Sea spray in a dusty place

By: Anon

It's early morning and the water glistens by the sun, to the east is the capitol city, to the west is my nearest major town, opposite me are planes taking off to other major cities around Australia, wondering if ever I will board one to take me away.

Wrapping my jacket more tightly round me I get up from my cliff top spot and walk back up the hill towards home where a sleeping house full of nightshift workers await me, the stillness of an early Victorian morning.

Yet when I actually awaken, it's a Queensland summer which rushes to meet me, above me is a swirling fan kept on overnight to improve airflow, outside is 7am and 26 degrees Celsius, with workers travelling to and from their next shift bound for the surrounding mines, and children up and ready for another day of sport in a pounding 36 degree atmosphere. Things here are so different here, yet 2000kms does not feel all that foreign.

I carry with me all the reasons for leaving, all the obstacles overcome and abandoned to travel vast distances to gain new perspective and appreciation. This country, Australia, is a journey in itself, like life, where some paths are dictated, some are laid out for you, where danger can eventuate from the off beaten track, where help is available (should you know the number for directory assistance and have CDMA coverage) but mostly the courage to be heard.

Life is a lesson, and whatever your pack contains, your photos, memories, an extra pair of socks, a voucher for good food and the willingness to meet new people for the understanding of what it is to be local, wherever you're from.

A lot of people say international travel is the only way to gain new insight into home; few say being a tourist in your own country can show you as much. My case contains photographs of grandparents, my mother in good and bad times, my brother with mates; some who've vanished, others who have returned, my own friends and their emails, some who reply, others who trip and fall numerous times, others who have never been given the chance or choose to fall and build stronger bones. A stethoscope and nursing results, sunscreen and a scarf next to various national plane tickets, and most of all my sense of hope, that wherever I may go, however I choose to travel, how much I've changed from someone who was so hesitant to venture out of her neighbourhood, who thought they knew the house 20kms away they would retire in, is now jet setting all over this land of ours, gaining courage and the will to reject anything that says 'stay, don't change, stay in this small ball where nothing new or scary ever happens, count on what is, not what can be'.

For that is our greatest challenge, to venture beyond expectations, step outside the norm, the safe, the expected, and with adequate knowledge, enough trial and error, much instinct and trust of people who have earned it, we can travel to places we never thought we would, and have the strength to come back again, revisit old wounds, inspect efforts of healing, and that despite old pains and places of hurt, our experiences will help us to be at peace with it all, and learn to move on.

So tonight when I venture back into my dreams, I will be swimming in my bay of salt water, splashing the spray onto the distant dusty earth, all underneath my fan in 26 degrees.