Day 47 Saturday 24/6/2023 somewhere in Qld, sunny 11 – 26

Last week we were marvelling at the gold-plated toilet in Maryborough and now we’re holding our breath over a filthy drop toilet. I’m no stranger to drop toilets and have visited more than I can count, most are in pretty good condition, considering, ok there are some shockers but they’re usually in remote but busy places where there is no one to maintain them. But this one near us is vile and obviously cleaning isn’t on anyone’s job spec. There is a portable hand basin but the tank is empty and has been for some time by the amount of dust and dirt in it.

After yesterday’s shenanigans fixng aerials, fridges and trying to get some TV reception, it’s nice to have a quiet day. By quiet, I mean nothing to do. The Bruce Highway traffic noise level in this purportedly ‘quiet’ camp is unpleasant to say the least and we find ourselves cursing “bloody traffic”. Woody walks into town to buy bread and returns with a coffee scroll which he votes as excellent. We sit around reading, walking, and generally taking it easy. Wandering down a bush track a crowd of kookaburras burst into a cacophony of cackling. When they’re not laughing they do enjoy a good cackle.

We drive into town after lunch to get some cash for tonight’s pizza dinner to find that the town is jumping. There’s a witch market on, which is new to us, and there are folks wandering about in tattered dresses and witches hats. And not the traffic variety. We find a glamorous Queenslander set in tropical gardens. It’s used for events and movie sets these days. Opposite they are building a 400 home retirement village. No doubt the town is up for some dramatic changes. Beyond town there are plumes of smoke, burn-offs are underway.

At 4:30 we make our way over to the normally locked bush camp Diner and pay our $10 per head to enter. They’ve done a great job in setting this up with vinyl booths and motoring memorabilia. As the room fills it reverberates 30 shouting seniors who have hearing problems, the owner, who has a passion for his own voice, his own exploits and his own bank balance gives us a brief rundown of his highly successful life. The evening is rapidly losing its excitement especially when he tells us that there is a flushing toilet and shower (we’re assuming to meet regulations), but they’re kept locked. We’re ushered into the garage where his car collection is on display then back into the diner for pizza. Those who brought their dogs are sitting outside on the retaining wall, where no doubt it is quieter. The pizzas begin to appear cut into 2 inch squares. Gosh, I wish I’d measured them. It’s hard to identify what the toppings are but the hot one isn’t, though I did find one slice of jalapeño. There’s something with chicken and when VeeWee asks for vegetarian she’s given 4 pieces of Vegemite and cheese that doesn’t taste like either. Elle pulls a bottle of wine out from under the table and frankly, we all need it. The over -zealous owner announces that we’ll be doing it all again next Wednesday night when the missus gets home and I can hear the cash registers ringing, k’ching, k’ching. We’ve just paid $10 for 4 bite-sized squares of pizza.

We slink off to our vans for some peace and quiet and something substantial to eat. Oh, the bloody traffic.

Accom: $32.00