A Country Talking — If You Know Where to Listen

You don’t really follow these mornings. You drift through them.

One call rolls into the next — a bit of weather, a bit of work, something remembered, something noticed — and before long you’ve got a clearer read on the country than anything packaged neatly could give you.

This week, it kept circling the same idea.

People are still moving. Still working.

But something’s shifted.

A Soft Start in Borroloola

Samuel’s voice came in low and steady out of Borroloola, like the day hadn’t quite fully started yet.

“Bit foggy this morning… sort of dewy.”

The moon was just going down, and there was a fishing competition building at King Ash Bay — prizes, weigh-ins later, the usual rhythm of a weekend up there.

Macca asked about the crowd.

Samuel didn’t rush the answer.

“Yeah… a few visitors.”

Then, after a beat, he added what mattered.

“Not as many as we expected.”

Fuel, he reckoned. Enough to slow people down.

He didn’t push it any further. Just left it there.

Shearing, Travel and the Cost of It

Dave’s call had movement in it — packing up, heading home, already thinking about the next job.

He’d been shearing around Cootamundra, on his way back to Deniliquin after a solid run.

Macca wandered into the old shearer stories — bikes, rough travel, making do.

Dave gave a quick nod to that.

“They done it tough those days.”

But then brought it back to now.

“You just got to travel to get it these days.”

The work’s still there. It’s everything around it that’s changed.

“It’s not cheap on the road… you’re paying more for everything.”

No drama in it. Just how it is.

When the Desert Comes Alive

Chris came in over a bit of noise — wind, engines, other voices.

He was out in basin country with a crew, heading into another long day.

Macca asked what it looked like out there.

Chris didn’t talk about the job.

“The environment’s gone crazy.”

They’d had rain. Proper rain.

What had been dry weeks earlier was suddenly alive — birds, butterflies, rabbits, everything moving.

He kept listing things, almost like he couldn’t keep up with it himself.

You could hear it happening around him as he spoke.

Working the Same Ground

Phil’s call sat quieter, but it carried something.

He’s working near Batlow and Tumut now, building out transmission lines — pushing access into farmland, working around conditions, taking it as it comes.

But when Macca asked, he reached back.

Last time he called in was 2020.

Fires.

He was on dozers then, cutting firebreaks through that same country.

Different job now. Slower work.

But the same ground.

The Long Way for a Simple Fix

Dean’s call had that steady, long-distance feel to it.

He’d come down from Darwin chasing a gooseneck trailer so the family could get to rodeos without taking two vehicles.

Macca asked how far they travel.

Dean didn’t hesitate.

“We’ll go 1,000 kilometres for a rodeo… 1,400’s not unusual.”

That wasn’t the point though.

The point was the road.

“The road’s very quiet… quieter than I’ve ever seen it.”

He’d been doing that trip for years.

He knew what it usually felt like.

You Feel It From the Driver’s Seat

Matty backed it up straight away.

Heading out of Melbourne towards Dubbo, empty truck, steady run.

“It’s been quiet… very quiet.”

Macca pushed him a bit.

Just today?

“No… it’s been quiet.”

Then he drifted north — New England, west of Dubbo — talking about how dry it is through there.

You could feel how those things sit together for him.

When It Stops Adding Up

Steve and Maria in Tolga spoke like people who’d already made peace with a decision.

Macca brought up their rose business.

They laughed a little.

No, not anymore.

“Trying to compete… it just got too hard.”

They talked through it — fertilisers, labour, imports — but it wasn’t one thing. It was all of it, building over time.

They loved it. That part was clear.

But loving it wasn’t enough to keep it going.

The Things You Don’t Notice

Rick’s call in Townsville came through a bit scratchy.

He runs a window and door business.

Macca had been talking about glass earlier, so Rick jumped in.

“You just can’t get a hold of it anymore.”

Started with coloured glass. Now even the basics are getting harder.

Macca pressed him on it.

What does that actually mean?

Rick explained it in practical terms — people want repairs done properly, like-for-like.

But the materials just aren’t there.

And underneath it all was the part that didn’t quite make sense.

The raw material is here.

The finished product isn’t.

Build Your Own Solution

Doug had already had a morning before he even called.

Driving back from Karumba, a few pigs ran out in front of him.

He took care of them.

Macca picked up on that, but Doug didn’t stay there.

He’s an electrician.

Used to run a motel.

Got fed up with rising power costs.

“So I built one,” he said, describing what he now runs as a local power operation.

From there, Doug just talked it through — how it started, how it grew, what he supplies now.

He didn’t sell it. Didn’t dress it up.

Just told it.

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Big Numbers, Same Problem

Peter came in from Wangaratta with numbers.

Six days near Warren.

About 1,200 pigs.

Macca reacted — that sounds like something.

Peter didn’t pause.

“You don’t even make a dent.”

He explained it — river systems, thick country, places you can’t get into properly.

Back home, he’s seeing more signs.

Ground turned. Movement where there hadn’t been any before.

It’s not a spike.

It’s a spread.

Not Everyone’s Slowing Down

Sue’s call from Mackay lifted the tempo straight away.

More than 500 riders in town for a Harley rally.

Macca asked if she rides.

She laughed.

“I absolutely love it.”

Then the trips came — Uluru, Tasmania, planning a full lap.

“Once you go somewhere… you plan the next one.”

Same roads everyone else was talking about.

Different reason to be on them.

Dry Country, Familiar Voices

Lucy was out near Tamworth, feeding cattle, dog beside her in the ute.

Three dry summers.

“We’re sort of back in 2019 again.”

Macca moved with her through it — drought here, floods somewhere else.

Then the call turned.

She told him she’d written in years ago.

About her dad. A regular listener.

Macca picked it up straight away.

Now she’s the one calling.

Same show.

Different voice.

Seeing It Over Time

Sean and Janine had been on the road for months.

Nullarbor. Up the coast. Through places like Kalbarri.

Macca asked what they’d noticed.

Sean didn’t hesitate.

“There’s not a lot of people out.”

He ran through it — caravan parks, stops, places that should have been fuller.

Not empty.

Just lighter.

Early Days on the Land

Nick was only a few months into farm life in Mickles Rivulet.

Fences still going in. Cattle not quite settled.

Macca asked how it was going.

Nick paused.

“It’s hard… but it’s good.”

Coming from a life at sea, it’s a shift.

And it doesn’t take long, he said, to understand why fewer people are getting into it.

The Drive Back to Alice

Ken was on the road to Alice Springs.

Macca asked what for.

“The Cup.”

His voice lifted slightly.

“Big day… for all the right reasons.”

He’d lived there for decades.

Knows the place.

Knows how it’s talked about.

Then, almost as an aside—

“No one waves anymore.”

Macca laughed.

Ken didn’t.

“I still do.”

Starting Again

Divine’s call sat quietly at the end.

Near Yea, living in a shed after losing her home in the Longwood fires.

Macca asked about rebuilding.

She answered simply.

“I don’t think we will.”

Only been in Australia a year.

There wasn’t much more said.

There didn’t need to be.

One Conversation at a Time

By the end of the morning, it wasn’t one story.

It was the repetition.

Quiet roads. Higher costs. Work still moving.

Different voices, same threads.

You don’t get the country all at once.

You get it like this.

One call at a time.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

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