Perth, Western Australia

Australia has always been geographically isolated, it's about 10 hours flight from Sydney to Hawaii, 14 hours Sydney - Los Angeles and 20 hours Sydney - London. As the wheels of the plane smoothly touch down on the runway at Perth International Airport, the inside of my head feels like the blanket I had draped over my head throughout the flight: fuzzy and cottony. But the golden rays of sunlight, bright blue skies and t-shirt weather could not have been a better welcome. A couple of hours out of the airport, and I am on my way to Perth city to meet my friend John Bourne from the Australian Parkour Association (APA).

The sun in Perth is strong and without sunglasses I'm walking around squinting - I hope that this makes me look tough although in reality my retinas are being blasted with UV Rays. I hear Spanish, Portugese, German, being spoken around me and I find out later that many Europeans have come to Perth on a working holiday visa, hoping to experience the famous Perth sunshine and beaches. The electric train whooshes into the station, cold air-conditioning and clean seats welcoming. The glistening skyscrapers of Perth rise from the horizontal sprawl of highways and suburbia.

Standing on the Perth Central Concourse, surrounded by people in t-shirts and flip flops, I get a big smile and hug from John, and with him is Fizz Hood, who's visiting from London. John was one of the earliest guys in Australia to start practising parkour and he spent several years in London training and coaching with Parkour Generations. Since then he's moved back to Australia and has been helping Matt James in Perth run the APA classes. Today the APA Perth classes will get a double dose of a woman's touch - Fizz and I will be helping out!

John leads us to the James Street Mall in the centre of Perth city,  marked by the State Library. The best way to describe the architecture of the Perth's State Library is, as the sunnier, fluoro-shirt  Australian cousin of the National Theatre in Southbank, London. But where Southbank is cloudy and the spaces dramatic, the forecourt of the State Library is a happy, blue and sunny mix of fountains, lakes, trees and grassy lawns. There's a lot that can be done at the James Street Mall, it's actually better than what I expected, with several good spots closely located within minutes of each other. Clancy, Grant and Jasmine who help out at the classes, join us. As we train, talk turns to the upcoming Instructor Training Course in Melbourne that Grant, Fizz and I will be doing:

"Hey Grant, did you get Chippa's email for instructor training the one that says meet up front the Trace Facility, 7am sharp? And no pooping, no tying your hair, no fixing your shoes?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, when I read that I got this mental image, of someone at the front at 7am, shoes off, doing a poo, pants around his ankles and fixing his hair... who does that??"

Yup, I think we're going to get along fine :)

 

2:45pm rolls around and a good-sized group of students have gathered, about 30 to 40 people, ages varying from high school students to people in their 40s. One of them, Catherine, a lady in her 30s, decided to join the classes that very day after noticing Fizz and I training before class. It's encouraging, Fizz and I agree that if we had not been training she would not have joined in, and Catherine comes for class the following week as well. I'm really happy to see a healthy number of girls joining in, all who seem to be regulars at the classes. Matt tells me that classes have been running for the last 2 years and last year, has really gained momentum with many returning and regularly attending classes.

After registration and handing out the APA green handbands that people write their name and emergency contact phone numbers on, it's class starting time: First up, warm-ups! On the lawn, we take off our shoes and barefooted, John leads us through a routine that moves our joints, neck and muscles through a  range of movements, before starting on the quadrepedal, crab, monkey and "table" movements. The students are enthusiastic, lining up, starting the exercises without hesitation and everything runs very smoothly. The group then splits into two groups, the first with first-timers, that Matt and I take, and experienced students, that John, Clancy and Fizz take.

The first-timers' group is doing really well, Matt's pleased with how well coordinated this group is and we go through basics such as how to land quietly and on the balls of our feet, as well as parkour rolls. We move to a ramp where we want to demonstrate wall runs and muscle ups, when the representative from the Council shows up to take some photos of the classes.

Unfortunately at the spot that we're at, freerunners have been using the ledge to jump to the flower beds below and the council representative is reluctant to let us continue. Matt politely explains that the classes are conducted in supervised situations and that the class knows to move aside for any pedestrians but, despite this, we move the class on to a different spot.

