The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust
Where does your wanderlust lead you?
To Melbourne’s cafes or the vast deserts of the Empty Quarter, a New Zealand vineyard or the pavements of New York… what’s your neighbourhood?
Join travel journalists and editors Kirstie Bedford and Belinda Jackson for inspiring stories and inside information from across the world.
Website https://theworldawaits.au
Instagram @theworldawaitspodcast
Support us https://ko-fi.com/theworldawaits (thank you!)
The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust
EP 126 Summer Series: The Tropics Episode from fining your Zen in Tahiti to Papua New Guinea with musician David Bridie
Merry Christmas to you all and welcome back to our Summer Series!
This week, we're talking tropics, taking you to Tahiti and Papua New Guinea.
Co-host Kirstie Bedford talks about attending Tahiti's first annual yoga festival – a chance to find her Zen and connect with culture in this tropical paradise. Listen to festival founder Rani Chaves talk about what makes Tahiti such a unique destination for a yoga festival, and how yoga can be so healing, and you'll hear from leading international yoga teacher and instructor Elka Haeckel about how what you do on the mat can transform your entire mindset.
In our second interview, 4km from Australia, PNG is our closest, and also our least explored neighbour. Australian musician and composer David Bridie talks about his connection with PNG, which spans four decades. A founding member of Not Drowning, Waving, David first visited PNG in 1986; he is now an initiated Tolai man, returning more than 40 times, for work and to visit friends who've become family in Rabaul, Bougainville and Manus Island, as documented in the film Abebe; see davidbridie.com
Visit us at https://theworldawaits.au
Welcome to the World Away. Travel tales to inspire your wonderlust. Hi there, I'm your host of The World Await, Svell Jackson, and welcome back to our Sover series. A very, very Merry Christmas to anyone who has decided to have a little taste of the tropics this year on Christmas Day. And for those listening on playback, Merry Christmas, or maybe even a happy new year to you. This week, as I said, we are all about the tropics. So we're taking you to Tahiti and then for a complete change of scene into the wilds of Papu New Guinea with Australian musician David Riding. Kicking off this episode is my co-host Kirsi Bedford, who's talking about her recent trip to Tahiti, where she attended the country's first annual yoga festival. A chance to find her then and connect with culture in this tropical paradise. You'll also hear founder of the festival Rani Shaves, to talk about what makes Tahiti such a unique destination for a yoga festival, and leading yoga teacher and instructor Elka Heckel about how and what you need to do on the map to transform your entire mindset.
SPEAKER_02:This week we're talking Tahiti. So just a matter of weeks ago, I was in Tahiti for the first international yoga festival being held on this stunning tropical paradise. The festival was organized by Rani Shays. Now she was in the corporate world and threw it all in for a more meaningful life. So she's originally from Tahiti and she splits her time between Tahiti and the US. And she was gonna hold the festival uh in Tahiti a few years ago, and then um the pandemic hit. So it's taken her about five years to get it off the ground.
SPEAKER_06:That is absolute dedication. I love stories like these. So let's start with um telling us how you get from Tahiti, uh sorry, get to Tahiti from Australia.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she's got a great story. I mean, she was very senior in the corporate world and both uh in the travel industry before she um decided to yeah, to to just give it all up for wellness. So I started my journey in Melbourne on Qantas, which has a code share partnership with Air Tahiti Nui, and you fly via Auckland to Papaisi on Air Tahiti Nui, and I flew on the new um Mirvana uh premium class, which was created because the airline wanted to it sort of enhanced that offering. So it already had a premium um class, but it's actually enhanced it and renamed it. And this new um premium class means that you get uh security check-in lane. Oh my god, who doesn't want that? And priority boarding. And you can shop up large too, because you get two 23 kilo bags, but not that you'll have time because you'd be doing all the other amazing stuff there is on the island. You also get champagne and there's multiple meal options and cute little amenities like bamboo socks and a bamboo eye mask and a toothbrush and earplugs. I always forget to take a toothbrush in my carry-on, and I think it's such a great thing to have when you're particularly if you're doing like this uh route from uh Australia where you're going via Auckland, because you know, you can just stop and when you hop off to do to do the transfer, you just you know, you can freshen up a little bit. And there are only 35 seats, super comfortable seats, I I might also add. Uh and I did write a review about it if you want to read a bit more on that, which we'll put a link in the show notes on um on carry on.
SPEAKER_06:So tell us about this world first festival for Tahiti. So where whereabouts exactly was it? And and how many days did it go for?
SPEAKER_02:It it So the festival ran over three days, and it's held at the Tahiti by Pearl Resorts, which is actually on a black sand beach on the east coast. So the west coast has the white sand beaches and the east coast has black sand beaches. Such a stunning location. I mean, you know, just picture sort of um this beautiful five-star resort with a gorgeous garden and ocean backdrop and palms, swaying palms and um, yeah, beautiful uh black sand, um, black sand beach. So it was just yeah, it was a great location for a for a festival like that.
SPEAKER_06:It just doesn't uh yeah, the black sand thing always weirds me out a bit, but um let's get into the yoga. So what sort of sessions did you do? I mean, I do love a do love a bit of yoga, and I know you do as well. So let's let's tell us about the sessions in the festival. Yeah, love yoga.
