Day 60
Mataranka - Daly Waters
"But they drink it down and nearly drowned as fast they ever did
Only one thing hasn’t changed outback, the pubs still make a quid..."
Daly Waters will always give you a great nights entertainment!
It was quite breezy and for the first time on our trip, cold this morning. We rolled out of Mataraka at about 9.30 to continue south down the Stuart Highway to Daly Waters. The circus was long gone by that time - probably half way to Darwin by the time we left.
We had an uneventful trip, however, noticed a large amount of caravans and camper trailers all heading north passing us on the way. My arm almost fell off giving the passing caravanners the obligatory acknowledging wave as they drive past you - cursing them if they don't bother returning it - like you've just wasted your effort.
We reached Daly Waters just before noon and did a drive by - which is to say we drive up past the pub and turned around (almost in front of it) to park outside. We were ushered to our site today - very posh - unlike our last visit where we were left fending for ourselves over the last patches of dirt to stay on.
You could only stay in Daly Waters for the night! Everyone stays hooked on. We actually did everything the town has to offer today for the first time - in about 30mins.
We drove to the Stuart tree where it is "presumed" Stuart carved a big S in a tree on his famous South - North crossing. He never write anything about it so thus it will always be presumed! From there we crossed the river and saw the flying fox that they used to transport supplies over to the airfield when the river flooded. Then onto the historical airfield itself . The runway is 10,000 feet long and was built in 1934. The first international airport in Australia and the old hanger is still there - now protected under the National Trust. It's still in use today - although only by the super rich with their own planes or to fly supplies into the town.
The historic pub is the main attraction in town. It opened in 1930 and would have to be one of the best pubs in the country. There is stuff everywhere adorning the walls and ceilings. Bras, knickers, hats, badges with names and places, drivers licences, ID badges,number plates, money from all over the world with messages and the world's first (if only) thong tree out the back in the beer garden.
You will be pleased to know that the CMJ's contributed to the thong tree with a small child size aqua thong lovingly cable tied to the tree complete with our names written on it - our piece of Daly ( until they prune the tree of course!)
The pub is famous for its beer and barra feed. It's always popular and we steered clear opting for the bistro menu and we were entertained first by a one woman saxophone show and then by Chilli. Now Chilli is very outback - part Old Fella and part Slim Dusty. He entertained us with his yarns from the bush, some bush poetry and songs to match. We all had a good laugh - the kids mostly when he told Cobes to wake up Grandad sitting next to her. Papa had fallen asleep in his chair!
It's on further South tomorrow - heading for 3 Ways and then a turn left towards the Barkley Homestead.