TUESDAY 16 JULY 2019
A very chilly night down to about 5 degrees and the floor of
the caravan was very chilly on our bare toes in the morning. Jenny was allowed a bit longer in bed this
morning and was given a consolation Moccona coffee with the promise of a proper
beverage when we got to Meekathara or Cue to refuel.
We made Meekathara about 9.30am and noticed a mobile food
van on the side of the road boasting “REAL” coffee and as it looked similar to
PJ and Deb’s set up with a queue of people lining up we decided to try it. Well the bacon and egg toasties were really
good – almost as good as Deb’s with crispier bacon but without her special
homemade chutney and the coffee and chai latte were excellent so we were more
than happy and continued on our way south quite happily.
Yesterday and today have been notable for the large number
of extra wide loads travelling north which always seem to come past on Jenny’s
driving periods. Yesterday we had
actually had to travel on the left side of the white reflector posts (luckily
at a point where there was flat gravel and limited vegetation) as the loads
took up the entire road. We passed quite
a few of these wide loads – everything from mining equipment, dump truck
chassis, half a house, tanks and what looked like an electrical substation. We worked out that Larry had bought 114 beers for the caravan/car. 12 remaining, 2 losses :( therefore a 100 beer trip.
Stopped again in Mount Magnet to top up the tank and to
unload our personal ones (those coffees had worked their way through!) and
onwards south we went. Another stop
another couple of hours south for a change of drivers and then we finally hit
the end of the scrub and emerged into farming country. There have been more and more puddles on the
side of the road as we have come south and the paddocks are looking very green
with pasture and crops so a lot different an outlook than we have had for many
weeks. We also started to see sheep and
lambs when all we have seen recently is cows (and the occasional donkey or
camel). More roadworks and the largest road line marking either of has ever seen.
About 4.30pm we made it to Miling and checked in at the
store for the passcode to the ‘caravan park’ aka known as the local recreation
area/showgrounds. They have a few sites
under gum trees with water and power and the passcode gives you access to a
toilet/shower block. For the first time
all holiday we are absolutely on our own – nobody to hear us scream (even if
they were close enough they probably wouldn’t be able to hear over the sounds
of the trucks roaring down Great Northern Highway!
By the time we had set up and chilled for a while we walked
back up to the main drag and headed into the Miling Hotel which is your classic
old two storey Australian pub with wide verandahs all around. We got there just another bloke arrived in
his car (a farmer on his way down to Perth airport to pick up his son) and the
three of us went in the completely empty building wandering around various
rooms and calling out for anyone to come and serve us. The lights were on and the doors unlocked but
nobody home!!
Eventually a bloke surfaced and casually served us
drinks. We found the menus by our own
devices and ordered some food with no real certainty that it would be edible
based on the extremely laid back business model being displayed but after a respectable
wait a really awesomely fabulous parmy and steak were produced with hot, crispy
chips and a very nice salad and we sat there happily devouring our food (we
hadn’t had lunch after our big toasties) and watching footy and talking through
all the great moments of our trip.
So a fitting end to our holiday and Jenny noted that she had
begun and ended the holiday with steaks and garlic sauce and that that
bookmarked the holiday nicely.
Back to the van to finish up the last of the chocolate and
hopefully we will be home before lunchtime tomorrow.
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