We FaceTimed big Stu this morning for his birthday before setting out for a monster day driving from Pine Creek to Three Ways about 700km, glad we didn’t stop at Gonlom to have extra dirt rd drive on top. Fuel stop at Katherine on way to Bitter Springs, just before Mataranka (of ‘We of the Never Never’ fame). We weren’t there hugely late but there were people everywhere already even though Bitter Springs is supposed to be the quieter of the two. We had read mixed reviews with some claiming beautiful and others dirty and slimey. The sign did attribute the sulphurous smell to the minerals from the hot spring water combined with breaking down matter at the banks and we weren’t bothered by a bit of weed or algae, rather were very taken with the gorgeous colour of the water which was a dark turquoise. You swim upstream a bit and then float 150m to a bridge down the other end and run back to do it again. The current was quite strong and the water warm so when we were able to dodge the crowded parts it was really quite beautiful. Very glad we stopped, a unique experience to say the least. Speaking of which our next destination was the Daly Waters Pub, a middle of nowhere telegraph station town turned into a fueling stop for early international Qantas flights. Also a place where a gold coin donation gives you the opportunity to leave a piece of yourself be it underwear, business cards, student cards, autographed anything really for prosperity. In our Harry Potter mindset it was like a pub full of Horcruxes and we slid in just as the kitchen was closing for end of lunch so had a nice feed. The campground next to it was reamed and the pub already filling up for the evening ‘Beef & Barra BBQ’ activities for which they are famous. The bar staff were all Irish Backpackers who, even whilst getting tetchy at their volume of customers still managed to sound cheery just because of their cool accent. We left a piece of ourselves behind in the form of a Big Bogan stubby holder with Whalos 2018 on it, see if it’s still there next time one of us pass through!
We played a bit of fantail trivia until everyone got sick of daddy knowing all the answers and similarly sick of mummy winning the wrapper ripping competition- boarding school mad skills! We saw a lot of four carriage road trains and are now back to the roadside t-shirted termite mounds, countryside is quite scrubby now, how they first ran a telegraph line through here I can’t imagine. I am trying to drink up the sights and sounds of the Territory before we drive out of it tomorrow, wondering if each wedge tailed eagle feasting on roadkill is going to be our last. Finally we arrived at the Three Ways roadhouse around 7:30pm, similar to the servo/pub/campground out the back, code to get in the bathroom setup at Marla. Kids entertained themselves reading the various stickers and stubby holders with some very colorful language and pictures for sale in this illustrious establishment whilst we waited for some fast fare. It was pretty blustery when we setup at the back fence of the campground, turns out they were full and the counter chickie shouldn’t have told us we could stay.
Looking like a very windy night ahead.