring, just like, wow,
it's a bit intimidating. Lucky we're
sort of tucked away out, a lot of our
camps we're deck out shipping
containers as our camping.

125
00:28:09,785 --> 00:28:10,079
Oh, brilliant.

126
00:28:12,614 --> 00:28:21,182
So, obviously if they wanted to come
in for a feed they're not going to
really penetrate into the shipping
container.

127
00:28:21,350 --> 00:28:22,914
Not after dark, I think, right?

128
00:28:28,830 --> 00:29:18,726
What's life, can I ask too, what's
life like up there with the
indigenous people? Because obviously
and I was, I recently read a book
called Aboriginal Australians and it
was one of these situations where I
did a complete 180 on my sort of
views of indigenous, the plight of
the indigenous, I guess, in Australia
because you think, I guess, growing
up where we grew up, you don't really
meet any Indigenous Australians.
They're hard to find, and so Europe
in a constant sort of I guess thought
patterns of 'oh, if they just worked
harder they'd be fine', you know? Or
'if they just pull their shit
together they'll be fine'. What's
life like when you actually end up
somewhere like Broome where, you
know, you're probably a minority now?
Like, what sort of... How would you
describe it to someone like me or
who's foreign who's just arrived in
Australia about what life's actually
like in communities where there are
lots of indigenous people?

129
00:29:19,800 --> 00:30:44,250
Yeah. So, like I was saying, our work
is primarily all based around
supplying services for these
communities around the Kimberley, so
whether that be up at Kalumburu,
which is right on the coast up north
or a town like Balgo, which is down,
right down south in the desert,
it's... You go into a lot of places
and you actually can't believe how
they've survived for so long and in
these conditions, especially down
south where the landscape is so
barren, and it is a desert, so I
went... so I went from Kalumburu in
my first month and a bit, my first in
last year, from there I had to go to
another job in Balgo, so I've gone
from being on a river, lush greenery
all around, and then from there I've
gone down south into the desert where
there's no water, no flowing rivers.
This was funny, we were actually
building extending the sewer system
to go to a new swimming pool that was
being built there and that would only
be their only source of, you know,
being able to go for a swim, because
the dry season that they've just had
has been one of the driest in a lot
of years.

130
00:30:44,310 --> 00:31:34,470
A lot of the older people are saying
that this is one of the driest I've
ever seen. So, yeah, to put it into
context, but the main highway that
goes from Broome to get to the
Northern Territory, if you go about
half way, head south, maybe an hour
or two, you realize when you look at
up on a map even like on Google Earth
or something, you just see, you know,
brown, there won't be any greenery
and anything like that. So, for them
to survive as long as they did, it's
a testament to them because it's they
know the land so well, where a lot of
those dry seasons they would go to
certain spots and there'd be these
little springs that they could find.

131
00:31:35,940 --> 00:32:08,329
I've heard stories of, you know,
decades ago where they would
actually, if they were out hunting,
they would have their water source at
1:00 in the morning and then their
next water source would be pretty
much exactly a day's walk. So, they
relied on them by the end of that day
they'd be, you know, obviously really
dehydrated and have to rely on that
source to stay alive, and so that
happened for generations and
generations, it's just amazing that I
could do it.

132
00:32:08,527 --> 00:32:41,960
And that must have just been
obviously, you know, subgroups of
indigenous people too because people
forget that there are so many
different, effectively nations,
right? Of indigenous people,
languages, it's not, it's like
Europe, it's not just there's a one
country that speaks one language and
they're Aboriginals, right? So, you
would have these people in the desert
who are the desert people and then
you'd have people in rainforests and
people in places like temperate
Victoria and, so they would have
completely different skills and
understanding of where to go and what
to do on the land and what food to
eat and everything like that, right,
too. So, you can't just take them
from one place to another.

133
00:32:42,470 --> 00:33:38,339
No, and I'm lucky enough to have,
because I work in a crew of three and
one of the guys he grew up in Fitzroy
Crossing, which from Broome is about
400 Ks or, you know, four hour drive
east along the highway. He grew up
around that region. So, he's got a
lot of knowledge around the country
and all that sort of thing. And he
was telling me that, you know, there
could be a tribe based in one certain
spot and then only, you know, 10-20
Ks down the road there'll be a
neighbouring tribe and they could
speak completely different language
that they may have a couple of words
here and there that they have
similar, but then that happens all
around Australia, like, close, but
like you said, language is all
completely different and is probably,
there is hundreds of nations of
tribes around.

