Mother Nature Can Transform Anyone From Grumpy to Great

I was sitting at my desk writing on my blog when suddenly a thought crossed my mind, “When I am home, every morning is the same. I wake up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with thousand ideas about what I could do, ready to ‘change the world and make it a better place’ and then, three hours later, George comes, and suddenly the world is all grey, dull and depressed, and I feel like jumping off a cliff. I am tired of it! This weekend must be different". That day I was going to re-pot my plants and maybe even plant some in my gardens, but... Some days just don't go to plan, and it is better.

When George came, I greeted him cheerfully and asked, "Would you like to go for a drive?" "Oh, yeah... if you would like to, then it would be fine with me" replied George, kind of surprised and slightly hesitant as if it was a tricky question. "Yes, I think it would be nice to get out of the house. I mean, l know l am driving to the city, meeting people at work, and so on, but you are all the time home alone, so I think getting out would be good for you". He had some comments about how difficult and unfair life is, but in the end, I knew he would be happy to go for a drive. And so, after some discussion, we decided to go to Girraween National Park. George isn't a spontaneous person (much too much stress; for him, adventure and spontaneity equals nightmare and horror). He likes to have everything planned and prepared well in advance (absolute opposite of me, who has never planned anything, not even my emigrations. I have an idea, so I just do it and see what happens). Therefore, to make things easier for him, we decided to go for a drive, but instead of having a picnic, we would go to a coffee shop.

The first stop was Stanthorpe, where we went for breakfast.

I tried to make the drive as pleasant as possible; l even organised George’s favourite music to make the atmosphere more relaxed. But no, George couldn’t relax. He remembered all the jobs which have to be done on the farm. He was getting upset about the tea trees on our farm and frustrated why we have so many of them while the neighbours don’t have any. I struggle to comprehend why he is always worried about other people and what they have (or, in this case, don’t have). lt has nothing to do with our property. Once I suggested he could go to the neighbours and ask them how they exterminated these weeds (if they really removed them; their paddock is slashed, so difficult to say if they have the bushes there or not), but he refused, and he didn’t want me no talk to the neighbours either. So, who cares? For me, the problem is the tea tree on my farm, which has to be somehow resolved. Nonetheless, it has been there for over a decade now, and therefore it can wait another day or month or however long it takes.

When we finally finished discussing the tea trees problem (without finding any solution), the conversation changed to corruption and unfairness in the world, more reasons to be grumpy. Yes, of course, I understand there is a lot of suffering in the world, but… are these the best topics to discuss when trying to relax? Why wouldn’t we make some jokes and laugh instead of complaining, moaning and groaning about something we have no control over and making ourselves feel down? I can’t change the world’s problems, and even if I want to help people in my surroundings, I need to relax. When I’m exhausted, stressed and angry, I won’t help anyone.

Anyway, I have my solution for Georg’s whinging — I always reply, “Yes, you are right” then George is happy because he was right, and I am glad because I don’t need to argue about something of no importance. For me, it doesn’t matter who is right, who is wrong. I want us to have a good time, and it’s what I’m working towards.

We continued driving, and spontaneously (yes, the scary word), I stopped at Storm King dam. I was curious about the water level in the dam, wondering if the recent rain helped to raise the level. Additionally, my little Princess Daisy wouldn’t mind going for a swim and cooling down, so we just ignored grumpy George, who obviously wasn’t happy about the unplanned stop, and we did as we wanted. However, I should add, that I knew the peaceful country vistas would help George to relax and it would be good for him.

Storm King Dam used to be the water supply for Stanthorpe; nonetheless, during the 5-years long drought that ended in January 2020, the dam got severely affected, and it resembled more a river than a lake.

The government had to come up with a solution as the town was running out of water. Therefore two enormous tanks were built at the dam, and the water was trucked from another reservoir. This solution was very costly, and who knows for how long it could last if the rain didn’t come.

