My world walk blog Australia 57 - Thanks to the Capricorn Hotel and Subway in Blackwater.

Thanks to the Capricorn Hotel and Subway in Blackwater.

Thanks a million to Doug, the owner of the Capricorn Hotel for a generous complimentary steak dinner and bed!
Earlier in the day a man called Graham stopped me on the road for a chat. He is a volunteer martial arts instructor and he said that he would pass on some motivation messages and the importance of sportsmanship. This is in the light of the disgusting cheating of the Australian cricketer called Cameron Bancroft  who was caught on camera trying to roughen up his bowling ball, and with most of the team and management in on the plan it seems. Anyway, back to nicer things. After Graham left he dropped into Subway and arranged a couple of meal vouchers for me and of course Doug in the hotel here. All were so supportive and enthusiastic about my world walk for cancer awareness.

Blackwater is the so-called coal capital of Queensland. Coking is the good coal and the stuff thats the money maker. Its used for steel production in China and Japan.
Thermal coal used for energy plants this one is the cheap one and pays the bills China and Japan are also recipients in addition to other Asian countries.
A mining company called Adani has just signed an agreement to mine thermal coal and they have been trying to get this done for ten years. Envoirmentalists have succeeded in delaying the project. Nobody I have spoken to in Australia or New Zealand ever has a good word for the Greens. "The f***ing Greens!" Is how they are usually referred to!
Thanks to Ron, Sharna  and Sam for their wonderful help. Today I had an easy 19 kilometre day from Bluff to Blackwater.

My world walk blog Australia 56 - Rail puff in Bluff

Rail puff in Bluff.

Sorry for typos as signal is poor and it's late and I'm tired! Myworldwalk.com
Walking around the world for cancer awareness.

March 26th, I'm camping and having great chats with the locals in Bluff. It's a coal mining town of a couple of hundred residents. I continue to enjoy my walk in Queenslands  central highlands. I'm walking just south of.the tropic of Capricorn, and the highway is also named after it. This small town is dominated by electric trains which mostly pull 100 carriages which pass me on the road every twenty minutes. Each train carries 1.4 million dollars of coal and each carriage has the equivalent of four truck loads. This coal is mostly for export and bound for the international shipping port of Gladstone, China being the main benefactor. Serious money is involved.
I have heard stories of how the mining companies are firing some of their workers and then later employing one man to work three heavy vehicles by remote control. Several people just tell me that the mining companies economically rape their local communities as these small towns see little or nothing of the boom. Some of these men, not only here but in Dingo and also in Duaranga mentioned that they were offered such jobs but turned them down as acceptance of an automated post is hammering in the death nail in their mates coffins. BTW these are the type of jobs which President Donald Trump wants to return to America, lol
Then there were another two men, both lumberjacks. Separately they told me their own  stories. The first one said that as China has a shortage of wood that his business is specifically geared towards suplying the China Forestry company, an arm of the government. with as much timber as he can muster. The Chinese are so desperate that even during down-time, rain. periods they provided him with a full paycheck just to keep him on board. I have heard this from both men. Apparently, lumberjack can't just keep cutting trees down leaving them there for future loading the trucks when the roads do open. I have been told that if that happens, then the wood is only suitable for toilet paper. To ensure that this generous arrangement is not abused the Chinese have four officials residing in the area. China sure has ambitious plans. Some of you may remember that when i was there this time last year that I wrote about their so-called OBOR One Belt One Road, an ambitious infacstractiotal rail and shipping project to supply their peiole with food and material goods.
I'm so facinated by China that I'm returning to walk the east coast of the country after Dsrwin. My proposed route is to walk from Haikou  to Hong Kong and then ferries to Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
Mingling.and jokimg with the locals, one man told me that he never saw anyone walk before 29km today.
Tomorrow Blackwater town, that's an easy 19km day! Please remember my cancer awareness message that early screening saves lives.

My world walk blog Australia 55 - Dingo

Dingo

I arrived in a small town called Dingo, population about 300. The dingo is a direct descendant of the Asian pariah dog. This animal has been indigenous to the Australian mainland for almost ten thousand years and is the countries  only carnivorous predator.  

The dingo is synonymous with australian folklore, legend and myth. It's prevalence in the area during the early settlement years caused the town to be so named after pioneer Moses Wafer who camped in the area and named the town after the wild dogs he heard howling in the middle of the night.

My world walk blog Australia 54  

Kangaroos up close...

Thanks so much to Donna and Nicole and Cameron for their generosity. They are the  owners of the Baralaba Hotel and sponsored me a complimentary bed and breakfast
24 km walked as far as Baralaba. So many people stopped that day that I was overwhelmed with offers of water. Thanks to Scott for bringing some of my heavy baggage on ahead. He was disappointed that he didn't meet me the day before as I passed his farm. I camped in a forest just down from him. 26kms  walked yesterday. 

Just before the entrance to the town I was excited when I saw two kangaroos who let me get within eight metres of them and I managed to take some decent photos and shoot great video. 

