Going bush: An unconventional path for pandemic youth
After many uninspired months, this young couple chose to go bush in search of a better lifestyle.
For Mali and Ange, two of the best people I know ❤
The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way young people think about what life should look like. After so many relentlessly changeless months, people’s mindsets have shifted about following traditional study pathways, flexibility, and work-life balance.
For twenty-year-old students Angela and Mali, this shift in mindset landed on the sport of climbing. Their love for it has taken them all the way to a new home at the top of the Blue Mountains.
When the pandemic hit, Mali and Angela were embarking on their first few weeks of university, ever. They had only scratched the surface of young adult life, and COVID-19 came and crashed the party. Their studies were forced online, their social lives fizzled out, and they started getting paid to stay at home.
Angela and Mali knew they were missing out on the classic university experience. By the end of the first lockdown, the young couple were running out of the will to stay on their pre-determined path of full-time study.
“At the end of the day, I think we both realised there was no point waiting for a ‘normal’ to return.”
The pair had just started dabbling in indoor climbing gyms before COVID hit, so during lockdown, they started going bouldering at the rocks and cliffs within their five-kilometre radius. Climbing quickly became an obsession, and a major source of enjoyment during the hardships of being locked inside.
“There’s this strange, addictive quality about climbing that we both quickly found ourselves getting sucked into,” he said. “It’s this whole-body game, which forces you to control both your physical and mental states to succeed, and there’s a real beauty in that.”
“We were laughing and dreaming one morning about how it would be cool to move up to live in The Mountains sometime,” Angela said. Any good climber knows that the Blue Mountains are the place to be for some of the best climbing spots in the country.
A few hours later, one of their friends from the UNSW Outdoors Club, which they had recently joined, messaged them. He offered them a recently vacated room in the share house he was living in, in Mount Victoria. Coincidence or otherwise, for Angela, the stars had aligned.
So, they decided to move out of their family homes, and out to the Blue Mountains. It was a major life choice, but the offer was too good to refuse.
“At the end of the day I think we both realised there was no point waiting for a “normal” to return,” said Mali. “It seemed much more natural to adapt with the changing world we were living in, not to focus on what we may have missed out on but find other ways to enjoy this part of our lives.”
Sitting right at the top of the Blue Mountains, Mount Victoria is the ideal place to live a hybrid life of adventure and normality. The mountains and valleys that surround Mali and Angela’s house hold endless places to explore, and you would never know that you’re still less than two hours from Sydney.
“The whole idea of living somewhat remotely, completely surrounded by nature was just too good to pass up,” said Angela. “I wanted to get my life back on track in terms of giving myself the time and space to do things that I wanted to do, to be happy and healthy.”
“We found a lifestyle that works perfectly for us during these years and it’s awesome,” added Mali.
Joining the UNSW Outdoors Club was the biggest propellor of Mali and Angela’s love for outdoor sports. They started climbing all around the state and going on camping and hiking trips as often as they could. Best of all, they were meeting people who shared their love for the outdoors, and had also found solace in their sports during the chaos of the pandemic.
“By not rushing through university, we can have it all.”
“Whenever Mali and I had gone camping or hiking with our friends before, there was always this complete detachment from any worries or struggles in my life, and a true connection with each other,” Angela said. Moving to Mount Victoria meant that they could feel like that pretty much all the time.
In a time of such uncertainty for young people, where freedoms were limited and “progress” was hard to make, these guys decided to make the most of the opportunity to pursue an unconventional path. What’s more is that they have found joy in it, and their once hobby is now of equal importance to them as their studies or their career progression.
The success of this venture for Mali and Angela answers the question that a lot of students have started asking in the last two years: What’s the rush to finish uni so quickly?
“By not rushing through university, we can have it all,” said Mali. “We can live in an awesome place, study the subjects we are passionate about properly, work just enough on the side, and enjoy every little moment between.”
For anyone else thinking about going bush, or making any kind of major life change, Angela has some wise words:
“Sometimes the things you want are right within reach, you just have to make the jump for it.”
REFERENCED ARTICLE — ‘Flexibility makes us happier, with 3 clear trends emerging in post-pandemic hybrid work’, The Conversation, 4 April 2022.
