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Published: February 21st 2011
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Our new plan was to cover as many mile as quickly as possible, get to Brisbane and then get out of Queensland. We needed supplies but had to make quite a few stops to get what we needed as most of the shops still had empty shelves. The first day we covered 729km (450 miles). It was a long day as we rarely travel over 80kmph. On the second day we covered another 450km and finally made it through Rockhampton. You could see that the water levels had dropped but there were still many roads closed and the clean up operation was well underway. We had planned that we would stop and help but the radio news had said that there were so many volunteers that they were turning people away. It was very sad to see soggy furniture, televisions and personal items piled up on the roadside like rubbish.
Covering all these miles meant that we were spending a lot of time in petrol stations - normally a very mundane activity. There was one time that it turned out to be quite a funny task. As we were looking around we noticed a man filling up his car and
walking into the station to pay for his fuel in his pants and vest!
After a short drive through Gympie, we finally arrived in Brisbane. There were massive machines pumping water from the underground car parks and basements. We were too early to check into the campsite so we pulled over for a quick sandwich. I think we should have chosen the area to have our picnic more carefully. A man came from a nearby house and stood staring at us, which we thought was a little strange. When he went back into his flat he started shouting things at us. I have included a small selection of the best of his odd ramblings.
“ If it wasn’t for your monarchy you would be like the Soviets”
“Which one is the best, Confederates or Yankies”
“THE COMUNISTS ARE COMING, THE COMUNISTS ARE COMING!”
The following we believe was supposed to be an impression of us, but as he seemed to think we were American it was spoken with an American accent.
In a high pitched voice “What would you like in your sandwiches”
In a low voice “I’d like cheese please”
In a high voice “Oh I’ll make some
cheese sandwiches then dear”
Ok granted he had probably either taken too much or not enough of his medication or too many mind altering drugs but it did make us chuckle!
It seemed that us being there was winding him up and he was getting into worse arguments with himself so we packed up and went to the supermarket. We were a little surprised to see him shouting at us when we were paying for our shopping and then again when he spotted us in the underground car park putting our shopping away. He walked past staring and gave me a spooky grin. We were pleased to be leaving this particular area and booking into the campsite.
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