Even in my late thirties I was still ‘roof surfing’ and ‘plating’. On road trips we would hit a pub, get tanked, then throw half a dozen of us on the roof of a wagon, get up to highway speeds while standing in a surfers stance, then with a couple of mates holding your ankles, slam a big swig of tequila, slide on your back down and over the hood until your head was on the number plate.

The view of the bitumen and white lines in the headlights flying over an alcohol filled head, and a V8 screaming behind your ears was one hell of an adrenaline rush.

Lots of other crazy stuff went on but it was only when I read Tim Winton’s book ‘Breath’ that I was able to get a bit of a handle on what drove us.

I call it the pathology of risk and young Australian males thrive on it. It is a drug. When you no longer get the buzz you use to, getting the uninitiated to indulge was the next best thing. To see their fear and excitement was to re-live how it felt for you.

This is a central theme in Tim’s book. The older hardened surfer taking the two younger lads out to surf the biggest waves then the anticlimax their lives become after such a rush.

I understood the concerted effort to avoid self-destructive behaviour by the narrator and why he chose the ambulance service to keep a little taste of the drug. The temptation of course is to continue taking greater risks.

‘Breath’ rocked my socks off. I thought about it constantly for a very long time. Tim is a master and 'Breath’ his masterpiece.

That is why if my kids want to indulge in a bit of planking then it is okay by me. I have not shielded them from taking risks but I have been at pains to teach them how to assess the risk properly and that it is more than okay to say no. Won’t stop me worrying like hell about them.

Hi csteele, my kids learned to drive down the paddock too, first in a front drive Renault, then, when they were ready, in a proper car, a Holden Ute with rear wheel drive.

Loved the clip of Saudi drifting. I still hold a Bathurst lap record I set in the 60s. Back then there were still some parts of the circuit where there was only 10 yards of grass, & a barb wire fence between us & the spectators.

We were going somewhat faster than those drifters too, Jewely would have been horrified. Still I always reckoned that the spectators should be able to get the full experience, & be involved in the crashes too.

Now we have no mammoths to hunt, or lions to fight, in our safe sanitised lives in suburbia, we've had to develop a few slightly dangerous sports for those of us who need a bit of adrenalin in our veins occasionally.

Probably the most dangerous thing I have done was as a preteenager, paddling down a swollen Macquarie River, with a couple of mates, each in canoes made from a flattened out sheet of corrogated iron. Nothing too unusual in that of course, most of the kids in school had one of those canoes.

Well we have it seems come to under stand plankers/Plonkers and tea pots lack imagination,we all had far more interesting ways to kill our selves.
Me too!
I can not agree with the Saudi drifting.
How much control has the driver got in reverse?
How many could die if he/she lost it.
One of one hundred story's
Near Christmas,two days away, kids are driving as usual this time of year.
Happy full of fun and excitement two cars one male one female.
Racing down hill side by side.
One[ the girls] lost it hit concrete drain, 4 dead Christmas? joy turned to grief,a motor car is not a toy.
Fun? yep, but what if?
My story I will not tell involves a car, its fun exhilarating, dangerous, and awesome.
But what if we spoke of it and some died trying it?
I even now,am still a petrol head but only on my own not with some ones life in my hands

csteele

Loved 'Breath' also. And have had an adrenalin fueled life well into my 30's also, (probably because I returned to uni then) however, I am female. Not all boys are testosterone fueled maniacs, nor all girls passive.

We can't protect our children from everything, the best we can do is ensuring they are well informed AND not uncomfortable about approaching their parents when they are in trouble.

Csteele:”I call it the pathology of risk and young Australian males thrive on it. It is a drug. When you no longer get the buzz you use to, getting the uninitiated to indulge was the next best thing. To see their fear and excitement was to re-live how it felt for you.”

I thought it was the Kiwi’s that were nutbars, bungy jumping and wire flying and zorbing etc. I thought maybe it was being an isolated country that made the people go invent stupid things to do in their spare time. Mountains, white water and probably less struggle with the land might have helped create enough spare time for the pursuit of crazy there.

Everything horrifies me now Hasbeen.... I’m horrified I survived my own youth. Driving over the Rimutaka using the car in front for brakes or playing chicken in a park with a car. The rules were that the driver would make every effort to run you over and you had to stop the driver, usually done by diving through a window as the car went by and fighting the driver for the wheel then booting them out the door at speed. They had to keep the windows open at all times. The game usually resulted in a trip to hospital.

I’d win prizes for Stupid, Joe. : ) The problem I have is knowing so clearly what kids get up to that my imagination takes over.

Bellybabe:”I can not agree with the Saudi drifting.
How much control has the driver got in reverse?
How many could die if he/she lost it.”

That’s the beauty of the iron clad faith there, if something bad happens it was gods will and accepted as such. I’m often jealous of it as it must reduce stress. I wonder if that ties into Grahams thread about brain development in people with gods?

Jewely

Another treasure of a post, including gems like:

>> I’m horrified I survived my own youth <<

Me too.

Topped off with:

>> That’s the beauty of the iron clad faith there, if something bad happens it was gods will and accepted as such. I’m often jealous of it as it must reduce stress. I wonder if that ties into Grahams thread about brain development in people with gods? <<

Explains a lot.

Pure gold.