The Boom

After travelling around Western Australia for a few weeks now, there's one thing that we just can't seem to get away from. No, it's not the infamous self titled 'Grey Nomads' that out number us 30-1 in all the camping grounds. It's not the constant fear of your clean clothes accidentally dropping off the tiny hooks in the caravan park showers, only to land in a pool of water that could have been there for as long as a week. And it's not even the annoying IGA supermarkets that want to charge us a bomb for a few BBQ rissoles that look like they could have been made pre-Christmas '07. Nope, the one thing we really haven't been able to avoid since crossing the border into the West, is talk of the W.A. 'mining boom'.

The local television news runs daily stories on it, all the people at the petrol stations ask us if that's why we've made the trek cross country and the job section in The Western Australian newspaper is twice as thick, filled with jobs because of it!

But while there may be plenty of work for Uni graduates, new opportunities for small towns and a whole heap of money being poured into the hands of Western Australians, I can't help but wonder what impact this economic boom is having on the environment.

From untouched stretches of coastline near Cape Le Grand National Park in the state's far south, the closer you get to the city of Perth, the more obvious the urban sprawl - with its new canal developments and sub-divisions on show. And check the size of the places that are popping up in towns like in Mandurah, some 74km south of Perth.

Hmmm... I'm a little worried all this new money might be helping people make quick decisions without too much thought about sustainability (in both paying off loans when the boom finally subsides and protecting our natural resources for the generations to come).

Yours in the great outdoors,

Odette

PS Speaking of the job boom, even all the way over here in W.A, over 3000km from home, we managed to bump into one of Luke's old school friends Shawn Simpson and his girlfriend Jenna, who have taken the plunge and set off from Taree, NSW to work in Perth for 12months. I can't tell you how nice it was to camp with some familiar faces! We plan to drive up to Exmouth together before Simo and Jenna return to start work in Bunbury. Yay!