Even something as mundane as a commute to work can offer a world of adventure, according to outdoor educator, kayaker and filmmaker Beau Miles.
Miles’ new film, The Commute: A four day paddle to work, details his 116-kilometer adventure paddling, dragging, portaging and pontificating from his rural homestead to his job at Monash University in Melbourne by way of two rivers, a canal, the sea and a creek. What usually takes him 75 minutes by car took four full days by kayak, burning more than 18,000 calories.
Why do it?
“I’m reinventing my idea of adventure,” says Miles. “I no longer feel the need to paddle great distances down a continent’s shore or go to the highest peaks. Your carbon footprint goes through the roof, just so you can go and find yourself somewhere else. I want to do these things in my backyard now.”
“This genuine, gut busting, horrible, beautiful paddle and drag to work was the most insightful four days of travel I’ve ever done,” says Miles who slept by the river, under a train line and next to a boat ramp during the journey.
The Commute offers an intimate view into the good and bad of humanity, and the full spectrum of adventure—all between the lands of home and work.
