Day 8 Daly Waters to Adelaide River

Day 8 Daly Waters to Adelaide River

Our hope that our camp neighbours would drink themselves into early oblivion were unfulfilled. These bush boys are made of sterner stuff! They rolled back into camp with loud swearing banter around midnight, which I suspect is when the bar at the Daly Waters pub closed. We stirred from our slumbers at this disturbance but quickly dropped off again, only to rise early to the pre-dawn chorus of birds.

While we were quite happy to get up and going at this hour, our roistering neighbours could only stumble blearily to the toilet block looking decidedly worse for wear, and very grumpy too as we were driving away!

We made it to Larrimah in time for breakfast. We'd read about Fran's famous Devonshire teas, so had to give it a go. The place was eccentric to say the least, with Fran herself being a real Character, with a capital C. She insisted we sit down with another couple we hadn't met and talk amongst ourselves while she busied herself in the kitchen. The other couple were as bemused as us, but we chatted away exchanging travel stories as you do. John had ordered a pie. He was surprised (no I wasn't - I was flabbergasted) when out it came smothered in a cauliflower cheese and veggie sauce, all homemade Fran assured us. Barb's Devonshire tea was similarly enormous: a blueberry scone with jam and cream, with pieces of cake, lamington and muffin thrown in for good measure. We were sunk for the rest of the day because we daren't leave anything on our plates for fear of  incurring the wrath of Fran. It was an experience! You just gotta do it once.

John outside Fran's teahouse

Sharing tea and scones with our new friends Paul & Penny

John unsure about his pie with extras

Fran serves up to Geoff and John

a very strange place

Next stop was Mataranka. We'd been told by one of the other guests who'd also joined our table at Fran's that we must go to Bitter Springs to swim in the thermal pools. In his opinion they were superior to the Mataranka Springs. So of course we went.

Barb enjoys the thermal pools at Bitter Springs

John at Bitter Springs

You'll Never Never know if you Never Never go

The day was getting very warm by this time. Can this really be winter? Barb had no qualms about stripping down to togs and jumping into the lovely warm pool for a float around with several other similarly minded tourists. The palm fringed pool was quite idyllic and the water was lovely and clear and warm as advertised. Refreshed after the swim, we drove on to Katherine, stopping briefly there at the supermarket and pharmacy (more dressings for Barb's foot). We were not inclined to stay in Katherine, having been here before. The Katherine Gorge tour is an absolute must if you've never done it before and we might just do it again on the return journey if time permits. Instead we headed to Adelaide River to camp for the night. We could've made it to Darwin ... but what's the rush? Jess is not back from Brisbane yet.

John at Katherine

John and I have both decided that we may have to attend remedial school for backing the trailer (sadly, this is so!). Despite the best efforts of several helpful people to guide and tutor us on the fine art of backing a trailer we both remain stubbornly, even wilfully crap at it (well, that's an extreme analysis, but we do need practice). Thank God we didn't have to pass a test before we left. We are, on the other hand becoming quite adept at setting up/packing away our camp. The motivation to be sitting down with an alcoholic beverage in hand within a short time of arriving at the caravan park is undoubtedly a factor!

 

Cheers Dears!