Day 7 - Mackay to Mingela

Let me start by saying I am camping in a field with a couple of cows, a flock of guinea fowl and there are weird rustling noises in the bushes. I have also just increased the town's population by 8%. You'll have to hear about the rest of my day before I get to why I'm camping in a field.

Woke up at 5:00am this morning and packed Quiver for the next leg of the trip. Scott came home from work and cooked up a big farewell breakfast and I was on my way. It was great to see Scott and Leanne, who seem to be loving Mackay.

I rode up along the Bruce Highway heading for Airlie Beach, another place I've never seen. The road from Mackay is mainly sugar cane plantations all the way on either side of the road. The cane looks glorious with its feather tops fluttering in the breeze. There are 30klm stretches along the road that are criss crossed with cane rail tracks, with a track every kilometre or so. I stopped along the way to watch a harvester cutting the cane.

I stopped at Airlie Beach for lunch and lay under a tree by the beach and devoured a few chapters of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I could have spent the whole day under that tree, but thought I had better push on otherwise I will never get to Darwin.

The landscape changes slightly between Airlie and Bowen, with Mango plantations replacing the sugar. After Bowen the plantations are sugar again. There is a sickly sweet smell that comes from the mills along the way.

All of the large trucks need to be escorted over the bridge at Ayr and cannot cross during school zone hours. I pulled in where the trucks were waiting to cross and the chap that was driving the escort vehicle told me there was a great camping spot on the road to Woodstock. He said it was about 15klm's up the road. That sounded perfect as I expected to get there at around 4:15. Well I slowed down to 80kph when I was 10klm's in looking for said camping spot. I NEVER FOUND IT! I got into Woodstock and there was nowhere to camp and no other accommodation. So I kept going towards Charters Towers, but was getting nervous as there were lots of hoppies on the side of the road. The sun was just about down and I saw a signpost to Mingella, 1klm of the highway. I pulled in to the pub, which is pretty ramshackle, asked if they had any accommodation or if there was a campground nearby. Unfortunately no, but the publican very kindly offered me the back paddock. So here I am in the back paddock of the pub, with my two friendly cows and the guinea fowl.

I asked the publican how many people live in the village, to which she answered normally 12 but you make it 13!

Apparently she makes all her money from the miners who come through on their way home. The bus stops and lets them off to pickup takeaway beers etc and then they carry on their way.

And to top it all off a gorgeous sunset.

Isn't technology amazing, I can't believe I am sitting in a paddock in the back of whoop whoop blogging away!

KILOMETRES TRAVELLED - 455

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY - My roommates