Category: Other (Page 12 of 24)

@gingergradient

Councils and the govt want to play games with peoples lives. With no afforable housing solutions and homelessness on the rise.. more and more people are being forced into cars and vans trying to make the best of a horrific situation. Housing minister, if councils are pushing people out, you’re doing nothing about it and have no housing… whats the solution? We have a few.. enough is enough. The hostility needs to end. People need safe spaces and communities.Ive watched security and rangers try to open peoples vehicls whilst they belive no ones watching, onlt target people in vans or cars with sleeping gear and behave aggressively towards them. Ive seen women being cornered by rangers after showering and the rangers not allowing the woman to dress before making her stand and talk to 3 of them.. all men of course.. and much more. Sickened to my core by what’s happening here in perth and around australia. When people need compassion and understanding we are seeing the worse epidemic of entitlement. We will not be silent and stand by. #whendoesitend #6pr #channel9 #theproject #australianhousingcrisis #perth #fyp #todaytonight #accurrentaffair #homelessness #housingcrisis #abcperth

♬ Down Under – LVNDSCAPE & Rat City

A mate sent me the above link. He has been on the road for 8 years and finally been given a Government Housing Commission home for his wife and 6 kids. I was in a government housing for 16 years when I became ill and finally walked off the property after houses around me were being burnt, pools of blood from stabbings were left at my front gate. I could go on and on about neighbors with domestic abuse and drug selling but I wont.

Ive been traveling for 5 years now and just find it interesting that I know people with full time employment that can not get a housing loan, the rental prices are through the roof and caravan parks are at maximum capacity.Van life that was once considered trendy is now becoming a way of life for many that can not afford to live any other way. I sold my caravan and brought the Sprinter because I never wanted to stay in another caravan park again after the last few experiences. I no longer talk to people when traveling when in an area for more than a few days now so as not to attract drama.

So the federal government solution is to make housing unaffordable to purchase and if you can get a loan your paying if off for the rest of your life, the state government makes it so you cant afford to rent even if you can find a place to rent and when your forced to live in your vehicle the local government turfs you out of using and parking around amenity blocks.Social housing is a 10 year wait and usually puts you into another class of hell altogether that becomes hard to escape from once your in it, that many I know can attest to.

On my last trip I barely spoke to anyone for the last month of traveling, especially the normal’s. The few people I did talk to weren’t classed as middle class Australians. I ran out of cash for a while and grabbed some meals from the local housing co-op in Burnie. All nice people and ended up doing a weeks voluntary work there in the gardens. On the ferry home I started talking to a guy two seats up who had a tattooed head and a D-shackle through the nose. One of the nicest people I met on the whole trip.

However the most interesting conversation I have had in a very long time was with a homeless dude in a park. I like to move the van during the day and go back to a good spot of a night so it doesn’t appear your there all the time and moved down the coast to wait for the ferry home at a small parkland. This guy had set up his sleeping bag on a park bench and was saying hello to everyone that passed by. I passed him on my walk to rehab the leg when he spoke to me and we ended up chatting for the next 3 hours.

He talked of his childhood, how he lived now, his camp in the shrubbery a few hundred meters away where no one could see him, how he found food, the drug problems in that state and the areas to stay away from. I gave him one of my spare military surplus blankets. I couldn’t have slept out rough with the sleeping bag he was using. I eventually had to sit down and rest back at the van and decided to take off but returned shortly after. He thought I didn’t want to say goodbye however I brought him a pack on chicken honey and soy kebabs for the bbq that he hanged around getting left overs from picnickers. I hadn’t seen him eat all day and wanted to know he had something in his stomach before I left to go on the ferry a few hours later. That conversation changed my life in many ways.

The one thing that stands out the most was his perception of me. After talking for a short while he said he was a little taken aback when I stopped to talk. As most people either ignored him or would just nod to his greetings. However he said I looked like someone that would walk up and talk to anyone and wasn’t afraid of anything from my demeanor. I cracked up laughing because I told him I was in pain most of the time, could barely walk and had trouble breathing after the pneumonia and had lost 5 kilo when in Tasi. I still smile when I think of it. I hope he is doing well.

