Starting again to get some news on here, now that I have reached Ubud, Bali, waiting for my bicycle trailer wheels to be repaired.
Aiming to go to Darwin via Townsville, I googled "Transition town Townsville" and up came the name of a guy named Leon, a permaculture practitioner who lived on the island with his family, and invited me to come stay, and lead a symposium, or seven!
So I did just that, and loved the island, two thirds of which is protected national park. Townsville is largely a port servicing the mining and sugar companies whose produce (not the right word for mining?) is shipped largely to China. And it boasts the largest United States military base outside the USA, altho I didnt see a single US military person whilst I was there.
Townsville had a bit of a red neck feeling to it, and so I based myself on the island at Picnic Bay, below.
and led two symposiums on the island, the last of which I entitled: "Creating a Bold New Future for Maggie." Below - welome Paul, Kaylene, Jo and Alison - "Island Dreaming" tribe - 4 new Facilitators of the Awakening the Dreamer symposium that I trained in a 1 day 'long training' Magnetic Island. A huge privilege to impart the symposium to them, at Kaylene's beautiful Bali-esque oasis home on the island! Thank you Kaylene!
The downside of the stunning scenery and ferry crossings from Townsville to Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island over a 6 week period during 2 months -(the rest of the time I went to NZ to renew my Australian visa)- was that the salt spray corroded parts of the bicycle and the trailer to some degree.
Magnetic Island was extremely wet when I arrived in mid March, seeing the end of a prolonged rainy season, continuing after the devastation wrought by Cyclone Yasi that had decimated much of the verdant tree cover and foliage that hid houses from each other. After 3 weeks of almost non stop raining, the torrential rains stopped and the slightly cooler, dry season hit the island.
None of this phased me much as I would commute around the island, making preparations for the 2 symposiums I organised on the island, the three in Townsville, and one at James Cook University too.
*****
Bob Randall, singer, teacher and Yakunytjatjara elder (indigenous custodian of Uluru/ Ayers Rock) invited me to come visit his home in Northern Territory to see for myself the conditions in which Aboriginal people lived. I took him up on his offer.
Chris
