Connecting Rural and Regional Women on the Eyre Peninsula

I grew up on a cereal cropping and sheep farm approximately 60kms North East from Streaky Bay. Some of my lifetimes fondest memories to date come from that place and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to grow up there.

With your next door neighbours being kilometre’s away, often through the paddock, you certainly learnt to embrace and make the most of the times you got to spend together, whether that was the long hot dusty school bus trips, Wednesday night tennis training or weekend sport.

You see, I get it. I know the distances people must travel here on the Eyre Peninsula. When you live out of town, making your way in there to do the simplest of jobs like paying bills at the Post Office (yes, I was alive before the internet), picking up supplies and parts for the farm or doing the weekly grocery shop, adding a Pilates class to your list might seem like a bit of a stretch.

When I first started Just Be Pilates, almost 12 months ago to the day when writing this, I had some wonderful ladies from Port Kenny carve an hour out of their weeks to travel to Streaky Bay to participate in one of my Pilates classes, quickly becoming my first real ‘regulars’. The commitment they showed and connections they made with each other, often travelling together and combining their weekly shop, with car services and other errands, plus a sneaky coffee or two from one of the lovely cafes really reminded me of the connections my own Mother and her friends use to make the effort to do whilst living out on the farm. Meeting up at the local cross roads to go for a walk or celebrating a friends birthday with cake and a cuppa.

When I was asked if I would consider travelling to Port Kenny to run weekly classes, I jumped at the chance. I already knew a few of these women and the travel certainly didn’t bother me as not only had I become accustomed to needing to travel to get anywhere this far away from the city, but the 128km round trip gave me almost the perfect amount of driving time to get in an Imperfects Podcast episode.

What surprised me the most and filled my cup and heart with joy every week was the connections that not only I got to make with these women, but the relationships that they made and continued to build with each other.

Many of whom live kilometres down the road from each other, yet often with busy farming lives and commitments, their paths don’t cross as often as some might like. A weekly Pilates class gave these women the chance to do something for them, to strengthen their bodies and calm their minds in a safe and supportive environment.