Health Update

I don’t usually like putting up health updates but I was talking to Rick J Peterson and changed my mind. I’m pretty screwed at the moment. The leg has been damaged for over a year. I’m coping but need a full leg day at the gym for another year to get back to a usable level. The muscles are actuating now for the first time but I still have to lock the joint to walk distance and still cant walk up and down stairs without a hand rail. I’m refusing to take heavy meds for the pain and not touching beer anymore.

I’m having more problems with the lungs after having COVID. Lung function is down at-least 10% on the 70% I did have that’s now gone. On top of the COVID and pneumonia, I have a fungal infection in there too. The Posaconazole I have to take for three months of which I have 5 weeks left of are giving me the following side effects of which there are even more of listed. (belching, constipated, irregular heart beat, change in moods, itching, depression, trouble breathing, urination, stomach pain, swollen glands, trembling, weight loss, loss in appetite).

My concentration is shocking for instance I charged the bike after three months and it wouldn’t start but would work if plugged into power. The guy who built it for me came around to check out the connections and I sowed him everything I was doing to try and work through the problem. Ended up I hadn’t turned on the on/off switch for the battery.So I don’t trust myself to do any knife testing. The meds are also causing kidney damage and Im having to drink as much as possible a day to keep them flushed with electrolytes.

I’m getting about 2 hours of work done a day then im exhausted, my head is hitting the table at 4pm and im in bed by 5pm. I’m getting a little work done on the van but no motivation. I still have to insulate rear and side doors, trickle charger from alternator, paint inside doors to match the walls, weld the rear door hinge, change bed lights, flare kit install, build a table, install sink and plumb it, tow bar attach.

I usually do most of the cooking and my house mate is in a wheel chair and hes doing most of it since I came back. I’m just too tired at the end of the day. The mate who owns the house has been told hes stage 3 lung cancer so Ive been trying to clear out his shed and sell off what he hasn’t used in years. Half a trailer of rubbish and it takes me three days to recover. First time back on the bike today. I was doing between 5 to 15kms per day depending on pain level before I left for Tasmania and now I did 2 kms. Ill see how I pull up by lunch time.

At-least I’m staying busy all the time here. Haven’t made it back to the gym yet, maybe once the shed is cleared out but I’m trying to get back into the habit of riding each day to clear the lungs out. I can motor back if it gets too much. Living in the van full time in the backyard, having fun, trying to get back into the bushcraft blogging mindset but don’t really want to open up the computer. It requires too much thought. Lots of ideas for posts from my experiences in Tasmania. No idea when Ill be able to get back into the field again. Id be able to train with Rick, al Ainsworth and Jake Cassar but would be pushing myself and I don’t want to go back on heavy meds to recover or get through the day so there’s no chance of doing more advanced multiple day training with ASI or BSA and Tacmed.

As they say, every day above ground is a good day. Ill have another CT scan in 6 weeks to see the level of scar tissue in the lungs. Doing a bit more each day.

Found a nice local track near where I’m camped up with the promise of seeing Platypus, with no luck however. A 20 minute walk is now taking me two days to recover from. Pain killers for the knee and my lung function has radically dropped since catching COVID. I wont be posting as much as I have been instead Ill be concentrating on getting my health back in order.

Arthur River area the far North Western edge of Tasmania, also referred to by locals as the edge of the world.

So far I have traveled to the far South, the far East and the far West and through the Highlands of Tasmania and have seen nothing I came here for, only glimpses. All I wanted to see were Old Growth Forests. After driving through the Tarkine I’m afraid the Old Growth Forest’s wont be here in another 50 years. All the way to Arthur River there were thousands of acres of dairy land. It became depressing after a while.

The trees following the roads were 60 year old regrowth. They cut the trees, regrow them and after cutting them many times the land is turned back into dairy farmland. Depending on what becomes more valuable at the time, dairy or timber, etc.

