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Date: Jan/Feb 1998To: studio@toysatellite.org From: Don Pattenden <dpattenden@pegasus.com.au> Subject: Life in Herberton - Part Two
Preamble:- Well, here I am in the Internet Shop (well, actually it's a video shop that offers an Internet connection) in Atherton. Wouldn't you know it, all that rejoicing over finding somebody in Herberton with a computer AND an Internet connection who was willing to help me, now he's gone to Brisbane for a few weeks (until Feb 20) so that avenue is closed and I'm back to Atherton as the only alternative. I've been quite a few times now, and I have actually riden here (once) from the property and stayed overnight at the Backpackers. It's 40 km each way, and 10 km of that is over a very rough dirt road. It was a gruelling ride because by now I'm quite out of condition. Glad I did it though. The usual way of coming here is to get myself a lift with Darryl (Dani's partner) when he goes to work at 6 AM (shudder!!) and then catching a bus from Herberton to Atherton, arriving at 9 AM. The return bus goes at 3 PM and finally Darryl drives home (in his truck) at 4:30 PM. Home finally at 5 PM. A long day. So after all that it gets very frustrating if anything goes wrong with the connection. That's what happened a week ago when I came here the last time and spent a long time typing up Part One of this Newsletter, then (Murphy's Law) I couldn't get through to my mail server. Ho hum! Them's the break. Crossing my fingers everything seems to be working this time. Now to continue my narrative about life at Herberton. My originial idea when first planning this trip was to arrive here by pedal power during the Dry Season then to stay here with Dani and Darryl for a few weks before pusing on to Darwin via Mount Isa. Bthe the best laid plans - - - As you know I've had various interruptions that have delayed my journey at various points. Firstly, there was the unexpected news that Heather's brain tumour was avtive again; secondly there was my accident, just outside Nowra back in April and then finally there was the very sudden deterioration in Heather's condition in October and her passing away in November. However, at least I can say that I DID make it to Brisbane (all the way from Melbourne) and that's something. By my reckoning I have now completed 3,037 km. (including Tasmania, from Wynyard to Wynyard, anticlockwise)) out of a total of 15,930 km, that is a shade under 20% of my total journey. A long way to go yet!!!! But it's been fun (well, most of it!) and nothing is going to stop me now from finishing the journey. By the time I returned to Brisbane after Heather's funeral and its aftermath, feeling very drained from the intense emotionality of the preceding month, it became clear that there would be no more bike riding for me -- not serious touring anyway -- until after Christmas. So the idea emerged of spending Christmas and most of January (and into Feb. as it's turned out) with my eldest daughter, Dani, here in Herberton where she has been living with her partner Darryl for two years. Not only would I get to see Dani again for the first time for over a yar, but I would at the same time effectively "wait out" part of the Wet Season before continuing my journey. Kill two birds with one stone. My thinking was that by the time I get back to Brisbane again (by train of course), then make the slow journey back to the tropics by bike, the worst of the Wet would be over. One disappointment though, as much as I was looking forward to seeing Dani again, I feared that it might be a bit of a "let down" to make the trip sitting passively in a train rather than making my first ever trip to North Quensland by my own exertion. Would it spoil things, I thought -- detract from the sense of exploration and discovery when I pedal north from Brisbane, retracing the train journey? But I needn't have worried as it turned out. The train trip was a dead loss as far as scenery goes. Not even a single glimpse of the coast. All I saw of Queensland through the window of the train was fairly boring farming country, interspersed with nondescript bush. Sorry, I seem to have run out of time again. To be continued. Don. |