Salt + Soul Adventures

Getting salty, smiling, and chasing experiences

Author: Jena Buchan

  • Seasonal socialising

    Winter has recently wrapped up here in Australia, a mind-blowing fact for my Northern Hemisphere friends as every movie and postcard shows mostly swimsuit-clad beachgoers soaking up the sun (or crazy animals attacking people).  Here on the Gold Coast, winter also means 15-degree Celsius temperature changes in a matter of minutes come sunset (which is about 5pm), shorts with Uggs, and it being warmer outside than it is in most houses.  Despite the frigid indoor temperatures though, I find myself with limited motivation to leave the house.  Warm blanket, cup of tea, and our dogs=winter sorted!  I like to think of this as ‘seasonal socialising’, nature just encouraging some quality down-time/home time.  That sort of suggests come summer I’m out raving every night, throwing rowdy dinner parties, and hardly home.  Not the case, though I do manage to stay up past 9 every now and then compared to the usual 730/8pm bedtime of winter.    

    It’s not so much the yearly seasonal changes, but instead the ‘season of my life’ that feels to have shifted (as corny as that sounds).  Late teens through my 20s were my college years, doing an undergrad, Masters, and then PhD degree.  Basically, this felt like 10 years of closing down the dancefloor, seeing my fair share of sunrises before seeing my bed, and being a social butterfly, followed by a final two years of hardly ever leaving the office before dark and spending more time with my computer than another human (PhD thesis mode, gooood times).  Thrown into this was some time off between degrees, which primarily involved a combination of alternating between living out of a backpack travelling the world and living back in my childhood bedroom (thanks Mom and Dad!).  Then, I moved to the Gold Coast in the land down under for a change of scenery, where I quickly made some incredible mates through surfing and climbing who threw me a giant slip and slide party to kick off my 30s.  Time to make up for those few years of social isolation it seemed!  As my 30s rolled by, I started strong (and mostly single), spending weekends out climbing, surfing, or dancing depending on the friend group I was hanging out with.  Slowly though I slowed down, settled down, and even built a house with the love of my life, never saw that one coming! And here we are, living the (our) dream.  No kids, two crazy but cute rescue dogs, a home amongst the wallabies and gum trees, and overseas trips at least once a year (hence celebrating my 40th on a dancefloor in Spain until 2am)!  However, that also means mortgage, full-time job with a beach volleyball business on the side, and what has become weekends containing 7:30pm bedtimes ‘recovering from the week’, gardening, and Friday night movies at home with the dogs.

    Current me wonders if past me would be disappointed, or proud.  In a world that encourages busyness, after-work drinks to ‘blow off some steam/cause I deserve it’, and working so you can enjoy retirement, I’d like to think this ‘seasonal socialising’ is an alternative.  I can feel the season starting to shift again, as new friendships, a growingly comfortable financial situation, and freedom from not having kids (no offense to those who do, you do you!) sings with opportunities to get back amongst it but in new ways.  From Saturdays spent beach volleyballing, ocean swimming, and socialising til sunset, to month-long Eurotrips, this new season feels one of adventure and ‘balance’.  Where a slow Sunday at home and early Friday night flows seamlessly with Saturday shenanigans and mid-week dog-friendly dinners with friends.  Where work funds fun now, not 25 years from now, and the calendar is full of more than just meetings and falsely-labelled ‘must-dos’ dictated by others.  Time for some spring cleaning as winter chills slowly fade, and heck maybe even a fun new ‘let’s boogie’ wardrobe!

  • Chasing Chains

    Lots of folks have probably thrown a frisbee at some point in their life, or at least seen one.  Turns out, it’s also a great way to explore the outdoors.  A few years back, my fabulous partner discovered the sport of disc golf.  A former ultimate player, he’s always been pretty great at throwing a disc, sometimes to the point where the dogs won’t even chase it as its gone too far!  However, ultimate requires a good number of players and can be pretty hard on the body, plus the whole running back and forth thing.  Disc golf, however, whole different story!  Now, don’t be put off by the word ‘golf’.  Yes, it does involve different holes, some level of frustration at times, and if you’re really good even a caddy.  However, the wardrobe requirements are a lot looser, for better or worse there is often lots of time spent in the trees, and you are less likely to loose a disc than ball (though it still happens, hence why we’ve trained up the dog to be a disc searcher extraordinaire, particularly when spending time in the trees…).

    Trying to describe the sport is fun.  It goes something like ‘You throw a piece of plastic at some chains.’  However, the chains are part of this metal basket thing, which the ‘fun’ course designers like to put on top of things like rocks, tractors (‘merica), or tree stumps, or even better at the top of a hill where if you miss, the disc may end up even further away from where you initially threw it from.  In Europe they like to ensure you know how much you f-ed up by chanting ‘disc goooolf, disc goooolf’ as your disc rolls down the hill to a guaranteed double bogey or beyond.  Also, the pieces of plastic have all different details to them.  While all round, some have curved edges, some are thinner, some heavier, and even some floppy (to minimise your risk of ‘disc gooolf’ when throwing at a dodgy basket position).  Basically, different discs are like different clubs in your golf bag…there are drivers, mid-range, putters, and the ‘close your eyes and hope for the best’ ones like when trying to get out of a sand trap (or thick patch of brambles/ hedges as is more common in disc golf).  Also, like golf balls those suckers sink fast, so my first year of playing has seen me spend many a hole in some body of water trying to find my disc before the dog goes too hard-core scuba Steve and makes seeing through the muddy water impossible.

    Unlike golf though, disc is much more enjoyable (I think) for newbies.  You make take a million strokes still to get to the hole, but there’s no risk of completely missing and going nowhere, as the disc is held in your hand instead of the cruel game of trying to connect awkward length metal pole to small hard ball.  Plus, you’re not carrying this heavy bag around, paying $$$ of greens fees (many courses are free!), and some courses are even dog-friendly!  It’s also a cool way to explore new places, and the gear is waaay easier to travel with than stick golf stuff.  For example, two years ago I persuaded my partner to take a romantic week holiday to the south island of New Zealand, envisioning a week of hiking, saunas, wine, and candlelit dinners.  What I got was seven different disc golf courses, a significant number of thorns in my legs, and almost murdering a sheep with a disc gone wild.  However, I also got a river-side course with the most amazing mountain views, a unique way to see the Queenstown gardens (there’s a course that runs through them!), and my mandatory holiday 20,000+ steps per day, not to mention quality time with lover boy while he shared something he loves with me.  And, there was still time for wine.  These are definitely the kind of chains I think he, and I, are happy to be attached to.