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Hey legends and welcome back to Beers, Bonfires, and of course lots of bullshit.
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The Brotherhood series proudly brought to you by Oswide Adventures.
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This podcast is about real Australian blokes, mateship adventure, campfires, motorcycles, four-wheel drives, and the stories that make us who we are.
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Every trip creates memories, every campfire creates conversations, and every one of us has a story worth telling.
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Today's guest is one of the great blokes of the Icewide family, James Jack Kennett.
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A family man, businessman, adventurer, and one of those people you know will always have your back.
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Today we talk about friendships, the brotherhood, motorbike adventures, building a business, mental health, and why it's never too late to chase your next adventure.
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Grab yourself a cold beer.
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Pull up a camp chair.
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Welcome to Beers, Bullshit and Bonfire, episode five.
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How are you, mate?
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How are you?
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Yeah, I'm bloody good.
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Well, you're up in you're up in Cairns.
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I'm down in Adelaide.
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We need a fire down here.
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It was uh two degrees this morning, and it uh according to the Garmin Watch, it said feels like zero, so she's a bit crisp on the way to the gym.
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I actually couldn't believe uh Townsville's dry as, and I'm up in Cairns just with my partner Carly who's running a kinesiology course, which he does.
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Right.
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And the difference between Tansville and Cairns, it felt like I was driving back in Ballarat yesterday.
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It is it's so green.
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Oh, really?
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Okay.
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Yeah, they've had it, they've had a lot of winter rain.
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Apparently, it's uh unusual.
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Yeah, we've had a very wet and cold winter down here, which uh, if you know anything about Adelaide, the minute the the sun comes out, the uh the the grass will just go bang and we'll get a bit of fuel up in the uh the the Adelaide Hills, which is always a bit of a worry because you know it's a it's uh a reasonably bushfire prone area very close to the uh the the suburbs.
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So yeah, I don't think anyone is looking forward to that come summer, but we'll uh we'll gl gladly take the warm weather at the moment.
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We're not used to this sort of stuff.
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Well, it's always a worry uh when
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the government's uh either way you want to take this, putting watch out for bushfires on tally this early.
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You know, you know what I mean?
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And uh up even up in North Queensland, they're warning people that there might be catastrophic bushfires, and that worries me.
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But anyway, that's Yeah, well, is there any other type than a catastrophic one?
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Yeah.
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I know, and we we've uh you know, and I suppose with you guys travelling riding all that, the uh uh indigenous brothers and sisters used to light the bush up.
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But unfortunately, with all the do-gooders now, you're not allowed to do that.
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No, I think we could take a leaf out of their book uh on more than one on more than one heading.
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Absolutely.
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Did you do you know the true meaning of um uh walkabout?
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Well, I think I did, but you're probably about to tell me something different.
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I was born in a uh a town in just outside of uh Adelaide called Meningi, and I was actually a minority.
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I was probably the only white kid in the hospital.
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I know I was the only white kid in the hospital, but um no, go on, tell me about walkabout.
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Well, I learnt this when I was working in Papua New Guinea because they have the same term for the indigenous have their walkabout, and it was basically moving around in a large triangle mass, rejuvenating the forests and their food chain.
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They're right.
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So they used to light up where they'd been, then move, you know, say 90 degrees right or foot whatever degrees right, then go a few hundred, hundred and fifty kilometres and then eat that out, light it up, and then they'd end up back uh in a few years at the one they lit up first.
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We could uh we could do worse and take if uh notes from our our First Nations people.
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I think they're uh they seem to have things a lot more worked out than we do.
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You know, you could ask what they knew about it uh back then, but we don't know now.
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But uh anyway.
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Absolutely.
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There's a whole session where I'll get you a whole lot of you boys on.
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I'll do a quiz session on that because it is gonna be some of the questions on the brand new Oswide app coming soon.
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I'm just actually sitting here building the Android version.
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Um I've got to say, you are either a gotten for punishment or uh you you you you you've got more spare time on your hand than I must say.
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And the guys you are doing this for, me being one of them, um, and I hope you notice that I've probably I've chimed in every now and then, and I thought, well, but if I say anything, PMAC's gonna come over the top of me with a better submission anyway.
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So and he seems to be pretty invested in this.
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He's uh he's very, very excited.
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Um as you find out a little bit more about me, you'll you'll find I don't really care about GPS or maps or going.
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So get all so good all the fun out of getting lost, isn't it?
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Yeah, exactly.
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But uh yeah, quite interesting.
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And P Mac did say it to me on um, I don't know whether it was a Who Is Your Hero podcast or the one I recently just did with him.
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I I can't remember, but um coming off his battle with uh prostate cancer, it's been a really good avenue for him to grab hold of something again, so to speak.
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And that's not what even Bolshe talk about either, grabbing hold of things in the back of a plane, but um it's more so that he and and I know myself, like uh you've heard my backstory of kidney failure.
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And Jags and I have been good mates for 15 years, and just come to think he saw me advertise an app I was building for mental health, and he said, I got a good idea, and I said, Well, and I've got plenty of time, mate.
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I'm on 10 hours dialysis a day, and I've uh had to retire from the building and concrete game.
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So, yeah, two things about what you just said.
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I am a fool, and secondly, I have got plenty of time.
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So there you go.
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Well, enjoy it.
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Yeah, you know, and I am with a a good bunch of blokes, really, uh, and what we're doing and with all of this, and it's it I think the interesting thing about the the Oswide boys is no one needs to do it.
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No, exactly.
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Um no one needs the money, no one needs the the notoriety, no one needs the exposure, but it's probably something we all want to do, and there's a reason the I think the reason behind that is because if you're enjoying something so much you really want other people to to have the same experience as you do and enjoy that enjoy the passage of time, I guess, um the way the way we've started to do it in in our early 50s.
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Um or to some of those boys in their early sixties.
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Um and yeah, well, I I think that's that's uh something that's um uh a credit to all of these guys.
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And and I think
probably what might make it a little bit unique going forward is that you know they're gonna be pretty honest because like I said, no one needs to be there, they just want to be there, so you'll get some some straight up um straight up stories, some straight up talking, and um and and and a pretty honest and genuine um review of most things that get talked about.
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Yeah, and I think with this uh this well, some people say doom and gloom of the world, the news, everything that's going on around them, and to bring such a positive hobby out there for a lot of people who are in doomsday, I suppose, to produce something like this, and you just hit the nail on the head when when no one needs to do something and money's not the first, what would you say, the first uh first concern.
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First concern, you really do get a do get a better thing.
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And I said to Damo on the podcast, I said if they can listen to fucking Farmer Wants a Wife or watch that on Tally or or Google Fucking Holidays or Bloody Whatever, this one's gonna go off its tits.
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Yeah, I think I I yeah, and maybe that's what people might need a dose of is unrealistic, you know, what the proper reality rather than um scripted reality, because I you know these guys aren't gonna read anything you put in front of them, they're just gonna say what they damn well feel like.
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One 100%, mate.
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Now my podcasts always go off track, and we just did that.
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Excellent.
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Good.
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Well, I I'm I invented the uh concept of tangents, so uh mate.
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I'm a shocker.
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They head they head everywhere south-north, then we come back to our sheet.
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And I have got a rundown sheet, and I'm gonna tell the people that uh we've just said shit's unscripted, but this is scripted, but it won't stay scripted very long.
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They all call you Jack, right?
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But that's actually not what everyone else calls you, is that right?
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Is this what around?
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Is there a still being uh this?
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Yeah, sort of.
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It's well, there is.
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Um I uh I I'm of of a certain um vintage, you know, born in 71, and I think it must have been a reasonably popular name to be called James back then, James Jamie.
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Um and going through school, we had I think there was probably 150 plus people in our year group, of which I think it was 13 we counted up one stage were James or Jamie.
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Um but it ironically we all sort of managed to get through high school without having nicknames and things like that.
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And I went to play um uh old scholars football, amateur league football, and um one of the guys who was the goal umpire at the end of the game came up to me sort of tulling up the the um stats and he said, Oh, are you Jack Kennett's son?
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And my father was a John, so you know John's got Jack.
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And I said, Yeah, and there was six of these Jameses, five or six of us in that team at the time.
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And he'd said, Well, this is gonna get, and he just said, You don't mind if I call you Jack?
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And I said, Oh no, that's fine.
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And then the next week of the other and there was a different bloke, and he said, Um, you know, it's confusing all these Jameses.
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I said, Oh, well, you can call me Jack, that you know, Rigo did last week, and and it's probably something I didn't think very well through because my dad was known to everyone as Jack because he was John, and then there was me, um, so I was getting Jack and we both played at the same footy club.
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So when we both and we lived across the road from the footy club, so we'd go there on a Saturday night, and if you know um he never went up to get any of my best and fairest awards, I can tell you, I I made sure I got those, but uh uh yeah, and and that's and it sort of really stuck, and you know what, I I don't mind it.
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Um there's I I sort of live in two camps where my work and um some of my professional life, no one would know me as Jack at all, and then there are people who I played footy with who for and have known for 25, 30 years who don't know my real name.
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So there you go.
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Yeah, nicknames are quite funny because I've got some mates uh that I wouldn't know their first name.
