Roads less travelled

I seek the roads less travelled

Long flat ribbons of road narrow and rutted
Covering flat planes and sparse dry land

Curvy narrow tight roads through mountains and forests
A precipice at every turn

Hours alone

Past forests
Gorges
Rivers flowing
Rivers almost dry

Past mines
Pasture
Canefields

The little cane train rattling along its narrow rails
Huge bulls almost lost in the long grass
Move over for the massive mining machinery inching along

Then it’s the A1
Funnelled into a tourist town
Peace lost

Missing the quiet of the roads less travelled
The natural beauty along the way.

NSW /QLD border near Springbrook NP

Natural Bridge NP
giant staghorn fern clings to the cliff in Cania Gorge

I’m sitting at Airlie Beach, a popular tourist town and thinking of the roads less travelled and the beautiful places I’ve passed on those back roads; Mundubbera, the mandarin capital, Dingo, with an Argentinian barmaid, and the offer of a couple of days work as a bouncer in Biloela.

The beauty of the Natural Bridge and Cania Gorge NPS.

It’s warm though and riding in just a Tshirt under my leather jacket is a pleasure.

But the tropics still call and Cooktown is another 950 kilometres north.