SPEAKER_02:So um there were lots of yoga sessions, but it wasn't just about yoga. There were actually, it was, you know, really diverse in the offering. So um each day they have, and you can do this again, obviously. This is an annual festival, which is why we're talking about it, because you can do it next year. It's gonna be in November 2026. So there are two sessions running at um each time so you can choose what ones you want to do. So for instance, um one session might be on one day, might be at say 11 o'clock or something, might be activating your inner warrior. So you're thrusting your arms about, making whatever noise you feel you need to, because it's all about having no inhibitions. So freeing yourself and like Rani says, it's about peeling back the layers. So it's about not being, you know, just just letting go and and letting go of and letting go physically and mentally, because then you're just letting go of the anything that's worrying you at the time. So and not being conscious and worried so much about what anyone around you is thinking. And I really got that strongly, that vibe from the festival. It was so nice. It was just everyone was very just there to for self-love, you know, and and to get a sense of of their own being and and and freeing themselves up. And so that really came across really strongly. So there might be a session like that at one stage, and then at the same time, in a different room or in the garden, there might be something about sort of um, you know, a breathing workshop or a cultural workshop. So I did one cultural workshop shop that I did was with a tiny mail at staff from Ta'ati Fanoua, who has so he had a he runs cultural workshops through his uh organization, and he has had a table of bamboo flutes in front of him in the garden, and they're called vivo, and they're played by the nose. And he said these specific types of flutes are only played by the nose here in French Polynesia, and it's really important to him that his culture stays alive because it's a traditional culture that's otherwise going to be lost. So um it was really interesting because he told us that the air that comes out of your nose cannot lie, curse, and blame. And this is why they play the instrument with the nose at sacred ceremonies, because it's the purest air of your body. And oh my gosh, it was tough like playing that trying to play that flute with the nose. You would have found it quite hilarious watching me. Um, but uh he he just played the most beautiful Belle's cracking up laughing with her visions of me with a flute on my nose. Um but he did it so beautifully, and um yeah, and so for Rani, incorporating culture is just really vitally important into the festival because you know, she said obviously the Tahidan culture is so sacred. Um, and for me, coming from Australia, you know, it added so much value to my experience because it's it's not only you learning about these traditions that would otherwise be lost, these really important cultural traditions, but it's about back to being mindful. So you're sitting and you're learning and you're taking in these beautiful scenery and this beautiful environment, and you're actually focusing on something, you know, mindful and learning something and a craft, which is so good for your wellness and your well-being. So it's a perfect fit to be at a yoga festival. Um, and while I was there, I actually sat down with Rani and Elka, who is a yoga instructor and a teacher and a life coach. You have to look her up. It's Elka Yoga. She is remarkable. She plays some states. Um, and we had a really good chat about why yoga is so important for your well-being, why, you know, Rani decided to hold this festival in Tahiti and why it was so important to her to do it there. And some things that you can do and that you can learn and take home from this festival because Charani, that's what it's all about. It's about having things to learn that you can also take home. So take a listen. So, Rani, tell us a bit about why you wanted to start the Tahiti's very first yoga festival.
SPEAKER_04:Um, you know, I've attended a few yoga festivals the past few years, and there was there was so much transformation happening with all the different classes and conferences we're attending. And um, I had organized one TDYA festival in 2020, and everything was ready to go, but then COVID happened, so it never saw the day. And after that, I never really you know had the strength to like pick it up again and and redo everything. So it's it's it's been five years since the first one. And this time was different. I mean, it was just it felt really I had grown as well, and and also with everything that is happening in the world, it felt like we needed that space here in Tahiti. Um, we needed to connect people in a different way, you know, through something more, you know, mindful, joyful, um, and also reconnect people to the culture, to the sacredness of life and to the essence of life. And and that was the whole thing behind it. It's just like we need a space where we can all come and surrender and just be and just flow and not think.
SPEAKER_02:And were you surprised um at you know the response to it? Because for me, it was so much more than a festival. It for me it was such a really moving, emotive, um, sort of sort of journey about self and well-being. Did you find that that is that sort of the response that you've been getting?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and and that's what we wanted to create. We wanted to create this this sanctuary where you can just come and be and and drop all the layers and drop, you know, all the masks and all the responsibilities and really like be with yourself and be with others. Um, and so yeah, it it it it the aim was to make something like really experiential, not about just yoga, but also about our heritage as Polynesians, because there is a beautiful heritage here in the islands, and the wisdom that we have here from our ancestors really, you know, is connected to all the different ancient civilizations as well and the way they were doing things and thinking and and being in harmony with nature and with one another. So that was the idea as well, was really bringing the collective together, but for everyone to be able to go within and find something, you know, like find that treasure, basically.
SPEAKER_01:Amazing.
SPEAKER_02:And and do you think that that, you know, the the differentiation factor for for Tahiti and and one and one of the differentiation factors of doing yoga here is one, obviously, this beautiful, exceptional, um stunning environment that we're that we're in, but also, like you said, the cultural immersion and also learning about these traditions that would otherwise be lost, which is something that I found really valuable when I was here.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, because you know what we all often think of yoga as just like you know, what we do on the mat or in a in a in a studio. Um, but but to me, yoga is you know what you find in just you know, like admiring a sunset or watching the sunrise or here, like you know, seeing the moon rise behind the mountains. And the culture here is so rich. And it's really it has this very sacred aspect and the reverence for life and nature that that we have kind of lost a little bit in our you know, in our modern world. And um, so it was important to integrate all these elements together because I I think like yoga is also teaching us how to go back to our roots, to our origins, and and clearing what needs to be cleared as well, so that we are better human beings, so that we bring more light to the world, and so that we also, you know, by healing our wounds, we we heal other generations' wounds as well. And so that makes us, you know, better people, more people that are more aware, self-aware, and also more mindful of what is going on in our lives and around us.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. And it was remarkable how many people were here from all over the world. Was that something that you were hoping to achieve?
SPEAKER_04:So, yeah, it was the original idea, but of course, you know, um, it was bringing everyone here, but meeting like, you know, locals, meeting the world as well, you know, through all these different um um sharing and and meetings and encounters. And I think it brings a lot of of richness to to a space when you have people coming from all different you know walks of life, but also different countries.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, amazing. And Alke, you you've been one of the really important presenters here and and uh and are very, very experienced. Tell us a bit about um your experience in the industry and also you you explained when you were doing your presentation about uh the the meaning of yoga and and the significance of it. And I felt that when you did that during that presentation, that was a really powerful point and a valid point about the reason why, really, that we do yoga in the first place.
