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The morning is hot and steamy. Unfamiliar smells and sounds waft in through the open veranda door. Across the water, a pair of fishermen in an outrigger canoe try their luck before the sun gets too hot. In the distance, a mountain rises dramatically in the haze, its summit capped by low cloud.
Here at the desk, it's a struggle not to be distracted by the scene outside. This is the first challenge in the experiment we're conducting over the next few days. We're asking whether it's possible to work and play at the same time and we want you to come on the journey with us.
That's why this morning's Echidna comes to you from Indonesia. We're a guest on the Viking Orion, a small ship which will take us through the Java Sea, stopping at Surabaya, Semarang and Jakarta. From there we'll visit Singapore and Kuala Lumpur before turning back through the Malacca Strait and the Gulf of Thailand on the way to Bangkok.
I'm here to gather material for a travel story for ACM's excellent travel supplement, Explore. But I also want to test a theory I've mulled over for some time - that for a lucky few, technology can unchain us from our desks and offices and set us free. We can work while travelling and have the best of both worlds.
Grey nomads have been around for decades, selling up and taking to the roads in their campervans and caravans, doing the big lap and chasing the sun, making lifelong friends along the way.
And we've all heard of digital nomads, invariably younger workers who can do the job from anywhere, as long as there's an internet connection. Until recently, that meant being on land.
Now, modern cruise ships are connected via satellite, allowing passengers to stay in touch with family and friends while they travel.
That also allows some people to keep working while they travel, like the colleague I heard about last week, who was joining video meetings from his ship in Antarctica, running the show from the most remote place on earth.
Of course, this involves challenges. Time zones mean days have to be structured around when the rest of the organisation is working. Early starts, late finishes, being on even when you're off are necessary elements of the nomadic work life. But there are rewards. Get the work done early and the sun lounge on the pool deck or armchair in the ship's library are yours.
And, really, that's no different for many remote workers, even if they're operating just a few suburbs away from head office. It might not be the sun lounge, instead the lawn that needs mowing, a footy session with the kids when they're back from school, or a stroll in the park. If their hours are flexible, it's possible to do it all.
The pandemic, technology and, more recently, the unattainability of housing have put the concept of the nine-to-five commuter workday on notice. The Harvard Business Review says younger millennials and Gen Z are giving up on "solid" aspirations like home ownership and material possessions and opting for a "liquid" way of living, one that combines work and travel. They've become nomads.
Experience, for these young workers, is more achievable than assets, which is why so many have set themselves up to work remotely in less expensive developing countries.
Here, at the other end of my working life, the prospect of working while at sea - a liquid way of life - is attractive. A shipboard routine involving a predawn start, immersion in the Australian news for an hour or two, breakfast, a stroll on the promenade deck, a few hours' writing, on the veranda or in the stateroom, time in the library or by the pool, then back to the desk, for more work. All while the world slips by at a leisurely 16 knots.
I'll never be wealthy enough to make it a permanent arrangement but a morsel is better than no taste at all. In coming days, I'll bring you along on the voyage with a brief daily postcard. But the rest of The Echidna will remain focused on our usual eclectic range of subjects.
Welcome aboard.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you ever considered adopting a nomadic lifestyle? Is the nine-to-five workday a thing of the past? If you had the means, would you spend most of your life cruising the world? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- In a rare move, the head of Australia's top science agency, Douglas Hilton, has come out to defend his organisation and science from a concerted political attack over nuclear power costs from the federal Coalition. The December-issued GenCost report from the CSIRO has come under sustained attack from the opposition, including by the leader Peter Dutton, who claimed on Tuesday that it was a "discredited report" and "not a genuine piece of work" as he claimed it does not take into account "some" costs associated with transmission and subsidies.
