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Anna K (Brisbane) writes:
Saying goodbye to mum was a bit weird – to get to Poland, my first step was simply out my front door, with my pack on my back and amateur video-camera in hand. Unlike an airport or a train station, there was no barrier to pass through, no call for last passengers – I just gave and received a warm hug from mum, standing on the front lawn, and set off down the street in Wilston, Brisbane, to get to Poland.
A few hours later and I’m seeing Queensland by Greyhound bus, heading to Darwin via Mt Isa. The route through the centre of Queensland is known as the ‘Matilda Highway’, and is the clearly the ‘sunburnt country’ that gave inspiration to our bush poets. It’s a road criss-crossed with roads, gences, railways and power lines, the occaisional herd of sheep or cattle, and plenty of road trains. Every town is marked with a petrol station, and the bus drops off parcels, packages and passengers at every one.
ABC radio western Queensland has a distinctly different flavour to that on the coast.
The landscape changed dramatically after passing through Winton yesterday. It had been all cattle-grazing plains, scrubland and bush, very flat. (I kept thinking to myself… one day we’ll reforest Queensland!). As we approached Mt Isa the landscape became hilly, rocky, angular, with richly coloured soils – the trademarks of a landscape full of minerals (obviously the first European travellers here agreed… it practically yells ‘mine me!’)
You could tell when we were about half an hour out of Mt Isa when you saw the clouds of black smoke rising from the factory, which I was told was a sulphur smelter. (See the video)
On the bus northward, crossing into the NT, I’m sleeping for the second night in a row crammed into the space of two narrow upright seats, under a jacket, and with a scarf wrapped over my eyes to avoid the 5am dawn. Arriving at Dunmurra Roadhouse at 7:30am we are welcomes by about 5 different species of birds, none of whom I’ve encountered before. A pair of big lime green ones, a lonely, gentle, feminine-looking mouse-brown cruiser, some large kites at high altitude, a black-and-white finch, and a a few hundred small ones in a flock, flashing lime green and silver as they twist and dive in the sunlight.
Onwards from Mt Isa to Darwin, the humidity rises and tropical plants and termite mounds began to appear, as well as the signs of a country whose natural cycles are managed by fire. It is at this point that I can feel my mind slowly beginning to clear out – all the stresses and busy-ness of my usual life left behind, (by this point, about 2,500 kms behind) and just the rhythm of the road, a few good books, and lot of time for learning, discovery and reflection.
I can’t wait to meet Steffanie, my host in Darwin,and also can’t wait to see Ollie and Nic when they join me in Darwin in the next week!
OUR LINKS:
Keep track of the AYD blog at www.aycc.org.au
On facebook, you can see the photos, videos, and follow the progress of the five Overland travellers from Australia to Poznan at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=32335642709
Join the ‘Our Climate, Our Future’ Cause on Facebook where you can leave a message for us to take to the Australian Government negotiators while in Poland: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/140590
