“Whites are constantly changing the world to fit the fluctuating vision they have for the future. Aborigines mobilize all their mental energy to leave the world in the state it was. What is this lower design ?” Bruce Chatwin

Wednesday 2 more, Let us arrange and we clean our little house of grandmother before setting off on the noon blows, towards the state of Queensland and its capital : Brisbane. We follow in reverse the route that took the bus at our arrival in Australia there are already two and half months.

This is the second time we ride in Brisbane, if its emptiness could be explained first by the hour our passage around seven in the morning, this time we are in the day but the city is still quiet. We make a detour to the Qutb, next to the Botanic Gardens, where we find a European installed in Australia for two years younger who sells us Camps 8, we had the 7 the last time, the version 9 but output is not the same price ! We recommend going to ride around on Southbank if we have time before us and confirms our belief that although metropolis, Brisbane has more the appearance of a large village.

The walk on the banks of the Brisbane River - Thomas Brisbane was the seventh governor of New South Wales – will be for another time, we still have to find the way to the domestic airport, avoiding toll roads. Yes domestic, our friend - we'll call the Bear - first spent two days in Sydney, our next trip advice from our short but sweet stay.

Here we are in full, towards the North ... but not too fast, you must first leave the day's end caps. The first camping area we have identified is closed ... (surely indicated in version 9 ) ! It's dark and we must roll up Pomona to find another area where we sit in the cool and dark. This is our friend thrown directly into adventure for his first night in tent !

Noosa River

Goanna

Woke up early, the sky filled with stars gave way to a sunrise accompanied by multiple bird cries, leaving our marveled Bear. We drive to the town of Noosa where after observing a moment the leading ferry 4×4 Cooloola Recreation Area in which we stayed few days 2015, let us walk in the national park of the city where if you're lucky you might be able to see koalas. We will not have it, but goannas eat into company, already met in Cooloola, before making a small digestive walk on the edge of the ocean where surfers flock.

Laguna Bay

Surfers in the Pacific Ocean

This is the land of the Kabi Kabi, who are now involved in the conservation of the country at different levels, working in partnership with the State of Queensland. We can not say that this has always been the case, as described in the information panels near the picnic area, recalling what Australia there are about two hundred years ago when more than fifty thousand years of history have been swept a white hand cuffs.

The forest around us was then cleared, most timber being sent to England. The trails used by Aborigines to access food sources became roads, their camping areas recreational areas. And when the Kabi Kabi persisted in wanting access these sources or their ceremonial land, violent conflicts occurred with Europeans blocking access. Fighting to protect their land, Aborigines were decimated : poisoning, shootings, massacres and diseases carried by settlers.

Despite the dramatic changes in the region, small groups managed to survive, struggling to care for their country and maintain their spiritual obligations, ecological, ceremonial and cultural towards the latter. Some have been forcibly displaced in reserves on the lands of another aboriginal nation. The descendants of these survivors today have a registered application for native title that is “recognition by the Australian law that indigenous peoples have rights and interests in lands that come from their traditional laws and customs”.

Leaving behind its past and Noosa, we join the Bruce Highway we will follow for days and kilometers – 1 700 kilometers between Brisbane and Cairns – to stop first at the Gympie for a coffee, then in Maryborough for the night. We're a little roadside but this time it is light and we can enjoy our evening in our camping chairs around a fire mini camp. Le ciel est encore superbe et pour trouver le chemin du bloc sanitaire il n’y a qu’à suivre la Voie Lactée ! 😎

Qui a dit qu’il n’y avait pas d’ours en Australie ? On en a trouvé un sur notre chemin.

Bon, vous me direz, un ours qui boit du Jack Daniel’s c’est rare, même en terre australe !

Comment mettriez-vous quatre ours dans une voiture ? Ben, deux devant, deux derrière… Nous n’en avions qu’un mais il avait une énorme valise, une très grosse veste, un pack-sac et des chaussures de montagne, ce devait être un ours polaire (encore plus rare).

C’était parti pour un petit road-trip dans les contrées lointaines du nord du Queensland, attachez vos ceintures pour un vol au dessus d’un nid de kangourous 😉