In Australia, we love the underdog. The struggler, the battler.
The one we least expect to overcome adversity. The least likely to come out on top. The one considered weaker of the opponents. Less powerful, less funded, and unfairly treated, less just. The one entrenched in some kind of adversity, struggling for success.
We love to see them rise to the top. And take out that poppy. The tallest one, with its neck stuck out.
Cranking my way up After Burner towards Power Up track, my mental moaning rises to just behind my forehead, trying to get in the way of my frontal lobe duties that are keeping watch of the trail, interpreting the bumps, variations, shadows and light. The frontal lobe is as much under load as my quadriceps are as I seek to retain a regular rhythm of strong low-cadence pedalling in a tough gear up the steep inclines.
The best thing about Nature is, you just never know. It is the one thing in life that will continue to keep you guessing, keep you on your toes, and remind you that it’s the unpredictable factor that makes it so wonderful.
Throw expectations out the window, beef up the spectrum on your randomiser, forget about stable plans and their false sense of security, and stride forth with the absolute confidence that anything but your plans can happen.
Why is it that effort amplifies the taste?
The sweetness of concurring that burly long climb up into the mythical mountain tops, all the while our legs tramping and persisting with the heavy load. Or immersing into the pleasure of swimming underneath the blue mystical sea, playing with the deep-DNA urge of the body compelling us to rise to the surface and breathe.
They’re not tortures of the spirit, they’re choices to embark unto a passage into the mind and body that perhaps we wouldn’t otherwise desire…
On a cool and cloudy summer’s day, we ventured to Portsea beach located in the Mediterranean-esque Mornington Peninsula, about 1.5hrs drive from Melbourne.
Swan’s Feather – Underwater Dance by Jacinta Christos
Calm sea conditions greeted us, with the cool 18-19c waters proving brisk to a minimum of underwater adventure clothing and mostly bare skin in contact with the salty Port Phillip Bay waters. View the video and read more…
Hair swaying like fronds of kelp and mermaid tails that fin like the fish that curiously watch them. This is the beauty of a mermaid photoshoot in the sun drenched coastal rockpools of the Mornington Peninsula on the south-eastern coast of Australia.
On this sunny Spring day Marianna Mermaid and Mermaid Lola immersed into the beauty that only the coast facing the Southern Ocean provides. A powerful backdrop with raw millions-years old cliffs and rock platforms that have formed with the relentless urging of the waves that surge all the way from Antarctica. It’s here that mermaids and sirens of the sea return to the ocean and reclaim their mystical powers.
How Do You Get Warm Quickly After A Cold Water Immersion?
As a professional freediving instructor and breathwork coach, I find there’s plenty to be excited and interested about when it comes to cold water immersion in the sea, plunge pools, bathing in icy river streams and the rejuvenating feelings that are so effervescent after a cold water wild swim. But something that doesn’t get much talked about is, well, what do you do once you’re out of the cold water? How do you recover after a cold water immersion? And how do you warm up quickly after a cold plunge? Here’s the answer to how I get warm.
The voice of Southern FM's drive time radio, Craig Francis, invited Marlon Quinn to talk all things Melbourne freediving on his "Friday on My Mind" show recently. Listen in to this podcast interview and enjoy the beautiful video imagery in the background of local...
Winter Sunset Wild Swim Amongst Leatherjackets on the Mornington Peninsula
In the moments it takes to view a short video clip, magic can happen in Nature beyond our comprehension.
Imagine a time drenched in the late afternoon light of the low-setting sun, immersed in the cool calm seas, bare skin alive with vigour, body suspended effortlessly moving within this free abyss.
The eternal gardens of the Great Southern Reef coastal shelves, nooks, hidden bays and exposed beaches of Bass Strait are an escape worthy of King Neptune’s proclamation. Sunny Spring days in September in the cool waters of the Mornington Peninsula backbeaches when the swell is low and the wind favourable are like nowhere else on Earth.
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