GO OVER THE TOP
and the Salt Lake Sunset Snooker Tournament.
Earlier this year I sent the Fitzroy Thumper group chat another one of my stupid harebrained ideas that was scribbled down on a work note pad. It was probably again at some inappropriate time of night whilst I laid awake, counting down the minutes before another call at the busy South Melbourne fire station.
For some reason, I’m never satisfied with just a “camping trip” and I am forever trying to make something more than what it needs to be, forever going over the top. I’ve always done this and I don’t know why. I am aware of it and even though sometimes its a bit of extra work, I always love it.
After the success of the Big Desert Tiki Bar trip and the “Annual Rally” with extended friends, I’d come up with the next idea for the group of us - dragging a pool table with us to the upcoming sand dunes trip in Beachport-Robe. We love playing pool at the pub, why not play in the middle of a salt lake next to where we are camping?
It always seems pretty simple once the idea is in my head. Usually once I come up with an idea Mack will design it, Elton will build it and Brook makes it look ten times better that it is with his camera, or something like that. It’s pretty solid team work over here at the Thumpers HQ with Mitch and Rick jumping in on the grunt work as well.
With life getting busier for what seems to be every one of my friends at the moment - kids, homes, careers etc - regular trips are getting a little harder to pull off these days. I was a little hesitant to add any barrier to entry to this one, trying to be more aware that sometimes just going away for a good catch up with your buddies is all a bloke needs these days, but I decided to send it through to the boys anyway.
As per usual, the idea was met with nothing laughs and gusto and the planning begun.
First things first was we needed a pool table. We needed a table that was in some what good enough condition that we could not only use it but actually enjoy it. Foldable or easy to deconstruct for transport was preferable and it would be really, really nice if it was free.
Ideally it had green felt and the table would look nice enough that it could be at home in a pub. Needing cues, balls and a triangle as well I began to trawl Facebook marketplace, realising quickly we were going to have to be a little less picky and lower the long list of requirements.
There are a million reasons why I very much dislike buying or selling on FB Marketplace, you are really shown the pure mongrel in people who cower behind their keyboard. What I found with this project is that there is nothing worse than when you are the buyer searching for something that is highly sought-after, who knew cheap pool tables were so popular? I think I messaged over 50 people about tables and I know the boys messaged a few too. No one really responded, the market was hot.
In the end I landed the perfect table from a guy only half an hour from my place, I did how ever have to compromise on the “free” part of the idea and copped a $200 fee for the table, but it ticked every other box, it was perfect. The bloke was a legend and he said he had as much trouble selling as I had buying, bloody marketplace.
Fitting into my trailer like a glove, this table was meant to be the one.
With our boy Richard aka Rick having a big enough trailer for the pool table and two bikes (must be very nice) the seven of us made our way Beachport for the annual trip, hoping that the September weekend would give us weather conducive to another perfect trip.
Forgetting the pool table for a second, the weekend was another huge success in itself. We had a premium camp spot and we barely saw another punter the entire weekend. With two full days of riding in the dunes and around the salt lake, we came away with zero injuries and nil breakdowns - funny how your bikes don’t break down if you look after them properly!
The weather was awesome and on the Saturday night after a great day riding, we celebrated our mate Eltons’s birthday at the pub over some shit talk and a few beers. We made a ring of fire (a bucket list item for me) and we ate well, cooking over the coals all weekend . What more could a bloke want than three full days of catching up with his mates?
Speaking to Mack, we were how discussing its hard to have a bad trip these days when we are surrounded by such great people who all share common interests. When people positively contribute to a trip, come self-sufficient and all have a bloody crack, its hard to not have a great time. I’m lucky to have a lot of friendship circles that all share the same ethos but I’m not here to just tell a story about another camping trip that went well, it would be boring and you’d be too jealous of this one.
So on top of the aforementioned weekend success, we also dragged the pool table six hours interstate to take the weekend from a 10/10 to somewhere in the 15/10 range. And it was it worth all the admin? Hell yes.
Reflecting on why I love going over the top, doing this type of thing with my friends, I think I’ve got close to figuring it out but I can’t really put my finger on it. Its hard to describe the feeling I get when thinking up or looking back at some of the cool “trip add-ons” we’ve done. Trying to put pen-to-paper, I still can nail it with words but I guess it comes down to a few things;
Pre-trip build up - I’ve mentioned this before, somewhere on this article writing experiment of mine that I always love looking forward to a trip. I think its an important part of it. Remembering my Dad say it and that he got the idea from my Gramps that looking forward to a trip - the planning, the excitement, buying your gear and supplies - its as much of the trip as the trip itself. Sure, maybe you’re just pre-paying for shit whilst your stuck at work, but if you lean into letting your imagination run a bit wild, you can let yourself in on a bit of pre-trip entertainment. Adding something like a Desert tiki-bar or a Salt lake Snooker tournament, it becomes a whole extra layer of exciting to me, especially if your group of mates buy into the idea as much as you.