SPEAKER_03:Well, yes, um, thank you for you know taking the class and notice that because I think that's one of kind of my job as a yoga teacher, as a lot of yoga teachers, to actually teach what the knowledge is behind the experience. Being this festival, what Rani has put in together uh has been very profound to me because this is the festival that she brought so much, like she said, so much culture into it was very intimate, the connection. And I feel very blessed and grateful to be part of this experience. Like you said, there were people from all over the world, and I think that was her intention from the beginning to bring this union of culture and also share with people not only yoga, but what actually community is about, connection is about, and especially what's happening in the world. We need more of this connection, equanimity. So I feel like being part of this festival, it's really such a profound experience, and hopefully that everyone can do something like this in their lives.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. And tell us a bit about you would you're explaining sort of the the real meaning of of yoga and and what and what it means. Tell us those four things that you were mentioning because I thought that was such an interesting concept.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I've been in this yoga wellness and teaching for 25 years from now. Uh, and like I said, one of the things for me is to not teach people the asanas which are deposed, not teach people about the breath is what the experience is about. What makes yoga such a profound is that you don't need to believe in anything. It doesn't require your mind to actually to understand, to believe, to even to know what is this about. It requires your experience so you feel it, right? You come to yoga because it feels good. That's good enough. But you keep coming back for a reason, you keep showing back for a reason, right? Something that's happening. I never met anybody that goes to yoga and said, I wish I'd had not gone to yoga. You might drag yourself into it because it requires sometimes a motivation, but once you go inside, oh, I feel so good. But what's happening actually, when you understand the knowledge behind the experience, there's more value every time you show up in your mat. And that's what becomes such a profound practice that you want to do it over and over again and apply it to your life. So the principles of yoga that I share in my class is that they are these clouds. So we call these in Sanskrit avidaya, which are misperceptions, things that we cannot see. But the problem is that how you know when you are in the cloud state? How do you know that you're not in a place of clarity? So your words, your thoughts, and action can come from a place of certainty and not cloudness. So yoga teach us very for basic, but very challenging. It's just like, but that is so simple. But we're gonna see yourself every day in those layers that's gonna show up in your life and show up in your mat. The first one is the ego. So every time that you have that sense, I am right, defensive, right? Like I know I am right, and you wanna be defensive, you also feel in your body. Your body is this incredible instrument that allows you to feel, which is right, in your gut, in your solar plexus, right? So you feel here, uh, I wanna defense myself. So that's the first layer that tells you already you are in a cloud state. The second one is attachment. We want things not because we needed, but maybe because it was pleasurable for us yesterday. We tended to cling to things to people. So that's the second layer that you can also know that you're in a cloud state. The third one is aversion. Aversion is something that you are close-minded. You've never been there, you never experience, you just not even want to try. The fourth one, which kind of goes a little bit with aversion, but that's fear. Fear to take your risk, fear to believe in yourself, or maybe you already been there, you got hurt, and you're gonna close yourself again, and you just don't want to do it again. That's it. That's very simple, but those are the four principles of yoga. And why it makes such profound when you come into your mat. Your mat, it's like your canva. Everything that is happening in your mat, that means the way you breathe, the way you feel, the way you move, the way that you think, the way that you actually experience is the way you are off the mat. So you start applying this knowledge into your life. So you have what? More certainty, more clarity, and that's how you start unfolding those layers that start to help you to be more present and you are present. The probability for you to make a mistake will be zero because there is no no like trigger sensations anymore in your body. You are relaxed, so you are very clear, which in Sanskrit called Vidaya, which is the opposite of it. So therefore, you start to become a little better, not perfect, because that's not the message of life, but better than yesterday, and then years from now, I'm assure you like wow, I'm so much better. This doesn't this situation won't trigger me anymore. And that's when when you go and show up to your match to our practice in yoga, there is this value that you actually start taking to your life. And imagine if everybody started doing this, what would be the world?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, yeah, true. And and and you know, we put so much pressure today on things like, oh, you know, I have to find my purpose, I have to like, you know, how can I be of service to the world? But we we put a lot of pressure and instead of just surrendering to what is, sometimes, you know, we we just want to, you know, project so much that in the end it you know, we're we stay stuck in that ego of like, oh why I, I, I, I, I. But um, and and it's true, yoga is teaching us how to actually be better connected to everything that is going on without actually being caught into it, you know, and and just keeping that that space between us and everything that is happening and having the clarity to say, like, oh wait, you know, what you're doing right here is not right. You're into that state of of ego or you know, aversion over or of attachment, and it's it's learning at that self-mastery in the end of like, okay, this is happening and I can see it, but I can distance myself from it and come back to a space where it is, you know, there's no attachment or no ego, and you know, or no none of these things. And yoga is just amazing with that, it gives so much clarity and it teaches us really how to be self aware.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I love that. And then you think about so what is really that we start feeling it your body. Nobody knows where your mind is, and I mentioned this. In class, your mind is where your attention is. So, what do we do? We teach techniques. Techniques constantly, the teachers say inhale, exhale. Inhale, bring your arms out. Bring your gaze to the middle finger of your right hand. That's your mind goes right there. Take a deep breath in, relax your jaw. These are all techniques to help you to stay present. And how how you stay present? With the feeling, sensations in your body. That's why it doesn't require your mind, require your experience. Are you breathing? Are you become aware of the sensations in your body, right? So we also have the senses. The senses is a good communicator for you before you do anything. And that's the greatest teaching, and I don't think all of yoga of any spiritual teaching in general, the teaching of the art of non-reaction. And that's when we take these powerful tools that we have into the yoga can be one of them, but helps you to stay more mindful. Imagine if you take a breath before you say anything. Yeah. Noticing when you say anything, there is no breath. Like and sometimes like, relax, take a deep breath. Even like we we already do this, right? We you don't have to even be in a yoga world. It's something that it's instinctively that you know the power of the breath. That I thought also the breath work, it can actually really shift your entire nervous system because allows you to stay more relaxed. So I think yoga has become more and more popular because it's an experience. Regardless of you believe it or not. The same with breath work is a technique. You don't need to believe in anything. I'll teach you, will show you, you feel it, and then you're like, holy mold, this thing works.