In 2020 the average rain was back to normal, but it didn’t change much the appearance of the dam. In fact, it took a couple of years, heavy rains and floods before the dam was finally full again.

We continued driving, and suddenly George became a different person, friendly and relaxed. I almost thought I picked up a stranger and lost Grumpy somewhere on the way. He told me about a movie he had watched the day before, which was unusual for him. Generally, whenever I asked him about a movie, he always replied in an upset voice, “If you want to know, then watch it yourself. That’s too difficult to explain!”.

The last few kilometers were on an unsealed road, which gave me the chance to switch my truck to 4x4 and give it a run. A few houses were hiding among the trees. It made me wonder who would choose to live there. Yes, they are beautiful places, but if you live in Australia and you know the danger of fires, then even if you love remote places hidden in nature, you wouldn’t be very keen to live here. Should the trees catch fire, your chances to escape from here are close to zero… The last bush fires in the area were just a year ago. And two years ago, the entire national park was on fire.

When we arrived at the camping area, George (not so grumpy anymore) wasn’t keen to go for any walks, so I went by myself. There was no electricity at the camp-ground, so if you wanted to have some power in your van, you would need solar panels. The amenities were clean; nonetheless, all showers in ladies were shut and had a sign explaining it was to help stop the spread of coronavirus. George told me in men’s amenities, one shower was open (interesting… is the virus spread by women more than by men? Why did gentlemen have one shower open, and in ladies, all were shut? Not to mention I believed ladies would shower more often than men, but… it seems I was wrong)

In Australia, we weren’t as severely affected by the virus as other parts of the world, but reminders of the plague were visible everywhere.

While walking through the campground, I ascertained that if I wanted, I could bring my caravan here; nonetheless, I doubt I would ever come here to camp because pets weren’t allowed, and my Princess and I are inseparable; in Australia, we always travel together. Not to mention Jeffrey would need to come too.

Only a few hundred meters away from the camping ground, there was an information centre. Though the drive was short, I managed to get myself into a couple of interesting incidents. I made the silly assumption that since the roads were practically empty, I could drive in the ‘should be right’ — style, meaning don’t worry too much about where on the road I was. And, as it usually happens in such situations, the road wasn’t as empty as I thought it would be, and when I came to an intersection, suddenly a car appeared and tried to turn into the road I was on. He had the right of way, but I was stopped on the wrong side of the road blocking the entire entry and making it impossible for him to turn into the street. George got upset and started yelling at me, telling me I couldn’t drive and so on (the usual stuff most of us would be very familiar with when a man is in a car with a female driver. Males always believe they know everything better, they can do everything better, and they just love to tell the driver how they should drive. In my experience, the best in such a situation is just to ignore them, and it was what I did). The funniest part was when George started shouting at me, “Stop panicking! It’s crucial to stay calm in such situations! Just don’t panic!” and I thought to myself, “Well, as usual, the only person panicking here is… you. If you only stopped yelling at me all would be perfect” (George very easily panics, especially when something is out of the usual, or it’s not going to his plan. I am much more in the ‘should be right’ style, so I don’t panic — in the end, “Should be right, mate, there will be a solution”). Well, there was not much I could do, so I just kept driving and made space for the other car. “What will the people think about you! They will be laughing at you that you can’t drive! You are a hopeless driver! You are lucky they weren’t some big blokes looking for trouble; they could smash your car and bash you!” George continued, and I ignored him again because why should I worry about what others think about me? That’s their problem, not mine. And with some giant gorillas coming and attacking me… Let’s be real, what are the chances of this happening in Queensland’s National Park? I’ve better chances to get hit by lighting or get eaten by sharks while swimming in the ocean than meeting here blokes looking for a fight. They will be all sitting in some nightclubs, where the real action is, not here.

