Road Trip

Out in Moree, Sharon has a friend named Barrie. Barrie is a farmer, but he doesn't have a farm of his own. He hires himself out to other farmers spraying fields and sowing and harvesting crops. These days, Barrie is having hard times and is looking for extra work. So he made some flyers advertising the services that he can provide and decided to take a trip into the countryside to put them up in the hopes of getting some business. And he invited us along.

The weather forecast was for rain for the next few days. This would mean there would be not much work on the farm where he was working, so it was the perfect time to be going on this little jaunt. It was a long weekend, so he thought to go out on this road trip for Sunday and the holiday Monday. So bright and early on Sunday morning Barrie rolled up in his 4x4 SUV and we headed off into. We piled in with our bags packed for two days and off we went.

We stopped at little towns out in the bush and outback. In the towns, we would call in at a pub or a small restaurant, and Barrie would ask if he could post his flyer. And to make it less likely that the owners would take it down again straightaway after we had left, we would buy something to drink or eat at each place. But everywhere we went, Barrie seemed to know someone. He used to do work in the area before and was memorable enough that people recalled him, even years later in a couple of cases. Part of it was that Barrie is somewhat eccentric. Part of it was that he talks, chats and converses with everyone on things that matter to them. And part of it was also that he bought things from everywhere that he went from the people who needed people to buy things and then he paid his bills without asking for any sort of credit. People remember those that come and pay their bills off.

I remember some of the spots where we stopped, but I can't begin to remember all the places we went. Some were just a crossroad with a couple of houses, a pub, and a place to stay. One place we called in at was called Boomi. It was a little town that had a two or three room school, with three teachers, all of them male. This seemed a bit unusual to Sharon and Barrie. They figured that in such a small town, the teachers would be wives of farmers or something like that, rather than three young-ish men. There was also a thermal pool and a swimming pool and an RV park, which were both run by the owners of the general store.

But in any case, there really didn't seem to be anyone in town. The streets were deserted. It was a bit strange, like a ghost town.

Later we stopped in at a place called Mungindi. This town had a bit more activity. We saw two or three cars.

At the end of the main street in Mungindi lay the claim to fame of the little town. There was to be found the bridge into Queensland. This was our last stop in New South Wales. After that we spent the rest of the day and much of the next in Queensland.

We stopped for the night at a place called Durranbandi, another little town, with a prison that was apparently close by. At the pub, we found a place to stay and settled in for the evening. We watched a rugby game on television and talked to the locals about local news. And we watched people hooked on VLT's, although they are called Pokies here. It was a pleasant evening.  And it was an even nicer morning.

The next morning we headed up the road to St. George. A few months ago, Queensland received lots of rain and there was widespread flooding. The river through St. George was one of the ones that flooded. This bridge was apparently under water as the river just went right over it.

Barrie told us that the water was up to the grey box that can be seen on the first pillar above the dam's bridge deck. That's a lot of water.

After leaving St. George, we headed back to the main north-south highway through the area, at Goondiwindi, where we checked out the posh neighbourhoods, and then headed back to Moree. In Moree, we dropped Sharon at her home. I had been invited to stay with Barrie out on the farm for a few days. I really have no particular plans for Australia, so I took the offer and after dropping Sharon off, we headed out to Coolatai. I hoped to be able to get some country walking in and some fresh country air.