IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?

A great lyric from Pink Floyd that I have been thinking about during various moments on this trip. It might have something to do with us having visited the radio telescopes, discovering many amazing facts about our known universe there and also spending so much time under clear, star filled skies, giving us plenty of opportunities to gaze at the heavens as man has done since the beginning of time. I think I have taken a lot of things for granted in my life, as a lot of people do, without really appreciating how special and amazing our lives can be. I suppose having more time to ourselves and being closer to nature has given me the opportunity to wonder at the ways of the world in a way that I have not really appreciated before. I have been drawing a lot of inspiration from nature’s patterns and have a new bank of ideas for future artwork. I can see why people with religious beliefs believe that “God” made the world, but that is too simplistic for me. When I was playing golf with Matt Bowker a few months ago I asked him about his thoughts on these matters as he is a very wise fellow who’s opinions I value. He reckons that there is definitely some other life form out there on one of the billion or so stars and planets we know of, but he doubts that they would be hitting a little, dimpled white ball around a large grassy area into holes not much bigger than the ball itself. What intelligent creatures we are………. When it gets dark outside we close the curtains and we could be anywhere in the world really, it is certainly home now and we are comfortable in our own wee space. We then wake up in the morning with our view, wherever that may be. I don’t think I mentioned that in Moree we spent some nice relaxing time in the artesian spas at the caravan park. Luckily for Moree, their town is situated on an artesian basin which most businesses drill down into so as to offer hot spas to their customers. Moree does not have too much else to offer that we could see. Jarra loved swimming around with his new flotation device but when we got to Goondiwindi that afternoon we went for a swim in a freezing cold pool which Jarra just jumped into and he freaked, he was expecting the warm temperatures of the Moree pools. So from Moree to Goondiwindi then on to Inglewood where we stayed a night in the laneway next to Nev’s place. Neville was the supervisor I dealt with for many years at the roofing company that I contracted to in Melbourne and he moved up to here last year with his wife Anne and his daughter Kiara and is enjoying living in a small town. We all had a counter meal and a good laugh together at the local. Nev also introduced us to a new type of prickle, the galvanised burr, a grass seed covered in spikes like a little round porcupine, snasty. The drive to Warwick was easy the next day and what a lovely town it is, we stayed 15 kms out of town next to Leslie Dam, where there was a lovely backdrop of mountains which the sun set behind. We went to the very modern aquatic centre after lunch on Tuesday and were the only people there, it was very funny having the whole place to ourselves, the 25 metre lap pool, the kids learn to swim pool and the excellent pool that was like a river flowing through a circuit of channels that swept you along, great fun. Just to finish off we must relate to you the Roddy McCloud story that was on an information plague in the park in Inglewood. There were many plaques next to the path on the walk around the park there that gave information on different aspects of Inglewood’s history but this one took the cake. Enjoy!! Roderick McCloud was the owner of “Terrica”, a sheep station 55km east of Inglewood during the 1890’s. One morning, when mustering the brumbies, he fell from his horse and completely scalped himself. He pulled himself together and instructed the team to continue the muster without him. After the brumbies were securely yarded, Roderick McCloud was rescued and his teenage son Scott took the sulky 60 km to Stanthorpe to get the Doctor. Having pulled the skin back, he pulled his hat on hard to hold the skin in place and went back to work waiting for the Doctor. The Doctor arrived that night and McCloud asked his wife Pettie to hold the lantern while the Doctor stitched the skin back. She was unable to stop shaking at the sight of it. McCloud barked “Pettie, I will hold the candle as you are trembling too much for the Doctor to set the stitching”. Dissatisfied with the number of stitches (as he felt they were too wide apart) he instructed the Doctor to put in more stitches. All this was done without anaesthetic or disinfectant. When men were men eh?