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Yeah, you know, that's 30 years on.
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I mean I would if I dug deep, but it doesn't even come across, does it?
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No, though I'm I'm sure we've all got those blokes that we call Chook or Bluey or something like that.
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Yeah, you don't really tell around and go, that's that's Todd.
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Hey.
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The other boys all seem to have found each other through football, which I found uh Jags and uh Bolshe.
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What was your pathway into this tribe?
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Um look to be honest, though those other blokes, other than Michael, who I've known for uh since 1984, 83, 84, um the others haven't had the privilege of playing football with me, I guess you could say.
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You know, that's that had the um I was very good.
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Um Bolshe did.
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Bolshe played a uh a fair bit of um underage, you know, high school football with myself, and it's probably how he got to um to to you know to to rely on us little fellas.
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I'm I'm a bit of the same stature as uh as Jags and Damo.
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Um we're a bit in and under.
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And Bolshe's uh an outside player, I think what you call, one of those that uh hangs around the outside and gets that.
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Wait, you've been waiting for this podcast, haven't you?
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That quickfire handball that comes out and then he runs away and he kicks a lot of goals, Bolshe, and um and and and showboats a bit.
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But uh uh and I guess you know, P-Mac being a knock ruckman back in the day, he would have um he would have received a few straight on the straight on the chest lace out from P-Mac.
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Um so yeah, I think that's what Bolsheigh gravitates towards is those those in and under type of people or the the guys that are going to get him the ball pretty quickly.
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So uh but in seriousness, the blokes played in ten ten grand finals and won five or six of them, I think.
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He's probably he's probably a bit more decent than I'm giving him credit for.
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He's a better footballer than I ever was, I can tell you.
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But uh so I met Bolsheigh uh at high school and um and I I came across the other guys, I guess you can say it was through this this um this um uh this this football tour uh carnivals they go to.
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Um, because Bolshew's in town to um go to I think there was one here and Jags was here at the same time.
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And I happened to have a flight alert thing on and saw that Bolshew was flying his plane into Adelaide, so I rang him that night and said, I looks like you're here, and he said, Yeah, yeah, I'll meet you for lunch tomorrow down the down the road.
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So I did, and as were there, Jags and Vicky walked past and sat down, and this is sort of 11:30 in the morning or 12 o'clock you know lunchtime, and we were there all afternoon, um, just sitting at this restaurant having a uh couple of quiet ones and a and a meal.
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And through the conversation, um I sort of realised that uh you know Jags and I had a fair bit in common with things that we liked.
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Um and and Jags turned to Bolshev and I and said, Oh, you know, this motorbike trip I'm gonna organise, you know, it's gonna happen in in August and you know next year and all that sort of stuff.
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So, you know, get yourself together, Bolshe.
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And I said, So what are you talking about?
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And he said, Um, oh, we're gonna ride our motorbikes from from um Darwin to Broome by the Gibb River Road.
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I said, I and my wife was sitting there and I said, I can I come?
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Yeah, of course you can come.
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And she sort of looked at me like, well, you don't even have a motorbike.
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I was and she know uh in our whole married life I've never had one, but I I certainly had them before we got married, and and I grew up on a farm um or partially on a farm where we had motorbikes and things like that.
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So I was I was across them.
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Um and uh yeah, so we we set up this thing and and um that was probably 12 months out from uh from our first trip, but I I spent the next 12 months I had something to look forward to, and I really needed that.
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You know, I'd um in in in previous years before that, I've always sort of given myself something to look forward to.
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I think in 2012 I put my bicycle on a plane and went and and followed the tour to France.
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And in 2014 I uh I did a charity run at the New York Marathon.
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Um 2016 things came around and my daughter came to me and said, You're a grumpy bastard.
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Can you just sign up and go do that marathon?
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You're a much better person when you've got something in front of you.
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So I went again and did that again and um and did a bit of damage to the muscleskeletal system.
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Um and I'll probably never run too far ever again in my life.
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And then, you know, coming out of that and out of COVID, she's always a bit antsy and I just needed something to look forward to.
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And the minute that Jags, you know, I'd known the bloke for 20 minutes and and and but I was like, well, yeah, if you're gonna do that, and Bolshe's gonna be there, and I've known Bolshev for 40 years, so yeah, count me in.
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Um and that was sort of how it started, and then um, yeah, but I've I've been pretty grateful for it ever since, really.
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You know, um Jack, you're talking about things like that.
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The the first app I built was called Stay One More Day, and it's a mental health app for any ages, any any uh male, females, oldies, whatever.
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And one of the one of the um uh pages, I suppose you call it, I put in it was was uh something to look forward to.
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And it was basically that mate, it was to put in in saying three months' time you've got a trip to Darwin or wherever, or you've got a golf trip up in Cairns or whatever, and it counts down the days.
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Yeah.
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And it gives some purpose or a purpose away from work, you know, that a good a good feeling or a great memory's coming up, and I think it's a very, very good for your mental health.
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Yeah, I think I said it uh earlier, Matt, that um, you know, it wasn't me who made up this line.
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I was probably a comedian.
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I I I reckon it might have been Jimmy Carr or someone I was watching, who's one of these guys that uh reasonably um well, a fair bit smarter than the than most of the population, but he said, you know, the the purpose in life is is to enjoy the passage of time.
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And I've heard other people say things like, oh yeah, you're you're 50 years old, you've got 25 quid summers left and things like that.
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And you can you can um you can sit there and get depressed about that, or you can sit there and go, yeah, okay, well that's that's plenty of time.
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We can get some really good stuff done and not be bitter and twisted about getting older or all that sort of stuff.
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But I I think having that thing in front of us, what once you've you know, you can go back 20 years ago when you were raising kids and getting married and and buying a house and building a business and all that sort of stuff, that was the thing that was in front of you.
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Um and and you know the weekend trip down to the south coast or you occasionally if you hopped on a um a Jet Star flight to to Bali or something, that was your your your your thing you did.
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But yeah, as you get older and you my kids are now, well I think all of our kids that uh they're in this group, they're all pretty independent um and and by all accounts pretty we've all been pretty lucky with our our siblings, they're all pretty good people.
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Um and you know, I've got a wife who's pretty understanding, very understanding, I would have said that.
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And you you know, they they give you that ability to say, right, what what next?
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And I think that's always what what I was looking forward to.
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And it wasn't just broom now, it's you know, I've got these guys harassing me daily, going, what next, what next, where are we going next?
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And I I I've I just love it.
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I really do.
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Yeah, and life can be all all work and all money and then you die and you get gib Well you will.
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That's that's exactly how it goes, you know.
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You you can fear death, but it's coming.
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Yeah, that no one dodged it yet.
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They're talking to me, I'm on I'm on uh dialysis, I suppose you call it life support.
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And people go, how do you um how do you cope with like you know, you're on your deathbed?
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And all that said, you fucking all are you idiots.
00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:00.160
Yeah.
00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.119
Don't just take me, and I'm probably the safest at the moment.
00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:05.920
Doctors every week, but anyway, we'll get on to that subject.
00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:11.839
Um, so 35 to 40 years with Bolshe, I mean, it's not a friendship anymore, that's family, eh?
00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.160
And it it is, it really is.
00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:18.480
It's uh you don't keep someone in your life for that long unless they have a real impact.
00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:22.799
What makes this friendship with him so special?
00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:24.799
And and what do you learn from him?
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:25.839
Uh huh.
00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.839
He'll get a big hint.
00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:28.079
I think.
00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:36.960
That's the purpose of doing this, because I it's just it's a really I've got a couple of mates like him, and they're all mate, we're mates with each other.
00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:44.960
Um, and yeah, we all went through high school together, and we all, you know, we all played first eight and footy together and old scholars footy together.
00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:52.799
And you know, we're in the same year eight English class, so that's a long time, and and like you said, um there's no hiding from those guys either.
00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.559
That they they've seen you on your worst day and they've seen you on your best day.
00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.519
And um I think someone like Bolshe, it's a really good question.
00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:01.599
Why do you keep people around?
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:05.039
Um, I I guess I've been lucky that Bolshevik kept me around.
00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:10.559
Um if we're being really honest, he's he's a pretty unique character.
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:15.599
He I mean, he's a dichotomy in himself in the fact that he can be a fucking nuisance.
00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:18.960
Um in the bet in the best possible way.
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:19.759
Yeah.
00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:31.359
But you know, if you if if the world was burning down and someone had to stand at the end of the bridge to, you know, to watch out for for the the apocalypse, that's who I'd have standing on the other side there.
00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.240
He might not be a very good fighter, but I know he'd fight for you pretty well.
00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:44.640
So he's that sort of bloke, you know, and he's um he does um I guess I he he he he has genuine concern when he needs to.
00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:48.799
He can read the play really well, um nine out of ten times.
00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:56.880
Um he'll he'll see when it's time for the joke, and he'll see when it's time to you know
to talk business, to talk mental health, to to talk anything else.
00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:01.519
And uh just he's always been a really animated sort of person.
00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:13.680
So you know he he had has that sort of you know there's always that saying, you know, the the bloke that peaked in high school, he he was probably the guy who who peaked in high school and kept on peaking to a certain degree.