The following week, there's big news. During the week, John and Matt had a meeting with the representative from the management body of the James Street Mall, who can't allow the APA classes to continue at the location. However, there is a spark of hope because John and Matt can file an application with the James Street Mall Management for a parkour training area, or a parkour park around the area however this will take weeks and months. 

So this week, our mission before classes start, is to find new training spots for the class. There's a couple of places in neighbouring Northbridge which is the clubs and pubs area of Perth city. We find our way to a carpark with beautiful graffit-free grey walls nicknamed "Teflon" because of the anti-grafitti paint and yup, non-stick walls. Matt really shows his familiarity with this spot, nailing cat passes to precisions with confidence and ease. After a few precisions, I'm a casualty of Teflon's slippery walls, luckily it's not a sprain or anything serious but I'm still a little shaken up.

 

John has Grant and Matt spotting him for a cat pass to arm jump, but today's not his day either. We meet up with the rest of the group at a row of bike racks, where Fizz is doing handstands to back walkovers to handstands, over the row of bike racks. Very impressive and I save that exercise away for another day...

Back in the city, we explain the situation to the students that parkour activities are no longer allowed in the James Street Mall area and we lead the 30+ group of people to the park 10 minutes away. Warmups complete, we split up into 2 groups again, Fizz and John have gotten the scaffolding spot and Matt, Clancy and I lead the class to a rail in front of some shops. We drill forward and backwards balancing, cat balances and rail precisions, and regroup back at the park for more conditioning. The students have been given several alternative places for classes, and told to write  down their preferred areas on their green APA wristbands. While reading the responses from the students, Matt smiles and shows one reply to us:
"I will go as far as I have to for parkour"
It's a light-hearted moment in an otherwise gloomy situation. Matt and John are worried about how changing the location will affect the classes, which had up to that point, been showing steady growth in numbers. It's also a blow, to have worked for 2 years to maintain a good relationship with the council, to have to move away from the area.

 

The next day, John and Fizz pick me up to meet the rest of the group at Scarborough Beach. Outside of classes, there are several regular training sessions during the week: Tuesdays in the city and Sundays at Scarborough Beach. Fizz, Rachel, Jasmine, Tiza and Emily are off doing routes, clambering onto a 1 storey viewing platform and vaulting from the sides, and later we all climb the craggy side of another viewing platform.

As I talk to Clancy, who has been training for several years in Perth, he points out an interesting fact that many people who attend the classes don't attend the training sessions outside of APA classes, which suggests that holding classes increases the public's dependency on the APA's classes, although the APA encourages students to move on from the classes when they are ready. It is a tricky issue, I recall that in London some students from the indoor classes never venture outdoors and that it can take months  before participants in the classes "assimilate" into social jams. But overall, the APA has been doing a great job by ensuring a uniform level of training and classes throughout Australia including insurance for the volunteer instructors. In a country as geographically spread out as Australia - Perth is 3 hours flight away from Sydney or Melbourne and separated by a lot of desert in between-  Perth's APA classes have garnered a regular group of students with its consistent and focused training. I haven't trained yet with the guys in Melbourne, who founded the APA and are amongst the earliest in Australia to start training, so it will be an interesting experience for sure.

The group dynamic of the Perth crew is really close, there's a brother and sister training together and everyone gets along well as friends. A slackline is strung up and everyone gives it a go, and as the sun sets, the golden rays light up the coastline and the blue ocean. It's just one of those beautiful days with lots of good times and good friends, and everyone's listening to John telling his travel stories as the sun dips below the horizon. It's a scene that's familiar, I recall a same scene in London and it dawns upon me that, despite travelling thousands of kilometers and across continents, some people are always there no matter where you go. For example, in parkour groups, there's always the guy who always takes off his shirt (day or night), the Star Wars/manga fanatic, the leader, the old man, the girl...

I wonder when I'll see some of these people again, but with parkour people, you never know when someone will pop up in Sydney, Thailand, France, London... :) Big thank you to the Perth crew for making me feel so at home, it was awesome meeting you all.

Til next time, peace - Shi.

 The Australian Parkour Association website is www.parkour.asn.au

Julia Kuhn

  --   

German in Australia

Heyoo Holidays!

by Julia on May 11, 2010. Photos by Julia

Hi all :)

You probably don't know me, so I will introduce myself first: I'm Julia, 17 years old. I live in a small town in Germany 40miles away from Stuttgart. It's a nice and sweet place, close to grassland and forests. As I don't have any siblings I live there only with my parents. Besides going to school I spend most of my free time with friends, play Volleyball and I also did my first steps in training Parkour.

