Total: 1856.4
Vic to Adelaide: 634.81
Time on bike: 5:39
Ripperr!!! Entered into S.A today. Certain makes everything seem a lot more realistic now. The surprising thing though is that I've still cycled about 700km less than what I did in Tasmania. In Tasmania the terrain was a lot harder at times as well. Certainly not something I'll complain about cycling on the mainand, as the last couple days have been great cycling- despite the weather being on and off.
I was surprised as I actually had a great sleep last night. I was expecting that it would be a bit cramped with Hong but we both fell asleep straight away. This morning we had some brekky and made our way through Nelson and into Mt Gambier. Hong left about an hour before I as his bikes playing up a bit and he's taking it pretty easy.
As I entered into S.A something reminded me of the Gunditjimarra man at the Aboriginal tent embassy. It made me think about our existing political boundaries, not only here in Australia but also internationally in other colonised countries. Geographically in a country like Australia, with so many variables, it doesn't make sense to have political boundaries the way we do. It really seemed logical to me that the Aboriginal people had many different nations around the country. It made sense, that naturally one clan would manage one area and know how to conserve water, source water, food source, sea food etc. while another clan in a different environment would source different foods, freshwater, game meats etc. They actually had it right, not that they were "undeveloped" or that they lived like "savages". Europeans brought with them a European system to a land on the other side of the world bearing practically no similarities. A one size fits all approach to water sourcing, food sourcing, working industry etc. Now that seems very unintelligent when you think about it that way. I get very annoyed when I think about how little the British tried to retain from the Aboriginal knowledge, culture and history that they contained.
As I pulled into Mt Gambier it started raining again slightly. Not long after I pulled in Hong came in as well. We went to the old Mt Gambier Gaol and set our tent up at the back. This is working quite well as we're both saving a bit of money sharing the tent. In addition we're actually becoming pretty good friends as the communication barrier is now getting better. His English isn't all that good so sometimes it's difficult to have a conversation but he's becoming more confident now. The first day or two we just had some sort of acknowledgement during conversations, not really having a proper chat.
The Gaol has been turned into a hostel so has a nice open vibe around the place.
No comments:
Post a Comment