I don't like to brag, but I'm now a world record-holder.
Yes, seriously.
But we'll get to that.
Yesterday afternoon, I rolled into home at the end of a 17 day, 4,962 kilometre journey across four Australian states (some more than once).
Starting in New South Wales, my family and I headed up to Queensland via Bourke, before heading west into South Australia and north, back into Queensland.
Then, 6 days later, it was south back into SA, before turning east into Victoria and back up into NSW and home.
It was a trip I've always wanted to do. The impetus, and our main destination was Birdsville, specifically the event billed as 'the most remote music festival in the world' — the Big Red Bash, with Midnight Oil headlining.
If you've never done it, I can't recommend it highly enough. 9,162 people, all camping (tents, camper trailers and caravans) with no showers or running water, and all having a wonderful time.
Everything about it was fantastic — the journey to get there, the music, the wonderful staff and volunteers, and our fellow Bashers. We hardly heard a cross word spoken — everyone was there in the right spirit and for the right reasons. And then the journey home.
Don't worry, though, I'll spare you the slide night.
Still, it's worth a few words on the outback. It's everything you expect — the people, colours, the big, big sky, and the out-of-this-world sunrises and sunsets.
It's also as bad as you hear. The drought, particularly in north west NSW and south west Queensland is awful. The Darling River only just deserves that monicker, with 'creek' being more applicable in many — perhaps most — places.
On some stations, the cattle herds are down to essentially just tiny numbers of breeding stock, with the land unable to support anything more. The predominant colour is brown, and dust is (most) everywhere.
In a cruel twist of fate, for those farmers at least, by contrast the usually dry and barren desert of the channel country was pretty green, thanks to the floodwaters that are still making their way down to Lake Eyre. I can only imagine how it must feel to contemplate the volume of water just a short (by outback standards) distance away, while you struggle with a sixth or seventh year of drought.
The small consolation, for some of those communities, is that the Big Red Bash takes just under 10,000 people from around Australia through many small outback towns, putting a little cash in the pockets of shops, roadhouses, station-stay operators and publicans. It's not enough to make a big difference, but travellers are, to no small degree, putting a little bit of business into those places as they pass through.
That, and there was a heap of money raised at the Bash for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, a literal lifeline for many in the bush.
As for the trip, there are probably too many highlights to mention, but we ticked off some great bucket list inclusions like the Birdsville pub, Innamincka, the Burke & Wills 'dig tree', the Birdsville Track and the 'Feral Mixed Grill' at the Prairie Hotel in Parachilna.
Plus the Bash itself, and seeing Midnight Oil play at the base of the biggest sand dune in the country.
Investing takeaways? A few:
— Have a 'rainy day' fund. It wouldn't have helped the farmers now in their seventh year of drought, but the things you need emergency cash for aren't likely to be that bad, either. Just be prepared.
— Keep perspective. No matter what happens to share prices today, tomorrow, or next year, the impact isn't as big as it seems, either in size or emotional cost. The sun will rise tomorrow, and plenty of people are worse off than we are.
— Don't forget to enjoy the journey. No-one wants to be rich and miserable. The family time, and experiences, were worth every cent, even if it strictly comes at the cost of retirement wealth. It was a pretty easy trade to make, and even more worthwhile in hindsight.
— Plan well. You can't know what's around the next corner. But you can imagine the sorts of scenarios you might encounter — good and bad — and be prepared to respond. On the beautiful Darling Track, 'around the next corner' is literal… it could be a truck, travelling at speed. In life and in our finances, it's making sure you have the financial resources to meet the challenges and opportunities, and the foresight to mentally and emotionally prepare for what may come.
— Related, know that things will go wrong. We lost a D shackle, broke a UHF aerial, dislodged an anderson plug from its housing, had one of the camper's stabiliser feet break off, and the fire extinguisher bracket pull itself off the wall. Oh, and my attempt at making damper in a cast iron camp oven was a miserable failure. If I hadn't expected things to go wrong, I could have come home grumpy and disappointed. But because I knew it was possible — likely — to happen, it was much easier to take it in my stride. It's the same with investing. You'll lose money sometimes — maybe permanently, maybe just temporarily. But it'll happen. Make your peace with it.
Oh, the world record? I thought you'd never ask.
My wife, son and I were three of the 2,300 people or so who danced the Nutbush for 5 minutes, non-stop, becoming the largest group ever to achieve that feat.
Oh, sure it's not like being the fastest man on earth, but hey, I've never seen Usain Bolt do the Nutbush, either…
Fool on!