I think, I lived the normal life of a normal teenager.

Nearly one year ago I came to the decision that I needed a change.

So I decided to travel to the other side of the world: Australia. 

Down under:

With my parent's and also my school's permission I was only 3 months later on my way to Sydney. It was a long flight from Frankfurt/Germany to Sydney, Australia. Enough time to think: I was alone. In a couple of hours I would arrive in a city of 4 Million people. And all of them would speak English!

I would meet my host family. And soon I would go to high school, wear a uniform unlike in Germany. I could go to the beach after school with my new Australian friends or hang out with one of my host siblings! That was all I wished for: Something totally new and exciting.

22 hours later I got off the plane with mixed feelings. Sure, I was looking forward to my new life. I mean, an adventure was exactly what I wanted. Yet it was a bit frightening to know that you're over 10 000 miles away from everything you were used to. However there wasn't much time for doubts:  A taxi picked me up at Sydney airport. It was around 6 o'clock in the morning when I arrived in Collaroy, Northern Beaches in front of my new home, where my host mum was already expecting me... 

Everything that I was worried about was for nothing. I had a lovely family, who did everything to make me feel home for the 6 months of my Australia exchange. My host siblings made sure that there was no time to get homesick.

I had one week until school started during which they showed my new home to me. We did trips to the beach, to Manly, to the Blue Mountains and went shopping, so that I could get some warm clothes. Come on, it was mid July and I needed to buy a jumper! I mean - it's Australia. It's never cold in Australia! Well, that was what I thought. Now I know it better - you don't have snow there, and also temperatures of minus degrees celsius like Germans have here in winter, is unusual. But still it can be cold in Australia especially because the houses are so very insulated (sarcasm! ;) ) that you had better sleep on a electric heated blanket at night.

However, by the time I got used to the "cold" I've already felt at home in Australia. Speaking English still wasn't easy, but it got easier. I stopped thinking about what I was about to say and whether it was right or not. I just talked - and hoped that the people understood.

Everything got into routine - tough one that was still so different from my life in Germany that it was still special.

5 days a week I got up at 8ish and put on my uniform (no need to worry about what to wear - such an easy start into the new day). I went to the bus station only a two minutes walk away. I learnt to signal the bus driver that I want to hop on the bus, to say "Hi" when I got on the bus and to say "thanks" when I got off the bus - things you simply don't do from where I come from.

10 Minutes later I arrived at Narrabeen Sports High School. Especially school was quite different from what I was used to: In Germany school starts at 7.30am, we have up to 13 subjects, one period only lasts 45 minutes. But in Australia school started at 8.50 in the morning, I only had to choose five subjects and the duration of a period varied.

It became normal to come home and not being the only one there with your parents - but with three siblings. It's true: When you're not the only child you argue with your siblings, you have to fight for the parent's attention and you have to miss out on things. Yet having someone you can always rely on was making these things quite worth it.

And also I noticed that parents with more children are kind of more relaxed with what their kids are allowed to do and what they aren't allowed to do. At least that was what it was like with my host mom - We had a very friendly relationship so I have been very independent, way more than ever before. I had to look for myself (no one who chaperoned me YAY!:) ) - and I also could organize my day as I wanted to.

That means that we ended up rocking up to the beach after school most times and we spent all afternoon there. At my school were a couple of German exchange students and all of them including me fell in love with the beach and the ocean right away.

Those of you who live close to the beach should really appreciate it because in Germany I have to drive for a couple of hours to get to the next beach. And you should also appreciate banana bread and TimTams and pies! :D (such delicious food that we don't have in Germany ) 

However after hanging out at the beach and eating all that yummy food and candy I realised it's time to do some sport. I've heard of Parkour Sydney and that they were running classes. Actually a great opportunity… But honestly, I was worried first. I can't exactly remember why, but I'm sure I was. Maybe because I was afraid of making a fool of myself. I had no idea what training and classes were like in Sydney and also I haven't been training for a while…

But I definitely didn't want to do without all the yummy food so I decided to give it a go. I googled Parkour Sydney (thank god for the internet) and voilà their homepage popped up with all the information I needed. (http://www.sydneyparkour.com ) Classes run every Sunday from 1.45pm to 4pm. Meeting point at a place called Pyrmont Point Park somerwhere by Darling Harbour…

Back into training

By the following Sunday I hopped on the bus and made my way to the city. Although I've been in Australia for over one month then, the view of the City was still impressive. Its skyline, its skyscrapers, its streets loaded with so much traffic and so many people. Thanks to the help of others I somehow made it to Pyrmont Point Park.

