The Outback

No doubt you are all wondering how our adventure into the netherworld of the Outback went, and I can sum it up in 3 words. Small, flat, flies.

The town of Hay is very small. Lonely Planet has it listed with a population of 2,200, whereas the sign introducing travelers to the town cites the population as 3,400. Regardless, the place is truly a one street town. I half expected to see some tumbleweed slowly rolling across the street, Grapes of Wrath style.

Our drive into the bush on Monday was long. Surprisingly, the countryside past Sydney is quite rolling and lush. It is only when you get around an hour or two away from Hay that the landscape completely flattens and starts turning a dull brown. We stopped for lunch at the town of Gundagai, and ate at the famous Niagara Café, which was listed in the Lonely Planet. The guidebook said that stepping into the restaurant would transport you back to the 1930’s; however, the TV and huge refrigerator’s dampened the nostalgic mood a bit. The food was good, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the place. The former Prime Minister had eaten a meal there in 1942, and they actually had a 50th year anniversary in 1992 celebrating the momentous day. Depressing to say the least.

Back on the road, we took a picture smack dab in the middle of road, just to show how little traffic there is on that stretch of road. Arriving at the Comfort Inn around 6:30, both Veronica and I were quite tired from having spent the day in the Ute. We opted to go grab a pizza from one of the two restaurants that were open in town.

The next morning Veronica woke early to go do her fieldwork. I stayed in the hotel room and worked on my assignment, and then met up with her for lunch at the Roadhouse (the Mobil’s on site restaurant). There we dined on fried chicken and chips (fries) and afterwards I felt as if I were about to have a heart attack. On my walk back to the motel I was swarmed by a group of flies. 10 dirty little buggers kept buzzing around my head, Africa-style. Unfortunately, that was what Veronica had to deal with all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. I really cannot stress enough how badly flies suck here in Australia. They have no fear, flying up your nose and into your mouth. It is now extremely obvious why 90% of the population of Australia lives along the coast. That night we dined at the Jolly Jumbuck Bistro, a delightful little restaurant that made a mean steak and chicken parmigiana. We actually ended up eating there on Wednesday night as well, because the food was good and there really wasn’t any other option

Wednesday Veronica finished work a little early so we took a stroll around the town. We visited the mighty Murrumbidgee River, and took a few pictures at Sandy Point. As you can see, I took a nice picture with a stuffed kangaroo, real classy indeed! The fire station is now a bookshop, the water fountain Veronica is under was built in 1882, which is perhaps the oldest water fountain I have ever seen. Exciting stuff I realize!

The drive back yesterday was again long, but we managed to have a fun time with our road trip. We stopped in a filed with a solitary tree surrounded by some very pretty flowers. Veronica reckons that the flowers are the national flower, however, I am not too sure, but I will be sure to check up on that. I forgot to mention that during the drive to Hay and back we saw a plethora of dead kangaroo’s on the side of the road. Apparently they get plowed over trying to cross the road at night. On a less depressing note, we stopped in Goulburn for lunch. The lunch was fairly good, but the highlight is the gigantic ram that the town is constructing right next to the Subway (restaurant). I don’t know what it is about Australian’s and their love of building gigantic creatures, but they get hog wild excited about that crap. To each there own I say! At least it made for a pretty kick ass picture, eh?

Well, it’s time to sign off, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Just had a fun surf this morning, and now it is time to head into work. Tomorrow our friend Jase is having his 40th birthday party; no doubt it will be a crazy time.