I had just finished up on sea snake shoot in Weipa for the hard-hitting investigational journalistic prowess known as 60 minutes who were getting deep into the mysteries of what makes an extreme scientist tick. Adrenalin was pretty much settled on as the answer. I of course tried to deny this as the motivation, stating with great solemnity that I was discovery driven, but was pushing shit up hill considering I have an adrenalin tattoo prominently on my neck. Hmmm… good point I thought when this was pointed out in the interview segment that followed lots of night-time scenes best described as…. well… umm …. errr… adrenalin filled. Leaning over the side of the moving boat to bodily yank sea snakes by hand into the boat is not quite the normal image of a working scientist. I did insist that it was the science that drove me. That the adrenalin filled fun times were but shallow, transient experiences. That my science was the legacy I was striving to leave. But this was of course belied by my tanned body sliding in and out of the water.
The host (Liam) and producer (Howard) were one’s I worked with before. Extremely good sorts with suitably politically incorrect sense of humours so we always have an appropriately inappropriately good time. Last time we had filmed in the Kimberly, this time we were bouncing around on a boat in Weipa in the Gulf of Carpentaria. They got the footage they wanted and we had fun. The inevitable teasing occurred, such as when fishing one time and the host asked if there was any squid left. You’re a bit precious I said, as I baited his hook. Not quite what he ment but the setup was too perfect.
Being back in Weipa again was not as rough as the first time. I was starting to reclaim it as ‘mine’ in the sense that it was not as haunted. New people there, new experiences, new sights, new smells, new life. Same gold adrenalin.
For the second part of the shoot, we filmed on the Great Barrier Reef. As always, working with animals provides for moments of great humour or terror (depending on perspective). Upon surfacing from one dive, where a good sized Olive Sea Snake latched onto Liams (rather thin) dive glove, he sputtered ‘I thought you said they wouldn’t bite’. “Nooooooooooooooo” I replied with a rather cheeky grin “I said they DON’T NORMALLY BITE”. There of course being a remarkable difference between the two statements.
A dalliance during the shoot reinforced how hard it was going to be to find someone and fall in love again. Fun in the sun, what happens in the field stays in the field. Everyone is just trying not to be lonely. Etc. etc. etc. About as emotionally satisfying as a solo session. The transience kicks in and everyone goes their separate ways.
I flew briefly back to Melbourne for the Big Day Out music festival. Alone since my cousin Haakon had dengue fever that he picked up in Indonesia. Poor bastard had a wretched vacation. First his boat sank going from one island to another, taking all his luggage with it and, worse, causing him to miss a date with a stunning Brasilian. Then he gets one of the worst mosquito borne viruses out there, one that I have been in mortal terror of getting. Ouch. Ah well, at least the fever induced delirium took his mind off of missing out on the Brasilian!
I had a fun, chemical free time. Worked way up to front of stage for Bullet For My Valentine, Living End and Prodigy. All three were sensational and Living End remain one of the best live bands I have had the privelage to loose precious hearing to. Second time I have seen them and they blew me away even more this time. Prodigy are a delicious form of scary live and really know how to work a crowd. Absolutely brilliant. Neil Young, however, was boring as batshit and the set was so limpid I expected him to clutch his chest and keel over halfway through. I got bored and instead wandered over to the stage where Prodigy were going to be played, where the crowd was being warmed up by some of the best techno music I’ve heard outside of Holland. I called up swirly memories of my many times raving in Holland and managed to trance myself into an Ecstasy-induced-like state despite not having popped any pretty white pills. Neat little trick to have discovered. Mind over chemicals!
During the festival I had several unhearable phone calls from different documentary producers. One from London for a shoot on modern day plagues that they are interested in me fronting, the other from the producer for the shoot I was to start the very next day back in Weipa. With only three hours of sleep under my belt, and obliterated hearing, I was back on the plane. Before leaving, however, I checked the online issue of The Age and was rather pleased to see a photo of myself doing great damage to my spinal cord while headbanging to Bullet For My Valentine. Result!
This shoot was with Brady Barr on sea snakes for National Geographic. Brady and I have a fair number of mutual mates so it was good to finally catch up in person with him. He is an authentic scientist-presenter. He has an abiding interest in the animals and is not a cartoon idiot like Action Softie. The first night we got onto a good patch of snakes and I had just pulled in a big elegant sea snake when we got smashed by a huge storm front. Completely blowing out the night’s shooting. The next day we went after sharks. Which are normally not hard to find. But, of course, now that we had a film crew they kept their distance. We enjoyed catching some trevally and then it was time for the second night of filming. Right at nightfall, just when the snakes were starting to pepper the surface, another storm front hit. Bigger than the previous nights. The producer just about started crying. We toughed it out. While filming was impossible, this didn’t stop us from just cruising around in the waves, catching snakes. It was a welcome reprieve from filming. We were able to just relax, hang shit on each other and enjoy catching snakes without having to perform (dance monkey dance!). During this period we caught a very special snake. A Disteria/Hydrophis/Astrotia major. The reason I have listed three genera is that it is so rare that it is not even resolved which genus it belongs to. While it has some Hydrophis like characteristics, it is also very reminiscent of an Astrotia stokesii. A brilliant catch that made the film a requited quest. Perfect.
