Wayne Clayton Stands for Love with a Care-O-Van Across Australia
Below is a video and the transcript of a radio interview I had with a very interesting man called Wayne Clayton who hitched across Australia with a caravan and no car. The point he wanted to draw attention to was to for everybody to Stand for Love. He is the first person to hitch across Australia with a caravan. This is not acknowledged in the Guinness Book of Records, but indeed it is a great achievement. What I particularly noted with Wayne was that he was a blokey bloke, very Australian and masculine, yet he wanted to communicate love to the world, not as romantic but as a broader concept. He was indeed a visionary. When I think of my other interviewees he was the one that had the lightest and most illuminating approach, as he didn’t take himself too seriously. That to me is a sign he is about peace.
First to the video…
Here is the interview I conducted with him.
SC. You are the CEO of Stand for love. Can you firstly tell us about your incredible journey? You hitch-hiked across Australia with a caravan, right?
WC: Yes I am the first person to hitch hike across Australia with a caravan to do it did it in November/December last year started in Perth on 20 November and finished in Sydney at my home in the Blue Mountains on 18th of December
Q. I should add you were hitchhiking with a caravan but without a car?
WC: It takes a little bit of getting used to travelling with a caravan with no car. It actually took me 4 weeks to get used to that idea too, but the time I was used to it I arrived at home.
Q. so You didn’t notice that something was missing when you were sitting at the side of the road with your caravan
WC: I thought I was prepared I had the van, bit of food, some water, ready to cross the counry at the last minute I thought I’ve forgotten something.
Q. Always something?
WC: Always something click of fingers. Really better if I had a car, then thought I’ll be right.
Q. That is the great aussie spirit isn’t it – she’ll be right? Did you paint up the caravan?
WC: Yeah yeah we had of course it was a joke, the idea was that I would become the first person to hitch hike across the country. I was promoting Stand for Love. Which is an organisation and an idea, and something to do. Was demonstrating as best I could how loving Australia is. The view that I was putting forward, and still believe, was that mateship was love it is just that you need 6,7, 8 beers before get there. No you personally (ha ha) in hotels across the country. I painted up the van so we had our logo Stand for Love on it and the website and so forth. I had a sign said something like Got a towbar you are not using? World record great cause free petrol. So if anyone wanted me to pay for petrol, I’d pay for it and I wound up having going all the way from Peth to Sydney that was 31 lifts to get there and there were two people who wanted money for petrol and the rest said no that is fine.
Q. Isn’t that amazing that people will do that they will stop and help you. What sort of people stopped, anything in common or very different.
WC: Definitely no sort of people, had anything from a pregnant sheep shearer to a banker to a poet, to another shearer, the last guy that gave me a lift had a business shredding documents, he was a mobile document shredder. So in terms of the types of people males and females mainly males which was not surprising. Certainly the ladies who gave me a lift heard me on the radio, saw me on television, harmless enough well known enough they would be safe. The one thing they did have in common was a sense of fun they wanted to participate in this. As the journey went on they wanted to contribute to it, they were grateful that I was making this point that it is time for us to stand for love, it can be demonstrated how loving people are with this very silly but fun idea.
Q. So what was there reactions when they first stopped and talked to you, what did they ask you?
WC: There was a wide variety of those, the split I think was something between people who had heard about it beforehand was about 50:50. So 50% of people who picked me up didn’t know anything about it. Quite often they would stop they would say where are you going. I’d say Kalgoorlie, Adelaide, they would say jump in. I’d say I’m with this. Then they would think about it and most the time if they had a tow bar they would say hook it up and start driving.
Q. So when you jumped in the car what sort of conversations did you have with them?
WC: It would depend on how long I was with them. There was a couple of lifts that were really long lifts, like all day one lift all the way from Norseman to Middle Village which is on the border of Western Australia and South Australia that is about 600km I think. Another one that was 700km from Middle Village to Adelaide. Massive lifts. So that was all night I drove that time, we discussed everything, discussed my ideas what Stand for Love is about we also talked about what these guys have been up to and I actually learned discussing the different things with different people that I wasn’t the star of the show I was really impressed with myself. Then gradually it became really clear that it was each one of these people that were the stars of the show. They were amazing. One guy who picked me up took me to Ceduna. He had been involved in a couple of world records himself. He was only giving me a ride because he wanted me to break the record. It is unofficial the Guinness Book of records won’t accept it, but that is another story. It still happened. This guy had been involved in an attempt to break the bouncing basketball record and he did it 250km from somewhere to Broken Hill with a team of people on the back of a ute, they jumped down and bounced it.
