On my way to Dysart, the hex screw holding up the rear rack broke. This is a disastrous break, for all the weight of the load on the back rests on the rack, which ultimately rests on two hex screws– and one of them broke. I cobbled together a temporary solution with duct tape and cable ties (two things every bike tourer should definitely carry!) and made it ten miles into Dysart.
The next day I went to the local hardware store (I should be so lucky because most towns don’t have a hardware store!). They couldn’t help me, but said that there was a local retired guy who tinkers with bicycles and runs a repair shop out of his house. And that’s how I met Terry.
Terry is an unassuming man, retired from work in the coal industry. His yard is full of bicycles. People from the community come to him for help with bicycles– which is why the local hardware store knew him.
After about an hour, we were successful in getting the broken piece of screw out of the thread– I was back in business! With the job done, for which he didn’t want any payment, he invited me into his home for coffee and sweets.
That’s when I learned more about the coal business. Terry had worked for a coal company, and earned AU$2000 a week. His son, who lives there with him, currently earns AU$3000 a week. That’s approximately US$2000 a week. His house is fully paid for– by the coal company. (I didn’t ask for the name of the company, and he didn’t say.) And Terry chuckled when he said that occasionally he goes between the three towns– Moranbah, Dysart, and Middlemount– for free because the chartered Greyhound buses shuttle people back and forth to tend to the mines, all paid for by the coal companies. He simply hops on, no questions asked.
That trio of towns were once sleepy rural towns. Moranbah was about to hold their annual rodeo when I passed through. But all three are on the verge of being modern towns based on the money that is flowing through them. All the towns have a version of long-term hotel suites for week or month long stays, called service accommodations. In fact, each town had a number of them. Many of the mine workers are temporary or in a state of flux. So these serviced accommodation facilities have popped up. Coal money pays for all the workers to be housed, and the people running these facilities make a lot of money.
In any case, I had a good time with Terry. He loves his bikes, even though he can’t ride them any more, due to a leg injury. And other complications with his health. I didn’t ask him if he thought his health would be different if he had a different career. All I know is that he is a good man. And he saved my trip by being able to get the broken screw out of the threaded hole on the bike.