134
00:33:38,730 --> 00:34:31,824
There were 250 or so and then I think
they had like 600 dialects. So, there
was when I was reading one of these
books recently about the indigenous
culture after the Europeans arrived,
it seemed crazy because their... it
was weird too, the indigenous tribe
seem to have this rule of if you can
communicate with the tribe in a
neighbouring tribes, they're good. If
you can't communicate with them,
they're bad, kill them because, you
know, obviously it makes sense if you
can't get across a message or you
know in any way shape or form then
it's better to see them as a threat,
but I think they showed that was part
of the problem when the Europeans
arrived on the eastern coast, they
kept pushing all these tribes off
their own land and into other tribes
and, so you had a lot more conflict
happening amongst those tribes.
What's it like out there with the
indigenous people and, you know,
Western society kind of encroaching
on probably the last remnants of
where they can actually live? Is
there a lot of conflict of tension
or...?

135
00:34:32,100 --> 00:34:37,871
It's... I think there's a lot more
tension between the elders and the
younger generation of each community.

136
00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:40,101
They're turning away from it a bit?

137
00:34:40,650 --> 00:35:09,665
Yeah, like... I was actually lucky
enough to go on a tour of a cave
recently, which one of the elders
took us in a group and he would be or
in his 50s or so, he's in a small
community and he's running these
tours and I was asking him, you know,
you know are younger people who want
to do this sort of work or whatnot?
He's like 'oh no, they're not
interested. They'd rather be in
town'.

138
00:35:09,756 --> 00:35:12,389
They want an iPhone, dammit. Give me
an iPhone.

139
00:35:13,170 --> 00:35:42,269
Exactly, which is, you know, it's
funny how generations, that's only
one generation, it's the gap, but how
much different way of living has
changed. They are all about it, you
know, like you said, their iPhones
and all that sort of thing and they
don't want to be out in the
communities where, you know, all
these elders are trying to pass on
this knowledge of land and, you know,
bush tucker and all that sort of
thing and, you know, dreamtime
stories and stuff like that.

140
00:35:42,360 --> 00:36:41,099
That's the hardest thing. When I
finished this book, I was just like
what the hell do you do here? Because
it's... The more you, quote unquote,
help, the more you kind of passively
erode their own culture, right?
Whether you actively mean to do it or
it just happens because you encourage
the younger generation to get
educated, move to cities, you know,
become a lawyer or something and it's
like... Well, they can't, they're not
going to live in a community in the
middle of nowhere and try and work as
a full-time employee in the middle of
a city at the same time, right? So,
it's like... How do you balance those
two things of we want to... We want
to encourage your culture to keep
flourishing as best we can, but at
the same time, we want to give you
the opportunity to get educated,
quote unquote, educated in the
western, you know, way of doing
things, but then it's kind of like
you can't have both at the same time.
And it's really because I guess that
sort of happens with farmers in rural
areas too, right? Where their kids
quite often go to the city and then
they're like 'we're not coming back
to the farms, you know, screw that!
We're staying here!'.

141
00:36:41,710 --> 00:36:51,810
They see how easy it is in the cities
and then they're like 'well, why
would I go back to, you know, a small
town in the middle of nowhere when I
can just have everything I want in
the cities'.

142
00:36:52,320 --> 00:37:17,850
But is there a sign because,
obviously, seeing people like you who
are going back into these kinds of
areas and seeing how, you know, that
the pros of it and the cons of living
in cities, do you think there'll be a
movement soon enough in Indigenous,
the younger generation, where they
get to a certain age and they're like
actually I want to get back in touch
with my roots and come back to the
communities or do you think that
maybe this could be the final nail in
the coffin and there might be a lot
of culture lost?