The crew left happy. Leaving me to hang out for five days alone with a free hotel room and 4WD. The storms kept getting stronger and stronger. A cyclone was brewing and was spitting out big chunks of extreme weather. Awesome. I love being up in the Cape during such events and best being out in the ocean in the heart of the maelstrom. The winds and rain were phenomenal. It must be the Viking in me as I like nothing better than to be holding onto a rope while standing legs akimbo at the prow of a boat. Riding the waves like a wild bronco. Hard on the knees but magic for the soul.
I spent some great times hanging out with some local mates of mine but also did lots of big drives through the mud alone, just enjoying the solitude. Socially Weipa is definitely a BYOPR (bring your own protein receptor) sort of place. Prime bushpig habitat. I simply enjoyed curling up on my bed and watching the stunning tennis of the Australian Open.
Seeing the human view of the environment is so much more telling when actually out in it. The previous cyclone had washed huge amounts of fertiliser and other chemicals in to the Great Barrier Reef. Despite the huge economic importance that reef tourism is to Australia, the reef is being slowly but surely killed through neglect and abuse. The farming chemical runoff is damaging in so many different ways, truly a multi-dimensional attack. Some are toxins that cause fish deformities while the ecobalance is distorted by the massive amount of nutrients washed off, leading to algae blooms and slime covered coral. We had to head way out to see to escape the turbid algae chocked water.
Another good example of the irrational attitude is how Christians view the world. There was a piece I read in the local Weipa paper where a Aboriginal Christian ‘leader’ in a column titled ‘Tribal Bible’ where he states “The environment is a big issue today, what with global warming and creatures becoming extinct, from such activities as huge chunks of forests being cut down daily in some countries, taking way their food source.” So far so good and in line with the popular perception of Aborigines as environmental stewards, but just when he was on the verge of making perfect sence, he continues with “Yet even if we were good caretakers of God’s earth and its creatures, as was Adam and Eve’s job, an das we should be today, it is all destined to pass away because it was cursed that way, after Adam and Eve sinned”. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr this defeatist irrational attitude brought about by the superstitious death-cult inspired belief in an imaginary sky fairy makes me so frustrated. I have heard time and time again from Xians that it doesn’t matter what we do to the earth since a) good little pious sausages will go to heaven and b) the earth will get ravaged during the rapture and Armageddon. Well, for those of us who subscribe to reality we’d rather see the earth not get trashed by irresponsible hairless primates.
The asinine attitude towards the environment is also evident in how apex predators are considered. For example, while we were up in the Cape a 2.2 crocodile was killed in Mornington Island simply because it was doing what it was evolved to do: cruise around looking for big fish to eat. The anonymous EPA spokesidiot said, and I quote, that it was euthanized as “It was not appropriate to transport the animal to a mainland crocodile farm”. Why the fuck not?! How is it more appropriate to murder (let us not hide behind the word euthanize, euthanize is what is done to a sick animal, killing a healthy one is murder pure and simple) such a magnificent beast than to have it live out its days? Crocodiles are glorious to behold in the wild. While fishing up in Weipa, we saw one cruising along in the water that was an easy five meters and I reckon it would have exceeded five and a half if we had gotten a measuring tape on it. Another day, we had a four meter one come right past our five meter boat. Such a thrill!!!
It is now time to board the plane back to civilisation. Where I will be for the next few weeks before heading to Europe for a few weeks before going back to the loving embrace of the Amazon. This time healthy in mind, body and spirit. While the gypsy lifestyle very much suits me, it is socially a trying existence at times. Geographical distance means nothing to me. If I meet the right person and she lives on the other side of the globe, that is fine. I have a talent for bending time and space to suit my needs. But the other person would have to be on the same wavelength. In anycase, I have stopped seeking and striving in this regard. Similarly, I am at a career cross-roads, having fed to fullness the monster within me that was driving my science, and thus needing a new direction, goals and motivations, I am putting pieces into play and seeing what happens. Both personally and professionally I am simply raising the sails and letting the Future-Wind take me where it may. I am not trying to use my force of will to meld things into a shape suitable for me. Rather I am surfing off of the wavelengths already emanating from others. Harmonious existence with other people and with nature is what I am striving for now.
0 comments:
Post a Comment