Then another night I am so thankful to the Duaringa Hotel in Duaringa for a lovely nights accommodation! 40 km walked on Friday and the day before 30 That day I was rescued from the rain by Kas and Barbara who are originally from Poland and have been living here for 50 years. They call Australia the land of opportunity and wanted to get as far away as possible from communism and arrived with just a suitcase and nothing else. She came with her family aged about three and they only met when she went back for a holiday aged 25. They married. Kas was a mechanical engineer and made a total career change owning many business and he just sold some off for six and a half million dollars. They gave me a bed for the night and two delicious bowls of what tasted like Dublin Coddle stew, just like mam and sister Ann used to make me
Thanks to Josh who is bringing Karma on ahead to Dingo town so as I don't have to push her that day. I presumed there are a lot of dingos in the area, sadly I passed a dead one on the road the day before.

Irishman's come a long way

6th Mar 2018 1:47 PM | Updated: 7th Mar 2018 1:43 PM

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ROUND THE WORLD: Irishman Tony Mangan is walking around the world, and walked through Dalby on the weekend.Michael Doyle

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by Michael Doyle

PUSHING his belongings in front of him, Tony Mangan was on a rest day as he headed for Dalby.

Leaving Bowenville last Saturday morning and arriving in Dalby just before lunch, Mr Mangan was enjoying one of the shortest treks on his round-the-world journey.

The Irishman is walking from Toowoomba to Darwin, in an effort to walk around the world.

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He has already completed the Australian continent on his trek, when he walked from Perth to Sydney last year. 

From there he chose to walk to Toowoomba before spending his summer trekking across New Zealand. 

The Irishman returned to Toowoomba on Wednesday, February 28, commence his walk to Darwin. 

It is a feat he has already accomplished, albeit he cycled and then ran, and he said he did it for the pure love of adventure.

"I love travelling and I love slow-mo travelling," he said.

"I have no time for somebody getting on a motorcycle and zooming off, talking about getting to Mongolia from Europe in two weeks and back in three weeks."

Mr Mangan began this walk in his hometown of Dublin on January 27, 2016.

He entered his third year of the walk in his 16th pair of shoes.

The trek has taken him across Europe, through Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia.

The notion to walk around the world came after he cycled and ran around it earlier this decade.

"When I was younger, I cycled around the world, then I started running marathons... I found the marathon was a little to short.

"During training I just got the crazy notion I would like to run around the world.

"I wrote two books... and then put down the pen and, though I did achieve plan A which was to run around the world, plan B was to walk so I thought there was nothing wrong with that.

"I am enjoying plan B more."

While the walk is for pleasure, Mr Mangan is spreading the awareness of cancer screening.

He said he was not raising money for charity but wanted everyone to be aware of the importance of getting a regular cancer screening.

"The cancer awareness message is, life is precious every cancer screening saves lives."

Mr Mangan's next stopis Miles and he said he looked forward to arriving in Mt Isa, where a celebration has been planned.

He said once he had reached Darwin, he would return to Asia to explore different countries before setting his sights on his next continent, North America.

https://www.dalbyherald.com.au/news/irishmans-come-a-long-way/3354623/

Tony Mangan ‘Walk Around The World’ #5

POSTED BY: CONOR HOGAN 21ST MARCH 2018

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God said to Noah:

I am going to put an end to all the people because the earth is full of fighting because of them. I am going to destroy them and the earth.

Noah was then given specific instruction on how he could build an arc to save those that he could from the almighty flood.

Once God had communicated this to Noah it is said that he then made a covenant with him, an agreement with a promise.

Before Tony Mangan’s mother passed away from cancer  she lived out one of her dreams in seeing her son finish his world run.  By then a deep motivation had begun in Tony. That motivation was to spread the urgent news regarding the importance of early cancer screening in order to  avoid the pains and struggles of the dreaded disease.

A friendly face that Tony met along the way!

Recently Tony was experiencing another annoyance during his leg of a Queensland walk. As St. Patrick’s Day was looming Tony began to ponder how he, as an Irish man, felt coming up to the annual celebration. As an overseas ambassador of his beloved country, Tony began to recall the time he ran around the world some years previously. Rather than being near Australia, Tony was on the opposite side of the southern hemisphere and finishing a run through Mexico. As soon as he completed a 50km journey he was parched with the thirst and had to be led by police back to the police station. While he was being marshalled back by two Mexican officers, one of them stopped to take a call of nature. As he did his business he turned to Tony and said:

Hey, you Irish you love to drink, don’t you?

and proceeded to offer Tony a beer.  Much to the officers’ amazement Tony preferred to drink a Coke instead as he retorted:

Nah, nah I`ll have a coke instead

The resultant body language and actions from those officers said it all for Tony. They continued to use their pistols to open two beers before driving off and this displayed how they were not prepared for an Irish man so fit and self disciplined, not fitting the stereotype of wanting to drink alcohol at every given opportunity.

