Hello all. I am currently in Hervey Bay after a 2 day tour to Fraser Island, the biggest sand island in the world or some such thing. It was pretty fun and I like this waterfront town of Hervey Bay alot. It has been pouring for the last 2 days and I think the 2 days before that were the only days without rain so far on my journey north. But hey, it is WARM rain, something Washingtonians have never heard of, haha. I was biking in the rain in shorts and tank top totally soaked but warm.
I'm a bit baffled so far by the environmental consciousness here. On the one hand, there are wonderful biking trails and pedestrian routes along the waterfront and excellent public transport in and between the cities. On the other hand, the only thing "organic" I can find is eggs. The tour I went on advertises as ECO certified, yet no recycling of our bottles and such and no composting of extra food (plus driving all over in a monster german-made 4 x 4 diesel bus including picking us all up and dropping us off at our hostels pre and post trip). In general people really seem to have a good ethic of conservation of wild areas and appreciation of nature. But the "eat local" ethic seems to be just "eat Australian", which could just as easily be a patriotic, support-our-own-economy ethic instead. That's like us in Washington feeling good about ourselves for trucking oranges from Florida or lettuce from California to Minnesota. Doesn't quite fly with me. So, it's wearing on my conscience, just like it did in Guatemala, that by travelling I have to compromise my values and have such a greater impact on the earth (even not considering the airplane carbon emissions).
It looks like I will be joining a gal from Edmonton in her car in continuting the journey north up the east coast. Looking forward to a little more freedom in stopping off along the way and having some company for a week or so. Thus I probably won't be wwoofing much until I get up the Cairns/Atherton Tablelands area and probably won't post much until then.
