It was a big 48 hours, that's for sure. Left home at 7.30 am, drove to the airport, flew to Brisbane, then another flight to Proserpine on the Whitsunday Coast, then drove to Collinsville.
How do you get to Collinsville, you ask? Well, you drive north to Bowen (about 85km), then you drive south for another 85km. Now, sixth-grade geometry should dictate that I would find myself back in Proserpine after such a journey, but no, the second leg was actually slightly west of exact south, so I ended up in Collinsville, a mining town of about 2,500 people, which is about 60km west of Proserpine, but without a direct route between the two.
I did an awards night speech in the evening, then stayed at the Town and Country Hotel/Motel before heading out to Collinsville High School to do two workshops the next morning. I was all done by 11.30am, which left me enough time to say goodbye and head back to Proserpine via Airlie Beach. Then it was two flights home via Brisbane, and home, to walk in the door at 10.30pm.
Is Collinsville somewhere I'd have ever just gone and booked a trip to? Doubtful. But I'm so glad I did it, even though I saw very little of the town itself.
I love small Australian towns - they have a certain feeling of self-containment and self-assurance that is very hard to describe. They make me feel humble, too. It was a long way, yes, but worth every mile.
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