its pure experience & i feel lucky given this chance. at the right time & place. once every year, emerald holds its biggest events: the sunflower festival, rodeo & damtastic all in conjunction with easter. this chance is one i'll never forget wch happens so to be in my rural rotation.
i was kidding with my hsemate melissa who accompanied me to the festival & i said.. "im sure the parade will be like disney's wonderful parade" given she has been to tokyo b4. then out of nowhere, winnie the pooh appeared.. -_-
day 11- easter sat. we got right out at 11am to the parade. in time, it started in the streets of town. cars by cars.. classic vintage cars pass by us.. with easter eggs thrown out for us to pick. model parade cars protraying dance groups, beauty costumes & kinky music astonish us & threw our expectations over for a small town. the crowning of the sunflower queen eventually got by amongst the day of horse racing with beers & bets, dominating the scene.
nite 11- rodeo. if u guys ever knw wts a rodeo, its an aussie way of saying horse-riding & bull-fighting. in the eve, we head to the showgrounds: an arena overlooking an oval circle of mud. country music was in the air, beers were drunken, family audiences were keenly spectating a no. of cowboys playing their bulls in the muddy stage. there's this huge aussie culture roaming in the air. its a good worthy experience btw for any newbie. 
day 12- easter sun. this is where it starts. destination- fairbairn dam, a popular local dam for fishing & today they're holding 'damtastic' a whole round of fair. i was considering the aspect of my desperation for endorphines & needness to visit the dam on this day with the fact melissa's not-attending due to circumstances. so i decided- explore!
google map revealed a distance of 20.6km. the last complete jog i made in brisbane was frm UQ to city & back to UQ again with 12.4km. this time i never knew wt im gonna do but.. walk! i set off with a mcd cheese burger in one hand & gatorade in the other- starting time 12.30pm. i tell myself.. "i can do this."
15 mins elapsed- nice railway track crossing the streets. a sign tt leads to the fairbairn dam. 10 mins later- reached selma road, a long long road.. seemingly reminds me of the road to miri b4 customs. only this one's open rather than jungle.
the onset was more of a jog than a scene. with time just passing by each area of grassfields. i expected the road to be long & neverending to start with, just like the australia movie. the risk with walking near the roads was anticipated, but handled with care. wide roads turn to small 2-lane roads with widened grassy footpaths. at 1 hour, the grassy fields start to turn into farmlands.
1.15 pm- i passed by a stationary stallion. it kept starring at me or towards the road. then it slowly walked to the fence like as if it wanted smeth. i went over to pat it & give half the portion of my beef burger. water rations running half as well. soon, the scene changed to cropyards of wt seemed to be like cottongrass! i tght cotton wool is frm sheep rather than frm growths. funnily, i just took my time to visualise the concept b4 i moved on.
2.30- shirt is quarter-filled with sweat. 2 hrs elapsed- with 250ml of water. the scene changed agn. this time to polished carpet greens with well-decorated trees & bushes, depicting richmens' houses. a fairbit this time too, was used to appreciate the chirping song of birds tts not existent in the farms. the way led to a road of pinetrees wch can be quite majestic in nature.
3.10- 50ml left. realisation struck. i began to wear off.. i reached denison road wch is 11km passed. i saw a rural firestation & called for anyone. none was ter. i moved on.. then met a path leading to a caravan. thank god there were ppl. i obtained water & asked directions. i was in the right path but still short of 10km.
3.25- nw its abt 3hrs. i swallowed my small beef burger & anticipate another distance of wt i'd just passed. "i can do this" was in my mind every sec. far ahead was a giant green mountain & i typically make up a story to drive me on- "look.. im a traditional japanese farmer.. i need to get up there to collect green tea.. tts what they do in the old age don't they, travel a long way?"
frm the start, i was encouraged frm road drivers. typically, i got a total 8 incidence of honking with waves & smiles. fuff..
on the verge of an imminent blackout, a blue toyota van pulled over. a caucasian man, with his indian wife & 1 year infant in the backseat, asked "are you going to the dam? do you need a ride?" i was like oh hell yea..! "oh thank god.. yes i need a ride.. thanks really really."
the driver & his family saw me when they're heading to town. seeing me agn after 2 hours tght i needed help. his wife said she cudn't believe i was gonna walk all the way to the dam & kept laughing. i was telling hw foolish i was given my legs were already cramping & the seat was so comfortable. the aircon ruled & the baby beside me was very cute.
3.30- we reached the dam. the sight was just amazing, beautiful. we're basically decametres above waters high up & the horizon overlooking to the ocean was undescribeable. on reaching the funfair, the place was lively. there were stalls.. rides.. clowns.. face painting.. jetskis on water & a live music band tt keeps the crowd alive. i was there when a group of miners asked, "are you the guy who walked all the way here? you bad baddie, come & have a drink". i just laughed.
on other side of beach was a lake, where boating-fishing was apparent. the scene is just unnatural. its a forest lake. im sure to be there with a family or partner is awesome. to end up with, the casting of shadow frm the dusk makes it perfect.
destination is sweet indeed but frm this, i learned.. the process getting there is more of an experience tts worth. in the end, i had my brain chemicals raised. i was in euphoria of satisfaction. and i needed it. just ended up in myalgia & slept the whole day on easter monday. so.. easter mon was for blogging :)
lastly, i just want to extend my tghts abt blog. its been wonderful writing & knowing the mense amt of ppl reading by anonymous. its your interest tt keeps me going on writing. so with tt, i thank you and i knw all is worth.
- keith
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