Yes they will roll on you Belly and I forbid you from trying it again.

Aw Joe don’t say it, I’d convinced myself my job was over. It never occurred to me there would be more to do. Anyone produces anything that will one day call me nana and I will leave the country.

Hasbeen I think its men that run away suddenly and at high speed. Women bide, manipulate and prepare patiently. Although now I’m thinking about traffic at around 3pm with all those mothers on the road… something else to add to my list of things that horrify me.

>> traffic at around 3pm with all those mothers on the road… something else to add to my list of things that horrify me. <<

In those 4W-bloody-Drives, double parked.

These days just a drive along the Black Spur outside of Healesville, after watching emus steal kiddies' sangers at Healsville sanctuary.

Did all the fast wheel stuff in my 20's - living to tell the tale and don't have to prove anything to anyone but myself.

OK having a head on with the anti four wheel drive mob am I.
Mine is my 5th one, the only one so far, not to be rigged as a bush rescue one.
It still has all the radios, double battery's, and still around if needed to take up a mountain position far away from any one, to rebroadcast details of horse endoro or car rally, look for lost hikers or fight fires.
It may get the rest of the gear on it, no knowing how bad next summer may be.
But it is no suburban status symbol.
It was like new on getting it, looks like its been driven into ten barbed wire fences too many.
But here in rural NSW its of helping floods and much more.
Been stuck? ever? on a very remote bush hill, I have.
And after three days been impressed with the help coming.
Had the pleasure to bring that help too.
So very many get in to so much trouble in four wheelers they fail to understand.
But not all of us.

Dear Jewely,

Loved the crazy Kiwi antics especially the Chicken in the car park. Ours was 'Make a wish' straddled between two cars travelling down the highway with a foot on each car's windowsill with your mates holding on to your ankles.

I was of the opinion that this behaviour is primarily alcohol driven but for me the genes certainly seem to play their part and if I look back on my escapades it is those of my pre-teen years that frighten me the most.

There was a particular game of chicken we neighbourhood kids use to play in Darwin that gives me the heebees even now. During the wet season the downpours were managed by large stormwater drains. One that was favoured emptied on to Nightcliffe beach and what made it special was a room about twice the size of toilet 60 meters up the drain. Once we knew the rain was coming about a dozen of us would make our way up the pipe to gather in the room with only the light of the distant entrance affording any vision.

As the water quickly rose we had to start bracing ourselves to stop from being swept away. Some of the younger kids would start to bail when the water was half way up and shoot down the pipe to get spat out onto the sand.

As the gap got smaller and therefore the light got dimmer more kids would break until there was only three or four die-hards remaining. While there was light you knew you could get a breath, even if it meant scraping your nose on the drain's roof as you were pushed through at speed. Once the gap closed entirely however there was total darkness and the only way you could tell if there were any others left was by shouting above the roar, but the cunning ones kept quiet hoping any remaining would think they were the last and go.

Cont..

Cont..

Because of the pipe's incline the longer you waited the greater the length you would have to negotiate without air and the greater the force with which you were spat out at the end. Tumbling in an enclosed space, in dirty storm water, in total darkness and tightly holding your breath and eyes was to us terrifying but great fun. I recall nearly passing out after leaving it too fine. It was only when you hit the beach did you know if you were the last and had won.

Most of us suffered grazes, some pretty bad, and why none of us got badly infected I don't know, perhaps it was the swim in the ocean afterwards.

My reason for relating the story is to ask if it wasn't alcohol or testosterone (at least not a huge factor at that age), what drove us? Having lived in Asia a good part of my youth I know even the most adventurous of my Asian friends would not even contemplate anything so stupid. Perhaps it was fear of their parents or other aspects of their culture that made them reluctant. My stock and probably yours however were willing to make a difficult and dangerous sailing voyage to forge a new life here.

The Australian and Kiwi gene pool might just tilt a little more toward those with a propensity for risk taking.

Csteele I think I have it. Western kids used to do this crazy stuff when younger (get it out of the system as it were) and they would do it for the pure fun of it. But now we have “concerned citizens” who would report young children roaming unaccompanied and we have adults patrolling places and security fences everywhere now plus parents who know they would get in trouble if they couldn’t tell authority where their kids are at any given time.

So now maybe they have to wait until older and sneakier to elude all the grownups?

And the storm drain thing, what the hell were you thinking!? Make a wish is a more than appropriate name for the potential result. Bloody hell. In Mapua (NZ) there is a place you jump into the ocean and the undertow will whip you quickly to the other side. And nup I never did it.

Why there remains an Aussie or NZ gene pool is beyond me.