Back Roads Season 12 Episode 3

Reality Realm US

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Transcript

00:02I was just wondering, would you like some poetry?

00:05I would love some poetry.

00:07Alright.

00:08So I'm going to drop the word about the turd

00:11from the first to the third to the beast to the bird

00:13and how absurd for our sons and daughters

00:15that we keep on flushing our turds in their water.

00:17It's the toilet.

00:18Goona, kakka, schiser and crap.

00:20I'm MC Fisi and that's my C rap.

00:23MC Fisi, that was amazing.

00:28They're a bit different in El Dorado.

00:31That was awesome.

00:35This time, Backroads heads up the highway

00:38to Victoria's North East Goldfields.

00:40The little town of El Dorado is big on charm and community spirit.

00:48But don't let that fool you.

00:50Scratch beneath the surface

00:52and you'll find some pretty radical ideas.

00:56like recycling human waste.

00:58It's a hot one.

00:59Yeah.

01:02And living in haystacks.

01:04That's good, hun.

01:06Or even teepees.

01:08They thought, oh God, here comes the hippies kind of thing.

01:16I'm Mif Warhurst and I'm here to find out what makes this town of El Dorado so different.

01:22I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty

01:24and seeing how the dream of alternative living

01:27keeps the lights on in this town.

01:45There's gold in them there hills.

01:48Or at least there used to be.

01:51El Dorado was built during the gold rush.

01:53We might have to go over a bit, hun.

01:56But these days, a new breed of pioneer is calling the area home.

02:02I'm on my way to meet a couple of them

02:04on a small farm just outside town.

02:09Beautiful.

02:09Look at that.

02:10Like I bought one.

02:11That's fantastic.

02:12Perfect.

02:20Hello, you two.

02:22Hey, Mif.

02:22G'day.

02:22What on earth is going on here?

02:25Well, we're building a house out of straw.

02:27Do you want to come and have a look?

02:27I would love to.

02:29Come over.

02:29This is the steel structure.

02:32Wow.

02:33Sam and Katrina Anderson are self-building their dream home.

02:38And, like the first little pig, they're finding that building with straw has its own

02:43challenges.

02:44We're not anxious, but we have to get it done before the rain comes.

02:47And the mice.

02:49And the mice.

02:50The rodents.

02:50Yeah.

02:52Why straw?

02:53I just love the idea of living in something so natural.

02:57And the insulation values of straw is just extraordinary.

03:03The walls are made of jumbo straw bales.

03:07Not the little ones you usually see.

03:10Once they're rendered, they'll be almost a metre thick.

03:14Long term, this will be so beneficial for not only us, but for other people coming into

03:19our home.

03:20They'll be able to see how sustainable and how cool it is during summer and how warm

03:24it is during winter.

03:26And the heating and cooling bills will just be zip.

03:30It's all part of a dream to tread on the earth lightly while being as self-sufficient

03:35as possible.

03:36Too easy.

03:37Right now we've got the solar panels on the shed, so we are feeding into the grid.

03:43Eventually we'd like to get our own batteries and just be completely self-sufficient.

03:49We have water here.

03:51We'll have a big tank from the roof.

03:53And there is something about living that way that I really love.

03:58And it's a dream that's becoming more popular in these parts.

04:02We do have a lot of eco-minded people in the community.

04:05A lot of our friends who we've got to know, they're sort of quite alternative in their building.

04:09I love this idea because I grew up in some really interesting houses.

04:15For some part of it, we lived in a tram, a converted tram.

04:19And then we built our own mud brick house.

04:21So the straw is very familiar because we used to mix the straw into the mud.

04:25And we all made the bricks as kids.

04:26And it was such a fun thing to do.

04:29And I really genuinely think it's had a huge impact on what I've done with my work and, you know,

04:35how I've lived.

04:35I want to see things come alive.

04:37Yeah, fantastic.

04:38Yeah.

04:40For Sam, building is just a sideline.

04:43His main gig is sculpture.

04:49Well, this is brilliant.

04:51This was definitely a fun piece to make.

04:54So much recycled materials on this.

04:56Got the old tractor seat.

04:57Yep.

04:57Even got the old padlock from my grandfather's old farm.

05:01Love it.

05:02Love it.