The trees that are replanted aren’t the same as old growth forests. They are pumped full of water to become large as fast as possible. However the structure isn’t the same. The old growth trees float in water where as the plantation trees sink.

It works the same depending on what side of a hill the trees are growing on. The darker sides of hills the trees grow slower, making for denser timber and grain. The trees growing on the sun side grow faster, therefore not as dense.

New laws have been brought in regarding harvesting old growth timbers, however with all new laws, they also start a black-market making the market prices change. poaching will soon be ripe.

Id like to see an organization formed that one knows the difference in tree growth to have fast growers to fund what I’m about to suggest but to have a slow growing tree organization that purposely plants trees on private and crown land that is on the darker side of the hills to have old growth dense timber in another 500 years. Stupid I know when governments only think up to the next election.

I want to obtain Celery Top Pine, Huon Pine, Black Heart Sassafras, Antarctic Beech seeds and start planting them every where I travel. I wont ever see the outcome but it would be funny having some dumbarse scientist try and figure out why all these small plantations of rare timbers have sprung up all over the country long after I’m gone. That is if they aren’t milled or burnt to the ground beforehand.

Next time I come down just old trees and fly fishing. The leg should be up to it by then or at-least its a goal to work towards with rehab. Being a arborist from long ago trees still fascinate me.

I built a 6 weight IMX Loomis fly rod when I was in my early 20’s and soon found it was too heavy for where I was living and have yet to still catch a trout on it. I really require a 4 weight for where I have been traveling. I’m determined to catch something on the Loomis, even a carp that are in the local drains near where I was renting on the mainland. I missed out on trout season. It closed as I arrived and it will reopen the day before I leave.

Sorry for not posting much. Three times in hospital, Ive been exhausted. The third time pneumonia and a fungal infection in lungs. 16 days in total. On the road finally. Still trying to get used to van life after being in a house for so long.

The Octopus Tree

EDIT I decided to call off most of the trip and head back early to the mainland. I’m feeling hammered. The Octopus tree convinced me of that. It was meant to be a 15 minute walk to the tree. 20 minutes later I was halfway there. A mate called me on the phone which amazed me having no reception for the first part of the walk. I said if you dont hear from me in an hour call for help. I turned and looked behind me a saw the rocks I had just clamored down. There was no way I was going to make it back up. 40 minutes later after taking four paces and resting four paces and resting the whole way back up I was out. I spent the next two days on tramadol. I’m really thinking of archiving the blog for the next three months and do nothing else but bike riding and gym work till I’m back on my feet.

Missed out on the last week of the build. Spent 7 more days in hospital with COVID. Had a temperature of 38 degrees and an oxygen level of 92 and called the ambulance. By the time I sat in ED for a few hours my 02 level dropped to 88% and they had to put me on 3 liters of oxygen. Seven days of three different antibiotics, antivirals and intravenous steroids to bring my level back up enough to get off oxygen. The bones are now there. Still lots to do but have run out of cash as you do with these projects. Would need another sheet of hardwood ply to finish the wheel arch covers and storage over the seats, paint the interior doors to match the walls which would require a shed to keep the doors open, Have to drop the fuel tank and attach a spigot for the diesel heater fuel line, new tyre and rim, and a wheel alignment possibly.

Time to sacrifice the goat and see if everything fits. Bulkhead attached, seat needs to have the top cut out and re-varnished, the draws go in later tonight. All going well.

I can only sand and varnish so much. COVID’s been knocking me around. Knee hasn’t been much better. Too much over doing it and not enough rest. Crashed out at 530 last night. Probably be the same tonight. Had a short walk today along the beach and the knee just didn’t want to work. More rehab than I hoped in the near future. One more week of work left on the van, then back on the road.

A morning breakfast and walk along Kingston beach.

Had a more productive day. Started out catching up on smaller jobs and almost had the furniture built. Dry fitted the bulk head and bench seat and started on the cupboard internals. Many, many coats of plastic primer, etching primer and flat black to finish off the maxi air vent surround building up layers of paint. Finally fitted the brushed stainless ends to the flooring.