My world walk blog Australia 48

 I can see for miles and miles. Not exactly a bog- standard day!

Many thanks to the Hotel Australia and Mace's Hot Bread Bakery in the pretty town of Miles.
Thanks a million to the Davidson family, Toni, Chris and children for a great time and a nice rest day.
Friday, 28 kilometres walked. I continued walking along Queensland's National Route 2 on a mild morning. These last few days the scenery has changed dramatically, from the lightly tree-dotted fields back to the old familiar Australian outback bush and even the occasional forest. The only thing missing are the kangaroos. I haven't seen any since my restart. I walked along at my usual brisk five kilometres an hour clip. This highway has a one-metre shoulder, and I was grateful for it as the traffic on it is a little heavier than I expected. Many of you may remember that for about three months I had a bit of a limp. That was due to a pain in a tendon on the shoelace area of my right foot. There were many times when I had to stop and self-massage it away. That gave tempory relief. Many people suggested that I should visit a hospital, but I didn't as I figured that all they would say to me was rest. I did rest, for about two weeks between if finishing walking New Zealand and restarting Australia. It made no difference. Then my friend Sally Carpenter, a retired medic suggested that I try some tabs called Voltaren (Rapid 25)

I was in bad pain when I walked out of Toowoomba. Twice I stopped to self-massage in the first hour. Finally, I came to a pharmacy and bought the Voltaren pills. The result was astonishing! Almost immediately I felt better and I haven't had that pain since and it was nine days ago What can I say, other than thank Sally whose recommendation was spot on!  

Anyway, back to today, March 9th. I was wondering what to write in today's blog as the first four hours had been pretty bog-standard. Then a cop called Rodney came along for a welfare check. 

"Are you doing okay matey?" He said.
"Yes, officer I'm having the time of my life."

"Oh! I see your misery is self-inflicted! I just came out to check because we got a report that someone was pushing a broken down wheelchair down the road!"

Perhaps he put the mockers on me because shortly after he left I got my first puncture since the 'thornmenting thorns' on the Hay Plains in New South Wales, last July. I whipped out my spare quick-release wheel and I was away and back walking in about one minute flat, no pun intended! That wheel has a serious wobble and needs straightening out in a bicycle shop. I wonder if it's even worth my while carrying a spare, but I have it. Since the Hay Plains, I have been using self-repairing gu in my inner tubes and I swear by the stuff!

Almost immediately after I was back on the road a woman called Jess pulled up in her pickup truck. She owns a bakery in Miles town called Mace's Hot Bread Bakery and I was invited there for a chat and a feed I gave her my backpack and punctured wheel and wobbled the last two kilometres into Miles town. I couldn't help singing The Who's classic song: I can see for miles and miles. And I even broke into song!

" Oh yeah! I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise
I know that you have 'cause there's magic in my eyes
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles."

In the bakery, I got a great reception from Jess, her husband who also works there as does her mother-in-law. It's a family run business as other family members work there too.  It's also a wonderful place for a spot of tucker and a coffee. I had a steak 'n' kidney pie, a slice of gur cake. That brought memories flooding back from my youth when I used to buy it on the way home from school. I washed it all down with a couple of cappuccinos! Thanks so much Jessica. I was invited back for breakfast in the morning. But not at the opening time, the ungodly hour of four am  

Before I left Jess had a surprise for me. She had stopped at the Hotel Australia on the way into town and the Simon, the fun-loving owner kindly agreed to give me a complimentary night! However, I was warned that he enjoyed a beer or two!
"Only a beer or two!" Someone else laughed.

I wheeled Karma around the corner and Simon and his wife Lauren were waiting at the entrance for me. He is an ex-motorcycle mechanic and set to work on getting me a vital C-clip which was also missing from my wheel. After that, I set about my puncture repair. It was a large hole. The self-repairing gu only works up to a reasonably sized hole. How I got it was a mystery as there was no debris lodged in my tyre. No worries, I just stuck a new inner tube into my tyre and pushed back on the wheel. 

Now for some great live music with a mother and daughter duo called The Drummonds. Cathy and Grace Drummond play some great classic rock and they even spice it up with a rock country song or two. Now, where is the fun-loving Simon, my supplier of copious amounts of beer? He just popped a menu up in front of me. What a man! I always go directly to the steak section. Ah! Medium rare with lashings of mushroom sauce, fries and salad. And a bed for the night but that's much later as I got a lot of fun to ahead of me
Bog-standard day, my arse!