After walking 90km to work was kinda successful (it took 30 hours) Beau started looking for more adventurous methods, and he landed on a paddlin’.
Spoiler alert (it’s in the film’s name) it took four days. Four gruelling days of pushing through blackberries, falling in the mud, and dragging the kayak around obstacles and down roads.
Funnily enough, two rivers, a canal and the ocean in Melbourne roughly connected Beau to his office at the Monash University at the time of filming. But what he didn’t expect was the degradation, the intimate way that paddling connects us to the landscape also reveals how much damage we’re doing to it.
It also proves once again, that adventure’s an approach to life. Far flung coastlines and mountain peaks are great, but if want, adventure is right under our collective noses.
The half-hour film’s been watched 76 thousand times in a day, go on, add yourself to the throng.
Want more Beau? I interviewed him a few months back, or you can grab a copy of The Backyard Adventurer, his new book which features the written account of The Commute: A four day paddle to work.
Photos by @mitchdrummond and @onelifewild