SPEAKER_02:And and amazing, and amazingly, I mean, just even after a few days, I can feel that that works, like that feeling of presence and more clarity and calm. Um, yeah, just even after so people can do it just, you know, obviously just for a for a day or two. So so we're back again next year, Arnie?
SPEAKER_04:Uh yes.
SPEAKER_02:You heard it here verse on the world away.
SPEAKER_04:That's right. No, it is amazing. And you know, I think we don't realize that like we think, oh, it's a weekend, and then I go back to my life and everything is the same, but it's it cannot be the same because you have shifted a lot during the weekend because you're fully immersed. I mean, the whole day you go through like meditation and breath work and cultural experiences that also have so much wisdom, and it it shifts a lot within, you know, sound sound healing and all this. So it all works together to create like, I mean, it's really shuffling everything in your in your system. And then, you know, you finish the weekend and feel like, oh wow, you know, what happened? But it stays with you, you know, and and it's going to keep, you know, unfolding things, you know, for for weeks, for months, maybe. And the idea is also for everyone to be able to take something home. You know, as as Elka mentions, this just techniques, but there's a lot of different things, you know, all these rituals of like, you know, self-love and applying this, you know, self-massage and you know, these little rituals you can do with flowers and plants, um, how you know how you breathe, how you express yourself, how you your voice has the power to really change something within you as well. So all of that, if you apply it to the to your daily life, and we're not saying, you know, oh, yeah, go and you know, stay in a cave for like a whole day and do nothing and meditate. That's not the thing. We live in a modern world and we have to deal with everything that is in our modern world. But you can retreat for five minutes, ten minutes. You know, you can go to bed and lay in bed. Like, okay, I'm going to breathe now. Inhale, you know, on count of three and exhale on a cat of six to really relax the nervous system. So it's a lot of different tools and these amazing technologies that we have. And our, you know, like our parents or grandparents, they didn't have these tools. You know, they didn't know. And so we do have the tools now, and so we are able to apply it in our daily lives. And then it is, do we want to do it or not? Where do we want to put our attention and our focus and our energy? And as we say in your gang, you know, where your where your attention goes, your energy goes. So if you're always in the mind and looking at, you know, like your phone or listening to the news and things like that, you're not you're not present, you know, and you just work as like automatic pilot. So it is coming back to this state of like being conscious, being intentional with everything we do. And it doesn't require us to be like a saint or a yogi or anything like that. It's just us as humans, we're here to experience this life with all its its gifts and its challenges, but always doing it in a way that is like you know, finding the gifts in everything, even in in very difficult times. Because I mean, to be honest, like this festival is a miracle because I mean everything was so challenging to put it together. Everything, like there were so many different things. And at one point it was like, okay, maybe we're not meant to do it, but something happened, it's like, no, we need light, we need joy, we need the you know, we need to bring people together because we need to be able to surrender together, to breathe together, to to cry, love, sing, dance together. And spaces like that are powerful in that way because we all support each other. And you know, like teachers like you know, Elka, I mean, I'm so grateful and so blessed that she's she's been with us. Um, we've been very intentional with the teachers and guides we have invited at the festival to because they all embody what they teach. It's very easy today to walk around and say, I'll do this and that, but are you actually embodying it? Is it what you are actually about? And that was important to us. We really wanted something very genuine, very authentic, and that is what we actually created, thanks to all the guides that we have invited. And we say, Okay, let's create this together. And all of the offerings we had is not something you find in a yoga studio or on an online training. Everything was crafted and curated for the festival to make it really special. And sometimes we think, oh, it's gonna be the first one. Oh, it's gonna be so messy. Let, you know, let's wait for the next one. But to me, first ones are always so beautiful because it's the first vision, the first seed you plant, and it's so precious. And then it can only grow in in such a beautiful way, you know, and it doesn't have to be perfect. You know, one of my teachers, like, oh, if you're perfect, you're dead. But it is about being alive, being vibrant, and I think that's what we could find throughout this weekend is that that you know, that that aliveness in the culture, in the wisdom, and in every guide that help us create that space.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, oh my gosh, I certainly felt that. Absolutely. So uh thank you so much for your time, and um, it's been so great chatting with you both. And I hope to see you again next year.
SPEAKER_06:I love that because yeah, I I love that you can hear the passion that comes through. And I hadn't really thought about yoga in that way and how there's so much power in transforming the way that you think and feel. So while you were in Tahiti, was there anything else that you did that you think is an absolute must do?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so this one you cannot miss if you go to Tahiti. Put this one on your to-do list for sure. So there's a 40-kilometer four-wheel drive tour that you do with uh, I did it with Tamana Sahiti Tours, and it takes you right through the center of Tahiti. So you literally go from um Pabino in the north to Matsai in the south, and you so you go from the very north to the very south, straight down the middle of the island. This is a remarkable experience, but be warned. I mean, I was white-knuckled gripping that four-wheel drive. Like, so we're standing on the back, right, holding the bars, and we're standing up. He could you could take your shoes off and you can just stand on the seats and you're holding onto those metal bars. And these four-wheel drives go so close to the cliff edge, and you they cliffs just clead down into a valley, and you can't even see the bottom of the valley. It's that extreme. And uh it is just sort of equally frightening and exhilarating and um beautiful, it and just such a remarkable experience. It was, it was, it is just the reward is that you know, you're surrounded by these trees and plants that are so green, they're almost luminous. And in this valley are these, is this um, because he talks a lot, the guides, about the flora. And in this valley is are this um this plant called Ape. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, APE. And it's it's basically the elephant ear. And the plants, these plants are so big that you could actually just wrap yourself in them. That's how big they are. They're like huge leaves. And um, you learn about all sorts of things about the importance of them and how all these plants are used in the ceremonies. And we stopped at a giant chestnut tree, and he he jumped out and got this big rock and started hitting the base of the tree with this giant rock. And then the sound just vibrates, this amazing sound just vibrates throughout the whole forest. And that was how he was saying the traditional mountain clan used to communicate. Um, it's just such an incredible spiritual experience. And then you also stop in it like a private little lagoon. So you're in the middle of nowhere, and you just pull up to this crystal clear, beautiful lagoon in spring, and people were clambering up the cliff face and jumping in. It was just spectacular. And when we came out onto the west side, because you go, we we you come through and then we came, they come out, they call it, you know, you come through the west and you go through this tunnel, and you came, we came out, and there was just this like clouds like like rising like steam off the top of the mountain. It felt like you were in the clouds, it was just incredible. And then going back down again, because then you're sort of venturing down um to go back to come back out to the other side, and then you drive all the way around the west side of the island back up to Papua Easy. Um, it is just spectacular, just the most beautiful scenery. Um, but yes, if you have vertigo, probably not one for you. And uh, you know, you I mean they say that all ages can do it, but I would say if you're, you know, if you've got a bad back or something, it's probably not not a great, not a great idea because you sort of, you know, it's very bumpy. It's just the um, you know, you're on, you know, a lot of it is not is not uh concreted, or most of it isn't actually. Um, and then the other little thing I would suggest to do is go to um Vima Springs. So this is uh not very big and it's quite unassuming because and it's all over socials, people, it's V-A-I-M-A this spring because it's very well known for its healing properties and really pretty. You can see it on my socials, but it's it's actually surprising because it's actually off a really busy road. So you could pull in off this road into the car park, and then all of a sudden there's this, there's just the spring, and there's lots of locals go there. And we bumped into one local woman there, and she said, I she came here there every day because the waters are so healing and she loves it. And there's a man who's there almost they were saying the people that you know, the locals that were with us, that basically there was a guy there who is there every day and he feeds the eels. So there's there are eels in there, they don't bite, they're freshwater eels. And we said to one of them, we said to one of them, do you eat the eels? And they're like, Oh my god, eels are sacred in Tahiti. You don't eat eels. And we were like, in New Zealand, you eat eels, but anyway, there you go. So um, so and I also I stayed at the Hilton, which is a stunning property in Papa Eti if you're gonna go and stay somewhere. Gorgeous property. It's got you you had breakfast on the overwater restaurant, which looks over the property's reef. So there's a reef with all this beautiful marine life and really close, say, the markets and um, yeah, and the shops, and um, yeah, so great spot.
SPEAKER_06:Kirsty, thanks so much for taking us on this magical journey to to Tahiti. I am going to invigorate my much ignored yoga practice. And if you are similarly inspired, jump on to see uh um Kirsi's fabulous socials from there and um at Kirstybites on Instagram and on the show notes to on the website or your podcast app for all the details. The 2026 Yoga Festival will be held in Tahiti from the 16th to the 18th of October, and you can find out more at Tahitiyogafest.com. Next up, I'm chatting to Australian musician and composer David Bridey, a founding member of Not Drowning Waving, about his four decades-long connection with Papu New Guinea. He is initiated into the Tolai tribe, and he tells us what to do if you are visiting the little known tropical destination. David, welcome to the show. We're so excited to have you on the World Awakes.
SPEAKER_00:It's wonderful to be here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_06:Now, I have to start off right at the top with your connections with PG. When most Australian kids were going to London or the US in the eighties for their year abroad, you went to Papua New Guinea, and I'm wondering what made you choose our closest neighbour, but also in the other sense, our most remote.
SPEAKER_00:I think, yeah, look, because it was our closest neighbour, but so different from my life in the suburbs of Melbourne. Mark Wirth was a filmmaker whose father was in the Navy in Manis Island, uh the naval base up there. So Mark spent the first 15 years of his there in Papua New Guinea. He would regale me with tales about adventures in Papua New Guinea, and that enthralled me. I thought that sounds like such a fantastic place. I even remember as a kid having a jackarander atlas, and at the back it had this section of flora and fauna from Papua New Guinea, and it just grabbed my attention as being, wow, this would be an amazing place to go. I was aware of the connection that Australia had both with the war and uh colonial history and with the Kieps, so I thought, well, that's over there, England and America can wait until later.
SPEAKER_06:How old were you when you first started travelling there and when you got off that plane? What was your first impressions of PNG?
SPEAKER_00:It was 24 when I first went to PNG and we arrived in Port Moresby and had this wild first night drinking duty-free gin on Ella Beach. Uh, and we also were staying right near there was a rugby league game. Football ground was in Barocco, so we stayed there and we that was all happening. It was a Sunday afternoon, I think. The next morning we flew up to Wewac and went and stayed at this guest house run by this extinction German man named Ralph Stuttgart, and then we went down to the Seapik River the next morning. So I was 24, this is 1986. And so, you know, my first trip overseas, I was in this village on the Seapik River within a day and a half. I was just fantastic. Lots of mosquitoes. But the river, I mean, the Seapik's this mighty, you know, it's like the Nile or the Amazon or the Mississippi. It's this big Aqua Highway, and so many villages along there, and the artwork was astonishing in these big house tamarans. I was there with a few friends, and all of us were just gawking at everything because everything was new, every smell, every sound, every visual, both in the actual world and the people and the dwellings. I was in a constant state of amazement.
SPEAKER_06:And it's also really remote, so much of it is really inaccessible now. But in the 80s as well, especially places like the Seepic River, are almost inaccessible even today. How did people receive you when you first started travelling in PNG?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, they were like Papua New Guinean people, Melanesian people in general, are really hospitable. And we were just young kids, so people were really nice. Sometimes people think it's weird. We were sleeping in these old nuns' rooms on wooden slats or on a concrete floor. It was pretty spartan and we were making it up as we went along. But I think what we found is if you stayed in a place for a little bit longer and you got to know people, the hospitality really came out. People were quite going anywhere for one night, it's kind of oh one day or something, everything's new and you're not sure what's going on and they don't know what to make for you. We were young, so and of course, you know, later on, after many, many trips, sometimes, you know, when you add more money you can stay. There's some wonderful hotel accommodation and and resorts and uh which is kind of an easier way of doing it. But I I that first trip, we went to the CPEC, caught a boat from Wewak to Madang, woke up in the morning, and Manham Island was kind of it was the volcan like volcano so that was smoking, and then we're in Madang for a while, then went up to Manus and started Ponham Island there. Heard Garamot drumming and dancing, then went to Kviang and caught a track on the back of a copra truck down the Bulaminsky Highway to Nam Namat. I went over to Rabao. That's where I met George Telleck, the singer, at Pacific God Studios. Hung out with him for a few days and at the studio for a bit, and that cemented the reason why I've kept going back to this day, 40 years later. But even then I'd fallen in love with the place. Some bits were so gobsmackingly beautiful, and other bits were hard. It was a very different world, but I found it really opened my awareness about the world and thinking about things differently. And inspiring. So I yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, a 40-year relationship with the country, and so in-depth, I mean, since that time you've created incredible musical connections with George Tellac, who you just played with in Melbourne recently for the 50th anniversary, because also you were travelling in PG, what was only 10 years or so after it had become a country that was independent from Australia at that time.