00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:20.960
He never had time to go to university, he just um he piled straight into work, he had things to do, and he's and he just hasn't stopped.
00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:24.480
You know, that was that started in the late 80s and I haven't seen him stop yet.
00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:26.640
Very uh very streetwise.
00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.839
Uh yeah, yeah.
00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:31.039
Yeah.
00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:33.920
He'll do uh streetwise.
00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:39.440
Um unless it's blue rag or um yeah, Billy Goat's bluff or something like that.
00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:42.400
It's just a don't follow him.
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.480
Don't follow him everywhere, is what I say.
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:45.920
I I've been saying that and I have.
00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.880
I you know Hey, what do you say about you?
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:51.599
Uh I I don't know.
00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:54.400
I just Oh that's how short cheese.
00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:54.960
I don't know.
00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:55.680
Good question.
00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:57.839
That one I didn't put that one on the list, did I?
00:20:58.079 --> 00:20:59.519
No, you didn't put that one on the list.
00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:02.079
Um it's uh but it raises a good point.
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:13.440
Uh I think you just want to know that your behaviour, whether it's Michael or Damo or P Mac or even you and I talking at the end of this, you know, you want someone to go away and go, that that's a reasonable bloke.
00:21:13.519 --> 00:21:18.559
Um you know, I've had some people give you some sage advice over over time.
00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:28.240
And I think, you know, people someone said to me not to go down the the death path too often, but um I someone said, you know, you write your own eulogy and then keep writing it.
00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:30.000
And yeah, I thought, well, what does that mean?
00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:34.160
And it sort of just means, you know, you what what do you want other people to say about you when you're gone?
00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:43.440
So hopefully my behaviours around everyone else, um, I'm I'm sure they haven't always been immaculate, but I hope they're they're good enough that they want to keep you around.
00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:47.599
Um and they don't, you know, th if they're happy to see you, then that's a good thing, isn't it?
00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:53.119
You know, and you can see you can see happiness in people's face and hear it in their voice when they pick up the phone, you know.
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.400
And if you've done that, then that that's good enough.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:57.440
I like it.
00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.759
I um I ask every guest there.
00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.799
What uh what does the brotherhood actually mean to you and your mates?
00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:09.359
Before we get back to today's episode, let me ask you one question.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:13.599
If tomorrow never came, what memories would you leave behind?
00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:24.880
My last memory is your chance to record your story, your eulogy, your life lessons, your voice, and those special moments for the people you love.
00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:34.079
Imagine your grandchildren receiving a birthday message from you years from now, or your family hearing your voice long after you've gone.
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:40.960
My last memory is available on the App Store from Friday, the 3rd of July, 2026.
00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:45.119
For just$49.99 USD.
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:47.839
It's a one-off lifetime payment.
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:49.759
No subscriptions ever.
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:52.000
It's more than an app.
00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:56.480
It's the greatest gift you'll ever leave the people you love.
00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:01.680
Download My Last Memory and start creating your own legacy.
00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:06.160
They talk about the Brotherhood, these guys, don't they?
00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:07.599
They did on all the previous.
00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:10.640
And then they went on to talk about themselves for 45.
00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:13.680
Oh no! I thought I'd get this shit.
00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:18.000
We've done the most talking about anyone else, and it's about but you know who, sir.
00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:22.640
Um and I've got plenty to say about the other the other bugs as well.
00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:28.240
You know, I uh I like them all, but um I I think all brotherhoods are really good things.
00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:29.119
I think we need that.
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:35.279
I mean, you know, m um men cop a bit of hiding in the um in the in the press at the moment.
00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:37.759
Some of those men deserve to cop that sort of behaviour.
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:50.000
I think um I to me these guys are sort of uh this is a theme that will come up, they're probably my tribe, they they think about others, they think about family the way I do.
00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:55.039
Um and you just sort then you know you what a bullshit you say.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:01.519
If if there's if if there's nine dickheads in a room, you're probably the tenth, and and so I guess that goes the other way as well.
00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:04.799
If there's if there's five good blokes around a campfire, you're the sixth.
00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:14.720
So um but that's what that means to me, I th I think to uh uh you know, just to to to make sure that we are there for one another.
00:24:14.880 --> 00:24:22.160
Um and I guess i like any good relationship,
um you you don't do it for what they can do for you, but what you can do for them.
00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.119
And then you know, you just hope the reciprocity comes.
00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:26.400
And it does.
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:36.960
Yeah, it's and just just back on the um probably more so the guy that's bought, you know, uh me and Stewart and uh the other guys, Damon, and all that.
00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:37.920
Uh Jags.
00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:38.960
I mean, I met him.
00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:47.039
I might you might have been referring to a South Australian footy carnival or the second one they've just had, but I went to one in 2015.
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:52.240
Yeah, I the one I was referring to was uh must have been 2022 because we went on that first trip in 23.
00:24:52.319 --> 00:25:00.880
So but we've been towards um the uh spring 20 spring twenty-two, I I reckon I meant Jags.
00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:08.559
Yeah, so back way back then I had a um uh I just lost lost pretty much everything, business and all that sort of thing.
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:25.920
Um had a massive uh cocaine addiction and my life was in turmoil, and I was actually came up with the Wit Sunday Bald Eagles to the they sent me to go to Adelaide, they paid for the trip and I was the Ruckman and Jags was the rover and it was pretty, pretty massive.
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.640
Other other guys I met there that's still mates for life.
00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.079
But um Jags is sort of bloke, I'm a bit similar to you.
00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:40.720
Uh I played footy with him one quarter um in the lead up matches, and I go, Fucking you will you will do me for a mate.
00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.559
Yeah, you know if we he makes that decision pretty easy, I think.
00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:50.319
You know, it's just not you know, and and you know, at our age we're not in the business of making new friends.
00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:55.200
But I mean when a good one comes along, you grab it, eh?
00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:59.279
Yeah, it's just it was sort of a bit of osmosis with that, you know.
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:14.960
I was I'm um and I guess we're lucky because yeah, but you I'd I'd sort of worked out that if this is one of Bolshe's mates and the interview process is probably pr pretty rigorous, so um you know um that's funny, isn't it?
00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:21.680
It's just and you think so that's all I knew of Jags and I met Vicky that day um in in Hart Street in Adelaide.
00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:36.640
And the next time I saw Jags is when uh we arrived for the first trip up in in in Darwin and I'd just had my um hip replaced, you know, go back to running 6,000 Ks in four years, training for marathons and other things.
00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:43.519
I'd done a bit of damage, so I'd had my hip replaced, and I said, look, I'd I I'll I'll I'll drive the car, the support vehicle.
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:44.720
And I mean, yep, that'd be great.
00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:54.160
So
we need one of those, and there's another, there's another builder bloke coming from from Queensland, so you um you know you you'll get along fine with him and he'll he'll be the uh the other driver.
00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:03.839
And then there was so there was the four or five bikes uh and the and the two guys in the car, but we got I I read the blokes from the from the Darwin airport and they said, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:04.880
I was the last one to arrive.
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:09.519
And they said, We've got a couple of issues we've got to sort out this morning, but we'll we'll we'll we'll come and pick you up.
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:10.400
I mean, okay.
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.000
I said, What car do I look out for?
00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:20.880
And they said, uh 1989 low, low slung Toyota Hilux with a canopy on the back.
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.880
I'm thinking, what car am I driving across the Gibb River road?
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:39.599
And um, and we've they've turned up in this car, and it it was a Ute, but it had a canopy on the back, and uh Dag's was in the back under the canopy, and so that I had room to put my bag in the back, and everyone else was in the car.
00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:41.440
No one decided just to stay behind.
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:55.920
We're just well, we were all gonna go meet Jack at at the airport, and I've got in this car and met P-Mac and Damo and um and um uh I I think Ben might have even been the car, the guide we had that with um uh the motorbike guide we had.
00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:01.759
And so we all drove back to this place where the motorbikes were thinking that you know, this is gonna be great.
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:09.359
You know, anyway anyway guys that are just prepared to pile in the back of you and everyone comes down the airport to meet you, and it's um that was that was pretty good.
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:12.400
That's like that's like school kid days ship.
00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:25.920
Well, it it is, and I you know, I I think that's a bit about this is there's you know when you are childish and you're a 17 or 18 year old, you're childish and you make some then follow it up with some pretty dumb decisions.
00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:26.240
Yeah.
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:31.279
Um, you know, or some pretty sketchy decisions, or some, you know, some poor judgment.
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:37.119
I think we've now got that ability where we can we can maintain that childish behaviour when we need to.
00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:40.720
Um, but the poor decisions sets tend to have gone out the window.
00:28:40.799 --> 00:28:43.440
We've I think the war stories have got to us all, you know.
00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:49.440
And yeah, you look back um you know and listen to the other guys talk about motorbike stories.
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:56.640
Um, you know, I think if I'd ridden a motorbike through my 20s and 30s, you know, I probably would have done a bit more damage than just getting
a hip replaced.
00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:06.160
So because you just don't make those good decisions and you get older and you just think I don't need I've got no one to prove anything to do any, which is probably why I thought, yeah, I'll let myself get back on a motorbike.