We were walking near the information centre when we noticed plenty of signs indicating walking tracks, and one was to a camping ground, which could be reached only by foot. “Who would do such a stupid thing, walking and carrying a tent and all the camping stuff with them!” said George, and I exclaimed, “I did! I did it many times, and my parents did this too! That’s so much fun!”. “Of course you did! You always do stupid things!” — George shouted at me. “Why are you angry with me and yelling at me?” I asked, surprised. “Because you attacked me first! You yelled at me first!” “George, I didn’t yell at you. I exclaimed in excitement. There is a difference between exclaiming something because you are happy, joyful and excited, or angrily shouting at someone as you are shouting at me” “Oh, is there? I thought you were yelling at me” said George, and the topic was finished. I found it fascinating that I needed to explain such things to someone coming to the end of the seventh decade of his life. How is it possible to not understand the difference between anger and excitement?

Inside the information centre, there was something for everyone — the big and the small explorers

When you look closely at The Pyramid in the photo, you wonder how the ‘little’ stones don’t roll down off the huge rock, but they are firmly stuck there (without any human intervention).

A few years ago, I went for a walk there (yes, it’s permitted to climb the enormous rock), and I checked it for myself — no chance to move them.

The images below show the picnic area. Yes, you are right, all tables, gazebos, and barbecues look very new — it’s because everything here was damaged by the devastating fires couple of years ago and had to be rebuilt.

On the way back, we stopped in Ballandean for a late lunch. By then, George was getting tired, especially as he missed his lunch-time nap, and (as any kid would) he became quite irritable and pettish, though I have to admit that this time he tried to control his moods. He was whinging the meal was average; the table was in the sun, it was too hot, the prices ridiculously high and so on. I just pretended his whinging didn’t bother me and tried to cheer him up. At one point, I had to agree with him — the prices were as if we were in a top restaurant in the city (around $30-$40 per main), though in the city the meals are freshly cooked, while here everything was pre-cooked and reheated from frozen (mostly pizza choices)…

Additionally, there was hardly anything for someone who doesn’t eat meat. In the end, I ordered fried rice balls (they had some fancy name, but I don’t remember — all it was, was just rice with a bit of cheese and a slice of mushroom), which… how could I say it politely… I wouldn’t usually eat because I don’t enjoy fried food; it makes me sick.

The only remarkable thing about the place was the service. The elderly lady was very hospitable and welcoming; she even suggested we take Daisy out of the car and kept her at our table, and then she brought water for the dog.

It was a bit awkward, however, when I went to pay, and the lady asked me about my meal. What should I say? Usually, I am very direct in my opinion, but… I couldn’t tell the lovely lady that the rice balls weren’t particularly tasty and very heavy on my stomach… So I replied, “Oh yes, they were very nice” (and then I felt bad that I lied, but… I didn’t want to destroy the ladies’ day, she was so lovely to me — life is so complicated!)

The last stop was back in Stanthorpe, where I took my four-legged friend for one more walk and a swim. As you can see in the photos below, the creek in town resembles a thick, smelly soup, but… Daisy loves it; therefore, I couldn’t say no to her, and now my car smells like sewage…

We also met a lovely duck family and Purple Swamphen (I think it’s how these birds are called), which usually form their nest from trampled reeds and rushes just above the water surrounded by vegetation, though these family… built their nest on top of a rock middle in the creek (well, hopefully, it doesn’t get much hotter before the young are strong enough to leave the nest, as otherwise… they will get grilled alive). Imagine the argument between the spouses if it was a human family who made the silly mistake and built such an uncomfortable home. The blame and shame, the stressful, sleepless nights, the anger and frustration whose stupid idea was to build the home on top of hot rock. Oh well, animals are too stupid to waste their lives on useless arguments; they just accept the facts and make the best of what they have.

When we arrived home George needed a lie-down, but after a short rest, he was in quite a good mood, even joking and laughing. I was happy to get him out of his dull and dark world, even if just for a day.

The magic of nature — she can put everybody in a good mood, even grumpy George. So if you feel down and depressed, get out and seek the company of mother nature — just half an hour with her will surely make you feel much better :)