They're wagon camels
September 3, 2017 11:40 PM Subscribe
But this story is completely insane. I love it- and I have a sudden desire to visit Australia just because, but this kind of camel trek is completely unhinged. I'd like to say I'd never do something like that, but knowing myself, if the right person talked it up... camel trek ho!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:11 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:11 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
If you got far enough ahead there was a strange buzzing stillness.
Ah - I remember that sound. Experienced here.
posted by awfurby at 12:45 AM on September 4, 2017
Ah - I remember that sound. Experienced here.
posted by awfurby at 12:45 AM on September 4, 2017
But if it’s your parents, you know that things are probably only going to get harder for them. The world for them is a cruise liner steaming towards the horizon, leaving them bobbing alone in the vast, lonely ocean with only each other.Heh.
My dad said, “Jesus Christ, Bob, do you have to say this shit out loud? It’s pretty bleak.”
posted by flabdablet at 12:50 AM on September 4, 2017 [10 favorites]
Leadership is a hard-to-pin-down quality. But if, after two days of knowing someone, they tell you to jump in front of a pack of charging camels and you find yourself willingly obliging, then they’ve probably got it.
Well, I now know what I'm suggesting for my next work team building event. Although I'm not sure that my boss will approve when I suggest that we spend the staff development budget on camel-trekking supplies.
posted by avapoet at 12:59 AM on September 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
Well, I now know what I'm suggesting for my next work team building event. Although I'm not sure that my boss will approve when I suggest that we spend the staff development budget on camel-trekking supplies.
posted by avapoet at 12:59 AM on September 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
Are we there yet?
posted by chavenet at 2:17 AM on September 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 2:17 AM on September 4, 2017 [2 favorites]
Great write up. I want to meet all of them, including the camels!
posted by Malingering Hector at 7:43 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Malingering Hector at 7:43 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
God, I love Australia.
posted by roger ackroyd at 9:03 AM on September 4, 2017
posted by roger ackroyd at 9:03 AM on September 4, 2017
Vacation as catharsis, without the ayahuaska, plus the camels, wait, and plus Australia!
posted by Oyéah at 10:48 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 10:48 AM on September 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
Such great writing. So many quotable morsels! Even if I'm sure there's just a little bit of creative elaboration going on:
One evening she reached into her bra looking for a cigarette, and I saw her pull out a lighter, a tobacco pouch, a packet of tissues, a hunting knife, $20 (in change) and a bundle of keys before she looked up and said, “Oh, here it is. It’s in my fucking mouth.”
Nah mate, she never said that, the cig would have fallen out.
Having an interest in places called Kingswood (I live in one) I looked up the bench seats in the wagon and found out "the Holden Kingswood is at the 'everymans' level of the full-size car range that was manufactured in Australia."
And also that "A first generation Holden Kingswood sedan is featured in the New Zealand television series Brokenwood Mysteries as the vehicle driven by the series star, Niell Rea, in his role as Detective Mike Sheperd. Apparently, the car is intended to represent the least glamorous transportation that Det. Sheperd could possibly obtain." So, the Lada of the Antipodes then.
And furthermore that some of the Premier series were assembled by Mazda in Japan and "To compensate for the lack of performance, Mazda endowed the car with a myriad of electrical gadgets, thus making the performance even worse." Same.
Which little snippets are, you know, nicely of a piece with the main article.
posted by glasseyes at 11:07 AM on September 4, 2017
One evening she reached into her bra looking for a cigarette, and I saw her pull out a lighter, a tobacco pouch, a packet of tissues, a hunting knife, $20 (in change) and a bundle of keys before she looked up and said, “Oh, here it is. It’s in my fucking mouth.”
Nah mate, she never said that, the cig would have fallen out.
Having an interest in places called Kingswood (I live in one) I looked up the bench seats in the wagon and found out "the Holden Kingswood is at the 'everymans' level of the full-size car range that was manufactured in Australia."
And also that "A first generation Holden Kingswood sedan is featured in the New Zealand television series Brokenwood Mysteries as the vehicle driven by the series star, Niell Rea, in his role as Detective Mike Sheperd. Apparently, the car is intended to represent the least glamorous transportation that Det. Sheperd could possibly obtain." So, the Lada of the Antipodes then.
And furthermore that some of the Premier series were assembled by Mazda in Japan and "To compensate for the lack of performance, Mazda endowed the car with a myriad of electrical gadgets, thus making the performance even worse." Same.
Which little snippets are, you know, nicely of a piece with the main article.
posted by glasseyes at 11:07 AM on September 4, 2017
I like the bit about camping gear... lots of it IS crap! Also camels... after giraffe they are favorites. Arguably if there had been no camels, civilization would not have happened.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:35 PM on September 4, 2017
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:35 PM on September 4, 2017
glasseyes - I'm pretty sure Ladas don't feature a V8.
Here's a nice article that might highlight the level of affection for the Kingswood in Australia
posted by awfurby at 7:54 PM on September 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Here's a nice article that might highlight the level of affection for the Kingswood in Australia
posted by awfurby at 7:54 PM on September 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
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Now that's the sort of crazy gumption I aspire to.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:06 AM on September 4, 2017 [3 favorites]