This trip to Geraldton is my first taste of "civilisation" for about two months, and it's startling to discover how acclimatised I've become to outback life. We're struggling with the humidity of the coast, and suddenly there's this whole thing of having to drive around in traffic looking for shops instead of just walking up the street or looking around the house and saying "Hmm, how can I make do with what we've got here?"
It seems too crowded, and the "stuff" in the shops has no appeal anymore. Once I would have lingered over window shopping, eyeing off the cute homewares and new shoes; now it's the hardware, electrical and plumbing shops that catch our attention. "Hey, those portable gennies are on sale!" Then we pause and Gary will say, "Actually, Ken's got an old one round the back of his shed he's not using, we can ask him if he wants to trade it for some bobcat work."
It doesn't matter anymore if things match or look shiny. If you need something in Meeka, you just put the word out and be ready to swap something. I was looking at sofas online and Gary said, "Oh, old Chris has got a shed full of furniture he doesn't want, we can grab some of that."
No one really cares if you've got the latest whatever or wear the same outfit to every party; most of us only have one "nice" set of clothes which we keep aside, safe from the daily dust & sweat. I've noticed that since moving here, I haven't put up any pictures or arty stuff or the knickknacks you usually have around; so it's weirdly like not expressing my personality the way I would normally. Here it's about what you do, not what you look like or have on display. If you want visual beauty, all you have to do is look out at the sky or the horizon, or at the tiny bush flowers, rocks and animal tracks.
It's liberating.
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