143
00:37:18,660 --> 00:38:14,440
It's definitely going pretty strongly
that the a lot of the younger,
probably the generation around our
age maybe, you know, maybe in their
20s to the 30s being brought up with
a lot more technology around them, so
that's why they're being influenced
to go to the cities a lot more, but I
think their kids are starting to
realize they want to keep that
culture. I can't remember where it
wa,s there was a community where
these kids are going to school, I
think it's like a Catholic, they have
a lot of Catholic and Christian
schools around and they actually said
to the teacher, you know, 'why are we
being forced to learn in English when
all I speak is our native tongue?'
So, they're they're questioning that,
they don't want to lose that, you
know, that cultural background.

144
00:38:14,650 --> 00:38:25,869
Well, that's a great sign then,
right? If they're saying, you know,
alright, we're going to speak our
native tongue, but if we have to do
English we'll do it, but it's not
going to be... we'll trade our native
tongue for English.

145
00:38:26,230 --> 00:38:47,251
That's right. Yes, so that's, yeah,
like I said, that's promising signs
that they still want to keep in touch
with that because, I saw something
the other day, the rate of these
native dialects that are dying out a
lot of them will be... I think it
was, like, by 2050 about half of
them, and this is this is worldwide,
thousands of them are going to be
lost.

146
00:38:48,670 --> 00:39:02,170
Yeah, it's ridiculous, right? Even in
Australia, I think, the majority of
Aboriginal languages have less than
100 speakers. It's like, there's only
like 15 that are, 15 languages that
have more than a thousand and that's,
you know, they're slowly getting sort
of shaved away.

147
00:39:02,740 --> 00:39:26,614
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And especially a
lot of communities that we're going
into where as soon as the elder
elders of the community pass away,
and the ones who are left they leave
the community and they'll go, they'll
just move into town and then,
obviously, that community that, you
know, those generations of culture
are just completely wiped off the
map.

148
00:39:27,100 --> 00:39:39,000
It's tragic, right? Because is
probably for a lot of these,
obviously it's 60 thousand maybe plus
years, that that's been a continuous
chain of passing on knowledge and
then it gets eroded away in a single
generation.

149
00:39:41,150 --> 00:39:53,762
And then, you know, you obviously
hear story's like a part of that tour
group we got in that cave, there was
old cave, well it wasn't painting, it
was actually, they used rocks to
scrape into the rock.

150
00:39:53,979 --> 00:39:54,639
Oh, really?

151
00:39:54,640 --> 00:40:13,480
The story like a Rain Man and all
that sort of thing. So, you think,
you turn that community into a
national park or something, a lot of
the people who are running these
national parks wouldn't have a clue
that these paintings and stuff there
and in the stories behind them and
all that sort of thing so.

152
00:40:13,540 --> 00:41:01,593
Some of it is insane, right? There
was a TED talk I watched the other
day with an Indigenous woman from, I
think, around Uluru from that area in
Alice Springs and she said there was
a story that had been passed down so
long that it was a story where, I
think, at night the older ladies
would tell the daughters if you go
out into the darkness watch out for
the big beast or come and try and
take you, but if you need safety
climb up the tree because you can't
look up, he can only look from side
to side and through the stories
details they reckon that it comes
from, what's that? There was a
megafauna animal from 40,000 years
ago called Diprotodon or something
that was like a huge wombat, and they
think that story could have been
effectively passed down for that
long, for that many thousands of
years.

153
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:08,409
It's amazing, isn't it? Yep, which  I
was... I don't know if you've heard
of the book called 'Sapiens'.

154
00:41:09,090 --> 00:41:10,245
Yeah, it's a good one, right?

155
00:41:10,246 --> 00:41:32,870
They mentioned that megafauna in
Australia and then you just try and
you hearing these stories as you said
that you sort of get 'oh, ok, so
that's where they're sort of coming
from' and then you can see in some of
their patterns where...oh, their
paintings or whatnot, so I'm starting
to make out, oh ok, so this is what's
yeah, this has come about.

156
00:41:32,940 --> 00:41:57,830
I think the paintings that blow my
mind the most are the ones of the
First Fleet or of James Cook's ships
on the wall, because you're just
like, you know, I imagine that moment
in history where these two cultures
that have been separated for that
long, suddenly came into contact, and
these people may have not even had
direct contact, but saw this stuff on
the horizon and were just like 'what
is this shit?' and then drew it on a
wall like 'what?'