05:07What got you started doing sculptures?

05:11Basically, I had a motorbike accident and nothing like a near-death experience to cement basically what you want to

05:18do in life.

05:19Prior to his accident in 2005, Sam had been making his living as a freelance shearer, fencer and farm labourer.

05:29I had a car go through a stop sign and ended up in hospital for a little bit and an

05:35orthopedic brace for six months.

05:37Sorry.

05:38And then, yeah, so I obviously physically wasn't able to do the physical work anymore, which was required in the

05:44farming industry and so that's what, you know, helped my transition into art.

05:51I was getting a little bit down on myself, but I thought, well, why don't I just make a sculpture?

05:55Sure.

05:56So I run my shoe in my grandfather's old steel dump and saw some lovely shapes in the recycled materials

06:02and ended up making a goanna.

06:04And then I decided, oh, I'll see if I can sell it and obviously it was requiring an income and

06:10took it to a local gallery and it was sold in less time than it took to make.

06:14And this gives me the motivation to get up every morning and get stuck into it.

06:17It's that classic statement, isn't it, from the worst of times comes the best of times.

06:23Oh, I haven't looked back since.

06:29In the 20 years since then, Sam's art career has gone from strength to strength.

06:37I've been able to recycle is probably one of the main drives for me being an artist.

06:43We're at a point of time where we need to be thinking about recycling all the time.

06:48And I feel like I'm doing my little part for the earth and also it's helping me out too with

06:54all these beautiful shapes that I use in my sculptures.

06:58He's now created over a hundred sculptures from recycled materials, some of which he keeps here on his property.

07:06Wow, this is impressive. It's huge.

07:08Yeah, it's huge. All right, the humpback whale.

07:12It's made from heaps of recycled materials.

07:15We've got some nuts and bolts as the barnacles.

07:18And as you move to the eye, that's actually made out of toe balls.

07:22You've made something beautiful out of other people's trash, really, haven't you?

07:26Yeah, basically, yeah, yeah.

07:28Oh, it's very impressive. It's wonderful.

07:32Sam now plans to open a sculpture park to share his artwork and his message with the community.

07:43I'm loving how Sam's embracing a modern interpretation of your nan's favourite saying, waste not, what not.

07:53Next stop, Off Grid Living Festival, where Sam reckons I'll meet more locals looking to live sustainably.

08:06The Off Grid Living Festival was born in El Dorado in 2018.

08:11It's grown so large that the organisers have had to move it to bigger grounds half an hour down the

08:17road.

08:18While these days some country fairs find it hard to draw a crowd, Off Grid attracts thousands.

08:26How you going? Have a good time.

08:30Have a good one. Thanks.

08:31See you later.

08:31The person behind this shindig is El Dorado's own Kate Nottingham.

08:36How you going?

08:38Congratulations, Kate. This is amazing.

08:40Thank you, yes. It was all about, from the beginning, inspiring people to live more sustainably and with the Off

08:45Grid theme.

08:46So it could be Off Grid power, it could be Off Grid water or it could be Off Grid thinking,

08:50you know, like health and wellbeing, taking your power into your own hands.

08:53So ways that you can live greener.

08:55We wanted to present sustainability in a fun way.

08:59So often it's presented in a bit of a doom and gloom way and we wanted to show people that

09:03actually the future's pretty bright if we're all doing the right thing together.

09:07Kate and her husband Ralph moved to El Dorado in 2014 after falling in love with a bush block.

09:14We had gone from living in the city to really living in the country and with nothing.

09:20We had a little bit of shelter, but we really had to start everything from scratch.

09:25And we ended up getting a big teepee to live in, so we were living in there for a year.

09:30We had no power, outdoor toilet, outdoor shower and just a bed and an open fire in the teepee.

09:36We loved it so much and we felt that we loved the freedom and the happiness that it brought us,

09:42that we really wanted to start sharing that with others.

09:44And we started opening up the farm for workshops where people could come and get together

09:49and we would bring in other people to facilitate the learning.

09:53Those humble workshops were the seed that grew into today's Off Grid Living Festival.

09:59How did the locals take to you turning up and living in a teepee holding sustainability workshop?

10:05Yeah, I think at first they saw the teepee and they thought,

10:09oh God, here comes the hippies kind of thing.

