Category: Micro Adventures
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The Brisbane so few get to see
Words are following, but in short – we went out on the bay for the weekend.
Jim and Cal anchored at Blakesley’s 
Blakesley’s Anchorage 
dawn Blakesley’s Anchorage 
sunset Blakesley’s Anchorage 
Cal and Jim sunset Blakesley’s Anchorage -
Working Microadventure…
I had couple of jobs to do on the Sunshine Coast, an hour and a half north of Brisbane, so I decided to not waste the travel time by making it into more of an adventure. Once I’d finished installing the signs, I drove inland through superb country, green hills and thick forests. At Woodford, I stopped to buy a bag of firewood for ten dollars, a wine and some dinner before heading in to the wild. The first campsite I checked out, Archer Camp Ground in the D’Aguilar National Park, had been infested with a school group of about forty kids housed in as many small colourful tents. Just down the road, and into more reasonable phone coverage, I found a large private campground along Neurum Creek called Neurum Creek Bush Retreat, and while the price for me to camp was nineteen dollars (one person/one tent, unpowered compared to $6.15 at Archer), it was a wonderful setting, with great facilities sprawled over enough space to feel like you’re on your own – but it was a week day. As well as the nature on display – there’s bush walks and a platypus pool to try to see the shy little guys – there’s also a camp shop, amenities, rental gear and even kid’s entertainment in the holidays, a time when I imagine it would fill up.
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Planning a Microadventure
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,”
…said LaoTzu, a popular blogger from China, and I’m convinced he was talking about microadventures.
I mean, isn’t everyone these days?
“So Jim, how do we start to microadventure?” is a question I imagine people asking several times a day …and it is a good question.
Let me elucidate…
elucidate
ɪˈl(j)uːsɪdeɪt
verb
make (something) clear; explain.
synonyms: explain, make clear, make plain, illuminate, throw/shed light on, clarify.
Let me demonstrate how I go about researching my adventures by planning one…
I open Google Maps.
I firmly believe that microadventures aren’t just about camping, and indeed don’t require an overnight stay. It’s interesting what can be discovered by mixing up your usual routine with the simple approach of seeing something new – shop in a centre you haven’t been to in a neighbouring suburb, or drive home via a route that you’ve never been.
I research microadventures as I would if I was planning an extended overseas trip. Search, “Unusual things to do in [insert home town here]” and see what is on your doorstep.
I do spend a bit of time exploring the bay, so this time I’ll plan a camping trip. It will give me an opportunity to try out my Fifty Dollar Camp Kit (Post is coming soon – subscribe to the blog to be kept in the loop)
(Note: Your local neighbourhood might not look exactly like this – if it doesn’t, you’re not in Brisbane …which is OK.)
This is what I’m looking at. What is immediately obvious looking at my map is that wonderfully empty patch of green to the west! It might not be as obvious where you live (I’d love to see what you’re looking at if you’d like to send me a screenshot), but as you can see here, there are also patches to the Southeast and the North. Except for driving around the outsides, I haven’t visited the big patch, so it’s time I went west.
There is always the option of stealth camping, particularly in such a large park, but there are advantages to established campsites – money goes towards the administration of it, some have water or toilet facilities, etc. Google maps is terrible for searching for campsites, but a web search for, “Brisbane Bush Campsites” brings up heaps of suggestions. The one that catches my eye is titled, “Parks and forests with camping around Brisbane.” – and it has a government URL.
…and it also has this gem:
The closest camp for me is Scrub Road Bush Camp, and a quick search on Google Maps shows me this…
That’s a bit of a hike. There’s not much public transport out that way (it could cut it to about four hours), and I do own a car, so I could drive to the gloriously named Opper Brookfieldberg and walk the 6km.
But it seems more of an adventure if I can just walk out my front door. The worst-case scenario is I give up half way and get picked up (there’s sufficient roads along the walk), or I can stealth camp short of the campsite.
I think I’ll walk.
Subscribe to be told when the pictures of this microadventure are published
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The Rules
The idea behind microadventures has been quite well documented – a way to look at the world differently, break out of our everyday routines, learn new skills and to appreciate stuff that we may have overlooked. They’re a passport to freedom.
…so I’ve come up with a set of rules.
From Alistair Humphreys…
“…small and achievable, for normal people with real lives”
“They should be new, close, cheap and simple.”
“Sleep outdoors. Don’t use a tent. Pack light. Plan simple. Seek wildness. Challenge yourself.”
My criteria for a microadventure differ slightly. Whereas getting into the wilderness is awesome, there are other ways to break out of the everyday and look at our surroundings in a new light. I’m working on a points system to make it into a competition (everything’s a competition), which will reward truly “roughing it”.
Mini-Microadventures: Day trips. They don’t’ require the overnight, nor necessarily the wilderness criteria. For example, I work from home, which invariably leads to quite an insular lifestyle. My solution is what I call, “Walk to work,” where I stick my computer into my backpack and walk out my front door – an hour later I pull up a park bench or patch of grass and start work. If it’s raining, it’s a coffee shop or a library. In other words, it’s new, close, cheap and simple. Sometimes I seek the river, or set myself a task like following the creek at the end my driveway.
