Daly Waters Pub

We actually left Tennant Creek at a reasonable hour, having done most of the preparation work the night before. All that good work was instantly undone with a snap decision to have breakfast at the Three Ways Roadhouse where the Barkly Highway meets the Stuart.

Back on the road for the 300 odd Km stretch to Daly Waters, passing some iconic stations on our way – Banka Banka (now also a caravan park), Muckaty and Newcastle Waters, it’s a fairly easy stretch.

 Our plans were fairly fluid, I had toyed with the idea of stopping at the free camp at Newcastle Waters until we got there – it was absolutely packed solid with vans and campers all parked very close together. Quite strange really, those people would probably complain if caravan park operators put them that close together, but they will cop it just because it is free. Not for me thanks.

The country is quite interesting in many ways, I suppose it could be described as undulating on a fairly big scale. The holly leafed grevillia is still quite common as is the star flower and, for the first time, a new variety of grevillia.

At the summit of one rise is a great view east, just mile upon mile of scrub and bush to the distant horizon, my thought was this should be described as “the great Australian loneliness” – I know that’s not original ( I can’t remember where it comes from), but it describes the scene perfectly.

We rolled in to Daly Waters late in the afternoon and headed straight to the pub, home of the famous beef and barra dinners and quirkily (is that a word??) decorated bar areas.

Last time we stopped here is was fairly busy, but we were not prepared for the enormous crowd of caravans, tents, campers and motorhomes that filled the caravan park area. We ended up in an overflow area across the road. There was now power available but that’s not a problem for us thanks to our solar panels and extra batteries. We can still watch TV (well the news was all we had time for) and charge the laptop and phones thanks to a couple of inverters, and the car freezer is on 12 volt and the main fridge is on gas so happy days. It’s great when all the planning comes together.

The show that followed the beef and barra dinner was excellent. A knockabout bloke who sang well, played the guitar very well and had some good, really funny stories and jokes. Chilli (the entertainer) had been a horse breaker, buffalo shooter, rouseabout, drover and any number of other interesting things around the top end for many years. A good night was had by all.

Next Stop Mataranka for two or three days.