KM 5695
Trip Start
May 17, 2010
1
23
35
Trip End
Ongoing
Normanton, Queensland, Australia
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Normanton was the first town that kinda scared me. First of all, that little squeel from under the hood that I mentioned previously turned into a big squeel. 80KM from Normanton the AC belt finally gave way (I guess no amount of dressing would have saved it). It was mid-30’s and I was a little worried for the wellbeing of both Lisa and Lachlan, both of whom may be described as having delicate natures and temperaments, albeit for different reasons. We made it without too much discomfort. Needless to say, all the windows were down. Lisa and I realized that this would be our 3rd and final Canada Day here in Australia, that was a little sobering for both of us.
Normanton is pretty rough. The main street is dominated by The Purple Pub and there is no shortage of locals, who start imbibing in the early hours and continue till, well, the early hours. Although not readily apparent, there are a number of stores and facilities that are hidden from initial view. I was provided three options for sourcing an AC belt – one was closed b/c the owner was on holidays, while the second did not have one. The third, the local BP station, was run by a guy named Wayne. He is a dead ringer for the captain of the Orca in the movie Jaws – in both looks and attitude. His initial response to my query as to the availability of a replacement belt was, "And what exactly would you know about replacing a belt?".
He softened up considerably when he found out I was from Saskatchewan. He is an avid hunter and wanted to know about whitetails and mule deer. He found me a belt amongst the hundreds that hung, in absolutely no pre-ordained order, from his garage walls. Not before, however he sent me on a wild goose chase to a wrecking yard where I had a hasty run in with both the ornery owner and his chained-up guard dog. I managed to install the new belt, and noting the condition of the adjacent drive belts, I had Wayne order me a new set, which would arrive in 3 days time.
In celebration of the anniversary of our first date, I took Lisa out for dinner. The food at the Purple Pub was very good, way better than it should have been. I would have liked to join the pool tourney, but it was already filled, and it was beginning to get pretty rowdy.
Other than a very good library and a supposed life-size replica of the largest crocodile on record (eventhough all photos were lost in a flood about 20 years ago), there is not much else.