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:15.920
Um, because you know, um I I didn't want to hurt myself and I didn't want to um take myself out of the equation when you've got a you know lovely wife and two kids at home.
00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:20.720
So uh I'd sort of known, you know, uh I want to do this and I'm gonna do it up there on dirt roads.
00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.519
I'm not doing it in in the Sydney CBD.
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:25.599
I'm on a comfortable bike, I understand.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:29.200
So um it sort of became a uh a thing.
00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:45.359
And you know, and once we got back from Darwin, I I I went straight onto Facebook Marketplace and found myself a a DR650, which is a weapon of choice for this group, and um and yeah, and then shipped it up to um wherever the next trip started from, which I think I shipped it up to P Mac's house.
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:50.880
Um and the and the funny thing was about it, um we're talking about motorbike stories.
00:29:51.119 --> 00:30:05.920
In all honesty, I'd ridden it four times around the block, and once was to go get um um fuel in it, um, and sort of get used to it and realise that bikes are big, bikes are powerful, there are cars everywhere, no one cares about you anymore.
00:30:06.079 --> 00:30:09.759
And I thought it's all coming floating back, I've done the wrong thing, I've ticked the wrong box.
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:18.160
Um and anyway, I shipped the bike up to to to uh P Mac's house, and there it was sitting in his garage, and he's got a reasonably steep driveway.
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:28.880
I'm thinking, my first time I've ridden on the road, other than around the block of my house in Adelaide, and I'm about to go out and ride from where we were in Tweetheads, and we're going to Bathurst.
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:31.519
I thought I'm about to ride 1600 Ks on the road.
00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:34.799
My digging my biggest day out on the road thing 20k.
00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:41.759
Um so and I'm thinking I can't even um reach the ground here.
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.440
Uh I'm not very called.
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:50.799
Um and I thought I'm gonna fall off going to up the driveway.
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:56.640
Um and I got to the top of the driveway and go, well, challenge one uh Concord, let's your take on the world.
00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:02.960
So I'll take this opportunity because uh you just led me into it.
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:14.079
You've already featured uh on the new app and there's a place called Open the Dunny Door and it's shit house it's shit house moments, and you know exactly where I'm heading here.
00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:27.599
Um there is a a picture there that I do believe I've seen
that you've got your bike halfway up an embankment and you're standing up.
00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:28.960
It was all the way up the embankment.
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:37.839
It was funny because that bike, that photo um went on to a Facebook page called Shit House Adventure Riders.
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:44.400
And and the first bloke you commented on just said, I don't know what you're doing, mate, but it looks like you're standing there having a beer with your bike.
00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:48.160
Um look, I I go back to the bit, I'm not very tall.
00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.519
Yeah, and when you're riding these bikes, they're big, they're they're pretty heavy.
00:31:51.599 --> 00:32:06.880
Uh you get on a a CR250 or a back in the day, used to have a YZ250 there, they're 110 kilos and they've got a fair bit of power, but they're they're pretty agile, um, and and really um quite softly sprung.
00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:11.440
Um so you can you can lean into and get your feet on the ground and and and tip it in.
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:18.559
But these bikes are nearly 200 kilos, they don't have anywhere near the power of those old two-stroke bikes.
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.839
Um, so you've got to be really careful with the the torque and how you put it on.
00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:30.640
We're going up this really windy road in Vic Bat count uh uh Vic High Country and it was just a hairpin, um, and it was a reasonably sharp on it.
00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:41.359
Would you it would have taken me three or four shots to get a car around there, and I thought, oh well, and it had a little bit of slate and everything on it, and I just went round and it whiskey throttled and um it just shot out from between my legs.
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:43.920
I didn't even fall off, I just was standing there.
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.319
Like the bike, the bike was between my legs.
00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:49.839
Next thing I know, I'm standing on my boots, and the bike's up a thing.
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:56.240
And and Mike came around the corner and and he just stood there, he took his head off.
00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:01.599
And and the only the way he could say, How the fuck have you managed to achieve this?
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:06.799
And it it took two blokes to get the bike off the cliff face, you know.
00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:09.519
Lucky it didn't go down the cliff face, it went up a cliff face.
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:16.720
So it was sort of sitting, and you know, those that'll go to the app will see it sitting there on its back wheel with its front wheel just pointing skyward.
00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:18.079
You know, it was amusing.
00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:21.599
I've I've I've I've since bettered that a couple of times, I'm sure.
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:28.240
But um, yeah, that was that was a day out that day, and we'll we'll probably get that a bit later when we talk about these adventures.
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:37.920
But that was um that was uh a day I'll I I think when they talk about formation memories, I can remember every hour of that day from 7am till 9 pm.
00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:40.079
It was it was something else.
00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:43.440
You were talking about uh searching for bikes again.
00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:49.839
I used to ride a DRZ 400, it was called King, it was called King of the Bush back then in the Otways.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:56.640
Uh had a farm that the back gate went on to the Otways and Jellybream River and down the lawn and Apollo Bay.
00:33:56.799 --> 00:34:03.359
So I used to do a hell of a lot of riding with the kids, but I haven't hopped on a bike, oh maybe 40.
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:04.400
I gave them up.
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:18.239
I'm now 57 with bunged up kidneys, and last night I caught myself Googling two things because the bike of choice is your big DR's 650, 750s, I was checking out the price.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:32.559
Yep, checking out the price then, and also secondly, um I've had a few uh home home coaches and that type uh buses and that type of thing, and I'm also Googling old Greyhound buses because I'm coming.
00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:33.679
Mate, you're welcome.
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:45.440
And I'll get enough solar solar on top, I'll deck this bus out, I'll have 10 kilowatts or five kilowatts of solar that can run my dialysis machine, and even if I don't ride the bikes, I'll meet you in the next town.
00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:47.920
Yeah, well, and the girls often do that, you know.
00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:52.559
We say these these things start out as a boys' trip and they've ended up being a boys' trip where the girls come along.
00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:54.400
Um which I think it's fantastic.
00:34:54.639 --> 00:35:38.400
I mean, I I it's the thing that probably made the me the happiest about all this when uh and it's a it's a thing that I think Bolshee Jags and uh I think all the guys are you know n none of them are um anything other than and than kind people and they they they don't want to you know they want to spend time with their wives and their families and I think they just see that this is you know a a part of our story that they wanted their their partners to be a part of and it really does make it better because let's be honest, they they get to the campground before we do, they've got the fire going, and um yeah I I've heard in one of your other things who's the best cook and they've I think they're all leaving out Rachel Bolch, Mike's wife, she's a girl can cook.
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:46.480
Um I'm not casting aspersions on anyone else's ability, but yeah, um when when she's um got her head over the barbecue, you're in for a treat.
00:35:46.800 --> 00:35:50.400
And I think these days we behave the same way around our partners.
00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:56.000
Back in the day we were itching the way to get away as boys and do what boys do.
00:35:56.400 --> 00:36:07.199
I I I I'm around our age now, I think our our wives have forgiven us
all of our uh idiosyncrasies and and there's n you know the the there's no no need to maintain the mystery anymore.
00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:10.079
They all of that's gone, but that's a really good thing.
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:16.079
I think, you know, you've um you you want them there, they're they're gonna see your mistakes and all those other things.
00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:20.639
So um yeah, I I I really enjoy having them along.
00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:42.880
Um I don't think they enjoy every single part of the uh the the navigation experience, um, but I think they enjoy the the girls' time in the car in the same way that we enjoy the boys' time and and I think the boys have talked about having these cartoons on their helmets, uh which is the sort of the uh Bluetooth meshing system, means we can talk to one another and um you know what goes in the helmet stays in the helmet's pretty good fun.
00:36:43.280 --> 00:36:54.400
Yeah, hey, just before I go on to more of the um Oswide side of things and and what they're achieving and all that, I just want to uh whiz it whiz it back for something we talked about before we started recording.
00:36:54.480 --> 00:36:57.760
And you know I I'm I'm massive into mental health.
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:04.000
Um you know I was I was uh indispensable in my pack, you know.
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:07.920
I I was I could take any knock or anything like that.
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:15.920
And in the end I was feeling a bit crooked, lost a bit of weight, and my kidneys were at 3% because I didn't go to the doctor for 15 or 20 years.
00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:24.480
Um I'd say my my grandfather used to say that it's amazing men aren't extinct.
00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:26.079
Um Absolute.
00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:28.880
And we are like we're not the brightest sparks, are we?
00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:30.159
I uh no not at all.
00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:39.920
No, I led concrete gangs and had my own concrete gangs for 25 years, and you know the uh lifestyle of those boys that got being in the big Yeah, I bet your backs I bet your backs and we'd we're glad you stopped.
00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:40.880
Oh well it was sports.
00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:41.760
It's a tough gig.
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.679
You'll you'll have long hamstrings, I can tell you that.
00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:45.119
Yeah, it was four four a.m.
00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:48.639
in the mornings to one o'clock, um to the pub, rinse and repeat.
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:49.280
You know what I mean?
00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:50.320
That's that's what we did.
00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:52.239
Didn't drink a a bottle of water.
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:56.559
But uh like P Mac, he's uh he's suffering a bit like me.
