The Salty Dreamers

Photos: Surf photography

jemma_scott — Fri, 2 Jun 2017 22:32:00 GMT

Absolute ocean stoke stretching from Perth to the Gold Coast- on a month long backpacking trip meandering the beautiful Australian coastline and capturing the dwellers that thrive amongst it.

Travelling on Intuition

jemma_scott — Fri, 2 Jun 2017 22:17:00 GMT

Perth to the Gold Coast; a whopping 6,324 kilometres of vast undulating plains and a meandering coastline that is an absolute pleasure to surf and simply soak the soul. I was offered a free flight across to travel with the rest of the fam; and for a student scrimping and scrounging every penny she could muster for her travels ahead, it was pretty much a pot of gold at the end of a hard years work.
However, she gracefully declined. Instead, she decided to make her own way using the most unconventional route possible. Rideshare, bus, train, trust in that stranger who in no time becomes appreciated as a like-minded companion. Whatever worked at the time, whatever her intuition told her. It is so much more enriching travelling the land than flying straight over it. And somehow, pursuing this trip just felt so… right.

It took me a month before I reached Rainbow Bay, where I met up with friends and family. A month of meeting some seriously awesome people, of concerts and festivals, of eye-openings and boundless opportunities, and just being able to explore and understand a bit of our own backyard; this land we call home.

EN ROUTE

COLLAGE

THE GAP, CARLA

Well, it all started with an email. It was a lift to Adelaide with the guarantee of meandering along the coast, taking it slow and enjoying the stops at small country towns as much as the open road. Welcome to Rideshare. And after meeting Carla in person for a beer at The Norfolk, already a good sign, euphoria was sky high. This ride had come down to first impressions; the vibes felt good, I admired her blue overalls and she was a lover of DOPE LEMON, so instant friendship right there. My stomach became giddy with excitement and the thought of this unkempt wild adventure. I couldn’t help but beam the whole train ride home.

By Feb there were five of us, and hell did we have a good time. Travelling in a tiny yellow Fiat (her name was Delilah) and a giraffe spotted Wicked camper, we were the grooviest cars on the road- and the most likely not to make it across the Nullarbor alive haha. The Nullarbor was something else; tranquil, remote and completely desolate. For some it’s classed as the most monotonous drive of their life with 1500 kilometres of almost straight road, the same low lying shrubs and just this never ending stretch of flat horizon. I loved it.

CAMP SET UP

LIMESTONE SUNRISE

NULLARBOR PETROL STATION

NORESMAN OP SHOP

Its raw, vast beauty has always awed me; once an ancient river system made up of many small, fast-flowing rivers some 80 million years ago, it’s now the world’s largest limestone karst landscape. Nullarbor literally meaning ‘no trees’, it is covered with hardy drought and salt resistant shrubs such as Bluebush and Saltbush, and is home to more mammals and wildlife than you’d think possible- you just need to look out the window at the amount of roadkill to gauge that. Camping on the Nullarbor, in the bush, in the definition of the middle of nowhere, is what I've kinda always daydreamed about. Watching the sun cast a gentle glow over the low lying shrubs, the Fiat perched under a small tree, the girls eating saladas and tuna on our little camping table, soft tunes and outbursts of laughter fill the warm air, oh and Carla’s weed. Ha, a nice time to be alive.
Made it to Adelaide in time for WOMAD; a world music, arts and dance festival that aims to showcase different styles of music and bring people together from around the world. To put it quite simply; a phenomenon. We’d go from learning an African dance routine where 100 plus people are all in sync, feeling the rhythm of the drums and just getting absolutely jiggy with it, to going completely berserk amongst Parov Stelar’s sexy electro swing performance, to just chilling out on the grass and admiring artists like D.D Dumbo and yes, DOPE LEMON. A festival that is not only an absolute joy to the ears, eyes and soul, but one that empowers third world countries by giving them the opportunity to express their culture and contemporary issues of the society they live in.

