Ridiculous amount it costs to ride anti-Adani bus

For a hefty 'donation' you can secure your seat on new tours of CQ

Mystery Dingo Environmental Tours describes itself online as a group which provides "environmental activism tours" which take "people and vital infrastructure to the front lines of environmental protection". Picture: Mystical Dingo Environmental

A TOUR of a different kind is set to arrive in Central Queensland - only this one is unlikely to be popular with the locals.

Activists passionate about a future without thermal coal can secure a seat on a Mystery Dingo Environmental Tours bus and they will be taken, via the scenic route, to the frontline in the fight against Adani.

Piled into a rusty 10-seater bus, the rag-tag team of protesters will arrive in the region next month.

The man behind the idea, Murray 'Muzz' Drechsler said it was about more than fighting against the development of the Galilee Basin.

"It's reconnection to nature," he said.

READ MORE: MP hits back at 'hypocrite' activists

"I take people out to see a beautiful part of the world, get them to fall in love with it and I say 'by the way, there will be a gas seam here or an open cut coal mine here'.

"You fight for something a lot harder if you love it.

"I turned a lot of people from passive activists to active activists."

Mr Drechsler, who works as a traffic controller in NSW, said he started Mystery Dingo tours eight years ago as a business that took international-tourists to beautiful places around his home region.

Mystery Dingo Environmental Tours describes itself online as a group which provides "environmental activism tours" which take "people and vital infrastructure to the front lines of environmental protection". Picture: Mystical Dingo Environmental

After becoming involved in blockades and frontline protesting, Mr Drechsler said Mystery Dingo tours morphed into an activism campaign.

Now, he uses his bus 'Blockadia' to take passionate activists from Mullumbimby to protest sites across the country - the bus regularly visits Canberra, followed the Bob Brown convoy and has gone as far as Western Australia.

In September, the group will arrive in CQ as part of a road trip associated with well known anti-coal groups Frontline Action on Coal and Galilee Blockade.

DON'T MISS TODAY'S HEADLINES: 

>REVEALED: Region's shocking drug death report card

>Stranger's final gift changes Mackay woman's life forever

A seat on the bus would set you back a "donation" of between $200 and $250.

"It just covers costs, it is not a registered business," Mr Drechsler said.

"I ask for a $200 donation for a trip, I'm not a very good business person, I'm possibly too kind.

Mr Drechsler said donations covered the cost of fuel, camping equipment as well as keeping Blockadia on the road.

On September 2, the CQ tour will leave from Mullumbimy, travel through Brisbane where it will stop at a few solar farms before continuing to the anti-Adani protest commune (Camp Binbee) about 50km outside of Bowen. Mr Drechsler hinted the group would also get "close" to mine sites in the region.

The bus will visit the Mackay region next month. Picture: Mystical Dingo Environmental

Despite his passion, Mr Drechsler said he didn't believe the road trip would be a hit with CQ locals.

He said he understood locals would not take kindly to out-of-town protesters campaigning against the mining industry.

"If you love something, you have to protect it," he said.

Mullumbimby mother Kate Coxall and her child will be joining Blockadia on the trip.

Miss Coxall said she became very involved with protest groups after the Federal election.

"I am a parent, I am also a Greens supporters and volunteer and I am quite involved with things on a governmental level as well as a social scientist," she said.

"I'm really passionate about leaving a planet (that has not) gone through awful social collapse and ecological destruction for my child.

"I feel the only way forward is to actually put myself out there and to assist people who are willing to put their civil liberties behind them."

Attendees on a recent tour. Picture: Mystical Dingo Environmental

Miss Coxall said it became clear to her that large scale change needed to happen and she did not believe the traditional channels which were used to create change were working.

Despite Bob Brown's contentious convoy being attributed to the election swing towards the LNP, Miss Coxall said she did not think another protest convoy would further divide an already split state.

"I don't think it is about the activism getting people off side, I think it is about the media coverage," she said.

"I actually believe that people will be thanking us and that the general public will come on-board. Nobody wants to see the destruction of the environment."

Responding to online criticism about her plan to bring her child to the frontline, Miss Coxall said she believed it was important to educate children but made it clear she would not risk her child's well-being by risking arrest.

"There are children at (Camp Binbee), there are children who will be coming up. It is important for children to get an education," Miss Coxall said.

"Certainly there will be no children being taken to the (mine) site or being put in a position of being in danger or being amongst conflict."

Originally published as Ridiculous amount it costs to ride anti-Adani bus