I have recently traveled west of Brisbane out to St George then Cunnamulla before heading North all the way up to Karumba. Passing through many outback towns such as Charleville, Blackall, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton and Normanton. At Karumba I headed south east towards Croydon, Georgetown, Mount Surprise and now Charters Towers.

While on this out this way I must say the beauty and charm of the bush has taken my breath away many times.

While talking to locals I got the strong hint that the people of the bush feel very misunderstood by the people who reside in cities and there was a sense of distrust between country and city.

It was at this point that I realised that I was extremely lucky to have family who own an ran a large cattle property in central Queensland and other family who ran fruit farms on the south east coast of Queensland. As this gave me a strong understand of the bush and farmers.

I also realized that many city people never leave the bounds of the city and have a very limited understanding of what actually has to occur for them to eat! Never less that a farmer needs to grow their soy for their tofu and cotton for their jeans.

It saddens me that so many people vote in such a way that makes the bush a harder place to live without ever coming out and experiencing the beauty of the bush.

I believe that as hunters we need to build the trust back up between the bush and the city. This is vital for several reasons from as simple as being able to gain access to properties for hunting to more complex issues of generating an understanding of where food comes from and working towards a better system rather than nonsensical government policy aimed at gaining an easy uneducated s so called green vote.

I personally believe the best way to build this trust is for us to take a full-blown city slicker bush and keep them there long enough to see how life really is and how beautiful the bush and its people are.

Hopefully the next time you go bush you can take a city slicker and maybe even convert them to be a little bit country. But don’t forget to support local while you are out here!