And Happy Birthday to me! I can't begin to explain how blessed I feel to be able to spend the first waking moments of my birthday watching first light through the caravan door while enjoying a hot cup of tea in the middle of the outback. Aside from feeling lucky to be on this trip, I'm acutely aware of how luck we are in Australia to be able to enjoy such freedom to travel in this way. A morning made all the more amusing by my funny-kid husband singing happy birthday to me.
We wanted to be away early this morning as we hoped to get the 245km drive to Daly Waters Pub done before lunch. I was endeavouring to do my bit of the inside packup - in between trying to kill mosquitoes. OMG there must have been about 30 or 40 floating around in the caravan. While Shane took Kitty out for a walk I sprayed the whole inside of the van with Pea Beu and the darn things just kept flying. Note to self - Pea Beu is bloody useless - buy something better at the next supermarket stop.
We had several plane fly-overs both as we were preparing to leave and also along the highway. The trails looked so amazing against the blue sky. Back on the road again and today the wind made the drive challenging for probably 80 percent of the trip.
As usual the signposts have us looking forward to each step of the journey. Not that we'll be in Katherine tonight, but it brings back memories each time of our last trip and raises the level of excitement for what is to come this trip.
A little down the road we encountered a large budgie guarding his piece of roadkill. He wasn't going to be intimidated by a car on the other side of the road - he stood his ground. We are starting to see more of these magnificent birds that are now hovering in the sky seeking their next meal. The eagles in particular are very reluctant to leave any roadkill they find and defy the vehicles driving past them - sometimes to their detriment as we've seen many large birds lying dead beside their meal, obviously having been hit themselves.
And of course the vegetation continues to change, part of what makes this whole region so interesting as you drive from one location to the next. There are times when you come up over a hill and the view before you is just breathtaking.
The next town, and a stop for a top up of fuel, was Elliott. I think a shudder ran down both our spines as we drove past the caravan park. Having stayed there on our last trip it was definitely memorable for all the wrong reasons and the town itself is terribly depressing with derelict old buildings and inhabited buildings that look like no-one has cared about them for many many years.
And again the vegetation changes - obviously a higher rainfall area as many more trees and lots of greenery.
We finally reached our destination - the famous Daly Waters Pub. It is a particular favourite of ours as I think it is a refreshing change from the day to day caravan parks and stopovers with it's unique design and decorations and the lively atmosphere. We have met some lovely people during our stops here in the past and it seemed like a memorable way to spend a birthday. And yes it turned out to be memorable.....
Thankfully the bleeding finally stopped and we made our way back to the caravan to sit under the awning and listen to the rest of the night's musical entertainment. It really was a glorious night, warm and thankfully no mosquitoes to make us retreat inside. Not quite the birthday I had envisaged, but aside from someone having a rather large headache it was a pleasant evening.
245 km
Total - 4,542 km
Top today 29°c - expecting overnight 14°c
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