Berwick and Beaconsfield swaggie style

Today I reached Berwick where by the looks received, it's rare to see swaggies. Beaconsfield shops don't necessarily stock vegemite. Feels good to be on my way.

Letter : If anyone had suggested how one day I'd be less physically able, or more preoccupied with other things to walk from Melbourne to Brisbane, I'd still be questioning what I'd get out of it. But if they'd said it would take three months to make a lifetime's worth of memories I'd be more likely to jump at the chance.

Yesterday I left Melbourne and it's pretty girls on bicycles. Perhaps i've never been so charmed by a city for a single reason. On a Melbourne street, says a woman to the swaggie. "It's a swagman!" Mumbles the swaggie to himself, "well duh!" Soon there was a camping spot behind some scrub, 7km from Dandynong under the stars. By Dawn I walked into the changing horizon.

One man commented, "You're doing what I'd rather be doing!" He looked like he was on his way to work. Another man jogged past with earphones and greeted, "How ya goin'?" in a raised voice. When he passed I yelled back, "By foot!" and giggled to myself.
I'm lucky to be able to travel to Melbourne every year and see it's progress as it becomes more aware. It makes this trip's purpose more obvious to me. The world is in autumn, but an autumn which it has never seen before. The Princess Highway I walk today will never seem the same again and I feel a bit privileged to be able to experience it how it is.

Of course the noise and smell of traffic, and the intense colour wash of sunlight mean that not every step is as full of beauty as the next. Perhaps the beauty I find most striking is that of being entirely present wherever I am? Maybe it's the beauty of being free that reveals this new shape to the world I'm walking through?

I'm sitting here writing while only a few minutes away lies the town of Berwick. The anticipation is too great now and I must continue walking. I'll write again soon,
Swaggie