Monday, July 26, 2010

Rest area to Middleton

Rode across some gently inclining land with more of those fine ranges about. The last 10 kilometres the road enters a spacious, yellow plain with a few more orange ranges in the distance.

At Middleton I was greeted by an old farmhouse turned into a pub. You walk into the front door and people are watching tv in the room on the right while you turn left into the bar full of welcoming faces.

Decided to stay the night at the rest area across the road with the sign that says 'Hilton Hotel', with two open sheds coupled together, a kitchen sink from the 1950s probably, spinifex thatching one of the ceilings and a few benches.

There was also a nice couple, Stephen and Claire from Boonah in a caravan with a dingy on top of the towing Land Cruiser. They set up a fire and and cooked up a couple of delicious pizzas in their portable pizza oven. They invited me to join them for some pizza and great conversation.

It was a very nice evening with their company, a brilliant pink sunset on the Western side of the bubble, and watching events across the road at the pub. Some kangaroo shooters were getting ready for a hunt in a four wheel drive utility vehicle with spotlights on the front and a rack on the back for hanging the carcasses. A father and his daughter first whizzed around the paddocks on their motorbikes, trying to outdo each other, then took a leisurely horse ride. The lady manager of the pub would come outside and crack a whip to quieten her barking dogs. At dusk the roo shooters set off in rush, driving the engine hard, when they heard where some kangaroos were.

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