Today I'm going to start my big trek South. I'm determined to get to Tasmania in the first part of my trip, while the weather is still hospitable. As the southern most part of the country, it sees swings in temperature much more comparable to Canada than most of the rest of the mainland. It is supposed to be a natural paradise, with all kinds of wonderful hiking and walking...
I still don't really have a plan. There are no particular dates I'm trying to hit - just places. I figure I'll drive for a while tonight, and stop when I find a place worth stopping at.
This plan proved to be a little looser than required. I ended up driving until past dark, and twice nearly hit kangaroos. My first real sighting of the full-side cousin of the Wallaby about 3 feet away in the next lane over, as I was doing about 100km/h.
I pulled over at a service road to a water damn - in the pitch black. I doubt there was another person for 10km in any direction. I looked up and I swear I've never seen so many stars. Instead of little pin pricks of light, they were in big patches and swaths, clearly forming clouds and constellations. It was awe-inspiring and overwhelming.
I reflected briefly on my time in Toronto... There is something comfortable about living in a little glas box high above the street, driving a cool car to a temperature controlled cubicle to sit in front of an awfully predictable computer monitor for 10 to 12 hours a day... Life seems so much more fragile and volatile when you stare up and can barely comprehend the limitless nature of the stars, that you can't see beneath the glow of the big city.
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