Tuesday 3 December 2013

With every problem comes surprise and delight

We have spent five nights camped at the very beautiful Colac Colac Caravan Park awaiting parts to fix Patrick's wheel. We have practiced free-range parenting, the art of patience and some wild food gathering, bringing us more delicious loquats,


and...


This lovely mama went straight back in the Nariel Creek from where we clutched her. It is now 'closed season' for Murray spiny freshwater crayfish (Euastacus armatus).


Over our short stay we have got to know nearby Corryong by riding into town for supplies.


We've also got to know a little about the horse thief Jack Riley, romanticised with ample hyperbole as the good-boy-hero Man from Snowy River, buried in the town. Thanks for the history lesson Warwick!


We have been touched by people's generosity. Phil, our host at the caravan park, organised the wheel to be couriered to the Albury bikeshop, made numerous phone calls on the progress of the repair and kept us in good humour when it looked like a much longer wait than first thought. Thanks Phil!


Our friendly neighbours in the park loaned us their bike so we could all go on local expeditions. Thanks John and Jenny!


And these lovely women who we met in Corryong, gathered up their freshest garden produce including a dozen eggs and brought them out to us at Clack Clack. Thanks Nina, Eden and Jum!


Your food was a blessing. By living out of our own garden, food swaps, community gardens, food co-ops and by foraging and hunting we haven't had to shop in supermarkets for nearly seven years. On this trip, with much less access to local food, we are finding out first-hand just how impoverished the industrial-corporate food industry is. At home we would avoid any food grown in another state, on the road we're struggling to find bought food made in Australia. It was great to be able to cook up local garden frittatas for the neighbours on our last night.


There is just nothing like real food that has come from loved earth. Until science is freed from the economic imperatives of industry, people are going to be kept in the dark about how innutrituous, health-degrading and ecologically damaging our modern food supply really is. The annual increases in pharmaceutical medicine is proof enough that much modern food is woeful deception dressed up by PR firms.

For our children's sake, isn't it time we put our resources back in our own hands?


4 comments:

  1. Hi Patrick and Meg,

    You have done very well to source local/community-grown food while cycle touring. When you're pedalling around you get ravenous, but it's hard to find good food without local knowledge. Plus a lot of small towns have a supermarket, and that's it. I found it particularly difficult to source fresh vegetables while cycle touring in Tasmania, for example. Hopefully, as more people learn about your story, they will spread the word and you'll be offered produce from home gardens.

    Keep pedalling!

    Greg

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    1. Thanks Greg! The fresh, local food available to buy in most places is abysmal indeed. We hope you're right, that people continue to offer us their beloved home grown vegies. What a treat! Much love to you and Sophie xxxxx

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  2. played a couple of footy games
    for local team Cudgewa back
    in 1987...

    great place..!

    travel well......

    mrO

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    1. Thanks O! 1987, huh? We bet nothing much has changed since there since then... Hope you are travelling well too. We miss you heaps. xxxx

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