SPEAKER_00:There it's kind of interesting. I've been doing some music for a couple of the documentaries that were about the 50th, the amazing celebration that was the 50th year. We were there just 10 years after those black and white shots of Michael Samari and Gough Whitlam and those amazing scenes around that time. He's changed a lot since that first time we were there. It's been an incredible trajectory for such a young country.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I wanted to ask you how many times have you returned in that last 40 years? And what is it that keeps drawing you back? Is it the food? Is it the scenery? Clearly, music is integral to it. So do you go back every year?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've gone back pretty much I reckon I've been there forty forty-five times or something since that first time. So once or twice a year. And sometimes I'm going because I've got some really interesting work stuff, whether, you know, be recording with George, some film soundtrack work, producing things we're doing with the OneFook Music Foundation. Sometimes I go up because I've got friends there, friends that have become almost like family, especially in Rabaul, but also in Bougainville and Mannis. And some of the people I met when I was there the first time. Some of them may have passed on, but their kids I'm really close with because you just that constant relationship with so I feel really blessed to uh and that's part of the uh attraction to go back. But I think Papua New Guinea and also the Solomons and Banamawatu have this natural beauty about them. Village life, grassroots life in Papua New Guinea, I find quite amazing. It's resilient. People are eating food from the same gardens that their ancestors going back however many thousand years still eat from. So if you're into diving or bushwalking or butterflies, or if you're a volcanologist, or if you're into music, or if you're into carvings, if you're into storytelling, if you're into history, puff from New Guinea, uh th these parts of the world have such fascination and such magnetism uh about them. It's not for everyone, but I always try to encourage young Australian people to go there, whether on a holiday, or if you do some work, uh volunteer, or if you're a lawyer, if you're a person who works in health, if you work in sports, you know, whatever. Australian and Papua New Guinea have this amazing link. And I um I've there might be a couple who regret it, but out of 198 would go wow.
SPEAKER_06:Wouldn't it be great to revisit those emotions as as a young person and think, what am I doing here? How did I end up here? And hopefully, how did I get so lucky that first place that you travel? What a great experience that would be. Hindsight would be lovely. So you've said that PNG's changed a lot. How has it changed?
SPEAKER_00:When I first went there, some parts of the Highlands had only real, you know, maybe 30 years that they've been exposed to the outside world. So they've gone through the whole of the Industrial Revolution in that. I remember meeting two Highlanders who were selling some beads and some carvings outside a hotel where I was staying. I got talking with them, and when they were born, when they were there was this old man, and when he he lived the first 25 years of his life before first contact, that was an astonishing conversation. It just blew my mind. This man and his wife, what they had seen and what they had lived through, was astonishing. They laughed about it because that was their thing. So the Highlands was, you know, was and still is this fascinating part of the world that has only had that first quite a recent contact, which is less, you know, I mean the towns, the towns are all established. Hagen Goroka and uh Warburg. But phones have had a big difference there. Papua New Guinea's become more confident all the time. In phones, I'm saying and phones have got a good thing. Communication works really well with the one-took system. Sometimes it means that some languages are diluting because of the phone. The influence of, as we all know, the internet exposing some of the best and the worst things in the world. And it does tend to homogenise things. One thing I find fascinating about Papua New Guiddy is the uniqueness of the number of languages, a number of different cultural groups. Moresby Moresby is like this big modern city with all this wealth and the Stanley Hotel and the highways and everything was quite this metropolis. But the gap between rich and poor is quite strong. There's a dissonance there. So that's not the good side of it, but but the good side is look at the confidence in the area that I'm OFA with. The m music scene is creating its own sound, it's getting really confident. Access to equipment and gear is a lot better now. And I think that confidence in sound, uh confidence is something that applies to so many aspects of Papua New Guinea life. The intelligence and the ability of the best doctors, lawyers, and writers in Papua New Guinea has grown much larger than what it was at first because the opportunity wasn't there. I mean it's a long conversation, Belinda, about the changes in that 50 years. And it's a fascinating conversation to have with Papua New Guineans themselves. I mean, they're always fascinating to talk about talking to an older person about what changes they've seen in their lifetime.
SPEAKER_06:Absolutely. And then when you travel around, do you find that it's more accessible? I mean, you know, clearly I mean it's had its own airline for those 50 years, always flying line of sight, and that's a whole different story. But just their access, would have different parts of PNG opened up or have they actually closed down since your ship traveling?
SPEAKER_00:I do know that as of two months ago, the road from the Highlands down to Moresby connected through. And that was always something that was fascinating that the capital was separated from the Highlands and the North Coast.
SPEAKER_06:Long driving road trips are out then.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was always I mean because of the Owen Stanley Ranges being so, you know, and the mounts come out of nowhere. That's why the Kokoda Trail is so phenomenal, because it's like going up and then down, and it's quite rugged. And that spine goes all through the centre of uh Papua New Guinea and over into West Papper as well. Transport I think is uh Yeah, no, I don't it's not necessarily that there are roads, I know the road from Rabaal to Kimby is there that it used to never be. But even still, the road and the amount of rain, and of course it's a young country geologically, all of earth tremors kind of wreck the road, so it's sometimes still easier to go by boat.
