A Town in the Middle of Nowhere

This morning started for me at 7 o’clock, with Mum coming in and waking me up. At a quarter to nine we got on the road, heading out towards Barcaldine. There we got out and had a look at the Tree of Knowledge, supposedly the birth of the Labor Party, which proved to be almost an omen for what happened tonight. Longreach was next, just for a fuel stop and then on to Winton for lunch. Lunch was at the Info Centre, with a walk along the main street and another refuel, then on to the Min Min Byway.

The road for the first 50 kilometres out of Winton was fairly uneventful, with the main attractions being counting cows, roadkill and Whistling Kites. However, once the plains became really flat, it began to get interesting. first up was a pair of Australian Bustards, only the second and third I have seen. Next, small hillocks began to pop up around us, eventually becoming a mountain, Mount Bookabooka. After followed a series of similar rows of hills, something that could possibly even be called a mountain range!

Eventually, at about 4:30 we reached Middleton, a fitting name for such a place. It is, quite literally, a pub in the middle of nowhere. However, it was actually named after an explorer, but it’s location roughly in the middle of Boulia and Winton serves the name well. We booked in for the night, which consisted of ordering the pub dinner, asking about the footy and being told that we could sleep in the old community hall across the road. I managed to get a photo of Elliot, sitting on the highway, which must be the only road in the world where you can do that with only a minor safety risk.

We were soon greeted by the three dogs, the cows, the calf and the pig, which, not surprisingly was called “pig.” After sussing out where we were going to lay down our airbeds in the shed and pig-proofing the place, we went back into the pub for dinner after taking lots of sunset photos (It was a particularly nice one). Dinner was roast beef, which was very nice, but we were soon told of the Labor Party Caucous meeting that was being held. we all huddled into the Living Room, which doubled as a entertainment/non-existent  games room.

As we watched the meeting unfold, we were entertained by stories from the locals and other travellers. We were told of plague locusts, Min Min lights, and annoying Telstra Salesmen(apparently they still come out here!). As the Ballot results came out, we swapped to the Origin to watch until Half Time, where the score was 14-0. After that it was back to the shed for the night. No Min Min Lights, but a stunning moonrise through the clouds.

 

Louis

 

 

 

The Bustards

 

 

 

Cattle Crossing