The trip thru Bingara, Baraba and Manilla was pretty uneventful; long rolling hills and beautiful countryside. The high point was Manilla; both the town and the camping afterwards. The RSL in Manilla not only served a sweatin' cold schooner of Tooey's Old for the low, low price of $4.50, but you could get all the wifi you could handle for only a buck. My kinda place!
Which is why I stayed too long in Manilla and didn't leave until almost 1830. I made a paltry additional 18k and stretched my hammock under the broadest sky I'd ever seen. The stars at 0100 when I woke up again were awesome, and it was quiet, cool and calm. A great night to camp out.
From there it was a fairly easy 60k into Gunnedah the next morning, and I linked up with Sandi Rodgers at Jack & Jill's cafe for a chocolate shake. Sandi is a friend of Xandra's, and she and her husband Mark were kind enough to let me stay with them after only two nights on the road. I almost felt guilty. Sandi and Mark rent this amazing restored stone farmhouse;
the kind of place you get to stay in at a luxury dude ranch. Sandi showed me around the place and I got to meet the owner who lives next door in an even more amazing old homestead. Sandi showed me the thoroughbred horses that they keep and the deep, cool green orange grove that they had just sold the crop for.
That night, I was treated to a wonderful steak dinner while Mark & Sandi told me about their two amazing daughters and we all reviewed the various pitfalls of raising children. Those pitfalls? the same on both sides of the Pacific!
And the next morning I was off. Another shower, another great night in a real bed and another amazing act of charity and hospitality.
Which is why I stayed too long in Manilla and didn't leave until almost 1830. I made a paltry additional 18k and stretched my hammock under the broadest sky I'd ever seen. The stars at 0100 when I woke up again were awesome, and it was quiet, cool and calm. A great night to camp out.
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| Sandi inspecting the orange grove |
From there it was a fairly easy 60k into Gunnedah the next morning, and I linked up with Sandi Rodgers at Jack & Jill's cafe for a chocolate shake. Sandi is a friend of Xandra's, and she and her husband Mark were kind enough to let me stay with them after only two nights on the road. I almost felt guilty. Sandi and Mark rent this amazing restored stone farmhouse;
the kind of place you get to stay in at a luxury dude ranch. Sandi showed me around the place and I got to meet the owner who lives next door in an even more amazing old homestead. Sandi showed me the thoroughbred horses that they keep and the deep, cool green orange grove that they had just sold the crop for.That night, I was treated to a wonderful steak dinner while Mark & Sandi told me about their two amazing daughters and we all reviewed the various pitfalls of raising children. Those pitfalls? the same on both sides of the Pacific!
And the next morning I was off. Another shower, another great night in a real bed and another amazing act of charity and hospitality.
