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Getting some gravel into your travel

Getting some gravel into your travel

May 2019 · 5 min read

I live in a city, not a very large one, although there's a million people or so, which is about nine hundred and nintey nine thousand people too many...What I really mean is that it's too big, too populated and too noisy for me. It works for now though, from a job perspective at least and the wheels are in motion for an escape so it's tolerable...If only barely.

For those who know me, you'll recall that I love the outdoors, getting away from people in my four wheel drive vehicles, hiking, hunting, kayaking, camping star watching, campfire-poking, dirt bike riding, and all the other things made possibly through being away from other's in remote locations. It's cathartic for me and my wife and whilst we appreciate the comforts we have around us we also highly value getting away from them, embracing a more simple life and shutting the world out for as long as we can. The image above shows one such moment, just a split second captured on my camera, in which my wife faith was walking up ahead of me. It was taken in the Flinders Ranges at a location most will never see. It was a difficult-to-extreme four wheel drive trek to get here and most would either not have the equipment and skill or the inclination to get here, to the spot we were hiking. Fortunately for other's not all of the Flinders Ranges roads and tracks are like this however we kind of like it because it almost guarantee's seclusion and isolation.

My shoulders drop, the tension releases, from that moment the city and built up urban areas give way to open fields and mountains and when the hum of tyres rolling on blacktop changes to the more earthy sound of gravel, dirt, mud, creek beds and scrubland and driving takes on a more technical nature I feel at home. Far more so than i do sitting in my lounge room watching Netflix surrounded by a million people.

Getting gravel in your travel doesn't necessarily mean heading to remote, unpopulated, areas though. I use it to describe the act of getting away from a person's everyday life, other people, the grind. For us we value the silence and I think that's a large part of the gravel in your travel scenario...Finding somewhere you can hear yourself think, where you can listen to yourself and the world around you.

The image above shows the Bunyeroo Valley Road which leads off to the Bunyeroo Valley, creek crossings, some more tracks and ultimately Brachina Gorge which is a spectacular place to set up camp. Sitting up here where I took this photo from is an amazing place to watch the sunrise which comes up from behind and to the left of where I took this shot staining the valley and the mountain's beyond with golden light. Stunning.

Gravel in your travel is an ethos we apply as often as we can. It could be walking on the beach, through an botanical garden, hiking in remote areas, paths like the Jurassic Coast in the UK, trekking the arduous Kokoda Trail, kayaking rivers, star-gazing beside a low-burning fire or a late night forest walk in Finland...It means leaving society behind and finding peace, getting in-touch with myself and with each other; My wife and I.

Rarely a week goes by in which I don't do something that kicks up dust behind my vehicles, or my boots or in which gravel crunches, birds sing and slithery, scaly wildlife scurries away from my intrusion. It keeps me sane and reminds me of why I go to work with the rest of the minions each day...To get back here. Permanently.

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I have my go-to places around where I live and I'm fortunate to have my favourite, the Flinders Ranges, only a five hour drive from home (about 500km). However we have other places closer to us and we go there all the time. We meet people there sometimes; Usually cool people, like-minded people. However back here in the city I wonder how many make the time to gravel-travel and to deny the worlds noise and society's intrusions upon their lives.

Do you have a gravel-travel favourite? Do you take your book to the park, find a quiet corner amongst nature and shut out the world? Do you travel to the beach and walk two kilometre's to find a more secluded spot, pick your way over slipper rocks to the base of the waterfall and strip down for a swim or hike up into the mountains and simply sit on the edge of the world and watch an eagle drift on thermals?

Life is short, well, in truth we don't know how long we will even stay around right? but even a full term...It's short. Far too short to deny oneself the enjoyment and beauty a full life can deliver. So maybe add some gravel-travel into your life...Just don't make your way to where I am...That's my spot. (Nah, just kidding, you're all welcome to join me anytime...I know some killer locations!)


Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default
Hit me up on Discord: @galenkp#9209

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