Yackety Yack, Day 91 – A bit of a spat

Day 91 Monday 7/8/2023 Theodore to Surat, cloudy 10 – 22

As we leave town we spot 3 emus grazing in a paddock with the cattle. We climb up and over the Isla Gorge Range with its towers of sandstone. The road improves and the wattle is starting to bloom. Spring is on its way. Pastures, eucalypts, and native pines flank the road, it’s a beautiful morning and countryside.

There’s a spacious rest area in the town of Taroom, we pull into the small service station to fill up with fuel. I walk into the shop and the guy behind the jump is looking anxiously at the two blokes who walked in before me and giving them the ‘don’t you shoplift’ glare. I’m about to pay when all 3 blokes run out the door, leaving me yelling “It’s OK I’m the one on 3!”. It’s then I realise that they’re not chasing a suspected ‘drive off’ at all. It’s Woody and he’s clipped a bollard. The plastic trim or spat around the driver’s side wheel arch of the caravan has snapped off and broken. Whoops a daisy. Now can I pay for pump 3?

Assessing the damage at the spacious rest area.

It is with reluctance that we take the Roma Taroom Road. It’s not one of our favourites but it is the shortest to Roma. We grin and bear it. Barely wide enough for two cars to pass, sparse line marking, broken edges, potholes and patches, and constantly undulating between rises and sudden dips to uneven floodways. We hated this road two years ago and it hasn’t improved. We’re gluttons for punishment. Suddenly 3 kangaroos bound across the road in front of us. I hit the anchors and after we move on a mob of about 30 bounce out in front of Elle. She reckons that by the time she came to a stop she was cheek to cheek with one.

By the time we arrive in Roma, we’re tired, hungry, and stressed, and paying $11 for a thin, white bread ham and tomato sandwich, and a cup of hot water with a tea bag on the side is the dizzy limit.

We pick up the Carnarvon Highway down to the Fisherman’s Camp on the banks of the Balonne River at Surat. It’s a well-worn but pleasant enough spot and only half full this afternoon. There’s a new concrete pathway under the highway bridge that leads to both the boat ramp and the bridge path into town.

This is cattle country and as I sit outside writing this there’s a procession of vehicles passing on the highway, a cow in a trailer, and two trucks carrying the makings of a cattle yard. Yep, it is cattle country.

We sit outside for Happy Hour watching the vans roll in and juggle into spaces. It’s mild and there’s no wind. Woody cooks chops, sausages, and veggies on the BBQ. Elle tucks into a soft, tooth-friendly stew.