157
00:41:57,930 --> 00:42:24,861
Yeah, yeah, like these evil spirits
or ghosts or whatever, coming back to
life, it would have... imagine seeing
that, like... and even just like
simple things like early explorers in
Australia, even just going back there
was this a book called Nomads, which
is about this couple in Western
Australia, which I think they're
known to be the last traditional...

158
00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:42,860
Oh, yeah. This guy was the guy who
went in to get them with Mujdong or
whatever, the friends of the couple,
right? He was in a book I read
recently, The Explorers, about the
explorers in Australia and that was
the last story, was them going in to
get this couple of indigenous people,
right? In W.A.

159
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:51,615
Yeah, yeah. And they..imagine,
because there was a lot of exploring
with cars and stuff going around,
this is only going back, what? That
was '60s...

160
00:42:52,026 --> 00:42:53,799
That was 77, so that was in 77.

161
00:42:54,460 --> 00:43:04,211
Yeah, yeah, and imagine them seeing
like tyre marks all that sort of
thing or and you'd just be like,
they'd be like 'well, that's not a
kangaroo' or you know 'that's not a
wombat trail' or whatever.

162
00:43:06,142 --> 00:43:27,960
Yeah it would have been insane for
those those last few groups that had
never come in contact with, you know,
it would be amazing to sit them down
at that first contact and be like
'what's your view of an iPhone?', you
know, like 'here's this thing that we
can order food on, we can call our
friends and talk to them on the other
side of the world, like what is your
opinion of this thing? Like does this
seem like magic?'.

163
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:53,835
Exactly, which there's a good
documentary called Footprints in The
Sand, which is based on these, which
is based on them and it shows them
being brought into into the town,
this couple... I can't remember If
they get dressed in like western
clothing and whatnot and you can just
see how unhappy they are to be away
from their country, they just want to
be back out there as harsh as it was,
a lot of the water was drying up or
their wells and everything.

164
00:43:55,539 --> 00:44:29,900
That was the tragic thing, right?
They had to take, well, they did take
them o but the Mudjong and the other
guy went to find them because they'd
been the worst drought ever recorded
in that area and they were like 'how
can these people survive off, you
know, the land? So, we need to save
them'. The thing that blew my mind
about that story was Mudjong lighting
a fire, like he just goes out there,
they try and find where they are and
they're like 'oh, fuck, I've got no
idea where my friends are, they
should be around here within a few
Ks', so he just set fire to a bush of
spinifex, waits ten minutes and then
looks on the horizon and there's
another fire coming up and that's how
they found each other! I'm like... I
would never have thought of that.

165
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,190
And he just lucky that he had that
knowledge to do that.

166
00:44:36,500 --> 00:44:37,781
Yeah, they would have been driving
around until today, right?

167
00:44:39,870 --> 00:45:33,672
Doing the old cooee or something like
that. Yeah, just to even see that
documentary and you can just see that
they're still in traditional dress
and even the way he was standing,
which is what John, who I work with,
he was saying how they stand with one
foot sort of raised against their
knee, so standing on one leg. He
goes, 'that is the traditional way, a
real Aboriginal will stand' and just
sort of saying all that, he's got his
spear and, and just seeing how
they're still living. And that was
like you said, you know, what 40, 50
years ago they're still living like
that. And it was just incredible to
see, but now the sad thing is, when
we... because our company been doing
this for over 15 years, so they're
used to us coming in and working in
their communities, you go in there
and a lot of that is being lost,
which is a bit sad in a way because
not all communities have their own
stores, but a lot of them do have
tiny stores that they can go to. So,
they've got everything there. You
know, just like cereal and losing all
that history of traditional cooking
and all that sort of thing.