00:37:56.639 --> 00:38:03.039
And uh just with with your, we were talking about you got early intervention, I suppose you call it.
00:38:03.119 --> 00:38:08.079
But give us a bit of a rundown of how important it is to uh go and see your doc.
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:26.320
I look I i I'm really lucky, I tell you, around uh I am I say uh you it's a throwaway line, I'm lucky, I'm lucky, I'm lucky, but um I I have a wife who is on my case all the time about you know, every time I'd I'd I'd have a sniffle, well you should go see the doc about that.
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.519
And so and eventually you just go, I'll just I'll just go.
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:37.760
And and I had a uh I've had a number of docs over the years and they they sort of treated the problem that walked through the door.
00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:50.559
Um and then I'd got a uh doctor by the name of Kirsten who was probably in her late 20s, um, down at our local surgery, and she sort of started asking questions, you know, how old are you?
00:38:50.719 --> 00:38:51.119
What do you do?
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:52.000
What's your activity?
00:38:52.079 --> 00:38:55.760
Well, you know, but and I thought, well, why was she asking this sort of stuff?
00:38:55.920 --> 00:38:58.480
And she said, I'm gonna send you off for a barrage of tests.
00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:00.880
You know, you're 50 now, and this is what's gonna happen.
00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:17.280
Um and look reasonably long story short, by the end of it, I had I'd I'd f I have a cardiologist now, I have a urologist, I have a um the specialist physio, I have a an um orthopaedic surgeon, I've had a couple of those.
00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:21.280
Um, and all because she bothered to say, you know, let's go and check things out.
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:32.000
And I had some high cholesterol, which um had meant I had a um a restriction in my right coronary artery, which they've managed with medication and other things to stop from getting any worse.
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:42.079
And then I've obviously went to the urologist and they did some PSA tests, and they said, you know, uh, you know, one is good, three is monitor, you're at five.
00:39:42.559 --> 00:39:46.000
Um, whatever whatever the PSA number is measured, you know.
00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:50.400
And they went, Oh, wouldn't so they monitored that for a couple of years and I just sat around five.
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:54.559
And I went back one day and he actually ran me and said, You need to come in, your last test has come in.
00:39:54.639 --> 00:40:02.559
And it's a I uh without exaggeration, I think he said it was at nine or sixteen, it was something where I went, Oh fuck, that doesn't sound good yet.
00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:06.239
That's a bigger number than the previous number I've and by some considerable margin.
00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:07.519
So we went and had a chat about it.
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:15.360
He said, Let's do another test just to make sure and we'll I did that and it came back with a a a s a similar high number but slightly less.
00:40:15.519 --> 00:40:19.920
But he said, Oh look, I I want to do a biopsy on this just to just to make sure.
00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:21.679
And um I said, Yeah, okay.
00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:39.679
So we went
and did the biopsy and um and it came back and uh and the way it came back was I got a letter from the from the Gribbles or whoever does the biopsy and and just the first line of the letter is thank you for you know submitting your biopsy to to Gribbles, you have cancer.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:45.679
Um and I and you learn to read pretty quickly because you want to get through the rest of this letter.
00:40:46.239 --> 00:40:47.440
What the hell's going on here?
00:40:47.599 --> 00:41:03.360
And it I you get that faint feeling the butterflies are you sort of you if we're being honest, your eyes will up a bit and um you think, what the what the and you know, my my kids were sitting at the other end of the dining room table, just kind of um having a chat with me when I opened this.
00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:17.760
And I read through it, and I I I sort of had enough sense to read it properly and and realise that um for want a better term, uh I have the one that most men um find out about about uh reasonably early, which is called a three plus three.
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:26.559
Um so they say a four plus three or a three plus four, anything adding up a seven is not good, and anything adding up a six, and so I couldn't wait to get on the phone with the doctor.
00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:27.280
I said, What does this mean?
00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:29.280
He said, Look, just come in and see me.
00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:33.920
It's not all, you know, it's it's it's not terrible news.
00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:34.960
I went, oh that's good.
00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:46.159
So I felt a lot better about it, but it everything changed from the I can still remember where I was just sitting there and just everything, your brain just clips over and goes, not important, not important, not important.
00:41:46.320 --> 00:41:49.840
That's now important, that's now important, this is important, that's not important.
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:52.559
And you start to just prioritise things pretty quickly.
00:41:52.800 --> 00:42:00.159
And turns out I didn't really have a need to, other than you know, I'm now on a uh I'm being monitored every six months just to make sure it doesn't flare up, and if it does, they can get it early.
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:02.559
So I'll be touch wood, you know.
00:42:02.719 --> 00:42:12.960
You sort of I'm very thankful for my uh doctor sending me there and um yeah, for for the price of uh any whatever it is to go and see a doctor, just go and do it.
00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:16.960
Even if like they're a commercial entity, they want your money.
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:20.800
Um they're not gonna be pissed off if there's nothing wrong with you, just go and see them.
00:42:20.960 --> 00:42:21.760
That's all I can say.
00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:23.679
Are we getting better at it?
00:42:24.079 --> 00:42:24.719
I hope so.
00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:25.599
I really do.
00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:30.320
Um, you know, you you're in the construction, you were in the construction industry, I still am.
00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:31.119
P Mac is.
00:42:31.199 --> 00:42:37.360
We have a thing down here in Adelaide, uh, it might be nationwide, I should know better, but um, it's called Mates in Construction.
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:37.840
Yeah.
00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:42.960
Um, and it's just, you know, it's that how you're going and just looking out for one another.
00:42:43.039 --> 00:42:46.960
It's an industry that's um uh uh terrible at looking after ourselves.
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:57.920
Like you said, you know, back in your day as a concreter, you'd do that, you wouldn't drink any water because you didn't have time to, and your boss is on your back and just get the get it down, get the screed done, get it vibrated in, do all what you had to do.
00:42:58.079 --> 00:43:03.199
Um then um then you'd um head off down to the pub because you you did.
00:43:03.280 --> 00:43:06.159
You knocked off at one o'clock because uh you know it was all set then.
00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:09.360
Um, and and you drank beers and things like that.
00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:13.199
And you go out on construction sites now, they're they're really different things.
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:16.239
Um those kids have they're hydrated.
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:30.719
Um uh concreting is actually recognised as you know, we've started apprenticeships down here in Adelaide and concreting because it's really important to to recognise that this is this is not just uh a labouring job, you know, this is the structure of the building.
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:34.000
This is taking the compression and the tensile strength of this building.
00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:36.800
You need to know what you're doing and you need to be professional.
00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:42.320
So um that's what one good part of where that part of the industry's gone.
00:43:42.400 --> 00:43:52.480
But the the the makes and construction thing that um with I mentioned it because it was started by a concretor here in Adelaide and the um uh and it does a fabulous job.
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:59.760
We have those barbecues on site once a month and and and people just genuinely ask each other how you're going and you you're watching out for one another.
00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:01.760
And then you do send them off.
00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:03.119
Go and get some help, mate.
00:44:03.679 --> 00:44:14.719
Um we we put a phone number at the bottom of everyone's pay slip here that just says, you know, if you're not if you're not feeling it, and just uh ring this number and and we as a as an employer will pay for it.
00:44:14.800 --> 00:44:16.880
You know, you don't need to worry about what this is going to cost.
00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:22.400
If if if you're struggling with anything mentally or physically, just just make this call.
00:44:22.480 --> 00:44:24.159
So hopefully that gets out there.
00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:27.840
I mean, when we haven't solved the problem yet, but we're moving forward.
00:44:28.239 -->
00:44:35.840
Before we get back to today's conversation, I would like to take just a minute to tell you about something that's incredibly close to my heart.
00:44:37.199 --> 00:44:38.880
The stay one more day.
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:42.880
Every one of us knows someone who's doing it tough.
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:51.280
Sometimes at the strongest bloke in the room, one who's always smiling, the one everyone leans off.
00:44:51.440 --> 00:44:56.639
But behind that smile, they might be fighting a battle nobody can see.
00:44:57.679 --> 00:44:58.480
I know that feeling.
00:44:59.440 --> 00:45:02.320
After kidney failure, turn my life upside down.
00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:05.840
I spend 10 hours every night on dialysis.
00:45:06.239 --> 00:45:09.519
Instead of giving up, I decided to build something that could make a difference.
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:15.840
Stay one more day was created to give people hope, purpose, and a reason to keep going.
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:26.559
It's more than just an app, it's a place to check in on yourself, set goals, build something to look forward to, connect with your mates, and reach out before life becomes overwhelming.
00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:40.639
Whether you're struggling yourself, worried about a mate, or your employer wanting to create a mentally healthier workplace, stay one more day is designed to start that conversation before a crisis happens.
00:45:41.039 --> 00:45:47.360
Because sometimes one conversation, one mate, and one more day can change everything.
00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:52.719
Search Stay One More Day at the App Store with the Android version dropping soon.
00:45:53.039 --> 00:45:56.159
Now let's get back around that cab fire.
00:45:57.840 --> 00:46:03.519
Yeah, and uh I probably lobbied the recognition of concrete industry for 20 years in Melbourne.
00:46:03.679 --> 00:46:14.400
Um we finally got it and it was never recognised in TAFE or anything like that, and obviously a very hard uh parade to teach in a trade school when it's so expensive and you can only use it once.
