Back from the Outback
Tuesday, December 12th, 2006
We ate lunch Monday in Parachilna, a town with a population in the single digits, at a hotel restaurant licensed in the late 1800s. The population has steadily declined since then like many near outback towns since their brief years of prosperity from gold or otherwise. In Australia, McDonald’s and Best Western are relegated to the big cities. In the small towns, the 1800s hotel reigns supreme often doubling as post office, grocery, restaurant, bottle store, pub, and charming historic landmark in one place.
These traveller’s oasis are sprinkled about southern Australia, above and below the wheat line, powered by wind, solar or power lines, and frequently relying on rainwater collected on their roofs. Without these establishments, South Australia would often be a bleak and inhospitable place. The stunning and harsh landscape of the Flinder’s Ranges is a notable example. At 42 degrees celsius, kangaroos laze under the shade of straggly trees, goats cower in cliffside caves, and humans drive along windy dirt and gravel roads, stepping out of air-conditioned heaven only to briefly absorb the scenery in the oppressive heat or to pause and relax at a hotel as Aussies have for the past 100 years.
Adam