SC. Amazing.
WC: He was one of many, some many of them were so extraordinary. Never had I met a pregnant sheep shearer, this lady was 6 months pregnant she had just finished shearing.
Q. Funny that you say that when I went to Russia with Patch Adams one of the things that impressed with was the clowns that I went with, there were 40 international clowns. It was the clowns I was impressed with. Patch was lovely you could see the greatness in all the people. It sounds like you perhaps had similar insight into the greatness of other people.
WC: No doubt. I knew it was there I wanted to demonstrate it. I am really proud of the achievement I am proud of doing this nutty thing and I can’t wait to do the next one and just keep publicising something that is really worthy of the publicity. What I loved was that there was no team, I had my own support team for this, I travelled by myself people helped me out in the preparation for it. We created a team out of 32 people who had never met each other and they all combined to make a point. We wound up, like there must have been more than a million Australians that heard about it at the time I am proud of my country for producing people that will do that. Will come together for something like that to make that point.
Q. And Australians have a good sense of humour don’t they, they are innovative, shows that Australian spirit of helping mateship and what have you.
WC: Yes I think so.
Q. So why did you start Stand for Love, what was the reason?
WC: I started Stand for Love as an idea back in 1990 and began as an organisation in 1995 and it became stand for love only a couple of years ago, we went through name changes. It is an organisation that has been designed specifically to reduce suffering and increase love in the world and it has taken a long time in preparing. Now with that caravan project we have announced that we are on our way we have started to grow. We are growing love. I am certain of it delighted to see it growing now.
Q. What made you decide to pursue this path of growing love? What triggered you to think to do that and why did you think you could do anything.
WC: I was a youth worker for 5 years and I learned about suffering in our culture there was a lot of kids that are being hurt and that percentage is not getting any smaller, I really wanted to make a substantial difference, it seemed to me there were cycles of suffering going on. In order to do something about the cycles and working in that department wasn’t fast enough for me, I wanted to change the way people think, so I started an organisation that does that.
Q. How did you come up with the idea of a caravan. Where did that come from?
WC: In 1990 I was involved in the End Hunger Movement. I had these ideas of making a big difference. So I was on the look out for stunts, I was engaged in a trip to the States planning the World candle light vigils for 1991 for the Year of the Child and we wound up with a million people lighting candles and it could be seen from outer space. It was fabulous. But I was travelling to work one day down the M4 in Sydney I saw a boat broken down at the side of the road. It is not every day that you see a boat on a trailer at the side of the road, usually it is a car. There was someone in the boat, but no car, just a boat on a trailer at the side of the road. I was thinking as I drove past, wouldn’t it be hilarious if the person in the boat had their finger out trying to hitch a ride and they are waiting for someone with a tow bar to pick them up, by the time I reached Sydney I actually decided this was completely possible and it would make more sense to have a van than a boat. I always thought it was a funny idea that would be hugely fun to do and thought why not do it right across Australia? I thought can it work could raise publicity and awareness and so on, and waited for the moment and the moment was 20 November 2003 Stand for Love.
Q. The funny thing too about that idea the boat I was thinking you could have on the side of it ‘Noahs Arc’ couldn’t you?
WC: Yeah to be honest my father has a boat on the Central coast, we’ve got to go and pick it up. I was thinking (ha ha) go up by train and get the sign up and try and get to Sydney with the boat. I am thinking to do it again.
Q. You could think up some interesting things to hitch with.
WC: When I was doing this Australia trip I was told many times about this guy who hitched around Ireland with a fridge. He did it as a bet. It is an outrageous book apparently, it is hilarious don’t know the name of it have to find it. He has done some funny stuff, it was a pub bet and another guy who has hitchhiked around Britain naked. The poms have got it on us.
Q. You could have a spaceship and call it hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. We are all stars of course. It could go on lots of exciting ideas.
WC: There’s an original idea.
Q. You are going to the United States cause this idea is expanding. You’ve had lots of media coverage haven’t you. What are you going to do in the United States.
WC: It is top secret you are getting a big coop.
