Risky Business

The Mawson Trail is managed by Bicycle South Australia. We contacted them a while ago to order maps and gather information about the trail. Of course it happened to come up during the conversation that we would be taking two young children along for the ride. You can imagine our disappointment when we were told that the trail was far too remote and dangerous to take children on, that we had better do some more research and ultimately rethink our plans.

Fortunately for us, research we did, and as a result not long after we stumbled upon an inspiring couple who did in fact, just last year, ride the Mawson with their two year old son. It was certainly a relief to know that our planned journey was still possible and also that we weren’t completely out of our minds!

Nevertheless, heading out on any adventure can be risky. Inevitably there will be people (and not just our Mums and Dads), who in the midst of imagining every possible danger, will rightly question whether or not the risk we plan to take is too high? Whether we may have been a bit too hasty in our initial judgment.

We’ve been reflecting on this for a while now and have concluded that chances are, we’re probably safer roaming aimlessly around the Flinders Ranges than we are at home.

Ironically, during our day-to-day lives, we are most likely in what Laurence Gonzales calls a ‘Permanent Vacation State of Mind’. The culture of plenty in which we live makes everything so easy. The sun goes down and we flick a switch, we get hungry and the refrigerator beckons, it rains so we stay inside, the temperature drops but we adjust the central heating. We really don’t have to give a lot of thought to our most basic human needs and apparently our brain draws the conclusion that our little corner of the world is safe, and as a result, decides that it doesn’t have to pay that much attention.

On the other hand (provided of course that we do in fact manage to snap ourselves out of this vacation state of mind) when we’re on The Mawson; shelter, food, water, warmth and light won’t exactly come so easy. The Flinders Ranges will be an unfamiliar environment for us and according to recent research we will have a heighted sense of awareness. Our primal instincts will return; we will be more attuned to the risks, aware of the dangers and a lot less likely to become complacent.

We weren’t going to mention the words ‘super hero’ or ‘special powers’ but if this phenomenon applies to kids too then the Fantastic Four does have a nice ring to it. Okay…. so we’ve gotten very carried away there. But seriously, seems like we’ve got to get out more; this staying at home thing is risky business!

Tahlia and Marty: back outdoors safe and sound!