no photos at the moment - network is very slow in Alice Springs
It was going to be another hot day in Katherine when we set out for Daly Waters this morning. There was a lot of traffic on the road going in both directions with more huge semis carting over-size loads. We stopped at Mataranka for Bobby to buy one of their famous Mataranka pies – it was only 10:30 a.m. but there were no pies on sale.
Our next stop was Larrimah where many roughly painted signs advertised home-made goodies. Here was another chance for Bob to buy a pie! There were about 6 people sitting under the shade of a verandah when we walked up the path that was peppered with gnomes and other quirky objects. It looked very ramshackle and in need of some TLC.
I needed to use the toilet (which had a sign “for customers only”). As I walked towards it, a couple of women at the tables told me that the key was to be found around the statue of a meerkat. Entering the toilet was another experience – plenty of mossies, cobwebs and more signs telling the occupier to close the lid; not to think about stealing the padlock and key because there was surveillance and to check it out if you wanted to.
We were about to enter the “shop” when the people under the verandah told us not to go in there because the owner was somewhere else and we had better wait. When the owner returned, the other customers wanted to pay but only one person at a time was allowed to enter. When we heard the price of a pie (which was not written anywhere), we decided to leave. $10!!!!!! Probably without sauce too! Poor Bob!
Robert had heard that the pub was something to see so we drove around the corner to be welcomed to the Pink Panther Pub with a large pink panther sitting on a chair next to a model of a large stubby.
Daly Waters was the next stop and we decided to see what the caravan park was like in town. When we were here many weeks ago, the park and overflow area were both chockers. This time, there were only a handful of vans parked in the dusty park. This place is unique and Robert wondered how the pub can stay open given all the OHS rules.
We decided to go back to the Daly Waters HiWay Inn where we’d stayed before. Lots of grassed sites and no-one else there so we parked under the biggest shady tree. We arrived just in time because a few minutes later a couple more vans moved in; by 5:00 p.m. the park was full.
Our site has the noisy apostle birds flapping about as if they’re spreading rumours from tree to tree. They have a squeaky, quarrelsome chirp and they mass together when they are fossicking for food on the ground. They look like a kids’ footy team; all players going after the ball and moving almost as one in a tight cluster.
Last visit, a goose wandered around the vans expecting the odd morsel to be tossed at it and it wasn’t long before we had the welcome call. Crows were crying their mournful songs in the paddock. With a lovely breeze blowing through the van, it was very pleasant.
We had a voucher for a free beer and wine from the pub (not the Daly Waters Pub) so we sat in the cool and enjoyed the liquid refreshments. Some of the signs on bottles and placemats were dodgy (sexist definitely) and not really kid appropriate. Their hamburgers with the lot were very impressive.
Just before dusk, wallabies were digging for food in the paddocks behind the van and a cheeky crow harassed one of them until the wallaby bounded off into the scrub with the crow in hot pursuit. The wallabies must come through the sites at night because they leave their calling cards everywhere.
Tomorrow we head for The Devils Marbles (and I didn’t leave out the apostrophe; this is how it’s written). It’s a camping ground with toilets but no power. They are very much treasured by the indigenous people and are said to be the eggs of The Rainbow Serpent. Removing any of the rocks will cause great misery and the two that were removed have now been returned.
People do strange things! When you think about all of the artefacts that have been removed from Egypt and other societies and placed in museums all over the world as though there is a right to do this, it’s an unusual practice. At last some of the bones that were removed by archaeologists and other explorers from Australia have been returned to their rightful owners for re-burial. I wonder how many others there are that we don’t know about. White people would be absolutely horrified and up in arms if indigenous people were to dig up bones from a cemetery and put them on display.
Ironically, I enjoy all of the Indiana Jones films.
That’s my rant for today.
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