DOPE LEMON

If you haven’t heard of Couchsurfing, you really should look it up. A platform that enables travellers to connect with everyday people who offer their homes, hearts, or more often than not just a mat on the floor for the needy traveller in search of a roof over their head and a good conversation. For us girls, it turned out to be so much more. Tyran, our host, was a yoga instructor and tradie. We were three of seven staying at his house. Apparently that generosity wasn’t enough (don’t worry he says he’ll be rewarded with good karma); cooking up a massive feed of dhal, rice and curry, we all sat around a Buddhist inspired, low lying table on mats. The conversation ranged from the seriousness of corrupt political power, environmental devastation and our consumeristic society to the history of drugs in Nimbin. Actually one of the most meaningful and awakening conversations I've had in a long time. And that’s what Couchsurfing’s all about, sharing and learning off of other people and becoming immersed in their way of life. A cold beer and a bit of acro yoga doesn’t hurt too. This was just to Adelaide. Yeah I know… get on with it.

THE NULLARBOR

ELEMENTS

Caught a day bus to Melbourne. You’ll find that when you're bored, when you have hours in the plentiful and in a beautifully fixed position, that time is an inlet for freedom of space and creativity.

My time in Melbs was inspirational, yet a stark and harrowing reminder of city life and the contrast between suburbia and sleeping out under the stars. I caught up with other parts of my family and was reunited with a best friend from toddlerhood. We hadn’t seen each other in 16 years yet were basically living parallel lives, quite funny. After exploring the Mornington Peninsula we somehow managed to stumble into a Skeggs concert and got caked by the lead singer during their performance, yeah happy birthday man. The rowdiest, most intense crowds are often those in the local pub. There you’ll have the best fun.

PETROL STATION ANTIQUES/DINER

PEAK

To travel to Sydney, I booked a train ticket a few nights before leaving, but the morning after I received a message from someone on Rideshare offering a lift. Allessandro was his name, a Peruvian surf photographer who just got back from shooting a girls surftrip in the Maldives. My first thought: “Is this for real?” Oh yeah it was. With seven surfboards, three wetties and my little Meikon underwater housing, pit stops and surf checks at bays and beaches along the way were mandatory.
In Ulladulla we camped in the beach carpark, listening to the lapping waves of Mollymook and the pitter patter of rain on the tent canvas. It hadn’t stopped in two days straight. The morning arose with fresh swell, almost clear skies and vans of locals honouring their morning ritual. Hoora, we had hit the jackpot. Five foot left hand peelers and a morning glow so intense that it was almost blinding. Perfect time to get the camera out. We were out there all morning until our fingers started to look like prunes and the magnified light started to overexpose the images. Eventually all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately, after an intriguing few days of travel and good convo, we parted our separate ways.

I caught an arvo train/bus to Byron, where upon arrival at 4.30am in the morning, you could still find people hanging out on the grass down at Main Beach. There’s something about Byron that’s simply magical. Its mesmerizing waters and rugged landscape is not one that you can easily walk away from. The people fortunate enough to make up the community possess a deep respect for the place they call home and emanate values that reflect this. You can see why creatives and nomads alike are so easily drawn to it.

JUST CASUALLY

SLIDE

ONE STEP TWO STEP

I arrived on the Gold Coast exactly a month after I had left, much to the relief of my parents. That month had entailed more stories than you could imagine, or if you like, the number of crackers and tins of tuna I had consumed (a lot), and was undeniably and irrevocably sweeter than that 5 hour plane flight, hey.

Photos: Schoolies Adventure Nepal

jemma_scott — Fri, 3 Feb 2017 12:00:00 GMT

An alternative adventure to traditional schoolies. An 11 day trek and community project with a group of 8 leavers who we had just met.

Schoolies Alternative Adveture

jemma_scott — Fri, 3 Feb 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Life after school; a time to reflect on twelve years of friendships; made and lost, of hard work and unquestionable bouts of procrastination,

and what felt like prolonged drudgery in those last remaining months. High school is a truly memorable stepping stone in the paths of our lives; it helps shape who we are.

So wouldn’t we want to celebrate our past dedications and achievements, 12 years of our lives, with something merely more than “YEAHHHH let’s get pissed dude!”

‘Leavers’ and’ Schoolies’ originally started in the 70’s, and ever since has become almost a rite of passage for Aussie adolescents. Excessive binge drinking, a blurred count of vodka and lemon lime shots, and the forced thought of ‘I’m having great fun!’ when you wake up the next morning. Repeat times five.

