Cairns to Broome

After travelling for many hours on the Barkley Highway we arrived back in Queensland and into Camooweal. If you want to experience that drive, you can stare at that first photo for four hours and hum the sound of a diesel engine. However, the journey was worth it, we stayed with our friend Colin Saltmere at Myuma You never know what you will see and who you will meet at the camp. Colin has been working with the University of Queensland for many years researching the medical and industrial application for the nanofibers from spinifex. They have now got the plant set up to harvest the spinifex and convert it into powder gel and liquid. The next stage is some really exciting medical testing to produce a new treatment for burns. Len was in 7th heaven looking at all the gear in the factory.

We also met a woman from Germany. She is a scientist who owns a company doing revegetation projects after mining operations close. They go in and harvest seeds and plants and a layer of topsoil, before the mining takes place. It’s a very different approach. Her heritage is SORBS a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting parts of Lusatia in Germany. Sorbs traditionally speak the Sorbian languages which are officially recognized minority languages in Germany. She is also a traditional artist using wax and paint to decorate eggs in a very intricate and detailed design. I wish I had taken some photos. She was playing around with using spinifex resin instead of wax. After meeting Australian indigenous artists, she is now using the designs to tell traditional stories on paper and canvas instead of on eggs. She very generously gave me a small piece of fabric decorated with her designs. I have added a photo. She met an ex main roads executive in Germany and he told her about Myuma so she included a visit on her trip to Australia. It is a small world.Read more