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Singaporean city boy vs nature
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Singaporean city boy vs nature

An urbanite out of his concrete jungle element finds a surprising moment of zen with dolphins in South Australia.

Singaporean city boy vs nature
By Phin Wong
Published February 10, 2016
Updated March 15, 2016
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    Singaporean city boy
vs nature

An urbanite out of his concrete jungle element finds a surprising moment of zen with dolphins in South Australia Words: Phin Wong I’m standing on a boat, out in the sun, smiling at dolphins. For a city boy whose usual cause of motion-sickness is a massive hangover, being out in open water voluntarily is quite possibly the most out-of-character moment in my entire adult life. I think the dolphins are actually smiling back at me. I wave, appreciatively. I remember a useful nugget of trivia gleaned from watching Scarlett Johansson stare intensely at things in that awful Luc Besson movie Lucy. Dolphins, according to Professor Morgan Freeman’s lecture on the human brain’s untapped potential, use twice as much of their brain than humans do. This is apparently utter nonsense, but it doesn’t stop me from thinking the dolphins are smiling at me the way one might smile at a silly kitten trying to catch its own tail.
“How adorable,” one Flipper might say to the other, “That stupid human thinks we like him!” And with that, the entire pod would pack their bags and go soaring off into the sky with a dramatic splash. “So long, and thanks for all the fish!” The mass evacuation didn’t happen, of course. But something even more surprising did: I was … happy. As a through and through city boy, South Australia with all its natural wonders and wildlife and wilderness, isn’t usually the first place I’d think of for a prison break from work. I’m not what you might call “athletic” (I sometimes sprain my wrist while shampooing), I’m far more comfortable with bar-hopping than I am with kangaroos hopping (I have two cats — and that’s plenty enough nature for me), and I’m an ardent fan of picture-postcard scenery staying put on postcards (or Instagram — that works,).
As it turns out, nature’s pretty nifty. “Nature” in South Australia means the freshest seafood and meats all sourced locally. “Nature” in a region that produces more than half of all Australian wine means wineries galore and superb selection of Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, Bordeaux style wines and more at every meal. “Nature” means a suitcase full of artisanal cheeses and pâtés and Sticky Honey Balsamic Dressing bottled on Kangaroo Island. All the stuff city folk like me pay top dollar for in hipster joints around the world come from “nature”. Who knew?
And so began my crash course in appreciating nature and all the great stuff that come with it. For six days, I explored dramatic natural landscapes in national parks, got cosy with sea lions, cuddled an adorable koala named Alfie, went traipsing across vineyards, rode my first quad bike without killing myself or innocent succulents, and even plucked strawberries right off the vine and into my mouth — all while attempting to drink the wine capital of Australia dry. I like a challenge. The isolation experienced on the road through the outback, national parks and farmland can be a bit of a shock to the system for city-bred Singaporeans. The idea of having no one around for miles is as foreign a concept as altruism is to cats. But sometimes we don’t need to fill our lives with more of what we already have. Sometimes you need to fill up the parts that are vacant. For me, the boxes

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