Mungindi

July 6, 2016

Today, I embarked on a wild ride to Mungindi. John’s oldest son, Jack, and his wife Kellie invited me to come to their home for a couple of days.  I have never bene to Mungindi.  All I really know is that it is a very small town that borders both Queensland and New South Wales.  We set out ono our journey by first heading to Inverell. Now this is a bit in the wrong direction, but Jack had to pick up his truck, or UTE as they call them, as it was in repair for hitting a mob of sheep and roos.  Yes, kangaroos.  Just like we in America will see dogs and cats taking a long nap by the side of the road, Roos, wild boar, and wombats are often casualities.  He apparently hit two sheep and three roos just like that, and it cracked his bonnet (hood).

So off to Inverell we went. Jack, myself, Kellie, 10 year old Roy, 9 year old Ruby, and 4 year old Ruben.  Rose, the three year old, was off with her grandparents, so I had a seat.  It was actually a fun ride, with only a few bits of fussing by Ruben.  We got to Inverell, bought a chicken, and went to a park and made some chook (chicken) and cheese sandwiches. Delicious, but damned cold.  We stopped at the neatest park, but it was so cold, we didn’t stay long.

We went to get Jack’s ute, and left him there.  He went to Bunnings, Australia’s Home Depot, and we headed home.  Again, with the three, and me not used to travel like that, I held on for dear life.  A wingen (whiney) 4 year old left my  nerves pretty raw, but we made it just after dark.  It is hard driving at duck or after dark. The roos jump out in front with no sense of their early demise.  Luckily, we didn’t hit any, but saw a bunch of them.

We have always had a family joke about Moree.  It is a small town between Inverell and Mungindi, and is known to be, well, not very nice. In fact, Ruby, jack’s oldes daughter, used to say it was a “S**t hole” when she was 3.  Well, Ruben had to go to the bathroom, so we stopped at the local park in Moree.  I was shocked. They had a “Singing Dunny”. This is a fully automated restroom, that talks to you, plays music while you “go”, and opens the door and flushes the toilet all at the same time.  I had only experienced one in Surfers Paradise, so I was really surprised to find one so far out in the bush!

Once we got to the house, Kellie made us dinner.  The house is about 100 years old, and Jack is working on upgrading it.  The town of Mungindi has one small store, an RSL club, like the VFW, a post office, a bank, a library, and two gas stations.  Yep, that’s it.  Population is about 300.  I stayed in the “shack”. It was a small shed with a small bathroom attached outside.  There was running water but no heat.  Once I crawled into bed, fully dressed, and turned out the light, I hear the familiar scratching of a mouse.  I told him to stay on his side of the room and I would stay on mine.  I never did see him, but he basically said hello every night.

July 7, 2016

Today was a slow day, which we all needed.  Kellie, the kids, and I walked around Mungindi, and I got a look at the town in the daylight.  It is very small, but just wonderful.  I actually think I could live in a small town like this.  No people, just peace and quiet.  I got to walk on the Queensland/NSW border, and Kellie told me a lot about the indigenous people of the area.  Apparently, and I had no idea, she has a dash of Aborighini in her.  Very interesting

Jack barbequed steaks for the adults, and snags (sausages) for the kids.  Kellie also prepared pumpkin (squash) and grilled it.  It was totally YUM! While we were waiting for our feast, Jack and I had a serious conversation about some topic or the other.  He was having a beer, and cooking on the Barbie, and looked me square in the eye.  I had to turn away.  I was looking at my dear John. John always said as long as Jack was alive, he would never be gone. I reckon he was right.

July 8, 2016

Today we are heading to Lightening Ridge.  LR is a place that John and I often looked at the real estate on line.  It is a place that is known for black opal mining.  When we would look at the listings, for years there was a listing for a mining claim with a small shack attached to a bus.  The bus was the bedroom.  I always said I wanted my bus on LR.  Today, I found it.

We started at the information center.  Outside is a pile of rocks called the “Scratchings”.  Anyone can go through there and try to find some opal.  I actually did find a small opal.  We then went on the “Car Door Tours”.  These were self-guided tours around the area, and the sign posts that were there to guide you were actual car doors.  There was the Red car door, Yellow car door, Blue car door, and Green car door. We went on the yellow and red, and then decided to stop for lunch.  We had the three kids, and Kellie and I, and they were beginning to be a bit cranky. We had a delicious pizza, and went to the artesian baths for a hot soak.

Then artesian baths were wonderful.  They are fully ground water, and outdoors.  A lot of people came and went.  It was wonderful to soak and warm up.  After the baths, we went on the blue car door tour, then Kellie dropped the three kids and myself off, and she went grocery shopping.  I did the grandma thing and bought them “lollies” (candy) and walked down to the grocery store.  Once Kellie finished, we all piled back into the car, and headed back to Mungindi.

When we got back, we met Jack at the RSL club. RSL stands for Returned Soldiers League.  There are clubs like this in just about every town. WE had a nice Chinese dinner, and Kellie and I polished off a bottle of wine.  Lots of fun.

June 9, 2016

Today it was time to go back to Tamworth.  Jack made me a delicious cup of chai tea, and away we went.  Jack used to own and operate a coffee house, and still has the equipment on wheels.  It was darned good.

It was so foggy all the way to Moree. We almost hit a roo.  Jack dropped me off at the train station.  It was hard saying goodbye, not just because I do love Jack, but there was so much John there. At one moment, I said “Source of Joy”, which was one of John’s favorite sayings, and Jack jerked his head at me suddenly, and said, I know where you learned that phrase.  Yes, we reminded each other of John.

The train ride was uneventful until Narrabri.  A young Aboriginal man sat next to me, and we talked a bit. It was very delightful. Once back in Tamworth, Mark and Michelle met me at the train, and we went to Peel street for a pie and a bit of a “sticky beak” (look around).  At home, we went out to the local pub for a feed (dinner) and good company with friends.  It was a big day, but thoroughly enjoyable.

June 10, 2019

Today was catch up day. I did laundry, and went to town to have lunch with Betty and Hans, Marks parents.  They are delightful people, and as I noted earlier, Betty has been in the Hospital with a bad hip for 4 months.  We had a lovely time, and then stopped at Aunty Jax, and bought Mark a costume for the pub crawl on July 23. The evening brought no real excitement.  We were all worn out and had an early night.