Enter the group chats. Once all of your crew have bought into the idea, see your vision and then create a version of their own, the trip planning grows into an even bigger beast and this becomes something I really love to see. Having the boys send through AI images of what the trip could look like plus sending through (in this case pool table) ideas of what could be best or worse case scenario, there is plenty to give you a solid laugh as you day dream of getting away for the weekend. “Lets cook this”, “lets go there”, “I’m gonna bring this” - all the banter really pumps me up when I am day-dreaming at work.Embrace the pre-trip build up - don’t let any idea be a bad idea, run with the lot of them and add fuel to someones idea-fire by throwing in a FB marketplace lemon in the mix, “yeah and get this for it too!” - enjoy the trip before well before you’ve even left.
Enjoying the creative side of going “over the top” - As a shift-worker who is married to a hard-working entrepreneur without any kids (yet!), anyone who knows me well would not be surprised to hear it when I say I have a lot of time on my hands. My shift work is four days on, four days off with the third and fourth days of work being night shifts. Now if I happen to have quiet night shifts (which is rare working at one of Melbournes busiest fires stations) I essential can have close to six days off in an eight day block. Plenty of time for activities.
With my cherished time off, I have plenty of time to properly prepare for these types of trips. All the boring stuff is easy to take care of so my bikes are always serviced, camping gear is always cleaned and replenished. But when I have a side quest enter the mix, I get excited for a project that can enable me to use the creative of my brain.
When it came to this Snooker tournament, it was fun hunting down the right pool table and planning the logistics of the trip, but I get the biggest kick out of the totally unimportant things, the stuff that really doesn’t make a difference to the trip at all. I love getting creative with totally trivial assignments that make zero impact but bring smiles to weekend, in this case it was a trailer for one of my bikes that held both our beers and the pool cues.
The small trailer, hitching to the CRF125, held a YETI cooler, had four pool cue holders and was totally useless for anything else.
Was it essential, absolutely not. Did I get enjoyment from seeing my mates have a laugh whilst they burnt across the salt lake on it, yes. And more, I really enjoyed putting the thing together and riding around my back yard in the lead up to the trip.
Big Elto with the super non-essential bike trailer. The chaos makes the story - They always say they best stories come from the mishaps on adventures, something I totally agree with. When ever I talk about family holidays with my brother and sister, we laugh the most at what went wrong rather than remember what went right. The once in a year torrential storm hitting our family mid-safari, my sister dragging my drunk 16 year old ass home after throwing up in a tuk-tuk, Dad cracking the shits because his skis broke and he had to walk down the mountain, these are core Walker family lore and the stories surpass any other holiday tale where things went smoothly and nothing went wrong.
But here is my thought process on creating something memorable. Rather than waiting for something bad to happen, I like to take control of the narrative and go over the top with something enjoyable, bring some of that main character energy you know. Building unique adventures with something awesome and fun helps me to recall the trip in a better way than waiting for some mishap to occur, and to be honest most of the time a mishap occurs anyway so we get to double down on the stories anyway.
“Remember that time we had A5 grade Wagyu on the aus-spit” or “what about when we stayed on that cattle station after the Fink Desert race” - memories like these are all from going over the top on a trip and are what become our camp fire stories - its all from putting in extra effort. Countless times we hav decided to go further, pack heavier and bring that extra thing and every time its paid off.
Post trip when photos are shared on social media, other people see what we do and they love hearing about it. “Wait, did you actually take that pool table?”. People are engaged by something out of the ordinary and genuinely, I hope it inspired others. I personally love seeing other people do something just for the fun of it, I love hearing others stories about something wild or dumb, I get inspired to do more just for the sake of having fun.
Make some magic from something ordinary - Sometimes you just don’t need to do anything over the top. Sometimes a bit of time to switch off, relax and just hang out with friends really is enough. My wife Zo and I have a baby boy on the way, the little fella is coming in March, and even though he isn’t here yet, I am already seeing the value in winding down a little bit and making things as easy as possible.
That being said - if I can go over the top, I will. It doesn’t have to be something big and extravagant but putting in the extra effort will always be a priority to me because I get a lot out of it. I think you can make anything extra special and memorable for yourself and for others by putting in the time and effort.
Brook on his RMX250, no pool table required for a good time.
I’ve probably added too much fluff to something that really doesn’t need it, its not all that deep, but I’ll wrap up with this;
I will never regret being a bit “extra” or adding something totally unnecessary if it means seeing some joy bought to someone, especially my friends and family. I always remember my parents putting in the extra effort with my siblings and me, going over the top with any dress-up party or event we had and even if I cringed as a teenager, I love talking about it now when mum pulls out the photo albums.
I look forward to doing this type of stuff as a Dad, making sure Walksey Jnr has a ton of fun memories right from the get go. I am sure he will be begging me to do less and just let him be, sorry Son.
If you’ve got something coming up with your mates, be the guy who goes over the top. If you have done something extra lately let me know, I’m keen to see whats going on out there.
Enjoy the ride.
Walksey.
