DAY 1
Week 1
TOWNSVILLE (Queensland, AUS) to LIGHTNING RIDGE (New South Wales, AUS)
Wednesday December 20th, 2017
TODAYS MILEAGE – 891 miles or 1,434 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 891 miles or 1,434 kilometres
Today was going to be big day on the road, as I’m determined to make as much mileage as I could on the first couple of days, so I can relax for a bit longer at a mates place in the Victorian countryside.
I fired up my ute around 3 AM and after a bacon & egg sandwich, I hit the frog & toad and was headed south. About an hour and ½ into the journey, I topped up with fuel at Charlies Trousers and then continued on down the Gregory Development Road/Highway.
A mere three hours into the trip and just on sunrise, I started to get the dreaded “heavy eyelids & head nods”. I decided to pull up just this side of the Cape River Bridge and stretch out on the back seat for a half-hour power nap. I’m a firm believer in power naps and this time was no different, I got back on the road feeling fresh, alert and raring to go.
While pulling into Emerald, a flock of Kamikaze Cocky's decided to have a crack at my ute, which didn't end well for a couple of them. As I only had a couple of miles to go, I continued on into the servo before getting out and checking for damage. Fortunately for me, there was only superficial damage consisting of some feathers and bird shit on one of the wheel arch flares.
My first trip on the Gregory Development Road and I must say that I'm impressed that in places it felt like they pushed the road out the back of a Lancaster World War 2 bomber. 
Still pointed South, I continued down through Roma and St George, before crossing the Queensland / New South Wales border just on sundown. With it being only 40 odd miles (70 kilometres), I decided to park up at the regional town of Lightning Ridge and literally a couple of miles from pulling up for the night, I’d slowed down to just under 35 miles an hour (60 KPH) due to livestock, when several kangaroos came out hurtling of the scrub with one of them trying to climb in the passenger seat with me. I’ll give him his dues, he was very polite – he knocked first.
I was on the hands-free phone at the time with a mate of mine from Alice Springs and she’s like “Holy shit, what was that? What the hell was that?” I pulled up for a quick look and as I suspected, the door took the brunt of the impact, but there was also damage to the rear quarter and tailgate. But I was good to go.
I was thinking to myself: with nearly 900 miles (1450 kilometres) for the day and 10 minutes from parking up with a beer and I cop a suicidal kangaroo in the door - apparently my shit magnet is working well.
Within 10 minutes of the incident, I was checked into the Wallangulla Motel, which on the scheme of things, is right up there spending a night in the watchhouse drunk tank. At my hosts recommendation of “having the best feed in town”, I meandered across the road to the Lightning Ridge District Bowling Club and in hindsight, I should have actually clarified with them just exactly what a feed in Lightning Ridge actually consisted of - if the Bowls Club was the best.
Anyway, beggars can’t be choosers at 8 o’clock at night in a small country town, so I picked through by boot leather roast, pliable vinyl vegetables and bituminous sauce type fluid in my very own piece of neon Deliverance on acid.
All up I managed to punch out nearly 900 miles in the day and aside from some panel damage, I was in relatively good shape. I figured I’d get all the shit experiences out of the way nice and early into the trip, so tomorrows early start should get me into Echuca before sundown .... well that's the plan anyways.
• EMERALD ~ Kamikaze Cocky's (Queensland, AUS)