10:11But then Ralph and I made an effort to go to the local pub and meet everyone

10:15and pretty soon they realised we're fairly normal.

10:19We had people offering us to borrow their tractors and showing us how those kind of mechanical things work.

10:26And we had lots of people wanting to share their food and produce with us.

10:30And I just love that small town vibe where everybody sort of knows each other and supports each other.

10:36You found your people.

10:37Yeah, we did.

10:38And your place.

10:39Yeah, we found our place and our people.

11:08Love it.

11:09I'm having a blast, but for me there's one thing that can make or break a

11:14festival experience and that is the Dunnies. As far as festival toilets go

11:24this is a Rolls-Royce, scusa.

11:30Unlike many festival toilets these ones have nice pictures and I'm happy to

11:36report very little offensive smell which means satisfied patrons. I'm told the

11:43man responsible for curating this pleasant experience is Hamish Skermer.

11:48Hamish, I hear that you're the person behind these amazing looms. Yes I am

11:52and we like to make them look good as well as feel good and smell good so yeah.

11:56What was the inspiration? For making these toilets, giving people dignity at events.

12:02I've been running my own event for many many years and that was it.

12:06is that portaloos don't give you that experience of good times and I did

12:11environmental science as a student and this just brought it all together.

12:14Events, science, composting loos, changing the world from the bottom up.

12:19What are the features of these loos? Well I think the first feature is that we

12:23don't use any water or chemicals and we make them clean. They're green, they're

12:28100% compostable, we're turning the nutrients back to organic compost and we

12:33hope to grow food with it. Oh my god, food? I've got to find out more. So Hamish has

12:42invited me to his family's block on the outskirts of El Dorado for a little

12:46lesson in environmental science.

12:49Go for the long range shot. Oh!

12:54Yes!

12:59Anyone who's got a garden understands that the gardener or the farmer with the most manure

13:06wins. It's the ancient rule of life and soil development in Australia, if you don't have

13:12manure you're behind the eight ball. But people are a bit weird about human

13:15poo being put on the garden. Why is that? Is it because we haven't treated it properly?

13:20Well yeah, I think largely, like, there's a really good reason why your bum hole and your

13:26mouth is separated. And that is because we're not supposed to eat turds. And I'm all up for

13:33no turd burgers. Like, I'll never put it on the menu.

13:36Well that's a relief. Hamish's toilets rely on natural composting processes that kill

13:43harmful pathogens and break the effluent down into safe organic material.

13:48So it's just accepting that we're part of ecology, not separate to it.

13:53Hamish and his family run a successful music festival on this property called Folk, Rhythm

13:58and Life. And it was that experience that led him to his Purika moment.

14:04Well this is where it all started. This is the ground zero of the ablution revolution.

14:10Oh my god. Where composting is a solution. This is the first festival composting toilet

14:17system in the world. There was no other festival to have 100% compost toilets. We built it over

14:24a few days with my dad and my brothers and some friends and we really knew that what we had

14:29done

14:29was going to have local, national, international significance.

14:33Hamish created packable portable toilets and started a business called The Natural Event.

14:40Pretty soon, his dunnies were gracing festivals across Australia.

14:45That's the saying, you can't polish a turd into a diamond.

14:48Well you can. I'm like, well you can. These are the sorts of nuggets I like finding.

14:53His next step was to take his simple technology overseas. So far, he has serviced some 480 festivals

15:02across 13 countries, including over a thousand toilets at Glastonbury.

15:08He now claims to possess the largest pile of human excrement in the world, a mountain in the UK of

15:16some 350

15:17tonne. Which begs the question, what happens to all that poo?

15:24So here's the pile of aged, matured, cooled compost myth. This is an amalgamation of both

15:34our festivals, toilets and other events that we've done. And I'll just dig out a little bit.

15:39Yeah.

15:41Okay, so you can see that there's no definition.

15:44No smell. Well, there's earthy smell. Yeah. But that's it.

15:48And it's really just like any other matured, properly made compost pile.

15:53Yeah. Looks like any other mulch.

15:55Now, be game. Just feel that, because I want you to feel the temperature. See how it's a bit warm.

15:59It's hot. It's a hot one.

16:00Yeah.

16:02But it's not a steamer.