- An internal Labor bunfight over the annual GST carve-up has escalated as Victoria's treasurer accuses NSW of being a "welfare recipient" in response to its claims the most populous state has been short-changed. The Commonwealth Grants Commission on Tuesday announced the recommended 2024/25 GST distribution, which will see NSW and Queensland's share of the GST pool fall because rising coal royalties have put them in stronger budgetary positions.
- Rangers are searching for a dingo after a German tourist was bitten on the leg at a popular Queensland holiday spot. The man was forced to jump on the bonnet of a vehicle to get away after the bite left him with a laceration on his shin. The incident occurred while he was with three others visiting K'gari, formerly known as Fraser Island.
THEY SAID IT: "In this digital age, it doesn't really matter if you are in Canary Wharf or the Caribbean; there are opportunities waiting to be grasped by entrepreneurs." - Richard Branson
YOU SAID IT: Garry Linnell's defence of the ugly vegetable, and his dismay at the tonnes of food wasted because it lacked shelf appeal, had the burrow up in arms.
Bill writes: "Glad to see that I am not the only one who equates supermarket tomatoes with cricket balls. As an old, finally retired, cricketer I know the value of hard balls. I pick up a tomato and give it a grading - either a 10 over tomato or a 20 over tomato. Some of them would do 80 overs in a test match. Part of the problem is that supermarkets have convinced us there are no more seasons. The only relief - we have a few self-sown tiny toms which spring up every year in some old mulch in our garden. Man, they have taste."
"This is so very very true," writes Dawn. "My partner and I live in Aireys Inlet and shop as far as possible at farmers markets for all our fruit and vegetables. Their produce is far from perfect looking and we have had a lot of fun admiring the penis on the carrot etc. Its takes some getting used to eating non perfect produce but I am easily swayed by the taste factor. Isn't that what eating is about after all?"
Phil writes: "The supermarkets only buy good looking veggies and fruit because that's all they can sell. Shoppers choose their fruit and veg and leave the ones they don't like. The supermarkets save money by not having to throw them away. It's our own vicious circle. Growers need to find alternative uses for the produce that's rejected. Processing, canning, pickling or go bust. It's a business like any other."
"I have often bought ugly fruit and vegetables and I do grow what I can in our tropical climate as it is so much tastier," writes Murray. "I have the satisfaction of knowing it is fresh and has not had any poisons or chemicals used to produce it, so much healthier. The general public should definitely be better educated about where our food comes from and the difficulties faced by producers, starting with young children through our education system."
Linda writes: "I recently started growing my own vegetables. I now have a renewed appreciation for any farmer attempting to navigate Colesworth dictates on uniformity of size, flavour, skin tone, etc. My recent harvest of organic heritage pickling onions produced a delicious crop ranging in size from mango-esque to marble! I am also now more attuned to the range and quantity of soil improvers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers, genetic manipulation, water and, of course, labour, which must have been input to produce these supermarket interpretations of our beloved fruit and vegetables. Maybe it is time to introduce some 'truth in labelling' for all fresh produce so we can make informed choices on our purchases. The Uglies may yet have their day!"
"I would happily patronise a supermarket whose shelves were filled exclusively with ugly products from the grower," writes Anita. "Why leave it at that? The store could include all the cast off, end-of-line cakes and pastries, sweets and dairy, deemed not-quite right by quality control. The sky's the limit!"
Kay, who lives near Ballarat, writes: "I buy ugly vegetables regularly. They taste the same as the beautiful ones, but are cheaper. It is a problem, though, because they only come in a big bag, and this is often too big for just two people to eat before the veggies start getting old."
"Yes I buy the ugly fruit and veg because it still tastes good," writes Therese. "I grow as much as I can. There's nothing quite like picking a warm, juicy tomato from the vine and munching on it out in the garden."
Four decades in the media, working in print and television. Formerly editor of the South Coast Register and Milton Ulladulla Times. Based on the South Coast of NSW.
Four decades in the media, working in print and television. Formerly editor of the South Coast Register and Milton Ulladulla Times. Based on the South Coast of NSW.
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