4/2/10

2 days alone in 'the bush'

i awoke in kaikoura and set out to find some solitude to begin my 'lonely expierement'.. i hiked up into the bush, as they say, and it literally took me about two hours to make the 4 needed trips to get my bike and gear up the steep hillsides.. i found a little flat that i thought was completely inaccessible to people and set up shop.. did some reading and a lot of thinking about all of the wildlife around me.. on the first afternoon i fell asleep to some horrific nightmares (afternoonmares?) of me running through the jungle looking for my campsite.. and although consciously i wasnt afraid at all, my subconscious seemed to sense my unusually vulnerability and reacted accordingly.. i spent much time after that dream, and similar ones that night, thinking about how domesticated i really am and how much i rely on other people to simply survive.. so i began wondering: 'how long would i be able to survive in a place like this without my tent, food, water, flashlight, ect? although id like to think of myself as a strong instinctful person, my conclusion: NOT LONG

so in summary i hope this is just the beginning of a long process i plan to undergo that im calling 'dedomestification'.. in australia and southeast asia for the year to come i should be able to find many secluded, dangerous places where i can truly see 'what im made of'
because if we never put ourselves in those circumstances, can we ever really find out 'what we are made of'?

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