168
00:45:54,871 --> 00:46:41,080
It must be so tricky when you get to
that situation of we'll give you
stuff to help you get by, but then it
undermines their own culture and
their own,..what they were already
doing to get along. So, you're kind
of like... You're helping, but you're
not helping at the same time, and it
must be such a difficult position to
be in. I remember hearing a story
about, I think, indigenous people
being given axes quite often they
used to be given Tomahawks as a way
of payment because it was a, you
know, I can imagine it was a bitch to
make a stone axe back in the day. The
problem was, though, that all the
elders were the ones who controlled
the axes and made them and, you know,
would lend them to other people and
it was their power. And, so as soon
as the westerners came in the
Europeans just gave away Tomahawks
willy nilly, you suddenly undermined
the sort of hierarchy of the entire
tribe.

169
00:46:41,610 --> 00:47:33,810
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's easy, which
was I was lucky enough on that same
tour. He had these traditional stones
that they did make the axes out of
and they actually used something from
a termite mound, it's like a sap or
something that comes off this mound
that they use to glue the stone to a
like a bit of wood, and just seeing
that I'm just like...holy molly, and
then how they would make that even
boomerangs and that sort of thing.
The wood that they use is like a real
hard wood, even using a chainsaw to
cut it, you know, it stops the blade
almost in one cut, so then you just
think they're trying to use these
rocks to cut all that and then
obviously shape it right down into a
boomerang. It's... It's incredible.

170
00:47:34,500 --> 00:47:46,409
Well, the best thing, what about
making didgeridoos, right? Because
you think 'How the hell with a boring
a whole out of a out of a tree?', and
then you realize they weren't, they
just shove the train to a termite
mound and let the termites do the
work and then came back in a weeks
and it was hollow.

171
00:47:46,920 --> 00:48:22,889
That's right. Yeah, yea, it's just
incredible. No, but saying that,
that's going back to that first stint
up at Kalumburu, I actually think it
was, like... There's only a few days
in where we're doing a tank upgrade
at the water compound and we...
our... We were staying at a house
there and it was just a short walk
around the corner, and I was walking
to the water compound and then next
minute I see this guy is walking down
the street with this spear. He was
going off hunting, I was just like...
What? What? What's going on here?

172
00:48:22,890 --> 00:48:23,058
Far out!

173
00:48:24,255 --> 00:48:44,309
They are still using... Like, a few
of them are still using that same
technique to stalk animals and spear
them. So, that was still good to see,
that coming up, as much as, you know,
Western influence is having on them,
a lot of them are still trying to
keep those traditional ways about
them.

174
00:48:44,486 --> 00:49:07,132
Do you feel envious to some degree
that they have that kind of history
too and that connection in Australia?
Because when I was growing up I was
always like, you know, I feel
Australian, I consider myself
Australian, but to be honest you know
when you when you stand next to an
Indigenous person who can trace their
roots back here at 60000 years, it's
kind of like...what am I? I wish I
had that connection like this land I
have had ancestors on this for that
long like, it must be mind-blowing,
right?

175
00:49:09,690 --> 00:49:30,201
Which is one of the things that that
tour guide  said to us, he said he
was from near the region and he was
saying, you know, I know my
connection to this land where, you
know, where my family is from. How
many of you can can tell me where
your ancestors were from? And I was
thinking, well, I know grandparents,
you know, they're from...

176
00:49:30,610 --> 00:49:31,610
Geelong, mate! Geelong.

177
00:49:33,910 --> 00:50:21,489
Just down the road, mate. Like, oh, I
know maybe a few generations and a
rough idea, you know, they came from
England and then that's about it. It
gets a bit vague after that, but they
can go back, you know, hundreds of
years, generations upon generations
and they know that they, this land
that standing on their great great
great great grandfather was standing
there they years prior, so having
that connection to the land is it...
yeah, like you said, it is you do get
a bit jealous about it, because it is
pretty special thing too to be able
to have and they are very family
oriented and they tend to have their
children when they are younger.

178
00:50:22,510 --> 00:50:34,646
So, they can grow up with their child
and once they get to, you know, that
when they are about 40 years old or
something that's when their child
will start having children of their
own, where I think Western culture is
a little bit different.

179
00:50:35,230 --> 00:50:36,809
You don't start until your 40, mate.

180
00:50:37,180 --> 00:50:57,400
That's right, exactly. And I'm saying
yeah we sort of do it, we're almost a
little bit selfish in a way where we
do all our own thing first for, you
know, until we're 30, 40s years these
days and then we start thinking about
children, at least that's what I've
sort of... I'm like... I don't have
any children of my own.

