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.