There are better ways to celebrate the beginning of freedom and a life of your choosing; ways in which you will actually remember.

In late November I travelled to Nepal with a group of seven other schoolies. We trekked and traversed our way over mountainous terrain, volunteered our physical strength and love to a remote school in the village of Dhampus, and were lucky enough to fly over the Himalayas- an experience that actually touches the soul.

Euphoria in Ghandruk. A dry open grass field with a 270 degree view of the sun rising onto the distant Himalayas.

The gentle pastel palette of a Nepalese sunset.

We did this with an organisation called World Youth Adventures; a company that offers truly unique experiences in different destinations around the world- a rewarding alternative to more traditional schoolies.

One of my many favourite moments; the final day trek to Ghandruk:

Upon walking up to a grassy ledge above Dhampus camp, we watched the shades of the mountains turn from black silhouettes to dappled misty greys; the rising sun a ginormous ball of pink light. The scattered huts and rice paddies etched into the mountainside slowly became clearer. Dhampus awed us with its raw beauty.

The first section of the trek was through lush jungle, off the beaten path and up quite an incline! We were a bit worried the terrain was going to be like that for the next few hours, however eventually we reached the top of the mountain and were welcomed by a seat at a teahouse with a clear view of the Himalayas; Mount Pistol and South Annapurna. They were always moving in and out of our sight along the trek.

Trekking through the jungle like foliage of one of the many smaller mountains in Dhampus.

From here it was down and up stone steps. You had to remind yourself to look up every now and then to fully acknowledge and appreciate the view, pinching yourself that you were trekking in the Nepal mountainside. After our legs had almost turned to jelly from an infinite amount of steps up and down mountains, we walked along a flat dusty road for about an hour; seeing other trekkers and taking in the village of Landruk; local Nepali kids playing volleyball in their schoolyard and women beating millet (a harvested grain) outside their homes, a true atmospheric embodiment of a community.

We stopped for lunch further across in Landruk, down below a teahouse we perched ourselves on the grass, the chefs and porters utilising village huts and the open space to cook up their magic. The mountainside view we were blessed with was absolutely astonishing. We grabbed a bench chair and perched it on the edge of the slope, our feet lying underneath on the grass. We had a clothesline of patterned Soris and sheets over our heads, looking out into the haze of the mountains. The rice paddies and small local villages outlined in the distance.

Indra, one of our humble Nepali guides, served us pineapple cordial and for lunch a chapatti with small sliced sausages, vegetables and a bean mix with hot potato chips on the side; a mix of Nepalese and western cuisine. Safe to say we never went hungry! Also some of the best meals I’ve eaten. *Note: popcorn and soup together work wonders (this is no trickery!).

In the distance we could see the village that we needed to trek to for arrival at camp; Ghandruk. It was sitting above us on the opposite mountain, at a much higher altitude and a good length away. We were a little overwhelmed by what we had to accomplish in the next few hours; a knee wobbling descend and an intimidating incline, yet we hadn’t realised the great distance we had already achieved.

This experience really does make you grow as a person. And the amazing thing is you grow with other people, making lifelong friendships through some of the greatest moments you’ve ever shared. I’m visiting two of the girls who are from Byron Bay in the upcoming months; after only a few days of meeting each other we were already planning our next adventure! We couldn’t wait to be reunited with such like-minded souls.

I have become so grateful for the places I've grown up in around Western Australia and come to not only appreciate, but love the simple things in life; after all, those are what truly what make us happy.

This is a mere snippet of my schoolies experience. And I think it was done right.

I hope that after reading this, more people can open themselves up to these kinds of opportunities; celebrate schoolies the right way. It doesn’t have to be climbing a mountain either!

Local kids of Pokhara.

Wandering the back streets of Pokhara. After a kind Nepali lady let us stand in awe at the view from her rooftop, we were in search for another at sunset.

Dhampus camp // A community base while we volunteered at the nearby Primary school. Prayer flags are strung in the shape of a star, and when the sun rises over the mountains, it shines directly onto the roof of the community centre. A true embodiment of how Nepali people connect to the land.

Welcomed with marigold garlands and an abundance of smiling faces, upon arrival in Dhampus after a full day of trekking through the mountains.