181
00:50:58,540 --> 00:50:59,540
Not yet, not yet.

182
00:51:00,237 --> 00:51:44,379
Or that I know of. But yeah, just
hearing that sort of things, they are
and then they will look after their,
you know, their parents and
grandparents when they're all
elderly. So, that's one thing when I
did go back home, which I was trying
to say was their house, their family,
their roots are so strong and their
values it's just..it blows you away
how much it means to them to have
family around them and then,
obviously, things with the stolen
generation and all that sort of thing
and for some people that worked
really well for them, that gave them
opportunities, which looking back
they said it's the best thing that's
ever happened to them.

183
00:51:44,380 --> 00:51:44,527
Really?

184
00:51:44,531 --> 00:51:59,670
They said, you know, the way that
things were going, it was really
tough for them. But once they
actually got taken away, as harsh as
it does sound, they say it's the best
thing that has happened to them.

185
00:52:01,170 --> 00:52:08,651
The problem was, though, right that
it wasn't an option. There wasn't a
free choice kind of like 'hey, do you
want to send your kids with us?' It
was more like 'your kids are coming
with us.'

186
00:52:09,310 --> 00:52:13,720
Yeah, yeah, which people hear, like
I've heard that firsthand from many
Aboriginal people.

187
00:52:14,442 --> 00:52:15,442
No kidding.

188
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:21,806
That they are really happy that it
actually happened to them, that they
got taken to ministries and that sort
of thing.

189
00:52:22,810 --> 00:52:27,831
But did they completely lost their
culture as a result or they've gone
back since then and then, you know,
reconnected with...?

190
00:52:31,132 --> 00:53:15,298
They're still... a lot of the
ministries were still pretty close to
where they were brought up, so they
were fortunate enough to still be in
the area, so they still had that
connection and a lot of them did go
back to their community when they
were old enough to. They might be,
you know, when they're in their
mid-teens or something they were out
working on stations or whatnot, so
they were still able to when they
were on break, when they were
working, they could go back to
community, you know, go hunting on
their land and do what they used to
do, but then you, a lot of the time,
you only hear the stories where
stolen generation, you know, they had
everything taken away from them,
which to a lot of people that is
true, they they did get their life
changed for the worse.

191
00:53:16,690 --> 00:53:27,807
Well, there was you can't use your
native language, you can't ever go
home, you can't, you know,
intermingle with other people who you
know, effectively, like we're never
going to tell you where you came
from, so even if you wanted to go
home..

192
00:53:27,882 --> 00:54:02,199
Change your name and all that, you
know, the way they dress and
everything like that as well, even
things they eat and, you know, to
even just living in a house I
suppose, compared to, you know, just
living out in the bush, just simple
things like that, they... Yeah, but
it was just funny hearing it
firsthand just that they were pretty
grateful that they were actually
taken away as young as, you know,
five or six, put into these
ministries and just hearing that
yeah, they love, it was it was a
blessing in a way.

193
00:54:03,390 --> 00:54:08,979
It's so interesting that there's two
sides to every story, I guess, right?
And it doesn't play out the same way
everywhere.

194
00:54:09,550 --> 00:54:55,900
That's right, yes. So, a lot of these
times especially come from the east
and east coast, all you really hear
in the media and that is yeah, you
know, the negatives. You know, oh
stolen generation, you've got to say
sorry and all that sort of thing, but
rarely do we get these stories where
it's actually been a really good
benefit for a lot of people,
particularly in communities where
going through drought or something
like that they probably wouldn't have
survive. That's been the big eye
opener for me, which is why I love
doing this job. You keep hearing
these new stories and that sort of
thing and it just blows my mind when
you're hearing stuff like that, that
they can be grateful for being taken
away from their family.

195
00:54:57,700 --> 00:54:58,910
That's not what I was expecting to
hear.

196
00:55:00,700 --> 00:55:09,789
Which when I hear I sort of question,
I'm like, reall? And they're like
yeah, and then they explain what's
going on and you're like oh, well,
that does make sense.

