Variety is the spice of life. Presented with many differing trails, tracks and roads life was extremely spicy. Mitchell wrote that he encountered all sorts of travelling conditions, I understood what he was saying, the challenge of what I was riding was similar. At times, it almost got the better of me.
Mitchell’s expedition into the unknown lands of Victoria opened up some of Australia’s best farming lands, something that Europeans had already discovered in the area around what is now Portland, Mitchell was surprised to find a small community there prior to his arrival. In some ways, I discovered the opposite, where there were once villages and towns had become empty and devoid, the inhabitants leaving for better opportunities, the shells of their existence remain in the forms of ruins.
He was correct, his discoveries did change the landscape, environmentally and socially. For the better? I couldn’t tell however, I did see what he saw, a land that is as varied as anything on earth and all contained in an area the size of Germany; dense forests, vast desert-like plains, river lands, continuous rolling dunes, alpine mountains. The people too, they seem as varied as the land, each town with its own sense of community, its own being, its own self, yet all uniquely Australian. I can’t recall how many times I sat in awe of this land, this history, this Australia Felix …
ENDS