00:46:14.480 --> 00:46:21.199
Um that made but we did get it to recognise prior learning out on site, which got the industry going.
00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:24.000
But a lot to do with that stay one more day app.
00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:50.800
There's uh I'm gonna give it a plug while we're talking because there's a whole thing for now employees, employers, that they can build a community on this app, whereas say uh Jack Kennett Building, uh just for a word, that can go in, you get a unique identifier number, your whole building crew or your subbies or everything can log into your community on this, and it's all um unless you want it to be, it's all secret scribble stuff.
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:59.440
I don't know who you are, what you are, but you can get a really good feel of the culture of your group and how your group's feeling.
00:46:59.599 --> 00:47:08.960
And you as say the the chief builder, you get all the stats come back for you because you started the community and you can really see things happening before they happen.
00:47:09.119 --> 00:47:10.320
Uh yeah, it's funny.
00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:17.039
Uh I'm I you know I've I've heard the saying once, yeah, from time to time we all get sad, and and I think uh the all is the important one.
00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:19.039
It's not no one's immune from it.
00:47:19.119 --> 00:47:32.559
So um mentor mental health issue, or as you, myself and P Mac and even Damo with his um I said to Jag Zero zipper on the front of his chest that that's a funny story, I'll tell you about that one.
00:47:32.800 --> 00:47:37.199
Um, you know, we if it's a physical thing, Jesus just go and get sorted out.
00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:42.239
I think um Damo calls it the sniper zone, yeah, from 55 to 65, you know.
00:47:43.039 --> 00:47:46.719
If you can get through that with without getting clipped, you're you're probably gonna be alright.
00:47:46.880 --> 00:47:48.239
But um, yeah.
00:47:53.119 --> 00:47:53.760
Aren't they?
00:47:53.920 --> 00:47:55.920
I think it makes them free makes them feel better.
00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:59.039
Stewie is Stewie uh ha hasn't said much.
00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:03.360
The um the filmmaker, uh great, great guy's legend of a bloke.
00:48:03.440 --> 00:48:06.400
Um he's had yeah, I haven't met Sue, but he's a thing.
00:48:06.559 --> 00:48:14.719
I saw the um the the promo thing um which is now being taken down, I understand, but I wish I could watch it again and it just it it looked good.
00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:15.599
Oh, it's a good thing.
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:22.400
I think it goes back to that bit we said earlier where you know you're gonna get some pretty honest things out there because those guys aren't there with a script and they don't care.
00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:26.800
Oh, it's some of the somewhere to make money out of it or to to get ratings or anything like that.
00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:32.719
They're just gonna just tell you how it is, and if you're into that sort of honesty, that brutal honesty, it's probably where it's gonna sin.
00:48:32.960 --> 00:48:42.239
Some of some of those little clips I've seen uh in advance uh I was rolling around with all my cords tangling on me, dialysis machine one night, mate.
00:48:43.039 --> 00:48:44.559
It was fucking hilarious.
00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:48.239
Anyway, that's that's getting to know Jack a little bit, mate.
00:48:48.320 --> 00:48:52.639
And we'll I'm gonna we're gonna this podcast series is gonna keep going and going and going.
00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:59.840
So this one's uh it's it's a great chat, but I'm gonna head straight into my quick fire questions.
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:02.159
Um quick fire questions, yeah, okay.
00:49:02.400 --> 00:49:07.199
That's a little about that's a little bit about uh Oswald and your experience there.
00:49:07.440 --> 00:49:08.800
Um we've got to know ya.
00:49:09.360 --> 00:49:16.400
So I do I do these quick fire
questions, then we'll go back on to a little bit more stuff about you and wind this episode up.
00:49:16.480 --> 00:49:23.920
But um mate, as all the guys relaxed and uh got going on this, that they all want to do it again, which is fantastic.
00:49:24.079 --> 00:49:26.000
They'll do it on trips, they'll do it everywhere.
00:49:26.079 --> 00:49:29.039
But uh who's the funniest bloke around the fire?
00:49:29.360 --> 00:49:31.920
Uh Bolshe, because he's always laughing at his own jokes.
00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:41.840
So I mean, I don't know if that makes him funny, but he's um yeah, he's I I I mean I enjoy all that company, but yeah, he's he's always laughing the loudest.
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:45.440
Who's the biggest bullshit artist?
00:49:45.840 --> 00:49:46.960
Probably me.
00:49:47.440 --> 00:49:47.920
Who's snores?
00:49:49.039 --> 00:49:49.840
Who's snug?
00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:55.599
I I I don't mind telling a story and adding a little bit of GST to it, I think.
00:49:55.679 --> 00:49:58.480
So we're we're all a bit like that as we get on, aren't we?
00:49:58.800 --> 00:50:01.440
Yeah, yeah, that's the older I get, the better I was.
00:50:02.000 --> 00:50:03.679
Who snores the loudest?
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:11.360
Uh I reckon we could all snore for Australia, and I've shared a a tent or a uh caravan or a hotel room with all of them.
00:50:11.599 --> 00:50:16.159
Um and there's a fair bit of getting up in the middle of the night and just nudging the other one over onto his side.
00:50:16.239 --> 00:50:19.039
So uh I I actually reckon that's Samo.
00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:27.280
If you're asking who he's the loudest, um he's got a proper s I reckon he could wake himself up if he doesn't inhale the pillow, that is.
00:50:27.360 --> 00:50:31.679
He's he's uh he's uh it might be a little fellow, but he's got a set of lungs on him.
00:50:31.920 --> 00:50:35.360
Who's the first bloke to crack a beer at the end of the day or morning?
00:50:37.039 --> 00:50:43.840
Uh it's it it's a really interesting question because we it's beers, bullshit, and bonfires and all that sort of stuff.
00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:47.039
It's funny, Jags doesn't drink a lot of beer.
00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:51.920
Um P Mac or they they they like the ginger beer, those boys.
00:50:52.320 --> 00:50:55.679
Um the first one to crack a real beer, probably Bolshe and I.
00:50:56.000 --> 00:50:59.199
Yeah, the boys will have that that cordial water that they have.
00:50:59.920 --> 00:51:06.320
Um and you know, try and be as manly as they can while drinking it out of an orange can that looks like Fanta.
00:51:06.960 --> 00:51:13.280
Um Yeah, I th I I I think that's yeah, it'd be Bolshe and I will crack the first proper beers.
00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:23.840
Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty like um Damo's already got a straw into a bottle of red wine, so you know that I think that's uh Yeah, I mean he sometimes you can't take Jags that seriously.
00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:26.639
I mean he comes
across as this very tough hard nut.
00:51:26.880 --> 00:51:29.280
He drinks fucking ginger beer, but anyway.
00:51:30.079 --> 00:51:30.480
Yeah.
00:51:30.719 --> 00:51:34.239
We've all got our we've all all got our mountains to climb, haven't we?
00:51:34.559 --> 00:51:34.960
We have.
00:51:35.039 --> 00:51:42.800
Um you mentioned the uh the female camp uh chefs, but what about and the male boys when the girls aren't there?
00:51:43.039 --> 00:51:43.920
I reckon Jags.
00:51:44.079 --> 00:52:11.760
Jags is pretty good over um, you know he and you know in the sense that Jags seems like he doesn't really care about anything, he'll he'll cut up the onions, cut up the potatoes really quickly, get them on there, just keep turning them until they're all cooked, and there's um and um and but then he's very particular, being a butcher at heart, he's very particular about he how he cooks his meat and everyone else's so he likes his well done.
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:22.000
Um and and he'll always ask how everyone else wants this, and yeah I they they I can't do it the way he does, so I'm just I'm gonna nominate Jags for the the best cam cook.
00:52:22.320 --> 00:52:24.320
Hopeless with directions.
00:52:26.239 --> 00:52:26.559
Me.
00:52:26.800 --> 00:52:29.199
I uh because I don't care where we're going.
00:52:29.280 --> 00:52:29.760
I really don't.
00:52:30.239 --> 00:52:46.159
I just like I I there were they all sit there at an intersection and uh they'll all be looking at this and they'll be shading their um their GPSs and someone's got an old-fashioned paper map out and they're trying to identify what the road is off to our right, and I'll be sitting there looking at the cook bar in the tree.
00:52:46.239 --> 00:52:47.199
I don't care.
00:52:47.360 --> 00:52:50.719
Um and if you were they were following me, we'd still be out there, I reckon.
00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:54.400
I'm I'm it's not that I'm bad with directions, I just don't care.
00:52:54.639 --> 00:52:57.519
Yeah, look, I was similar with my young bloke in the Otways.
00:52:57.679 --> 00:53:00.800
We well, we didn't have any GPS back then, I don't think.
00:53:01.039 --> 00:53:23.679
Maybe, maybe not, but we were driving the Otways isn't that big, but and all fire tracks, and you go down one and you could be lost out there for four or five hours, and then all of a sudden you you you found yourself out there, so that's yeah, and all of a sudden you take the right turn after going down that same intersection, but they all look the same, and you end up coming out near the cars.
00:53:23.760 --> 00:53:25.280
So I'm I'm a bit with you there.