SPEAKER_06:Is that how you travel around? Do you fly between your destinations or do you find yourself doing boat trips?
SPEAKER_00:Boat trips for smaller things. If you're in Lorangau and Manis and going out to BP on the west coast, the only way to do it is by boat. That's fantastic. I love being on boats. I love being on the back of a coconut truck or on the back of a Ute. You can sit in the back of a Ute on a country road around Ribala and Australia'd be against the law, but that's the wind in you. You gotta be you know pale skin, you gotta be careful you don't get sunburned. Because with the volcanic eruptions, you end up getting covered in dust and everything. But uh it's great sitting on the back of a ute with a eight people and everyone's talking. It's a nice community thing. The wind in your hair, and you'd seeing all the natural beauty in villages because of the climate, obviously, everyone's out it's an outdoor life, but villages on the roads or on the Seepik River and stuff, there are people everywhere. There's villages everywhere, and you're just watching life go by as people are outside a lot. Yeah, I mean New Guinea's never had an accident. And it flies in some of the most difficult terrain. If you ever get a chance to go on some of the smaller aeroplanes that go to more remote destinations, they're fantastic air trips as well.
SPEAKER_06:I I do love a small aircraft. I think there's something so exciting about them. PG, you know, it's never really taken off as a destination for Australians, but every country's got certain things that appeal to certain people. I mean, what sort of traveller would p PNG appeal to most?
SPEAKER_00:Well, if you're into fishing, you'd go, if you'd go, because it's got the best of, you know, world's best practice for those two things. And there are a number of, you know what's the place about is it biologs in West New Britain? It's great for fishing, and uh Kimber Dive Resort there in West New Britain's fantastic. Birdwatchers would love it, yeah. So that you know, that what's the place up in Enger? I think it's called Cummel Lodge or where you get to see Bird of Birds of Paradise. And there's a little place I've spin off New Island, just a little island called the Listenung Resort. So people go there for surfing or for uh diving. I mean, I I'm not a diver, but I love snorkeling, and uh snorkeling is my place. I got actually my partner and I just came back from the Solomon Islands where we went to snorkeling and it did but yes, in PG there's lots of places like that. So there's that kind of market for it.
SPEAKER_06:And on events as well, because a lot of those tours uh that you go are built around PG's festival scene. So you've got that whole sing across the highlands, which I understand was a construct, it was a way to create relationships between tribes that otherwise might not be on the best of terms, so they could showcase their music, their costumes, their customs. Uh have you, I mean, you know, as a as somebody who's been embedded in the PG music scene, have you spent much time going to festivals or sing scenes?
SPEAKER_00:I've been to their festival, which I think happens every year in August. I thoroughly recommend that. The one in Hagen and Garoka, the big Highlands festivals, they're quite big. Anger's a bit smaller, but amazing. Similar kind of thing, just a whole lot of groups coming and there's a little bit of competition and trying to outdo each other. Face paint and the beads and the decoration and these haunting, haunting songs. That's quite something. In Rabaul they have the Mask Festival, which the Tolo Wawagira, which is that's cut that's got Una activities, ancestral activities like dance and music, but it also has bands playing at night. It goes until eleven o'clock at night. I played there once with Telic, and that's a really family-friendly great festival that happens there. That's in July, I think. With all these festivals, it's worth checking out because they sometimes shift from uh year to year. The Hiri Mawali Festival in Mooresby. There's apparently a good my favourite musicians in Papua New Guinea, Richard Moggle, has been involved in festival in Millen Bay, and it was his place. That was a couple of months ago. So that's just started this year. The Bougainville Chocolate Festival in October is fantastic. That's got music and a lot of those cow bands. I think there's a crocodile arts festival that happens all the time. These festivals for each province or each marketplace, they're becoming a bigger thing, and everyone's dreaming of wanting them to be a place to bring in people to give opportunity for their artists. But they all try to set it up as much as they can to be friendly to outsiders, they're worth heading to for sure.
SPEAKER_06:I had recently spoken to a new shark hauling festival, which was happening in New Britain, which just sounded incredible. It's got ancestor connections. It's the capturing sharks, they fast beforehand and believe and the shark comes to the person and basically sacrifices itself to the village. I just thought this is so undocumented when you look for it. So many things have got thousands of years of history, but then they're also written about for the past thousands of years, and there's so little documentation outside it. And I think you've got a passion about that as well, haven't you? About documenting music rhythms, instruments from PG.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and the shark fish, I think New Island is where it is on the west coast there, yes.
SPEAKER_06:Sorry, you're right, New Island.
SPEAKER_00:They've got these fire dances. When people ask me as musicians, because you get asked this all the time in interviews, what's the best rock concert you've ever seen? And I always say bindings fire dance because those rhythms were as guttural and loud, and the visuals and went from six o'clock until six in the morning, and the light show of the fire and these people. I mean, the bindings masks are incredible. And they're running through this fire. It was just like and there's one of the things you just keep your ear and eye out for, and this practice is so vital and unique. And maybe that this conversation gets back to how things are changing. Some of the songs being sung by the old people, the younger ones are not necessarily learning them. So there's a big push to try to record these songs. But these people are getting older, and even in the space of 40 years, the language has changed quickly. I'm sure some things that were practiced in 1880 or 1890 at first contact times, many of those songs will have been lost. Some of those instruments will have been lost. Papua Guinea has culturally those songs like diamonds, you know, those songs, those masks and those dances, is still a lot there, but as the world modernizes, that they're the things are in danger of being lost. So I'm I'm quite passionate, as are a lot of Papua New Guinean sound engineers and artists, to record these songs, archive them, and make sure all the information about them is documented, even to record them and perform them and stuff, because that keeps them alive.
SPEAKER_06:Are tourists then helping or hindering this process when we come in to a you know an almost pristine environment? Are we protecting it or are we bringing in our own influences to their detriment?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I don't think tourism is a level in PG, and it probably won't ever be at that level where that's in danger of wiping things out like it is in some other countries where there's this massive influx.