In these past few days Tony has experienced Queensland in floods yet the weather is warm and welcoming. His insistence after travelling around the world and meeting many people from all places is that the Irish, when internationally compared, are only ‘mid table’  consumers of alcohol.  Thankfully for us Irish we won’t need a Queensland flood to water us down now that St. Patrick’s weekend has run it’s course, but for Tony, his international ramble by the waters of the world continues.

http://www.theeye.news/2018/03/21/tony-mangan-walk-around-the-world-5/

Tony Mangan ‘Walk Around The World’ #4

POSTED BY: CONOR HOGAN 11TH MARCH 2018

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The Bible is the good book that tells us how best to live. Many scriptures and stories are contained in the Bible. Characters from within these tales are comparable to people that exist in the present day.

One of these characters is a man named Moses.

The story of Moses stated that the descendants of Jacob had lived in Egypt for over 450 years and then their people transformed into a nation. This nation was named Israel. However, the Egyptians started to see Israel as being a threat to their own nation and reacted by forcing them to become slaves. Due to Israel’s population increase, the Egyptians then decided to drown their babies in the River Nile. However, God came to Israel’s aid and sent them a leader who was called Moses.

As an infant, Moses’ mother had left him into a basket and let him flow down the River Nile as she believed that  God would look after him. Despite this random act, the baby Moses was rescued by a well off daughter of a Pharaoh and the baby was raised in a royal palace.

Tony Mangan leaves little chance. He decides as he goes where he will sleep. This is based upon his vast travelling experience and sharp instinct. Although Moses travelled down the River Nile and was fortunate enough to be rescued by a Pharaoh’s daughter, Tony too has had the fortune of being aided on many occasions by generous people.  Each time Tony meets a new stranger and tells them of his world walk message of becoming aware of early cancer screening, he is often given royal treatment by ordinary people.

Later in the biblical story of Moses things became more complicated.

Once Moses reached adulthood he rebelled against his upbringing and killed an Egyptian guard in honour of his native Israelites. As he attempted to avoid the reaction of the Pharaoh, he flied to the dessert where he was spoken to by God through a burning bush. This message from God is said to have given him special powers that were to eventually propel Moses to lead his people from slavery.

Like Moses, Tony is taking chances as he travels down under. Although he has not had the experience of being spoken to by God in the dessert, he is certainly racking up the miles in the Australian bush and continuing his story in leading others from the wrath of a cancerous death.

 http://www.theeye.news/2018/03/11/tony-mangan-walk-around-the-world-4/

 

https://www.chinchillanews.com.au/news/globetrotter-shares-message/3358821/

NEWS 

Globetrotter shares message

12th Mar 2018 2:00 PM

WORLD WALKER: Irish man Tony Mangan is walking around the world to raise awareness about cancer.Brooke Duncan

by Brooke Duncan

IRISHMAN Tony Mangan has travelled farther in his life than most gallivanters and globe trotters.

At 60 years of age not only has Mr Mangan cycled, and run, around the world, but now he's undertaking his next mission - to walk around the world.

And it's a mission with a purpose, to raise awareness of cancer, and spread his message that "Life is precious. Early cancer screening saves lives."

Last week Mr Mangan passed through our region, and the Chinchilla News was lucky to have his stop by the office to tell of his incredible adventures.

Mr Mangan said his first taste of slow travel came with his decision to cycle around the world.

"I developed a love for travel, in particular slow type of travel cause you have great people connections, see people at the side of the road, cycle past little cafes and they wave," he said.

"Or pass their house (and they) ask me if I want a drink of water or tea, coffee, or even an overnight, that happened so much on my world cycle, I loved it."

Slowly Mr Mangan drifted from cycling into running, competing in marathons before finding they just weren't long enough.

"The longer the distance, the more competitive I became," he said.

Eventually he moved into extreme running and from there, decided on the "ultimate endurance challenge", to run around the world.

After 21 years of dreaming, it became a reality when he set out from Dublin in 2010.

By the end of his run, he'd travelled 50,000kms.

It was during Mr Mangan's run that he experienced the realities of cancer, when, during his challenge, his mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

"It came out of the blue because we didn't have any cancer history in our family," he said.

"My mother, who was the strongest woman I ever met in my life, wouldn't let me compromise my dream.

"In short my dream had become her dream and she told me she'd be heartbroken if I stopped, if I shortened it (the run)... and I was not even two years into a four year world run, and her prognosis was two years."

When Mr Mangan finally reached the end of his journey, in Dublin once more, his mother was well enough to cross the finish line with him.

After that experience, Mr Mangan said he was left asking "what now?".

"People like me will probably be lowered into our graves still looking at Google maps," he said.

And so, he decided to take the next step, and walk around the world.

And two years in, he's "having an absolute ball".

"It's been an amazing experience so far, I don't want it to end," Mr Mangan said.

"The most incredible hospitality all around the world.

"My cancer awareness message is.... life is precious, every cancer screening saves lives."

To keep up to date with Mr Mangan's progress, head to www.myworldwalk.com

https://www.chinchillanews.com.au/news/globetrotter-shares-message/3358821/