16:04Not a steamer. No.

16:05No longer.

16:06No, no longer a steamer.

16:07Was a steamer.

16:07Ex-steamer.

16:08Ex-steamer.

16:09Oh, I love it.

16:09Yeah, so to me, it really is nine tenths of it's in your mind.

16:13It used to be banana. Then it was a turd. Then we've composted. And now we're going to make basil.

16:23These days, Hamish's focus has changed to helping out communities in need around the world.

16:29The thing that does inspire me is taking this really simple technology into places where community

16:36members are actually affected both in health and in happiness with a constant lack of good sanitation.

16:442.6 billion people don't have toilets.

16:48Yeah.

16:48Where sanitation is a real impact on their health.

16:52Today, Hamish's passion is seeing how composting toilets can help at-risk communities and disaster

16:59zones.

17:00And look, the basics are this. Less transport, less chemicals, less water, more chance that the

17:07nutrients can return to the soil profile and potentially grow food.

17:12Hamish, you have changed my perspective on how we deal with human poo.

17:16Thanks.

17:16It's wild.

17:17Yeah. The next time you're at a festival, having a crap, think of me.

17:24Yeah.

17:26Oh, my God, yes.

17:31It seems that turning trash into treasure is a way of life in El Dorado.

17:45Every month, the local community runs a food share day.

17:49I've arrived just in time to check it out. And I haven't come empty handed.

18:00I've arrived just in time to check it out.

18:15Hello, Sue. How are you going?

18:17Hello.

18:18Lovely to see you.

18:19Lovely to see you too.

18:21Look at this incredible produce.

18:23Absolutely wonderful.

18:24Some amazing items today.

18:26Look, I brought some things.

18:27Brilliant.

18:27Some lemons and limes for you.

18:29I love it.

18:30Sue Phillips is a doyen of El Dorado.

18:33She's been helping out with food share for years.

18:37What is food share?

18:39Well, food share is the opportunity to bring people together, bring along their own produce

18:44that they grow in their own gardens.

18:46If they have excess, it's there for people to take.

18:49If they come along and they don't have those items in their house, they can actually come

18:54along and take whatever they like.

18:56You don't have to bring stuff to take stuff.

18:59It's all free and it's a wonderful opportunity to get community together and chat and join in

19:05with one another and be supportive.

19:07It's an event, isn't it?

19:09For the town, it's great.

19:10It's an amazing little event each time.

19:19I'm loving how this unwanted produce is being turned into the chance to share

19:24and the chance to hang out together.

19:30Is food share an indication that the community is interested in ecology?

19:36Yes, people make sure that they don't have to send their food to waste.

19:41It's there for other people to use.

19:43If there are items that really can't be used, people will take them home and compost them.

19:47And we do encourage people not to use plastic bags.

19:50If we can, we're into paper bags and that sort of stuff as well.

19:54Yeah.

19:54I brought a plastic bag.

19:56I know.

19:59I'm learning.

20:00I'm on my L plates.

20:03Food share is also an opportunity for local community groups to raise much needed funds

20:08through sausage sizzles and cake stalls.

20:10The generosity in the community just touches my heart.

20:17It's just beautiful.

20:20El Dorado is golden.

20:23It's the place that's just right.

20:36I'm keen to find out more about El Dorado's golden history,

20:40so I'm checking out the local museum.

20:43Welcome to the El Dorado schoolhouse and museum these days.

20:48What an amazing old building.

20:50And look who's here.

20:51My new best friend, Sue, who also just happens to be president of the museum association.

20:59So this is the main story about the gold mining history in here.

21:04When did the gold rush start here?

21:06About 1850 they did initially first find gold, but they didn't start mining it until about 1857.

21:13That's when the mining companies actually started to go in and do deep lead mining.

21:19And at that time then the population started to build.

21:24And you can tell that because of the number of pubs that actually ended up being here.

21:30There were around 10 pubs, three newspapers, banks, butchers, general stores and blacksmiths

21:37in this bustling little town.

21:39But gold production dwindled in the 1870s and so too did the population.

21:46Today just 382 people call El Dorado home.

21:51Only one pub remains and it also serves as both a post office and general store.

22:00These days a new generation is moving into the area, drawn by its charms and the chance to live

22:08closer to nature.

