Northern Territory

It wasn’t long after leaving Camooweal that we were crossing the Northern Territory/Queensland border.  We stopped for a short break at rest area at Avon Downs.  The only thing here is a large police complex.  It seemed so odd to be sitting there in the middle of nowhere.  The only other place between there and Tennant Creek is Barkly Homestead.  It was just on lunch time when we arrived, and after lunch in the van we had a look around as we were wondering about staying the night.  There was not one camper in the park, but I guess most would arrive late and leave early.  As it was so early in the day, we opted to keep going rather than just sitting around the caravan park. 

So mid afternoon we arrived at the Pebbles, a campsite just out of Tennant Creek.  This isn’t a big area, and we were again surprised how many spent the night there.  In the end there were five vans a whiz bang and a station wagon.  We walked around the pebbles just as dusk was falling, getting back in time to see the beautiful sunset. 

Sunset at the Pebbles camping area

Into Tennant Creek the next morning looking forward to the museums at the information centre.  It’s supposed to be open seven days a week, but wait, it’s Easter Sunday, and it is closed for all four days.  How disappointing.  Others turned up hoping to get in while we were looking around too.  There were  some good information boards, so we made the most of those.  A quick drive up and down the main street, but public holiday, not much happening, so we might as well head off again. 

Instead of spending the morning there, it was now only ten o’clock and we were gone.  This meant that we were going to be way ahead of our planned stop which would have been Leichardt Waterhole.  The decision was made to continue on to Daly Waters Pub.  It was a fairly long day, late afternoon when we reached there.  Half an hour out I was thinking we should have stopped, but later that night we talked to another vanner who only drove a few hundred metres down the track and turned around it was so rough. 

Daly Waters Pub is quite an Aussie icon.  Again we had been lucky to avoid another big country “do”.  They had a B and S Ball over Easter, and they had all departed that morning.  But the number of grey nomads there that day was amazing.  This place must be jam packed when the nomads really start to move.  We don’t eat out often, but decided this place had to be our exception.  They have a beef and barra BBQ, but neither of us felt like a big meal, and opted for the barra burger at half the price of the BBQ.  These turned out to be huge and we felt much better value.  A lovely big piece of barra in a big damper bun with salad.

We did think about staying another night as we had arrived late the day before, but others assured us there wasn’t really much as to see.  So we went for a walk around the town, leaving about ten, and stopping at the Stuart Tree and the historic aviation hanger on our way out.

Opposite the pub

Inside the Daly Waters Pub and its odd collections