Daly Waters-3400kms in the Bank

Its Friday, 12th of July, written in retrospect by a couple of days.

We have been on the road for 1 week now. We all agree the riding has been amazing. The roads are long and straight, the visibility is vast and unobstructed. This means overtaking is not a problem or chore. You can just hit that throttle and off you go. There is this strange phenomena occurring. When we are out on the road the traffic is very minimal and yet when we stop at our destination, such as the Barkly Highway or Daly Waters Pub, the place is teaming with people.

As we were riding between Mt Isa and Camooweal, the MOTH turned me on, ( On the Senna Comms Unit, I mean….)

and said he thought that it was the best bit of outback highway he had ever been on. That says alot as the MOTH is always understated.

It was great to able to celebrate our first week at Daly Waters Historic Pub. I was gobsmacked as we road into town. I knew it would be an old rustic pub, However I was not prepared for the wild west throbbing vibe that was going down as we rode in.

It is the last weekend of the School Holidays here in the Northern Territory and I think everyone has come to Daly Waters. There were caravans lined up as far as the eye could see. Old Planes lined the street. Long Horned Texas cows were lying just off the road, meaning I had to swerve a little to ensure the Lovliness did not get hooked up on the, at least two metre span, of their horns. People were spilling out from the pub into the street, laughing, children were having water fights and yelling out to us not to miss seeing Kevin the Crocodile. Herbie the Love Bug, was leaning up against the fence and several other old vehicles were at various angles up the street, often with goats jumping on to them or providing shade for the odd donkey.

It was overwhelming but filled you with joy and awe all at the same time. I was very tired and dry from our 520kms that day, but when we arrived that left me and we jumped straight off the trikes and went to the pub. Luckily we had had the foresight to book a room at the pub for the night so we did not need to set up the Camper.

I am not sure how we even managed to secure a room there were so many people in town. But we were beside each other in Room 28 and 29 and we only booked the day before.

There is a huge collection of bras on display at the pub, Apparently a bus pulled up in the 1970s and the driver told the girls if they left a bra at the pub they would recieve a free drink and so a tradtion was born. I was suprised to hear even my Mum has a bra hanging at this pub. Jenny and I are such minimalistic packers that there is not a spare bra to throw around at the pub, however we bared our bras for a photo to contribute nonetheless to the tradition. The photos have been censored from this blog to protect the innocent and our dignity.(What ever were we thinking!!!)

Explorer John McDouall Stuart discovered Daly Waters on May 28th, 1862 having forced his way through lance wood scrub and harsh terrain at the rate of just one kilometre a day. He named the area in honour of the new Governor of South Australia, Sir Dominic Daly.

Daly Waters is a town for of history and service to the country as it was the rear guard base during the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in WW2. It hosts the first international airport in Australia. It represents an era of aviation in Australia from when even planes with the longest range could not traverse to Australia with out stops to refuel.

However despite all of its history and longevity the airstrip has only just now received funding to have permanent lighting installed, so that pilots can turn on the lights from the plane as they arrive at the airport. Until this time the pilots would call ahead to the pub and someone would go out and put out the lights and turn them on so that they could land safetly.

The town that has never reached a population of three figures is proud that time moves slowly here and the old ways are the norm. That is what we found and what we enjoyed the most.