Trip to Charlton

Charlton is a small country town in northeast Victoria. Perhaps halfway between Melbourne and Mildura. It was so small that the Shire of Charlton was abolished and merged into the Shire of Buloke.

What makes Charlton famous is its the Charlton Feedlot, a huge feedlot with some 23,000 cattles which is the largest one in Victoria. It is the reason I came to Charlton: we have a research project in Melbourne University ragarding the greenhouse gases emission from feedlot.

Campared to its size, Charlton has a few motels. One of which even was fully booked that we had to change to another one. It was a motel at the fringe of the town, making it the first stop from the farm. The backyard of the motel connected to a big farm and the paddocks runnning all the way up to the horizon.

I generally don't enjoy work. But working on field is so much pleasure, except for the flies and exposure to the sun. I feel so close to the sky which is right there around me, reaching to the very verge of the land. Clouds stretch out in the sky from all directions effortlessly. Birds glide over the water surface, which reflects rays of sunlight into goldness.

The night is a magic gift. Especially at twilight, the last drop of sun lingers at the far reach of the horizon, colouring the strips of clouds into sunset glows, purple, blue, orange. Looking above, it's alright dark, sapphire sky embedded with stars. When sunlight becomes invisible, the Milky Way reveals with all the constellations. The land, the houses and ourselves are enfolded into the sphere of twinkling eternities, and dreams, embrace us.

(Image from http://charlton.vic.au/)