00:53:26.079 --> 00:53:26.719
Who gives a shit?
00:53:27.519 --> 00:53:33.119
We have turned up with people's driveways before, and they've got front of your boys heading the wrong way, and it's like, oh well, what do you do?
00:53:33.280 --> 00:53:34.960
Just turn around and go back the other way, I guess.
00:53:35.199 --> 00:53:38.719
So you and you're saying you've only been on one Jack or two?
00:53:38.960 --> 00:53:41.039
No, no, I went I've done three now.
00:53:41.599 --> 00:53:42.320
Three or four now.
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:46.480
I did the one that my obviously I did the one in the car, and that's where I met P Mac.
00:53:46.719 --> 00:53:54.079
He was the other driver, and we sat in that car, and within two minutes I realised this is this bloke's my tribe, he's a builder and he buried the Hawthorne.
00:53:54.480 --> 00:54:06.719
Um, he's got a couple of kids, and um yeah, he we just spent the next oh we were in that car for 17, 18 days, I think, um, getting across from Darwin to to um to Broome.
00:54:07.360 --> 00:54:16.480
Um and yeah, that that's where I I met P-Mack and then I went on the one from uh from P Mac's house down to Bathurst and we watched the the race.
00:54:16.559 --> 00:54:18.079
We got oh 12 race.
00:54:18.480 --> 00:54:19.360
So that was fantastic.
00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:29.920
We met Coley, we stayed with Coley, sort of the the last member to join the tribe and um uh and his lovely wife Julie and stayed with them.
00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:44.639
They were fantastic hosts, and you know, no longer we left their place on the next trip going from there down to Vic High Country than then Coley's uh sent us a text message with a picture of his new DR650, so um there didn't take much convincing.
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:51.199
Um so went on that one, then um we ended up at uh Aubrey Wadonga, left the bikes there.
00:54:51.360 --> 00:55:15.840
I went and collected the bikes on the back of the Ute and bought them all back to Adelaide, and we did a big Flinders Rangers one, and we've just done that one um from Adelaide up to Robe and then out to the uh the Grampians and sort of was meant to finish in Mil Jura, but somehow the bikes are all still back here in my place, so uh uh in my construction shed here.
00:55:16.719 --> 00:55:20.000
Um where we get to there.
00:55:20.320 --> 00:55:24.880
Uh what's so what's what's been your favourite ride out of those three?
00:55:25.280 --> 00:55:27.360
I I think Vic High Country.
00:55:27.440 --> 00:55:32.000
Uh I really enjoyed the last one because on sand I was actually quite good.
00:55:32.320 --> 00:55:34.719
And I'm I'm probably not the best rider.
00:55:34.800 --> 00:55:43.119
I'm probably the the other at the other end of the ladder when it comes to being a good rider, but um on the sand I sort of I grew up on sand around Kybu Bowight.
00:55:43.360 --> 00:55:45.679
Um so I knew how to ride a bike on sand.
00:55:45.840 --> 00:55:47.199
Um so I really enjoyed that one.
00:55:47.280 --> 00:56:10.960
But I think Vic High Country for me is the bit I this sounds a bit corny, but it's the one where you find out a little bit about yourself um and what you're capable of, what what you um what you're afraid of and uh and those sorts of things because it was it took us we went from Dargo to Buller in one day, which is 190 K's, it took us uh nine, nine
and a half hours, I think.
00:56:11.119 --> 00:56:12.639
Was it nine and a half hours or was it thirteen hours?
00:56:12.719 --> 00:56:14.719
I can't remember what it was, it was a bloody long time anyway.
00:56:14.800 --> 00:56:16.480
Uh I reckon it was 13 hours.
00:56:16.639 --> 00:56:17.119
There you go.
00:56:17.840 --> 00:56:19.679
It was nine hours with GST.
00:56:19.840 --> 00:56:21.360
Um I've been I've been bellish.
00:56:22.480 --> 00:56:34.159
Um and our wives were already in Buller, they'd gone the long way around on the bitumen, um, and they were watching us on you know the Life 360 apps, and we're only getting a bit of reception every now and then, so they could tell we were moving.
00:56:34.239 --> 00:56:40.079
They were worried about us, it was dark, one of the bikes had um had uh lost its jags.
00:56:40.320 --> 00:56:45.840
Jags had uh um blown a headlight, so he had to ride right next to us.
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:48.960
Um it was it was a really hectic day out.
00:56:49.039 --> 00:56:59.440
We were only halfway through it by two o'clock in the afternoon, and we were stuck on the hillside, and um um and luckily Bolsheach was coming uh from a slightly different direction and he got to the top.
00:56:59.599 --> 00:57:10.800
He's he is actually uh credit where credit's Drew Due, uh probably one of the better riders you'd you'd want to have with you, and he managed to get all our bikes to the top of the hill and went on and uh was it we broke a lot.
00:57:10.880 --> 00:57:17.280
I I know I fell off 16 times that day, including the one where I went up this by the clip, but the bike just kept slipping out from underneath you.
00:57:17.360 --> 00:57:26.239
You're on that um very sandy, rocky, slatey stuff, and um and a lot of wash aways, the the front wheeler gets bogged in it and just tip you over the side.
00:57:26.320 --> 00:57:33.039
So yeah, I got to the end of that, and um you sort of say, Well, I'm not I'm no longer an entry-level rider.
00:57:33.119 --> 00:57:36.000
I think I can at least tick the intermediate box.
00:57:36.239 --> 00:57:48.159
So that was the one where I probably didn't like it as much at the time, but I look back now if it's a it's a formation memory and it's a bit that sort of you know changes a little bit about who you who you are and what you know you're capable of.
00:57:48.480 --> 00:57:53.119
Yeah, and uh no knowing you had a good crew there, if you did get in any trouble, you had a lot of stuff.
00:57:53.280 --> 00:57:55.599
Oh, we got in plenty of trouble, and we had you did have the good crew.
00:57:55.679 --> 00:58:04.000
You know, the bikes um yeah, you didn't perform great all day, and um and we had people just fixing them and going along and we're dropping fuel lines and stuff.
00:58:04.079 --> 00:58:16.480
So um we we stuck together and there was lots of talk and lots of sort of care for each other's welfare because it you know you don't want anyone getting hurt on those things and and having to
be um taken out by helicopter or anything like that.
00:58:16.639 --> 00:58:28.239
So you you know it was it was one where a a bit of a childish act in the sense of where we chose to go, but then you know you were lucky you're we were the age we were where we made good decisions for the rest of the day.
00:58:28.559 --> 00:58:30.320
What keeps you grounded?
00:58:31.440 --> 00:58:35.199
Uh I I've got I've got a hundred staff.
00:58:35.280 --> 00:58:37.440
That's pretty grounding.
00:58:37.519 --> 00:58:44.400
So uh and they you know, and they're not all working for your dream, they've got their own dreams as well, I guess.
00:58:44.480 --> 00:58:56.559
So I think um that's that that keeps me pretty grounded, making sure that those guys have got somewhere to go every morning and um and that they're working for a good business and that they've got some security about what they're doing.
00:58:56.719 --> 00:58:59.679
So that's uh you you can't ever get too flippant about that.
00:58:59.760 --> 00:59:01.760
You got you I'm responsible for a lot of people.
00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:11.599
With my brother who I run this business with, he's uh probably even more responsible than I am, but um he's yeah, we I think we do a pretty good job at uh keeping each other grounded as well.
00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:13.840
When are you at your happiest mate?
00:59:16.639 --> 00:59:17.840
Around people, I think.
00:59:17.920 --> 00:59:21.440
I look it's probably a two I'm I'm really happy with people.
00:59:21.519 --> 00:59:23.039
I mean, people say where are you happy?
00:59:23.199 --> 00:59:26.159
And you it's I don't I don't think it matters where you are.
00:59:26.400 --> 00:59:30.400
I mean, if you're around the people you want to be around, there that that makes me happy.
00:59:30.559 --> 00:59:36.559
I've um and on the the flip side of that I I've done a bit of travelling in my life where I'm just by myself.
00:59:36.639 --> 00:59:47.039
I'll just I'm doing a bit later on next in September where I'm going through Germany by myself and and I I just I don't know I I enjoy my own silence.
00:59:47.440 --> 00:59:51.280
It's the first time when I'm if I'm not around other people, I don't have to listen to myself all the time.
00:59:51.360 --> 00:59:57.840
So it's uh I mean and it's some good thinking time, but I think the real answer is w when I'm with people.
00:59:59.119 --> 01:00:00.960
Uh one word answers.
01:00:01.119 --> 01:00:02.159
We're nearly there, mate.
01:00:02.320 --> 01:00:03.280
Doing a great app.
01:00:03.519 --> 01:00:04.719
Uh best camping spot.
01:00:04.880 --> 01:00:06.320
You you you did say rapid fire.
01:00:06.800 --> 01:00:09.119
I've slowed this down quite considerably, I think.
01:00:09.760 --> 01:00:12.880
Oh no, no, I got the segments mixed up.
01:00:13.920 --> 01:00:15.760
Uh Bed Camping Spot.
01:00:15.920 --> 01:00:17.920
Um can't remember the name of it.
