On the road, Victoria, AU
The Australian East Coast Adventure continues!!
So we’re supposed to be bonding and stuff right? That’s what we’ve been told us married people do whilst travelling together: we talk and whatnot…or get divorced. True fact – travel either glues couples together or tears them apart. Cabo San Lucas is well known as the sailing divorce capital of the West Coast.
Being as we are both more “in it for the long haul” types bonding is pretty much the order of the day. One could begin to wonder though – after so much time together do we ever run out of things to talk about?
Well, not really, no. For those of you who have taken the Myers-Briggs personality test and are interested in such things as they relate to long term relationships you’ll be intrigued to know that we are exact opposites on the scale, with one notable exception –
Both of us are “N” or intuitive. This leads to interesting conversations that make “how many degrees separate Greg and Kevin Bacon” seem like child’s play in comparison. For example, can we cover over 26 topics of conversation in less than 90 seconds and somehow draw a connection between the Australian countryside and the uses of motion capture technology in modern cartoon cinema?
Why yes, yes we can:
So now when we jump from one topic to another seemingly unrelated tangent you know why.
Like Ned Kelly, who’s final stand we came across during this trip. (Therein the link! 😉
Up until now we never really understood the Australian relationship with “Bushrangers” (AKA outlaws).
Who needs a dog to chase the mailman when you have a letterbox like this?
The trick is in the wording. In a country without a violent revolution, like Australia, and that was populated by a great degree by “undesirables” (read – the repressed), then criminals could be seen as the ones who embody the rebellion against tyranny for the masses. One man’s criminal is another country’s revolutionary? We’re pretty sure George Washington was considered a criminal by the crown in his time.
Or, possibly, he just had a better artist on staff.
According to the (possibly subjective) story we got at the centre, Ned was an Irish immigrant. Now the Irish were constantly under the boot of the English at this time. No less so was Ned according to legend. So much so that Ned’s big crime, assaulting police officers and killing them, was actually (according to the story of some) him protecting his sister from getting raped by said officers of the law. Taking liberties with the unwilling ladies of the “lesser classes” was apparently not seen as a major offence back in the day, whereas killing police officers conducting such activities was sternly frowned upon. After that it can be understandable how things went downhill for Ned. It’s kind of hard to get “back on the straight and narrow” when one is wanted for murder of federal officers.
Ned’s shining moment in history was a genius invention: the first bullet-proof vest. Unfortunately for him, he also taught us all an important lesson about these lifesaving devices that are in use to this day.
Just because the vest is bulletproof doesn’t mean YOU are.
It was just a roadsop along the way for us, but there’s a lot more story left over here.
The English may not have been the nicest of rulers back in the day, but that’s probably one of the reasons they ruled so very much.
Greg and Tiffany are traveling around the world on sailing yachts and keep a video blog of their (mis)adventures. If sailing to Tahiti on a 44 ft sailboat, 3-day delays for wine tastings, getting pooped on by seagulls, opening coconuts with dull machetes, sailing past tornadoes and ukulele Christmas carols are for you, then check them out at www.CoastGuardCouple.com!
