Drop Bears – My Close Call & Escape

It was just a stroll in the bush.

But that’s how it always starts isn’t it? Something innocuous and innocent then before you know it there’s a maelstrom swirling around you.

My girl and I were out for a stroll in some surban bush, not too far from the hustle and bustle but bush all the same, when a monster from mythology and lore became real.

WTF Drop Bears!

Drop Bears (Thylarctos plummetus) are something we hear of from time to time and some research has been done into their national dispersion but sadly the authorities seem to have created an approach of denial. There are many forums online which come close, I’m sure, to the truth but the upshot is the harm of a terrorising demon beast from our primal past hunts tourists and internationals. There is much information out there and from respected publications but still the danger is dismissed.

I could go on about it but I think the audio and the images say what this experience was like for me. Thank-you to everyone out there for your compassion and understanding. I’m a little rattled but I’ll recover, however I don’t know how I feel about going into the bush again after this experience, at least with people who may attract these monsters.

Drop Bear attack

Just after the attack. It made a mess of me

If you’ve had an encounter with a Drop Bear please mention in the comments of your experience. It may help others.

Drop Bear

The impact of the attack caused this.

The next day and well on the way to recovery

The remanants of my shirts after the claws of the Drop Bear slashed them to pieces.

End of 2009 – Brilliant

Another year wraps up and I’ve been reflecting on it lately.

Back when I came up with the idea and started Your Story I commented on how the years were all the same and the disappointment that there wasn’t any real change from year to year, of my desire to shake that up. Now it’s now been nearly 3 years.

I didn’t really have any idea what I was doing when I started on this path those few years ago but I knew that I needed to start and see where it would go. The first 15 years of my adult life were wonderful years with a great marriage, adventure and achievements but after that it was particularly tough. Now I can say that of the last 15 years since my marriage went south these last 3 years have been the best, most rewarding and enlightening years.

When my daughter was little I used to say that I was running a one off, 18 year experiment in parenting and I’d get back with the results on whether I achieved anything when she is 18. Now that she is I think that experiment has been very successful but that is another story. Just the same as parenting, this last year I’ve been running another experiment in not planning, not goal setting but

Ian in Buenos AIres

simply going where the moment takes me. It started way back in May when I decided, just for one week to have a Societyfast. What could go wrong for one week of not buying into all the stuff of society?

As it turns out after that week I decided not to reconnect with the system and that’s the way it’s been all year since then. Now I’ve always done things somewhat my own way but this was really ramping it up. I have for the majority of the year slept, worked, danced and travelled as it’s seemed right in the moment. I’ve done my best not to project into the future and reminisce on the past. I have at times been far from perfect from achieving this and I have sometimes bought into fear and sentimentality but generally I’ve been able to reconnect after a time and just enjoy the moment. And what wonderful moments I’ve had.

In the last year I’ve only worked about 10 weeks which has caused me to live very lean but my life is wonderful and rich with friends old and new. I have a wonderful social life thanks to my dancing and all that Tango has given me. I’ve travelled yet again, this time to Buenos Aires. I’ve worked for a time with an artist and on Narnia – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader where I made some wonderful things. The podcast is evolving and I’ve managed to meet and get a whole new level of guests to come onto the show. My skills have continued to improve both with audio and video while some people, though only a few, seem to like what I’m producing and keep coming back.

But most importantly I’ve discovered that if I take the time, to take no time, to just be in the moment and make decisions on what needs to be done now and follow that quiet feeling inside me that says that I should do … right now it all seems to work out. Leave my petty ego out of it and be content with whatever happens whether it’s others or my doing doesn’t matter. Instead of worrying I’m starting to have an attitude that something will happen, it’s just that I don’t know what it is. This is creating a new state of wonder, where I don’t know what is going to happen but like watching a film I’m curious and wonder what will evolve. Amazingly it’s working out different and much better than I could imagine.

Yes, what will come of the New Year. I wonder because I have no idea.

Lets find out…

Polyamory on G’Day World Live.

Recently Cameron Reilly invited me to discuss a few things on Polyamory with him and anyone who wanted to call in on his G’Day World Live Podcast. We had an initial conversation with Nick Beaugeard regarding some of his climate change skepticism then I had a bit of a rave about my thoughts on Polyamory into which Kate Edwards came along for the ride.

I’ve mentioned these same points in a previous post so I won’t go into them here but if you want to read in detail my thought on it feel free to go back to the post and get back to me if you want to have a rave.

Just one brief point. Polyamory is about allowing people to have the freedom to choose the life they want and that being the case, the life some people want is to not be free therefore if you care for someone the ultimate gift is to give them that freedom. And yes that was intended to be contradictory. Life is like that often. 🙂