Q. Scoop
WC: I figure Stand for Love has been growing, I want to plug the website if anyone wants to visit the website www.standforlove.com get on there and check it out. We have been growing ever since which is great. More and more people coming and taking an interest and participating with us. I am very ambitious I want to change the way everyone on earth thinks. Australia was fun so let’s go to the States. I am planning to be the first person to hitch hike across America with a caravan next year.
Q. In the wake of Crocodile Dundee should be exciting, are you going to have a cork hate?
WC: I will work it out after talking to you I might put a clown suit on I don’t know. I can’t wait to do that I want to get onto Lederman and talk about growing love on earth, hopefully Oprah Whinfrey. Being an Australian and doing something silly like that I think the Americans will wear that.
Q. You do workshops
WC: We teach people how to grow love.
Q. Can you give us a brief idea of what the workshops are like and that they go to the website if they want to find out more details?
WC: I’ve spent a lot of time, it is not just talk, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to work out how to grow love. We’ve worked out what the 4 steps are. The 4 steps are:
WC: Take a stand for love
1. Value feelings
2. Choose progress
3. Act now
When you say them quickly and it sounds pretty easy, frankly it is, not hard to work out these things, takes practice. We get groups together and practice, we practice taking a stand for love we talk about that, talk about valuing feelings, practice what to do, what actions to take in our lives, it is very practical, it is coming up with practical solutions to have more love in our family, in our lives and in our workplaces then go home. We spend about 8 hours doing that 8-6pm it is the last Saturday in Melbourne, of each month. They are full of amazing people. Because it really takes something to stand for love. It is not necessarily an easy thing to do especially in a world that as soon as you say the word love people think you are about to either sell them a bible or invite them to some sex orgy or you are a hippy or you are going to be living up a tree. Love is about feeling safe, well, connected, worthy and free. They are the 5 feelings. We are promoting that and having people feel more of that. We have come up with a way of having that happen, that is what we do in the workshops.
Q. What is wonderful about what you are saying these are really universal ideas every person from every culture around the world can easily identify with?
WC: Absolutely. We have a wide variety of people from different cultures and ages that are associated with stand for love, we are in the United States, japan, new Zealand, Philippines, great Britain, Australia we are keen to get involved with every country on earth. It is common sense, it is really common sense there are a whole lot of the things going on in the world that don’t make sense, just because everyone is doing them it doesn’t make them any more sensible. The idea that you can take actions that make you feel better and someone else feel worse, and that somehow things are going to get better when you take those actions, it doesn’t make sense. Same as if I take actions that have me feel better and you feel worse, or you feel better and me feel worse doesn’t make sense. Or actions that me feel worse and you feel worse, everything gets worse this way. The only type of action that makes a real positive difference is when I feel better and you feel better. It is relevant in the traffic, relevant in the boardroom, relevant at home, relevant in the kitchen take more and more of those actions. If I have to nag everybody for the rest of my life, that is what I am going to do. It is the only thing that makes any sense.
Q. it is really interesting the way you said that. If you want to know if you are creating peace or creating conflict, then imagine if everybody did the thought, word or the action. If everybody did that would it produce peace or conflict? It is common sense. Love is common sense. It is not this wishy washy thing that makes us feel good. Why wouldn’t we want to do it?
WC: I think we probably do want to do it, and we don’t. one of the reason we don’t is we are scared, they are scared of the very thing they want the most not just love of each other that is an important part of it. Love of your work, love of your home, love of your car, love of your body, love of your bank account doesn’t matter what it is. The more love we can get going the better off everyone is going to be. But we do get scared of it for a variety of deep and meaningful reasons.
Q. it is interesting when I looked over your press release I saw the words Love Revolution and that reminded me of Patch Adams when I was in Russia with Patch Adams where all of us can create a love revolution. We can go into a lift, or up an escalator and communicate and connect which is one of the terms you used as well, it is heartening to hear those words again, very much connecting with ideas that Patch Adams has too. Congratulations very much for doing what you have doing it is a splendid idea hitching across Australia with a caravan and no car, clearly you can do it.
WC: Thanks heaps. Thank you for taking an interest in it and interviewing me and talking to your listeners about it, I am really grateful to you.
SC: My pleasure, anything that creates peace you are on my list. Thanks very much for your time.