There were heaps of people when I got there. Pyrmont Point Park is just next to the wharf. You can do BBQs there, as well as several sports on the big grassland or just hang out. And among those normal dressed people I found a bunch of people all wearing track pants and sneakers. (Luckily it's so easy to recognize Traceurs)

As I had assumed, there were almost only guys - not a big surprise. It's the same in Germany.

The next steps were new to me though: Everyone who attended class for the first time, needed to fill in a paper in which you had to confirm that you participate on your own responsibility. You also have to pay $10 and you get a wristband on which you have to write an emergency number every time you come to class.

I can talk about the workshops that are run in Stuttgart and Frankfurt only but these are still for free and it's all, let's say… less organized. But probably it would change if we had something comparable to the Australian Parkour Association.

Everything else was similar to the classes in Germany. You were split into groups of different level. Every group had their instructors. Then you warmed up, trained at different spots with different techniques and the best is yet to come: conditioning and cool down at the end. It was a hard workout for about two hours and I can remember the soreness the day after all too well. But all the effort was absolutely worth it. I noticed that I missed training quite a bit. So it became a habit to go to class every Sunday and also to stay after class for training or to catch up earlier or during the week. It was easy to get back into training, with all the support of the others.

So living Down Under changed a bit. The relaxed "hanging out at the beach"-everyday life turned into training, rock climbing, playing tag in trees, rock jumping, flipping at the beach and so on.

Some of the guys almost trained daily, which means there was always something happening. However some of the training sessions were kinda different to what I was used to or were different to the way I trained at home on my own. I learnt a lot - and I'm not talking about progression only, but about what Parkour really is. I've never really cared about the history and philosophy of Parkour. Some people say Parkour is a sport, others see an attitude of life in it. Some say it isn't something in that you compare, while others participate in Parkour competitions. That's all ok. They say Parkour doesn't have any limits, so everyone should live Parkour as they want to.

But if I had known earlier all the things I experienced about training and philosophy just then, I wouldn't have been doubtful about going to class at the beginning. I wouldn't have cared of the others expectations or wouldn't have mistrusted my skills. Now I know that Parkour is so much more than doing the longest precision.

One of the Parkour Sydney guys said something similar once: it is not the lengths of your jump that makes you the best, but your attitude and your mentality. And I remember many situations that proved these words true.

Once we played tag in class. There was a low triangle wall, with a palm a couple of metres behind. One student always was chased by an instructor. The student started first, only a moment later the instructor. You had to overcome the wall, get around the palm tree and back over the wall without being tagged by the instructor. There was no time to think whether the right food was in front when you do a split foot cat pass - no time to think at all. If you didn't want to do push ups, you simply had to be fast. It was the same when playing tag in a tree: you had to move fast and you only had very little time to think - but one wrong step meant falling down. That's when I learnt that it isn't important how to overcome an obstacle, as long as you are able to get over it in some way and as long as your body is able to react fast and correct in every situation.

Another big event was the cliff jump somewhere in Sutherland's National Park. It was quite a high one - like REALLY high. I knew people did it before and they were fine afterwards. I knew there was deep water below and if I just jump into it straight nothing could happen.

But in some situations I absolutely am a coward :P

Like when I wanted to do the wharf jump: It was too long for a standing precision but I knew I could do it easily by running. Though I knew that this beam out there above the sea was only one food long - which means if I'd jump too long or too short I would have to swim back to landside and if I only landed on the edge or slipped off I could be injured too… It was the same situation as on the cliff: I knew I actually could do it but I was afraid.

Earlier I said I wasn't sure whether I should go to class first. I think one reason for it was that I was unconfident.

I think if you see people training and progressing, while you're unconfident about doing something, it kind of puts pressure on oneself and makes training less fun.

These situations taught me a lesson about mentality, which might also helps girls who sometimes feel the same way as I did.