Out and About

The title of this post has been carefully selected, but don't be misled. While the Alice may be the lesbian capital of Australia, I don't have any particular revelations about my nightlife. Actually, that's not true, this post is all about the nightlife (and other weekend activities), but none of which relate to more personal matters perhaps best left unaddressed in this public space.

Being out and about in the Alice is not hard - provided you have an ounce of motivation, a fear of too many silent nights at home tucked in bed with a DVD running on my work computer, and an endless curiosity about ... well, just about anything.

Since I've arrived, I've been to two Alice Town Council meetings (more on that later), joined a Salsa dancing class, joined the Alice Book Group, attended a truly awful ballet recital, got my regular dose of arthouse movies at the Araleun Cultural Centre on most Sunday nights, been to two Rotary meetings (and presented at one), gone outback ballooning, joined the Alice Art Society, been to a quiz night, become the laywoman member of the Central Australia Human Research Ethics Committee, held two dinner parties, cycled to Simpson's Gap (more on that later but see favourite photo right) and said yes to all but one invitation - regardless of interest. Phew.

As a result of this 'no refusals' policy, I spent a number of excruciating hours at the Young Guns Marquee at the Alice Springs Racecourse, watching the young girls in short dresses quaff copious amounts of Vodka Cruisers. I was just on the edge of the stated demographic (20-35 years), and boy did I feel it. Luckily, I also made friends with Katrina, a school teacher in town, who was feeling pretty similar to me. Luckily for Katrina, she had the advantage of drinking alcohol to dull her senses (that was in my non-drinking phase, a policy that I've since softened slightly for moments such as these). There are no photos of this occasion. That is deliberate.

As you can see, I'm trying to 'get involved', working out both what's happening in Alice and environs (hence the town council meetings, and human research ethics committee) while also meeting new people and - hopefully - making new friends. I might be a bit scattergun in my approach, but it's been an interesting ride.

Things I Learnt At Town Council:

• I don't like Alderman Murray Stewart (a bore)
• The 'problem' of the towncamps, alcohol management and transitional accommodation for the visiting Aboriginal population dominates everything (I'll do a separate post on this, am collecting lots of stuff for this without trying)
• The Finke Desert Race is a trailbike race. I'm not interested in trailbikes, and racing. The Finke race is good for tourism, good for Alice, and not good for me.
• The Alice Springs Tennis Association is one of the model associations in the country (along with Mildura), with one of the best numbers of recreational players per head of population.
• Nobody cares about the rise in car parking prices, and nobody on the council believes that could possibly be true (we're in consultation phase a the moment, pre-implementation, deafening silence)
• Dual front tip methodology is a better method of waste disposal while maximising scavenging. Alice Town Council isn't doing enough to promote good scavenging.
• The Bowerbird Tip Shop provides 'essential' needs for many of the Aboriginal residents of the town.
• Non-ferrous metal recycling and removal to Adelaide has grown exponentially since introduced a year ago.
• A waste management committee might be effective if the council actually bothered to act on its recommendations.
• Waste matters to the Town Council (yet somehow we don't have recyling).

Well, that's probably enough on that topic. I'll keep you posted on how things work out with the other endeavours, including if the book club actually ends up reading the same book, and how ethical I really am when put to the test.

Photos of the Simpson's Gap cycle can be found at my 'flickr' account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophsta, which is also on the quick links above (which, incidentally, will improve when I get around to putting up my favourite sites). Apart from Wendy's dip, there are some nice ones (and for those of you that insist upon a more recent photo of me, here I am by the grave of Flynn, the founder of the RFDS and the half-way marker out to the Gap). On the ride itself, suffice it to say that it was a beautiful ride, and I managed to enjoy it immensely after I reconciled with the fact that I thought I was going out for a 1 hour cycle, only to discover that it was 3 1/2 hours there and 3 hours back! Thank God Wendy was prepared and organised lunch, cold water, and morning and afternoon tea.

Being a Non-Buddhist in a Christian Town

One of the interesting things about being in Alice (or "The Alice" as purists assert) is the predominance of churches. It's a church-y place. They pop up everywhere. The other day I set off in the vain hope of finding a yoga class in the middle of the industrial area, only to round the corner and come smack up against the Baptist Church. I wouldn't have immediately guessed it were a church, were it not for the massive sign asserting that outside the front of what appeared to be a large aluminium warehouse. If I was thinking of not becoming a Baptist before I saw their church, I certainly was convinced of it afterwards.

Apart from a brief dalliance with the idea in my first year of uni, and some outstanding results in Religious Studies that mistakenly convinced my school pastor that I was in fact studying for his subject, I've demonstrated little interest in my Christian heritage. Were I to move away from that, Alice is the place to be. The local yellow pages informs me that there are 12 'Spiritual and Religious Organisations'. In fact, there are twelve Christian churches.

The reason I was scouring this area specifically was not in any related to an upcoming epiphany. I was looking for any Buddhist-like place or person to seek some more practical guidance. One of my frustrations - which are thankfully few and far between - is that I cannot seem to find a Vispassana meditation group sit in Alice.

Some of you may be aware that I put myself through voluntary purgatory over Christmas-New Year break and underwent the ten-day ordeal that is the Vispassana meditation course. It's a 10 day silent retreat (and not just any form of silence, this is 'Noble Silence') that requires you to get up at 4am in order to meditate for the next 10 hours (give or take an hour for lunch and short breaks of a few minutes to stretch your legs). Of course, I entered the course without much thought of the practical realities - sure, I knew the early morning starts would be hard, but I could cope. I had images of lying around, gazing at the birds, and generally chilling out. In reality, getting up at 4am was easy - it was all part of the routine, and I was becoming rapidly re-institutionalised. The difficult part was sitting cross-legged for three hours in a row, eyes closed with only the snorts and shuffles of my companions to keep the moneky mind occupied. It was uncomfortable, difficult and challenging. But fundamentally worthwhile.

Upon leaving, we were charged with three tasks - meditate two hours a day (once in the morning, once in the evening), do a 'group sit' once a week, and attend another 10 day retreat once a year. It's proved challenging to say the least. Like the enthusiastic, over-committed soul I am, I was really blitzing the daily meditation challenge. Up until the last few weeks. So I thought joining a group sit would be an important way to reinvigorate the practice. The Vispassanna website (http://www.dhamma.org) gave me two contacts for Alice group sits. Neither worked. Despite some considerable persistence (read: pestering) on my part, which included emailing some guy in Victoria and coldcalling a granny in Adelaide, I got nowhere.

So I decided any form of contact with any Buddhist in town would be at least one step closer to the goal. But with the yellow page listings being less than useful, I find that being a non-Buddhist in a Christian town is harder than being the first born again Christian (well, perhaps not as painful as he experienced, but you get the general gist). And there my spiritual journey has stalled. I'm afraid it's not a happy ending. Perhaps I should be a Christian after all...