197
00:55:12,040 --> 00:55:22,339
What advice would you have for people
listening, whether they're Australian
or not, in terms of going to W.A.?
Would you recommend it? And what
advice would you have if they end up
going somewhere like the Kimberley,
right?

198
00:55:22,980 --> 00:56:21,406
Yeah. Especially with overseas
people, you know, doing their farm
work in that sort of thing, if you
can, if you are fortunate enough to
be able to go out or even just
volunteer, it doesn't have to be for
you farm work, the people who I was
travelling with actually did things
like a week or two that they went out
from Broome, they travelled out into
the bush and they did some
volunteering painting and community
cleanups and that sort of thing, and
they just they were so grateful to be
able to have that experience and
learn a bit about the culture,
traditional cooking, their ways of
life and all that sort of thing, so
if they do get the opportunity, I 100
percent recommend it because you will
learn and see things which you can
look up on YouTube or read in a book,
but actually seeing it first hand and
hearing their stories, it will stay
with you forever. I know doing this I
will never forget it.

199
00:56:21,630 --> 00:56:22,674
Is yeah for sure.

200
00:56:23,050 --> 00:56:54,120
It is so powerful some of the stuff
that they do tell you and show you.
And if you do you might even get
lucky enough that you can go into
some of their secrets sites or, you
know, see some of their private
paintings and that sort of thing, so
there just seeing that sort of stuff
it is a really special thing to do.
So, if anyone can come over and have
that opportunity, don't think twice
about it because it really is a
remarkable experience to be able to
do and see.

201
00:56:54,631 --> 00:57:01,872
Far out. Well, Will, thanks so much
for coming on the podcast, man. How
can people find out more about you
and, obviously, follow you on the
social medias?

202
00:57:02,980 --> 00:57:21,037
I do get pretty busy on Instagram, so
it's yeah I'm just Wandering_Wilba.
And like I said I upload a lot
of...I'm trying to keep myself
entertained because a lot of the time
yeah you go insane if you're not
doing other stuff.

203
00:57:21,690 --> 00:57:31,840
You had a video, didn't you have a
video recently having a mower an
airstrip, right? And I was like, with
a whippersnapper, I was like 'what
the fuck, dude! How long did that
take?'

204
00:57:32,990 --> 00:57:57,939
Yeah, that was yeah that took a
while. Around every cone on this I
think there's a better one and half
kilometres and I was pushing about 40
degrees as well. So, that was that
was really hot, Which tradition, like
nearly every day when you wake up you
don't have to look at the weather
forecast, it's 30, 35 every day,
clear blue skies, so yeah.

205
00:58:01,210 --> 00:58:20,800
What was I going to say? Yeah. So, on
Instagram I usually just upload, you
know, and I'm trying to put up
pictures of where we are and the
landscape that we're travelling
around, I just get blown away
everywhere we go. We're in a
different spot nearly every day. So,
just some of the sights you see,
especially the big boab trees at the
night time.

206
00:58:21,150 --> 00:58:21,444
Yeah, far out!

207
00:58:21,445 --> 00:58:27,132
It's incredible. It's incredible. So,
yes the jump on there,
Wandering_Wilba, and apart from
that.... That's about it.

208
00:58:33,492 --> 00:58:40,220
You have to stop vlogging, man,
you're going to have to start a
YouTube channel, so that these guys
can check it out and get a taste for
Western Australia from you.

209
00:58:40,600 --> 00:58:45,580
A lot of people have said that, I've
said it must be it...maybe that could
be a new career change or something.

210
00:58:48,950 --> 00:58:51,669
Man, get on it, anyway. Thanks so
much again, Will, I really appreciate
it.

211
00:58:52,410 --> 00:58:54,610
No worries, mate. Pleasure to see you
again.

212
00:59:00,790 --> 00:59:16,690
Alright, guys! Thanks so much for
joining me today. I hope you got a
lot out of this interview. Will,
thank you so much for coming on
again, man. It was an absolute
pleasure and I'm sure we're going to
have to get you on again in the
future to talk about more of these
stories from way up north and way out
west.

213
00:59:17,050 --> 00:59:24,180
Anyway, guys. Yeah that's probably
about all there is to it today. So, I
hope you enjoyed it, I hope you had a
good one and I'll see you soon.
Peace!