The Discovery Coast

Subtlety and nuance are rarely given much note by your average Aussie. No where is this more evident than in the way we name things: the bridge that spans the harbour, that's the "Harbour Bridge"; the mountains with the blue tinge, they're the "Blue Mountains"; the mountains with snow, that'd be the "Snowy Mountains"; "The Great Barrier Reef"; "The Great Dividing Range", "Western Australia"; "South Australia"; "The Northern Territory". The list is endless.

It was undoubtedly with this typical Australian bluntness that the "Town of 1770" was named. This secluded spot, on the Queensland coastline, is so named because in 1770 Cook and his crew landed here and discovered Queensland (which must have been a great relief to the local Aboriginals, who until then had been living in undiscovered land for some 60,000 years or so).

This area was only recently renamed to "Town of 1770". Its original name was apparently "Round Hill" because (you guessed it!) the headland forms a round hill. The town is in fact a caravan park, a mariner and a couple of well-secluded houses. Unlike the coast further south the place has a wild and untamed feel to it. The bush, tangled and unkempt, borders an endless stretch of coarse beach where a thick, salty sea-spray obscures the raging waves.

I spend the night surrounded by towering, grey gums. I fall asleep to the sound of the ocean crashing and the grunts of the bats jostling for fruit in the trees overhead. Possums wake me in the dead of the night, vicisiouly fighting or viciously mating (it's hard to tell with possums). I sleep with the windows down, enjoying the sharp breeze and the primitive, terrible wildness surrounding me. A million stars, white sparks in a vast pool of black, cause shadows to dance around me, in rhythm to the rustling leaves.