Australia Adventures: 21. Journey To The Red Centre, Daley Waters Pub and 'Dinky The Singing Dingo'...
G'Day! Greetings from the Rugged Red Centre, the real essence of Australia!
Well check out the map, that's how far I've travelled through the Northern Territory on my cross country explorations of the wonderful land of Oz. Last time I left you I was in the town of Katherinehaving had a taste of creating my own Aborigine Art masterpiece (well maybe not to the articulate collectors and curators but still it was pretty cool to me). My desire was to travel down to Alice Springs right in the centre of the continent and it was here that my adventure really took shape.
I always try and seek any alternative way to travel around, buying a bus ticket was my last resort. I had visited all the hostels in Darwin posting up notices aswell as online asking for a ride down to Alice Springs, but with no avail. It was in Katherine that I get a call from two Japanese girls Yuki and Keiko who were giving a German girl Verena a ride down and asked if I'd like to be the final piece in the quartet. Phew. This would be much more fun that travelling the whole way on a bus, not the way I would have planned it.
It would be a whopping 1,181 Km spread out over 8 days of burning up the Stuart Highway or what the Aussie's call 'The Bitumen'. Long haul trips through the outback are not for the fussy or high maintenance its a long journey but full of adventures and discoveries if you're willing to be open to them....plus a lot of red dust!Stocked up with enough food, water (very important) and petrol, my first stop with the Ladies was at the Aboriginal community of Mataranka to bathe in the warm soothing natural Thermal Springs to prepare for the epic road journey ahead in the deep foliage of the tropical surroundings. You'd be mad not to pull in a stop here for a bit of play time and folly. Mataranka is also showcased as the 'Land of The Never Never' about the life of a female pioneer on a neighbouring station....a hint of historic significance there.
With bikinis hung up on the windows on coat hangers to dry, we pressed on a further 160km south of Mataranka feeling all refreshed and perky as we fluidly cruised along the open empty and somewhat suffocating dryness of the Territory, we diverted 3km off the Stuart Highway to set up camp for the night in the renowned watering hole of the Daly Waters Pub which was just a fine example of the wacky, quirky and unusual attractions out her in the remote Aussie outback.
Daly Waters Pub, I'd heard of it before and
for good reason - it is a legendary stop off on the Stuart Highway Track
and the oldest remote pub in the Territory - a liquor licence held since
1893. It exudes a gravitational pull for you to contribute to the embellishing
tapestry of the pub.....business cards, flags, t-shirts, cuddly toys,
photographs and yes even a nice long term collection of bras in
all colours and sizes have been left strung up on display as generous
gifts from passing travellers....how can we resist? well maybe not leaving our
bras but we left our mark by attaching our photographs on the side of the
bar, along with purchasing a refreshing bottle of Strong Bow Cider (I
never drove!). But we did manage to squeeze in a game of pool amidst the dangling
bras of the world with a huge cuddly panda in a chair next to a microphone
looking on....
Stamping our mark on Australian history, we set off the next morning having had our tent roof blow off in the night by the winds with a new travelling companion Stefan. A true blue Australian from Melbourne, he was relocating back from Darwin to the city and since everyone was going the same way South - we buddied up. Always useful to have a native Aussie who was also a mechanic on a long haul road trip in the middle of nowhere. We drove on to Japanese music blaring out the car, passing through countless road houses with their own characters and exhibits to fuel up and to stretch our legs. We passed through the ghost towns of Newcastle Waters before being warned to slow down for 30 seconds as we passed through the silent tumbleweed blowing cattle station of Elliott.
including one with a singing Dingo named Dinky who is so famous he's a question in the game trivial pursuit. Devils Marbles was a highlight along the road, Giant Boulders that glow warmly in the sunset and there's alot of them. Our evenings were spent sitting by a campfire, while I read Aboriginal Dreamtime stories under the starry sky (it gets pretty cold out in the desert at night) everyone who travels the Darwin to Alice Springs road you always end up seeing again and we were lucky enough to have an Aussie guy accompany us who was also a mechanic (coz you don't want to be breaking down in the outback in the territory) the cool thing is the dust - I've never seen it sooo red. We got to Alice Springs 4 days later and explored the city, bought Aboriginal Art, spoke to street artist and made the most of the free didjeridoo lessons ( I can get a droan!) and hung out with Rock Wallaby's under the moon.Before hand we took a rim walk of KingsCanyon which feels like you were in an Indiana Jones adventure seeking out The Lost World. Pretty cool, actually visiting 'The Garden of Eden'. There were many memorable moments with the dangers of night driving and attack of mozzies but Uluru was just something else
Keiko at a roadhouse with the resident snakes skin
including one with a singing Dingo named Dinky who is so famous he's a question in the game trivial pursuit. Devils Marbles was a highlight along the road, Giant Boulders that glow warmly in the sunset and there's alot of them. Our evenings were spent sitting by a campfire, while I read Aboriginal Dreamtime stories under the starry sky (it gets pretty cold out in the desert at night) everyone who travels the Darwin to Alice Springs road you always end up seeing again and we were lucky enough to have an Aussie guy accompany us who was also a mechanic (coz you don't want to be breaking down in the outback in the territory) the cool thing is the dust - I've never seen it sooo red. We got to Alice Springs 4 days later and explored the city, bought Aboriginal Art, spoke to street artist and made the most of the free didjeridoo lessons ( I can get a droan!) and hung out with Rock Wallaby's under the moon.Before hand we took a rim walk of KingsCanyon which feels like you were in an Indiana Jones adventure seeking out The Lost World. Pretty cool, actually visiting 'The Garden of Eden'. There were many memorable moments with the dangers of night driving and attack of mozzies but Uluru was just something else
With bikinis hung up on the windows on coat hangers to dry, we pressed on a further 160km south of Mataranka feeling all refreshed and perky as we fluidly cruised along the open empty and somewhat suffocating dryness of the Territory, we diverted 3km off the Stuart Highway to set up camp for the night in the renowned watering hole of the Daly Waters Pub which was just a fine example of the wacky, quirky and unusual attractions out her in the remote Aussie outback. 
