ROAD TRIP

LOUD SPACE is currently in Sydney writing this to you. On Monday he left Melbourne bound for Brisbane. SPACE spent Monday night in Canberra, passing the night away drinking home made wine, talking to travellers, who seemed to quickly disengage from conversations with him. In hindsight he remembers being quite drunk that evening, perhaps even animated and excitable, but this behaviour had no comparison to the hang over in the morning.

On Tuesday morning LOUD went to Parliament and was awe inspired by every aspect of the building. While walking through the building, a function was taking place in one of the chambers. Everyone was beautifully dressed, drinking champagne, while a band played in the corner of the room. Finger food served on silver platters by fresh immigrants.

The event had an air of the high and mighty, people drunk on power and status. Question time was too late in the afternoon to consider to stay and watch, but it would have been interesting to see the Garret face the Liberal Parties heat. Canberra is a big town, well planned, new and bureaucratic. A place you enjoy visiting, but somewhere you would never consider calling home. It's small and after driving for fifteen minutes from parliament, you are out of the city and passing through lush green fields that are being irrigated.

Now in Sydney, waiting for traffic to die down, LOUD is working out where he will head to next. Nambucca Heads. Coff's Harbour. Byron Bay. Port Macquarie or Nimbin. Brisbane by Friday. Or Saturday.

The drive has been relaxed and easy, up till now along the M31 National Highway.In Sydney, the roads are badly signed, busy, claustrophobic and tolled. A few near accidents have occurred. From today LOUD will drive along the Pacific Highway. The landscape has changed slowly.
But it all seems to be farmed; quiet and empty, save for the cattle you sometimes see, scattered with a few trees that have not been cut down. One cannot help but wonder what the land looked like before colonisation, when it was covered in forest. Filled with life. When there were no roads.