About a week ago I started writing up a bit of a report on our Eyre Peninsula trip, but I got distracted and didn't finish it.
This weekend's news (see www.abc.net.au/news/newsi...1296993.htm )brought me right back to the point at which I stopped...
*****
Ahhhhhh, red earth. I shouldn't allow such a long space of time between visits. Although there are some lovely rich ochres through the Mid North and Southern Flinders Ranges, the range of reds from vibrant crimsons to deep garnet tones really hits you in the face when you head west from Port Augusta. What doesn't hit you in the face, but hovers opressively when you know it's there, is the Baxter detention centre. Set far enough back from the road that the buildings look like a slightly askew row of lego blocks squatting at the base of the escarpment behind, at that distance I imagine rather than see the forbidding enclosure fencing. Several kilometres further down the road is the single sign-post that might alert passers-by to its presence. It would be an average looking street-sign in a suburb, but at highway speeds both "El Alamein" and "Baxter" are almost illegible ("army camp" and "detention centre" don't get a mention at all). Doesn't seem that the owners want the location well-advertised... I can only hope that's an indication of embarrassment at what goes on there. Red faces in Canberra? Somehow I don't think so.
*****
Ain't life funny?
This weekend's news (see www.abc.net.au/news/newsi...1296993.htm )brought me right back to the point at which I stopped...
*****
Ahhhhhh, red earth. I shouldn't allow such a long space of time between visits. Although there are some lovely rich ochres through the Mid North and Southern Flinders Ranges, the range of reds from vibrant crimsons to deep garnet tones really hits you in the face when you head west from Port Augusta. What doesn't hit you in the face, but hovers opressively when you know it's there, is the Baxter detention centre. Set far enough back from the road that the buildings look like a slightly askew row of lego blocks squatting at the base of the escarpment behind, at that distance I imagine rather than see the forbidding enclosure fencing. Several kilometres further down the road is the single sign-post that might alert passers-by to its presence. It would be an average looking street-sign in a suburb, but at highway speeds both "El Alamein" and "Baxter" are almost illegible ("army camp" and "detention centre" don't get a mention at all). Doesn't seem that the owners want the location well-advertised... I can only hope that's an indication of embarrassment at what goes on there. Red faces in Canberra? Somehow I don't think so.
*****
Ain't life funny?
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Australia
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