Traveston Dam will Destroy the Mary River and the Mary Valley

While I was at Kadanga railway station, I visited the Save the Mary River Information Centre. Actually I visited a number of times. Since then Anna Bligh has once again announced that the Traveston Dam is going ahead but it is a totally unofficial statement made out to be official. Friends of the Mary River are still hoping that common sense will rule and they lay their hopes with Mr Garrett. How money can be spent on something in advance of any final ruling beats me but land purchases and road works have been underway for a couple of years. People have already lost their homes except for the ones who are prepared to fight to the bitter end. Others have been scared into submission. That land is now owned by the Government so I wonder what is really going on - not that I myself understand these things. Is there another reason that this land is being collected? And on a personal note, how would you like your relatives burial ground to be submerged under water? I also wonder what the original occupants of the land think. They were the Kabi people.

What I do know from the facts presented at the Information Centre is that the dam is not viable and the tax payers money would be better spent on our long awaited hospital because hospital services on the Sunshine Coast are overtaxed and are also causing needless heartache and inefficient responses to emergencies. Fatigued doctors are making mistakes in surgery and being a public patient is becoming a risk to one's health! I could also go on about the disincentive of the life-time health care loading to those who have had to forgo their private hospital insurance at some stage. There is no way we can get back into the scheme now. Anyway that is another story.

Getting back to the dam(n)ing of the Mary River,

I am not happy about the way that we have been led to believe that the Mary River Turtle, the Mary River Cod, and the Queensland Lungfish are to be sufficiently catered for. An untested turtle ramp and an already 'proven as inefficient' "fish ladder" (Paradise Dam has one but there is insufficient water to operate it at most times and the fish are not proving to be intelligent enough to use it when there has been sufficient water) do not convince me that these vulnerable species are not going to end up extinct. I cannot be placated by such psuedo efforts performed at the tax payers expense.

If North Pine Dam is any example, then any environmental disasters involving our native species are going to be played down anyway. How many people know of the mass fish kill of the Queensland Lungfish that took place not too long ago? The photos showing dead, dying and injured Lungfish at the Information Centre are heartbreaking. I urge you to visit the Information Centre and find out the facts rather than remain in the dark like I was before the visit and my subscription to the Dam Busters newsletter. All the work has been done for you, the information collected, the petitions and letters ready for your signature.

Kadanga is a lovely little town worth the visit and if you would like to see some more photos, click below on my album at picasa.

kadanga

This is Kadanga Railway Station on the weekend of August 15th 2009. I was taking a video with the DV cam I bought Scott for his birthday to come, leaning against a stable platform of the utility room building so that I could get a half decent movie of the Mary Valley Rattler pulling in. However, the train slowed down and because I was busy looking at the LCD screen, I did not notice the waving arm of the Engine Driver telling me to get out of the way. The train slowed right down a the second from the front rubbish bin and it was not until a voice behind me said "get out of the way lady, he won't come in until you move" that I was forced to ruin the rest of the movie and move the camera resulting in a topsy turvy shoot requiring editing and no steady movie of the train going past. I was hoping to upload the movie to a site where you get a dollar or two for movies purchased via that site.

I have not got much hope of holding a camera still enough for a professional looking clip with my hands alone so I will have to use a tripod from now on. The other videos I took show the necessity of that.

The big surprise that on this train, there were people I knew who I bumped into at the tiny market setup around the station. It was Connor, his other grandparents and his cousins (I assume). Nice surprise!

I then went on to meet up with Connor in particular at Imbil station about half an hour down the track. Jan was with me and it was great to see Connor waving out the window of the train in anticipation of seeing Nanoo once again. He ran to me but soon after was more interested in climbing this tree with all the other kids around.

Jan and I went back to Island Reach and our tents after our train chasing day together and Jan had a nice sleep and then proceeded to prepare for our camp fire which she lit on her own. I'd had enough of camp fires by then anyway. They just add to the amount of work a tired and sore body has to do. I was glad that R didn't come up for the weekend because I think I would have been really peeved if they had shared a tent and a bed together as they had done over a year ago on a similar camping weekend at this same location. It turns out I am not so good at sharing men. Actually it turns out that I do not need a man at all (except for spiritual reasons).

Anyway here is the link to the other train video I took. You will probably have to pause it while it downloads. And here is the link to the camp fire video.

My new second-hand Camry is just out of statutory warranty and I used up a lot of that time getting away... back to Imbil for a couple of weeks in my tent, in an attempt to liven up this body of mine. The 1996 Camry CSi is lovely to drive and once I had recovered enough, I did a bit of day tripping to Kadanga, Amamoor, Traveston Crossing, Gympie, Kenilworth, Gueeralla, Brooloo, and back home via Obi Obi and Mapleton. I need to do the Moy Pocket Road the full distance next time and I would like to check out another Mary Valley Railway town called Dagun but I think I will skip on visiting the camp site at Mapleton Forest reserve also called Gueerella because I scraped my car on that 4wd track underneath.

I thought I was doing the right thing putting the car through its paces and checking for overheating etc during the warranty period but it seems I voided the warranty when I drove over 1000 km. Bad, bad, bad, since I have been informed that the car still has another oil leak and a coolant leak which are not covered by the extended warranty either. Doesn't anyone care that I was sold an unroadworthy car? Fair trading said it would mean court expenses to me. So that's the end of that isn't it because I have already started this fortnight repaying last fortnight's overdraft.

So I not only came home to this rude shock, but also to find that the elder one had been sleeping in my garden shed for two nights and has decided to move back in with me. It does not seem like I have a choice. He is not making it out there without a job. And without a job, I have not got much patience with him. It is a large burden financially for me too when he has absolutely nothing but debt. We have locked horns several times already. At least he seems a bit more stable-minded than prior months.

I managed to connect to BB with mobile broadband from Imbil a few times but it wasn't enough to not fall behind with my responsibilities which were constantly on my mind, but finances would not allow any more contact and the physical demands of looking after the body in a tent situation were intentionally the priority, hoping to gain back a little more stamina via exercise. It was a nice environment but my body is still battling and the flu aches and raised glands continue on regardless.

Now that I am back home, the more sedantary lifestyle is not agreeing with my body any better but I am pushing myself a lot to keep up with the demands of BB and especially the women's virtual component and all our study exercises. It still all seems too much but try as I may, I cannot seem to abandon them and the message of Kabbalah is going to haunt me for a long time I think.

It's nice to have a non-groaning bed to sleep in - camp stretchers make a noise every time you move and I am so sore right now that I am going to hop in to my bed and sleep a couple more hours hoping for a stronger day tomorrow.

I have heaps of photos and a renewed interest in working to stop the Traveston Dam but I am too tired right now to get into it.

But I will sleep with a smile thinking about Seth Breitman and Mark who just ran their second and last question and answer kabbalah celebration live via ustream and spoke to the people in just the right way as to not appear to be "religious freaks". Any new interested student would have been encouraged today and I hope I may have helped a bit too despite being told by another Brenda (kli) that attending would be a backwards step. I was there for support and I do not see that as backwards.