22:20Andy Pye is one of those tree changers.

22:25He and his young family moved to El Dorado in 2021.

22:32I just wanted to kind of deprive the kids of a fast life really and just give them the space

22:40to breathe, space to play.

22:44It sort of worked out really well to be honest because when we lived in the city there'd be no

22:50way that the kids would just be like spending hours in nature and be fine with it. But just naturally

22:57over time it's just become the norm.

23:03Good job.

23:05Why El Dorado?

23:06It's literally two to five minutes away from a camping spot, from a billabong, from a river.

23:13No, no, please, please, no, stop.

23:17You're right, use your oar, use your oar.

23:19No, I'm serious.

23:27Andy is a well-known painter, renowned for his landscapes.

23:31He's represented by a gallery in downtown Sydney, but likes to paint out in the bush.

23:39Today he's in the hills just outside El Dorado and has very kindly invited me along.

23:49I don't know what I'm doing.

23:53It's a good start.

23:54I've never painted with oils.

23:57Really?

23:57No.

23:58Okay.

23:59Isn't that weird?

24:00Like my dad was a painter, but I've never painted in oils myself.

24:02Your old man was a painter?

24:03Yeah.

24:04He loves it.

24:05I think it's the only thing that keeps him sane, to be honest.

24:11There's something tremendously freeing about being out in the elements and just creating.

24:16This is so fun.

24:18I can see why it appeals so much to both my dad and Andy.

24:23You can get yourself stuck very quickly in a studio.

24:28Yep.

24:29And you miss the interaction.

24:32I can be painting one moment and it might rain a little bit, just a little bit on a hot

24:39day,

24:40and that tree in front of you will actually go pink in front of your eyes, you know, pinkish purple.

24:44And if you're in a city painting and you're not exposing your creative mind to the landscape on a regular

24:52basis,

24:53you're going to forget those things, you're going to miss them.

24:58How do you think your work's changed since you've been here?

25:02In the city, I felt like I was just creating the same picture over and over again.

25:07So now that I'm here, I've been able to just freely experiment.

25:13And that can do strange and interesting things to the pictures.

25:17I feel like for the first time, I don't have to think about the bush from a distance.

25:23I can be in it and I can observe it and let it fuel me on a daily basis.

25:30All right.

25:31All righty.

25:32Andy, this is awesome.

25:34Oh, stop.

25:35It's excellent.

25:36I love it.

25:37I love it.

25:38It's free.

25:41It's beautiful.

25:42I love those pinks in the back.

25:44Oh, thank you.

25:45I'm really happy though.

25:46Like, it's been, it's been the best thing ever.

25:49I can't wipe the smile off my back.

25:51Thanks for visiting.

25:52Thanks for, thanks for visiting.

25:53Thanks for taking me out here in this beautiful landscape.

25:55Anytime, Miff.

25:56Can I be an artist now?

25:58Can I?

25:58You are an artist.

25:58Can I pretend?

25:59You are a real artist right now.

26:12My time in this special part of the world is just about done.

26:16But I'm going out with a bang at the off-grid festival parade.

26:27I've had such a good time here in El Dorado.

26:30I've learned that it's a little town with big ideas.

26:33Some of them are spreading across the globe.

26:36I was bold enough to feel as though we could take it from our little patch here in El Dorado

26:42to the world.

26:44The dunnies that change the world.

26:46Yeah.

26:46I love it.

26:47Yeah.

26:48And some are bringing the world to El Dorado.

26:52It's bringing something new to the town and lots of tourists that come from all over Australia.

26:56So that's really exciting for a small town.

26:59Yeah.

27:00I've learned mostly though that you can be doing good for the world and for your community.

27:05But you can also have a good time doing it.

27:22Next time I'm meeting the Shearers.

27:26A skill that supercharged Australia's early economy.

27:30The good old days, the best thing about the good old days, they're gone.

27:33I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where many now pursue careers.

27:39Teamwork makes the dream work.

27:41And some chase world records.

27:44So it's just a continuous pain barrier you've got to try and get through and you just can't let it

27:50defeat you.

27:50I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where you're going to be.

27:51I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where you're going to be.

27:53I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where you're going to be.

27:54I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where you're going to be.

27:55I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where you're going to be.

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