This morning we were putting sone diesel in the Nissan getting ready to head off from Musgrave roadhouse and got talking to the owner. Very chatty bloke who told me that his roadhouse gas been in his family since 1896!!! Very interesting bloke with alot of cool stories l bet, if we had time to chat.
Anyway headed off to Coen with the hope to reach Chilli Beach for our next stop. The road to Coen was corrugated and the road trains were leaving alot of dust behind them when we drive past. Got to Coen around 10am to see Dale, Kerry and Mick at the fuel stop as we drove in. A lot of aboriginals in this township which we said g'day to, they were speaking their language to each other which the girls were fascinated in seeing. We got some food from the local store, bare essentials which came to $70. Went to the pub 'the sexchange hotel' to enquire about grog, too pricey for me with a 1L cask of wine $23 and slab of XXXX $60!
Left Coen around 11am and headed to our next turnoff, old telegraph track! We were only on it for 10 mins when we turned off to do the Pascoe River road. It's a 4WD track which was very narrow in some parts and the car got a few little scratches in it from the branches. We did a cool rock creek crossing then headed to the Pascoe river. Came up to the start of the crossing which was down a steep embankment, Marty dos perfectly and l got out and walked across the shallow rock river bed and took some pics of Marty crossing the river. The water was beautiful and if we werent on time limitations we would have had a swim. Instead we headed off and continued our way. Headed to Lockhart River, another aboriginal community township to get some bait. Was reading that we aren't allowed to rake any photographs in the town and that it was a 'dry' town and if caught with bringing grog in you would face $75,000 fine or imprisonment! So no pics and definately no grog was taken!!! Again they were talking in their native tongue. Girls were asking why they have dirty skin, so this was great to explain to them that that is the color of their skin, they are dark not dirty! Kids cracking me up occasionally with these sort of questions! The town looked the same as most communities we have drivin thru, cars smashed up, houses ruined with broken windows, stray dogs walking around, etc. I questioned to myself whether a 'dry' community really made a difference?
Anyhow, after getting the bait we headed to Chilli Beach and arrived at 4:30pm. First thing l noticed was a fishy stench, which l have found out was coral sporning. The place is very tropical with palm trees and coconuts on the ground. But breezy too but we were warned about this so no shock there. On the beach there is beautiful white sand anf someone had left a tropical hut they'd obviosly made (blog pic) which the girls loved straight away. There's also a coconut tree with a hwap of things nailed to it with peoples names on it, so will be putting our mark on that tomorrow.
We were all tired and over it but set up camp and had 2 minute noodles and toasted jaffles on the fire for tea. Mike, Kerry and Dale also rocked up and set up camp sp it was cool to catch up with them again. The girls were excited to see their friends again. We also met a south African couple Angie and Rod, from Sydney, who were also travelling around oz. Will definately get to know them tomorrow a bit better. We were all dusty again and very tired, were tucked up in bed by 9:30pm.
Bell Xx