TRAVEL FEATURE - AUSTRALIA
STEVE DWIGHT
TRUE COLOURS
It ’ s the vivid colours of the outback . The red sand and dust . The soft hews of early morning starts to cover the bigger distances . We feel the excitement of making the decision to head south from Darwin on the 2019 Ural sidecar . Heading to the classic central Australian scene of ghost gums in dry riverbeds . The riverbeds filled with white sand . The distant mountains with the purple haze of an Albert Namatjira 1 painting . The contrast of white sand and glowing red rock face gorges .
We were heading to the small town of Elliott for a fuel and coffee stop . There was a buzz in Elliott . For an exceedingly small town , the park was crowded . What was happening ? It was the Northern Territory ( NT ) Government polling day . Aboriginal candidates , supporters and people off cattle stations mingled as a Ural sidecar parked in the centre of the park . There were “ No Fracking in the NT ” signs and campaign t-shirts .
I asked some people about their issues with fracking . They were deeply passionate on the need to stop fracking , to stop pollution of their drinking water sources . Fracking is the removal of gas from difficult situations . Instead of the normal gas flow this requires the injection of water and chemicals to force the gas to the surface .
One lady said she was from the community of Booroola . I asked where that was . Her reply was , with a pointed hand , “ just over there ”.
It turns out “ just over there ” was a 528km road trip to the town that is located 50km from the Gulf of Carpentaria . We were experiencing the big distances of the NT in our travels .
Travelling on the bike is about being in the zone . Meeting people and exploring the changing environment . There is the freedom of being on the road and
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