SPEAKER_06:Not even like that reggae scene that's happening down in Port Moresvie at the moment, which is very different to what some of the traditional.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the reggae and hip-hop stuff that's happening there. It's at the black culture, so I I kind of get why that's attractive to Papua New Guinean musicians and some of the better exponents I've already introducing some of their traditional elements into this music, into the reggae or the hip hop, but talk about things that are endangering traditional practices, a lot of other stuff brought in by Australians and British and German people back in the 1870s that have far exceed the kind of musical corruption that might have occurred. There are still some musical practices that exist that in PNG quite a lot that have these links back hundreds of thousands of years. I mean, many parts of Papua New Guinea have what the rest of the world's lost and is yearning for. That connection to its environment, the knowledge and uh artistic practice that their ancestors had is something that the West has lost. Hopefully. There are some good people in Papua New Guinea who are fighting to retain these things. But there's also, you know, the appeal of the dollar and unscrupulous practice by some people's kind of but that's a fight that goes on everywhere. But I look at Nick, I hope they do win that fight because Peace still has things that I know you know, sometimes you're up there and you're sitting on an island and you're going, This is the best that the world has to offer. And that's what Peace still has, many of those places in the highlands, on the coral reefs, on the islands.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, that's a beautiful way to wrap up a gorgeous country. Look, the question I have to ask you in super travelly here, the question that everybody asks about PNG is Is it safe to travel there?
SPEAKER_00:Precaution is needed in PNG because of the poverty. I've been to Papua New Guinea a lot and I'm my exposure to crime has been very minuscule. But I'm male and I'm six foot tall. Locals will look after them. I think one of the reasons why I haven't seen as much crime is because I'm hanging with my Papua New Guinean friends. People everywhere when they're drunk. Dangerous, that's the same as being in King Street in Melbourne. I wouldn't go there at two o'clock in the morning because it's dangerous. I don't trust. To go to a country that has that grassroots and that life in the roar and all the wonderful things that PG has, you know, the flip side of that, there is that element of risk. But I feel sad when I hear of people who go to and they just stay in their hotels the time, or people who are working there in live and gated communities because they're missing out on the best parts. One of the exchanges you know is that you find on Sunday afternoons families are out everywhere. They go to church in the morning and they're having a picnic somewhere or they're down to the beach swimming. This community-family vibe is quite strong. There are a lot more music concerts in Port Moresby than there used to be. And there people turn up and they're great, you know. Again, don't have your wallet hanging out of your pocket or don't, you know, don't leave your phone on a table. It's saying, yeah, it's the dignity of risk. And the slight risk of going to PNG is bad. How so many people don't have to go to PNG and everybody's warning them before they go about careful of this, careful of that.
SPEAKER_05:The final question, which I'll knock down before I get over elsewhere, is the final question we ask, well, our guest is what is your most bizarre travel experience?
SPEAKER_06:And it doesn't have to be PNG, it can be anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER_00:Oh no, look, we'll stick to PG because you know the uh the cliche is the land of the unexpected and it's well earned. I go to this funeral once that was on an island in the Trobian Islands called Tawema, and it was a full moon. And one thing I found in in Papua New Guinea, when you're in the village, if when you're in a place that doesn't have electricity, when there is a full moon, it's a very different day because people are up all night, they take advantage of it, and you've got this light, and um so this the Paramount Chief had died, and so uh we were there for this big ceremony for his for his passing. But it was the happiest funeral I've ever been to in my life. There was music, there was dancing, there was laughing, chickens going off, people even swimming at three o'clock in the morning. And it was just wild. It was just wild. It was like um it was like it was a celebration of the old man's life, but it was all it was all like he'd passed on all the knights to those behind him. They were just really celebrating it, and it was it was just uh and people in the Tobrian Islands are quite small, and their houses that they sleep in are really small. I think about three o'clock in the morning, my partner and I were just they said, Oh, look, you know, do you want to go to bed and lie down? And my feet are like sticking outside of the house by about a foot and a half. Um people are drinking kind of this Yahwa, this sort of banana-infused kind of liquor that you had to go kind of careful on, uh eating food out of banana leaves. And um I got very, very little sleep that night, but it was just um it was just quite amazing. I was it was quite amazing. But the you know, when I saw that question, there's so many ways, you know. I was with a a friend who started arguing with these people who were trying to hit hit grease him for a road tax in the Highlands, and he lost his call with them. And I thought, oh, this is not going to end well for any of us. And we ended up having sitting on the side of the road having a cup of tea with them, and you know, people giving each other hugs and stuff. It was like, you know, uh the 20 minutes before I thought, you know, what we're gone for here. But yeah, I love that Tawema story because I I have pictures in my head of, you know, moonlight through, you know, palm trees and um through the cool owl trees and uh and just and the string band mu the string band music. And there was there was this girl who's so string bands uh halfway through the song, this girl would come in with these impossibly high harmonies, like she's just belting out, and they are higher than I've ever heard anyone sing, and it was something really joyous about it. So that'll be that's my um that'll be my bizarre, my wild experience in pain.
SPEAKER_06:Troband islands. So you've wrapped it up beautifully on on bizarre experiences. David, thank you so much for joining us on the World Awakes. It's been an absolute joy to disappear for a brief moment to PNG with you.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Bunja. I really appreciate that. Thanks.
SPEAKER_06:For more information about David's work, uh see his website, davidbrighty.com. And stay tuned for our next episode as we're talking to three people who've decided to pack up their corporate lives to become digital nomads. And if you're enjoying our podcast, please leave us a rating and a review. On Apple Podcasts, click on our profile, scroll down to the bottom to leave a star rating, and if you're on Spotify, go to our main page and click the three dots underneath our photo. Or drop us a line at hello at the worldawaits.au. We love hearing from our listeners. Thanks so much for joining us on the World Awaits Summer Series. See you next time. That's a wrap for the World Awaits this week. Click to subscribe anywhere you listen to your favorite pods. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
