Man turns quarantine hotel room into Wild West

A returning Aussie stuck in hotel quarantine made his room into a Wild West film set, complete with a horse, six-shooters and a cowboy nemesis.

A returning Aussie traveller turned his quarantine hotel room in Brisbane into a Wild West saloon.

Dave Marriott, 57, was placed in the Rydges South Bank hotel in the Queensland capital on his way home to Sydney after returning from a UK visit.

Being stuck in a hotel room for two weeks might sound boring, but Mr Marriott found a way to entertain himself by creating a cowboy-themed world using fast-food containers and paper bags.

“Reading and watching TV got tiring after a few days, I’ve had much more fun making things,” he said.

What inspired the cowboy outfit was a cardboard poke bowl left over from a meal.

Dave Marriott made the most of his time in hotel quarantine – and the fast-food containers he was given.

A horse of course.

“I thought, that’s a really good beginning of a hat,” Mr Marriott said.

“Then I made the waistcoat, chaps, belt, gun and an ammo thing.

“I thought, ‘I’m going to need a horse’. Obviously, a horse has got four legs, and when I was looking in the cupboard I found an ironing board and thought, ‘I’m halfway there’. I used a desk lamp from the office for a neck, popped bags on (and) that’s it – that’s a horse.”

Mr Marriott works as an art director in film and TV and has experience sewing his own clothes, which helped him figure out how to make his cowboy character come to life.

He’s made the costumes, now for the movie.

“I’ve got all kinds of tricks and skills I’ve picked up over the years. What was most handy was pattern making – I’ve made dungarees for myself, and the pattern making paper is pretty similar to the paper bags,” he said.

He has until Friday until the mandatory quarantine period is over – plenty of time to finish his next project.

“I’m going to try to make a little movie. I haven’t really written the script down, it’s all in my crazy befuddled head.”

He’s even made himself a nemesis – the Cling Film Cowboy.

“The Cling Film Cowboy is in town, I’ve finished his outfit and maybe I’ll do a little film shoot tomorrow,” Mr Marriott said.