01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:26.559
It was somewhere out in the um the New England country
of New South Wales, and all the girls were there, and we had a whole paddock to ourselves, and it was just a good night.
01:00:26.960 --> 01:00:27.840
Best beer.
01:00:28.960 --> 01:00:29.840
Uh whiskey.
01:00:30.639 --> 01:00:31.920
Snake or snags.
01:00:32.320 --> 01:00:32.639
Snake.
01:00:33.119 --> 01:00:33.840
Favourite bike.
01:00:36.239 --> 01:00:38.559
One place every Australian should visit.
01:00:39.039 --> 01:00:40.079
Bungle bungles.
01:00:40.400 --> 01:00:41.360
Dream ride.
01:00:42.400 --> 01:00:44.400
Uh I haven't done Cape York.
01:00:44.639 --> 01:00:45.360
I really want to do that.
01:00:45.679 --> 01:00:47.039
Swag or caravan.
01:00:47.440 --> 01:00:48.159
Swag.
01:00:48.800 --> 01:00:50.400
Sunrise or sunset.
01:00:50.719 --> 01:00:52.400
I'm a builder, mate, sunrise.
01:00:52.880 --> 01:00:54.719
Favourite song around the fire.
01:00:55.280 --> 01:01:06.159
Uh probably I like Wild Horses by Rolling Stones because it's uh I don't know, just got a good swagger about it, and it's just one of those songs that um I never get tired of.
01:01:06.719 --> 01:01:10.559
I run another podcast which has uh kicked off when I was in the hospital bed.
01:01:10.639 --> 01:01:11.840
It's called Who Is Your Hero?
01:01:12.000 --> 01:01:18.159
So I've decided you're the inaugural um uh podcast that's going to answer this question.
01:01:18.239 --> 01:01:22.719
So at the end of every show I ask who is your hero and why?
01:01:23.519 --> 01:01:26.480
Uh I it's pretty easy that one.
01:01:26.639 --> 01:01:30.559
It's probably not a person, it's just anyone I can genuinely rely on.
01:01:30.800 --> 01:01:36.719
Um, you know, because that's if if someone's your hero, you need them to be heroic for you.
01:01:36.880 --> 01:01:43.679
Um it's not m heroic about their acts or what they're doing for themselves, it's w you know what they're doing for you.
01:01:43.920 --> 01:01:47.840
So I guess, yeah, to me it's just anyone I can genuinely rely on.
01:01:47.920 --> 01:01:49.920
And I'm mate, I'm I'm pissed lucky.
01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:53.920
I've got a lot of good mates that um, you know, they talk about your hard five.
01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:56.480
I'd I'd I'd struggle to cut the list down to that.
01:01:56.559 --> 01:02:05.599
I think I've I've probably got a good dozen mates that I could call at any time of any day and say, this is what's going on, you know, and that'll say, right, we're we're not far away.
01:02:05.679 --> 01:02:07.519
Um we'll we'll be there.
01:02:07.679 --> 01:02:11.840
So but those guys, I guess I guess the answer to that thing is those twelve blokes.
01:02:12.880 --> 01:02:15.760
Hey Wes and Jack, that's been a great talk, mate.
01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:20.880
Um yeah, we'll we'll do this again as as uh Oswide grows.
01:02:21.039 --> 01:02:22.719
Just one they're all my stories, mate.
01:02:22.800 --> 01:02:25.440
I don't know any more, so you know I'll have to make some other ones up.
01:02:25.599 --> 01:02:28.960
Oh well you can
do the Bolshe does it, they all do it well, so it doesn't matter.
01:02:29.039 --> 01:02:30.320
I won't because I won't do it.
01:02:30.559 --> 01:02:35.360
I'll I've got plenty of stories about Bolshea before all of this uh Oswald's palava got going.
01:02:35.440 --> 01:02:40.639
So uh he's um it it's the he's the centrepiece of many funnier thing.
01:02:40.800 --> 01:02:45.360
Uh so uh I got one last question though, and we're gonna end on this note.
01:02:46.320 --> 01:02:56.639
When it's all said and done and whatever your uh the um the great man upstairs calls you, what would you like to leave this world?
01:02:56.719 --> 01:03:01.760
Like what would you like these people, your mate, your family to say about Jack Cannon?
01:03:03.440 --> 01:03:05.440
Uh uh reliable.
01:03:06.559 --> 01:03:13.440
Yeah, we'll go back to I you know if that if if if the for them being heroic to me was them yeah, someone you can rely on.
01:03:13.519 --> 01:03:14.639
I guess it's the other way around.
01:03:14.719 --> 01:03:17.280
You you want them to know that you've been reliable as well.
01:03:17.360 --> 01:03:32.079
And I think that's all you can be, really, is uh you you might not be an expert in everything, but as long as you're reliable, um and I loved it when uh just before we go out, when Jake's and I was doing this sort of brand story about I was finally saying, what what are we gonna do?
01:03:32.159 --> 01:03:32.960
Are you a tour company?
01:03:33.119 --> 01:03:34.000
Then he guessed nut.
01:03:34.079 --> 01:03:37.920
We just average blokes, very average at everything.
01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:47.440
And uh Yeah, I I I think if we renamed this podcast one day, it might be ability versus ambition and and not no, those those two things are never aligned, I can tell you.
01:03:47.519 --> 01:03:51.199
So um, which is you know, it's probably why we have to wear helmets.
01:03:51.360 --> 01:03:52.719
Look, I really enjoyed the chat.
01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:54.639
Lovely to e meet you, I guess it is.
01:03:54.960 --> 01:03:56.800
I'm looking forward to uh to meeting you in person.
01:03:57.039 --> 01:03:59.199
Enjoy the sunshine up in Cairns.
01:03:59.440 --> 01:04:06.639
And what one thing I just before I go off here, I really enjoyed that um the chat about the Victorian high country.
01:04:08.559 --> 01:04:20.000
And just just for the fact there's a lot of people in doom and gloom sitting on their ass around Australia at the moment that that uh have so much potential still left in them and and the journey's not over for anyone.
01:04:21.039 --> 01:04:23.119
Yeah, buy a car, pick a direction and go.
01:04:23.280 --> 01:04:27.519
Then have a VR or anything like that, just grab a couple of mates and just just ahead.
01:04:27.840 --> 01:04:32.559
But you guys that you guys are still testing yourselves after all these years.
01:04:32.800 --> 01:04:33.440
I love it, mate.
01:04:34.719 --> 01:04:39.760
I think what stood out the most today wasn't the bikes, the tracks, or the kilometers travelled.
01:04:40.079 --> 01:04:44.000
It was a reminder that life doesn't slow down just because you get older.
01:04:45.280 --> 01:04:50.639
In fact, sometimes the best chapters are the ones you never plan.
01:04:50.960 --> 01:05:01.760
Whether it's riding through the Victorian High Country, getting lost somewhere between Darwin and Broome, sitting around a campfire with your mates, or simply having something to look forward to.
01:05:02.079 --> 01:05:04.320
That's what this brotherhood is all about.
01:05:05.119 --> 01:05:07.679
Jack said something today that really stuck with me.
01:05:07.920 --> 01:05:10.079
Enjoy the passage of time.
01:05:10.559 --> 01:05:12.400
That's a pretty powerful way to live.
01:05:13.039 --> 01:05:19.199
Life isn't measured by how much money you make, it's measured by the memories you create.
01:05:20.320 --> 01:05:29.119
The mates you surround yourself with, the adventures you say yes to, and by being the sort of person people know they can rely on.
01:05:30.000 --> 01:05:34.320
If today's conversation has inspired you, don't wait for some day.
01:05:34.639 --> 01:05:43.039
Call your mates, plan the trip, buy the bike or the caravan, or just jump in the U and head somewhere you've never been before.
01:05:43.679 --> 01:05:47.199
Because the best stories are the ones you live.
01:05:48.000 --> 01:05:55.840
If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who loves a bit of adventure in their life.
01:05:56.480 --> 01:06:10.239
Follow Odeswide Adventures as we continue travelling this incredible country, sharing unforgettable stories, introducing remarkable people, and building one of Australia's greatest adventure community.
01:06:11.679 --> 01:06:15.280
This podcast is proudly produced by Who Is Your Heroes TDO.
01:06:16.000 --> 01:06:23.760
Remember, real adventures aren't measured in kilometres, they're measured in the memories you and the mates you make them with.
01:06:25.280 --> 01:06:32.239
Until next time, keep the fire burning, keep the wheels turn, and we'll see you out on the tracks.
01:06:32.559 --> 01:06:33.760
True Blue.
01:06:34.480 --> 01:06:35.760
Good good chat, good chat.
01:06:36.159 --> 01:06:37.119
Cheers, bro, thank you.
01:06:37.440 --> 01:06:37.840
Cheers.
01:06:40.320 --> 01:06:42.320
Is it Mom and Dad?
01:06:44.400 --> 01:06:46.559
Is it a cockatoo?
01:06:49.039 --> 01:06:52.159
Is it standing by your night?
01:06:53.440 --> 01:06:59.519
When she's in a fight, oh just better.
01:07:06.800 --> 01:07:20.480
I'm asking you to make you say