Wide brown land continued …

On a slightly lighter note, the drive from Brisbane to Canberra has been an interesting contrast to the other travel Chris and I have done in the last six months.

The vast emptiness of Australia was what stood out to me today. We came down the Newell highway via Goondiwindi and Dubbo and there are times when you are looking at spaces that go on as far as you can see without much of anything. This is so different to the places in Europe and Asia where we spent most of our time overseas. In those places you can’t go more than about half an hour without seeing something that reminds of the humans about the place. Utah is probably the one place we went that had these great spaces. I would love to see Mongolia for the same reason.

I love these long drives through the Australian landscape. Quite a few people expressed surprise when I said we were driving to Canberra not flying, but this is something that my parents have done all my life and we all enjoy it. There is something amazing about driving all day. It can be quite meditative but can also be the time when you have the best conversations.

The most enjoyable holidays Chris and I have had together are those where we have just driven and driven. Our best effort was when we drove 8500 kilometres in two weeks and went to Broken Hill, Coober Pedy, Uluru, Kings Canyon and then back to Sydney via Mildura, Melbourne and Lakes Entrance. Our drive through Utah and Arizona was a highlight of our most recent travels.

I know to a lot of you this sounds like torture but it is almost something that I have to do every now and again. It feels like freedom.