From Katherine we headed south
stopping at Mataranka famous for its thermal pools and being the capital of the
‘never never’. We first stopped at Bitter Springs, a palm fringed thermal pool
with amazingly clear water and a temperature of over 30 degrees for a good swim
in the beautiful surroundings. We then headed to the Thermal Pool the other
side of town which was much the same. The waters start life as far away as
Queensland and filter underground for several thousand km before reappearing,
crystal clear and at a perfect temperature.
Tom had also read Jeannie Gunns famous
1908 book about life as a pioneering women, ‘We of the Never Never’, about life
at a nearby cattle station The Elsey. The book has since been made into a film
and we visited the replica Elsey Station Homestead built for the film as well
as the family cemetery nearby. Another inspiring family trying to carve out a
living in the Northern Territory, scary to think what they went through and it
wasn’t that long ago.
From Mataranka we headed to Daly
Waters first stopping in at Larrimah and its famous pub, first of many in the outback! We were surprised to find a
large collection of animals out the back including the friendliest Wallaby
which Holly wanted to take home and a large salt water croc. Although we liked
this pub our destination for the night was the Daly Waters Pub another forty
minutes down the road. The pub is decorated with all sorts of memorabilia,
shirts, business cards, bras, hats, you name it it’s on the walls somewhere! It
claims to be the oldest pub in the Northern Territory having had a license
since 1893 and used to be a stop of for the Drovers in days gone by. Daly
Waters itself was discovered by John McDouall Stuart on the 28 May 1862
(leaving his initial in a nearby tree) and
was also home to Australia’s first international airport! The Pub is the
centrepiece of this town and we had a great afternoon soaking up the atmosphere
with a few beers. Daisy also got her thongs/flipflops put on the thong tree
(again Australia’s first!)
Next day we headed off, spotting
our first Brolgas on the way and the mass migration of grey nomads heading
north. After stopping just north of Tennant Creek to refuel we finally turned
east towards Queensland. Before we got to the border we stopped at Barkly
Homestead, a former cattle station, for the night before getting to Mt Isa the
next day. A couple of long days in the car but we were finally back in
Queensland. Having half expected the outback to be dust we have been surprised
in all our travels to date how green the country had been so far, the rains
from this year and last helping the cause, not that we have seen any rain to
talk of to date!
We left Mt Isa and its mines
behind and stopped after lunch for a beer in the ‘Walkabout Creek Hotel’ made
famous by Crocodile Dundee! The pub was covered in props and photos and we were
amazed by the number of people who just dropped in for a beer and a quick look
round. Having decided that the outback was only made for pubs we stopped the
night in the equally famous ‘Blue Heeler Hotel’.
The Hotel has its own story as
well. For it was here that ‘Banjo’ Patterson saw the Macphersons of Dagworth
pass champagne through a window to those shearers who had burnt their woolshed,
wool and 143 young ‘jumbucks’. This event ended the great shearers strike of
1894 and began the legend of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. The song was baptised in the
pub in 1895 and thus the actions of the above created a turning point in
Australia’s History. The pub also invites people to write on the walls in
return for donation to the Royal Flying Doctors; Daisy and Holly left their
mark! Having sunk a couple of cold ones we returned to the caravan park out the
back of the pub (now lined with white Toyota Prado’s, similar to ours) to find
a pair of dancing Brolgas. The girls stayed up later than usual playing with
glow sticks and some new friends they met next door. Great end to another great day in the middle
of nowhere.
Next day, having clocked over
20,000km, we travelled to Winton and then on the dirt roads to a cattle station
and set up camp next to the converted shearing shed. The farm was 50,000 acres
but could only support 800 head of cattle. We were the only people staying that
night and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and starlit sky all to ourselves.
We really did feel on our own in the middle of nowhere! At Winton earlier we
visited the Waltzing Matilda centre, a museum dedicated to the song, and
enjoyed the story in an indoor billabong complete with holograms and songs and
stories bursting with Australian Nationalism! Qantas was also founded in Winton
so we stopped near the old airfield for lunch whilst the girls played on the
musical fence, made up of old junk and the like before heading to our cattle
station for the night.
Another 150km on dirt roads took
us to Lark Quarry, the home of Dinosaur track ways which show a stampede in
some 3300 fossilised footprints. The girls were very excited and watched an
animation of a huge dinosaur going to drink at the waters edge where hundreds
of smaller dinosaurs were also drinking resulting in a smaller one being caught
before we were given a tour of almost every footstep!
From the footprints we headed for
three hours through open grass country to the outback town of Hughenden for the
night before heading onto the east coast and Townsville.
We have loved the outback, its
bush pubs and its pioneering history but the coast road beckons once again! Don’t
forget to look at our photo link to flickr on the blog to view a selection of
our photos taken to date!