I also use public transport to extend my coverage …because I’ve never relied upon public transport to get anywhere, it’s as foreign to me in my hometown as it was in Tokyo or Paris. Brisbane has amazing ferries. Check out my instagram for pictures
Microadventures: Overnight. The standard in non-standard, and again I’m a little more flexible with the criteria. Sleeping light and in the wild is indeed exhilarating and worth doing, but I can also see a benefit in going to a hostel in your hometown, if you’ve never been to a hostel before. It’s still new, close, cheap and simple. I will be tackling the issues of sleeping kit and how to’s specific to Australia’s unique climate, landscape and legal requirements in this blog.
Also, we own a boat (read here), so we can take it somewhere new in the Bay and stay aboard whilst still meeting those rules.
I like to think of Microadventures as practice for the next category…
Macroadventures: Multiple Nights. To still be part of the family of microadventures, they should still be applied to the formula of new, cheap and simple, for normal people with real lives. Apparently the requisite is generally a slide show that only your closest relatives and the infirm can see through to the end. Also note that Mini-Microadventures and Microadventures can be had within Macroadventures, so it’s feasible to have a…
Drunked Mini-Microadventure Microadventure on a toasted Macroadventure with Jalapenos
The Ever-Important Variations and Terminology.
Toasted: an adventure involving alcohol and a short speech. (…without the speech, it’s a drunked microadventure)
…with Jalapenos: an adventure involving someone hot, or one where you take Jalapenos (ambiguous, but embellishment is encouraged)
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Who really created Microadventures?
What is a Microadventure?
Hint… Who really created Microadventures? Alastair Humphreys is a serious adventurer. His website casually lists that he has cycled around the world, walked across India and rowed the Atlantic, but read further and that’s just a tip of the iceberg …an iceberg he probably climbed, circumnavigated and sailed around Cape Horn.
The story goes that in between what I have since coined ‘maxi-adventures’, Al (to his friends) got sick of the hordes of people sitting at his feet begging him to regale them with exotic stories of afar. Actually, I don’t think he did get sick of that part – it’s been a while since I read the story. The bit he got sick of, or mentioned, was he was forever getting told, “Yes, I’d love to have an adventure, but I don’t have the time/money/fitness/beard to do it, so I just have to sit inside.” To this, Al stroked his rough red beard, stared into the distance (I imagine he was standing on a sofa with one foot on the back, resting his hand on his knee) and said, “Hark. Adventure is a state of mind.”
He did say that too – never let it be said that I don’t do my research – it’s on his web page, along with the definition of his supposed creation and topic of many books, the microadventure.“A microadventure is an adventure that is close to home, cheap, simple, short, and yet very effective.”
Who really created Microadventures?
The thing is, I invented it. It’s something I’ve always done instinctively. It’s my way of saying I’m not lost I did this on purpose.
Al’s book was published in 2014, so it’s quite conceivable that in his travels away from London (here’s evidence he was in Brisbane in 2009 http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/photo-friday-brisbane-night/), he has overheard me talking of my ‘Urban Adventures’ and thought, “What a great idea!”
In 2009, after having lamented our society’s lack of a rite of passage for boys turning into teenagers, I decided to create my own. I planned to have a whole day of just my son Cal (turning thirteen) and I doing something memorable. To this end I concocted the idea of a journey decided by the toss of a coin. First thing the morning of his birthday, the two of us tumbled into my van (the only way you could enter it), and proceeded to flip a coin at every intersection.Heads – turn Right
Tails – Toss Again
…Heads go Straight, Tails turn Left.
After having passed our local convenience store four times in a loop we thought we’d never escape, we drove for six hours, with breaks, until we gave up in the Gold Coast hinterland. We had visited parts of Queensland I had never seen, and haven’t since.
…So I’m claiming that as the first ever microadventure.
I’ve had many more since…
…like my Facebook Post:“I feel a bit like Bear Grills …Jayne dropped me at the Roma Street Parklands with nothing
but my wallet, phone and computer- and I have to navigate my way home.”
Wilson Park Sanitorium (Follow the link for Photo Credit) …Or finding an abandoned sanitorium by stepping off the well-trodden track.
…Or even having a microadventure on a maxi-adventure by looking for evidence of Londinium (Roman London) whilst there.
But all that’s for the blog.Subscribe below to keep informed.
So, who really created Microadventures? Al did of course.
Part of Roman London uncovered by the Blitz -
City Cycle Pub Crawl – why not?
Old Government House Brisbane 
First City Cycle Pub Crawl -April 20 2016.
My brother-in-law Geoff and I discovered the incredible City Cycle scheme. Modelled on London’s Boris Bikes, one can acquire a 24 hire hour pass for the outrageous sum of two dollars. There is no other expense IF you have your bike for less than thirty minutes at a time. Whereas this sounds like it would inhibit, it actually becomes part of the game. There are stations all over inner Brisbane, so the idea is to check your bike in at a station within thirty minutes, and either check it (or another one) out again, or find one of the ubiquitous pubs or bars for an ale.
