Trip 4 part IV - More material for a Lynch film

As we headed south from Orange we somehow missed a turnoff and didn't realize we did so until we'd gone 110 K due West instead of South. Oops! There were two options, to return the way we came, losing a couple of hours, or to continue on and head south from the next town. We decided to do the latter. The sun was setting and cast an eerie shadow over the deserted land. We drove another 110 K and saw only one homestead. It was just a huge flat expanse of nothing, except some farm lands, but there wasn't anyone living on the land to farm it. It felt odd. Eventually we saw a service station and were relieved to stop. I made my way into the bathroom and as I opened the door came face to face with a young woman with a baby. She seemed relieved when she saw me. "She didn't nurse well and has been screaming for 45 minutes" she explained. The kid looked calm to me. She then asked if I'd watch the baby while she went to the toilet. Of course I agreed. I let the little one wrap her fingers around mine and peered into her eyes, thinking how odd connections are. I mean, here I was in the middle of nowhere with a stranger's child who I'll never see again but we had that moment. As soon as I had that thought she started crying again. Soon enough the mother returned and left the bathroom. After I'd taken my turn I walked up to the counter in time to witness and odd exchange. One woman behind the counter spoke loudly to a friend on the phone as another worker used the cash register to ring up customers. A rather long queue was growing as she tallied bills slowly. When I appeared from the bathroom Paul was at the counter, in front of the line. He paid for our gas and commented "in that last stretch there was only one house for 110 K, is the rest of the way through as deserted?" She stared at him blankly as if he were speaking a different language. An elderly gentlemen toward the end of the line spoke up. "Just watch out for the kangaroos" he said in a slow deep voice. Kangaroos? I thought. I guess they run into the headlights of oncoming cars, but I had visions of this being foreshadowing of killer kangaroos in our wacky David Lynch like real-life film. We jumped in our car and continued driving through the darkness until we made it home some hours later. Just as we rounded the corner down Acland Street, the main drag near our house, a drunk twenty something agrily kicked our car as he crossed the street. Paul stopped the car, jumped out and confronted him. I was terrified, I've never seen Paul get aggressive before, so should have trusted him but this was weird and I was tired. Luckily the police were right there and witnessed the incident. They took the kid to jail for public drunkeness so he could cool off and arranged for us to get remuneration for the damage to our car. Again I sat there thinking, "how did I get here?" One moment I'm in the middle of nowhere without a person in site and the next I'm dealing with aggression, police, property damage and drunk people. It was an odd night. But Phew, we made it home.