Wollongong – Griffith – Broken Hill – Coober Pedy

Heading out on any kind of journey there is prep, organization and some coordination. None of any which are my strengths, but in all surprises, this system seems to work for me and we find ourselves leaving Wollongong in the RV6 on course, track and time. Not to say there wasn’t a little negotiation on my packing expertise, with my excessive shoes and stylish ensemble moving there way aside for more important essentials like, oil and fuel. Yes, you could say my priorities have served me as it was smooth flying over the ranges with a fuel stop in Griffith, to land with all wings on the ground into Broken Hill, where minerals and mining was the bread and life of the people I met.

What is it about the space of the outback that chills out this body of mine and allows strangers that I meet, to have conversations that last for hours? I love connecting with people and Broken Hill allowed that to happen easy, whether it was Norm who we met at the airport and offered to drive us in to town, just because he can, or john who pulled out the question of ‘where are you to to?’ My imagination had to move a little outside its box, to realize he just wanted to know where I was going, well actually he didn’t really, there was only two destinations that were important to John and that was ‘away’ or ‘Broken Hill’. Yep, nothing else really was of concern to John and why would it, the simpler the better – a man after my own heart.

Anyone who has jumped into the world of aviation realizes the conversations aren’t dissimilar to what farmers focus on, it’s all about the weather.  So this is the process when flying from one side of the country to another, ‘weather’ what it looks like, forecasts, fronts and then more forecasts. So with the analysis proving we are able to fly to Coober Pedy off we head.  The thermal activity in the desert is moving this plane like pop corn on the stove, but we find it a bit smoother the higher we go. So higher we go. The Flinders Rangers are amazing and Lake Eyre from the air is another awesome visual. If anyone is curious check out, Peter Elfes, he really nails the visuals and you can see the incredible space from this aircraft I got to see. There is a property out here called Anna Creek Station, which is said to be the same size as Belgium, mmmm. This is vast

We have landed into a dust storm and landing this little number in a cross wind is quite the process, but hey this is the outback, suck it up Marie! Here I find myself, back in opal country, my life was all in front of my again, opal dirt, old machinery and the best deals on rough, cut and polished stones, advertised on plaques everywhere. Mining was what I knew for 20 years of my life and Coober Pedy proved itself to be the sibling to Lightning Ridge. Faces were different but the essence was the same. Even the rough edges of the characters showed marshmallow centers, the colors of opals don’t just reside in the stones of the earth, they are an essential part of character necessity when making the decision to look for opal.

Feeling my way into the intention of this project of lifting the silence, expanding awareness and exposing ‘Braveheart and ;White Ribbon’. Local newspapers are ready to share a cool story, others are wondering what awareness is going to do? I was chatting with a lady and could hear her frustrations and prior experiences with people just wanting to suck the system and not do anything. ‘Government bodies just shuffling paperwork, send a team, write down stats and move on, that does nothing’ she said. Her experience was that awareness isn’t going to change anything, “I’m sick of people mentioning it for a moment, then the next thing you know, there are still kids walking the streets in nappies at 11pm at night. What is awareness when things are getting worse? I could understand how tired she had become; she sees things like this all of the time. Her stories and her pains of trying to do things and feeling like people are just out for themselves and she was over it.

I walked away from our conversation and was questioning myself, ‘does this mean we should just throw our hands up and not try? Does this mean we just let go of efforts that others have tried before us and allow it to continue and get worse? Well yes, it could be a choice to do so, but I have a choice to do something and share something and little things, has shown to accumulate great shifts in our culture in our past and so anything is possible. I have incredible faith in humanity and believe that the goodness of who we are at our center, will be the beauty that will transcend human behaviour  to a space that serves humanity as a whole, that is worth sharing up the space of possibility. So, Victorian Desert, Uluru, here I come.

Weather forecast: 20knot winds gusting 32kts with 70 degree cross wind. Visibility 5000. Cloud base 3500ft fueled up, clear prop, hatches and harnesses are secure.