Saturday 2nd December – Out of the tropics, Daly Waters and the Devil’s Marbles

It looks lovely and clear in this photo...

It was still very overcast this morning, but it had stopped raining so we went ahead with our trip to see Bitter springs.  The heavy rain had made a mess of the ground and we were covered in splashes of mud and debris by the time we walked there.  To be honest, it was all a little disappointing.  The main footpath was closed so we had to walk round the long way and when we arrived at the spring the water was clear but very weed-filled, potentially due to last night’s rains which had also made it a bit sulphur-smelly!  If I hadn’t have felt like I really needed a swim I probably wouldn’t have bothered.  We stripped off and cautiously entered the warm water. Keeping a close eye on all the spiders hanging in their intricate webs above our heads!  I didn’t want to put my feet down on the weeds so let the gentle current of the stream carry me along to the exit point. 

I didn’t really enjoy the experience as I didn’t feel comfortable in the water but the ‘swim’ was brief, so we jumped out and walked back to the camper trying to out-sprint the bugs that were chasing now that our repellent had been washed off!  Back at ‘home’ we use our handy shower to wash the detritus off our lower halves before carrying on with the journey.  You never know what to expect unless you try something and I guess not all places will turn out to be paradise like Florence Falls!

Wanting to move on from this morning’s activities we then did something really stupid.  Not knowing the range of a tank of diesel in our new camper we struck out, passing two petrol stations that were ‘too expensive’ and too soon to fill up to make some ground.  Did we not learn anything from Utah??!  The sign stating we had 88km to the next services caused no sweaty palms.  We thought we had plenty of fuel.  However, with 50km to go to the next road house the gauge suddenly read empty and the warning light flashed a handy ‘0’ on the left-over range display.  Yikes, we’re never going to make it.  We had the conversation about who would stay with the van and who would have to hitch a lift from a passing vehicle (if any CAME past?!).  The distance remaining to the next diesel crept down unbelievably slowly.  It was especially tense as we had opted to turn off the stereo and air con to minimise usage.  It was very quiet in that cab.  Too quiet!  I don’t quite know how, but we pulled into the petrol station in Daly waters on air! AND the fuel there was the most expensive yet. Lesson learned.  Again!  Putting only $30-worth in we walked into the Pub to pay and have a beer to celebrate our good fortune! We met the very friendly bar tender, Mick, who was happy to tell us all about the history of the pub, the oldest in the Northern Territory (born 1930) and famous for its displays of memorabilia from visitors from all over the world.   

Mick the barman modelling our new shotglass

It wasn’t long before we were purchasing a shot glass and investing in a new pair of thongs (flip-flops to you and I) for Simon so that we could sign his old, paper-thin-soled ones and hang them up on the infamous ‘thong tree’!

Me adding Si's knackered flip-flops to the 'thong tree'

What a shame we couldn’t stay longer.  On our way out of the isolated town (Mick has to drive 270km ONE WAY to get to the nearest hairdressers!), we visited the Stuart tree, believed to have been engraved by the founder of the town, John McDouall Stuart, in 1862 and the first international airport in Australia which was built for the Australia to England air race but went on to be an important stopping point for military aircraft in WWII.

The dramas of the morning long forgotten, we were back on the road.   

We'd seen smoke on the horizon a number of times and there's a blanket fire ban across the whole territory, but today we got a little too close to some bush fires for comfort...

The below image is a little blurry... for obvious reasons we didn't slow down for photos!

Simon selected tonight’s stopping point just passed the Devil’s marbles, one of the few items shown on our current route on my funky travel journal map.  We timed it to perfection, arriving at the marbles just before sunset and finding a short walk up to a viewpoint. 

It is impossible to appreciate the scale in the photo above, so here's the view back to the van...

The pub we were staying behind was almost as welcoming as the Daly Water’s pub but sadly I wasn’t feeling my best, so we saved some money by just eating a very speedy pasta dinner and collapsing in bed.  I’m going to need to toughen up if I’m going to survive the long driving days this week!