Hinemoana writes:

'In 2009, for three startling months, I was Arts Queensland Poet in Residence. I was based in Brisbane, but the Queensland Writer's Centre (who administered the programme) also sent me to various other places in the state. In August I visited Toowoomba, Chinchilla, Roma and Charleville on the Q150 steam-train. Prior to that, in fact almost as soon as I arrived, I was flown to Blackall and Longreach in Western Queensland to experience that country and take workshops with budding poets.

'Being at least a 12 hour drive from any coast was a very strange, quite disturbing feeling for me - at my home in Paekākāriki, I walk to the sea wall in under two minutes. The feeling of subterranean panic I felt surrounded by so much land was something I had to keep breathing through, to get to the other side. When the anxiety settled, what replaced it was a feeling of profound calm, tinged with a quite overwhelming grief.
 
'This soundwalk - a collage of field recordings and poetry - is a legacy from that time. Spending time in those extraordinary landscapes brought home to me how true it is that nowhere's too far from the ocean in New Zealand. This was my first genuine outback trip and is something I'll never forget.'

Listen to 'Gondwanavista'

'Gondwanavista' is also for sale at Lush Design Gallery, 18 Raumati Road, Raumati, Kapiti Coast.

'Gondwanavista: An Outback Soundwalk' is produced by Arts Queensland (Australia, 2009) and distributed by shameless ! promotions (Wellington, New Zealand, 2009).

NOTE: Use this store if you're in New Zealand. Postage is free for all NZ orders. For international orders, please visit Victoria University Press or Jayrem Records or buy Hinemoana's music on iTunes.