Daly Waters Pub

After our stop at the Billabong we had a couple of over nighters at rest areas and pulled into Daly Waters Pub about 10.00 am Friday morning. The pub is well known for great meals and entertainment, the caravan park is next to the pub, and most people are just staying one night so you book in and then you are shown to your "site", which means you park nose to tail with other vans, four in a row, there is power, limited water, shady trees, we were third in our row, and by the end of the day about 8 rows and then vans parked around the fence, motor homes fitted in and wait, there is an overflow area....... With all those vans you would think it would feel cramped, but no there was plenty of room and every one was there for the same experience, so friendly really good crowd. 

Barra and Beef night so we booked our meal for 6.30 and just enjoyed the feel of the place, even managed to get some washing done! 

Entertainment started around 5pm with Happy Hour and the meals started at 6.30pm, I had the Barramundi and Brian had steak and Barra, once your name was called you picked up your meal and then there was a great salad bar, really fresh, no photo of the meal, sorry, we just ate, it was fantastic. This pub is in the outback, few hundred klm from a town and 900ks from Darwin, a great place, lots of young staff, some backpackers working their way around Australia.

We are third in our row

Now we are somewhere in there

Inside the pub, something on every wall, money, t shirts, bras, undies...... I didn't leave anything

See the Bra's and Undies

Lots of number plates, an Albany and Denmark on this wall 

Entertainment was good, Tom Maxwell was a country singer and Stevie was mostly 50s music, we like the country music the best

Busy busy, there is a lost Grandad in there...... He has his hand up waving 

Busy cooks

Enjoyed a bottle of wine with our meal

Lots quirky signs

And the next morning we all moved out, we were one of the last to leave, probably just befor 10am and as we drove down the road vans were arriving and it would all fill up again...... I thought the staff were great, really friendly and welcoming 

We had another overnight stop and then arrived in Katherine. We are staying just outside at a homestead caravan park, very relaxing and after the overnight stops we have had we need a few days in one place, so more washing this morning and then washed the dog, the van and finally the car...... 

Moving on to the Northern Territory

After reaching Cloncurry we spent time stocking up on supplies and asking around about Metal Dectectors as we think we would like one, non in Cloncurry but we will keep on looking.

It was Brian's Birthday the day we arrived in Cloncurry and we splashed out on a bottle of bubbly and headed out to a campsite just out of town at Corella Dam, we were just doing an overnighter but it was so peaceful we stayed 3 nights...... We met a young family travelling around Australia, their two girls were Ada and Emily aged 8 and 6, friendly, Ada came over to say hello to Bentley, who was on his best behaviour and allowed her to pat, she then said I'll bring my chair over, so over comes the little pink chair and there it stayed..... With Ada and Emily popping over, chatting, taking Bentley a walk with us, bringing marshmallows over to the campfire and singing campfire songs. Brian taught them Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and they taught us their version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...... Lots of fun, when they left they gave us a big hug and Emily said I smelt just like her Grandma and I said is that good and she said Yes... I had a shower that morning so I am taking that as a complement.

After Corella Dam we drove through Mt Isa to Camooweal  approx 215ks  travel, at Camooweal we crossed the Georgina River and down to the Billabong to camp, lovely spot, very busy but found a spot by the Billabong.

Tonight we have travelled further west and crossed into NT and have camped at a road side spot, well back from the road, lots of vans, no phone, Internet or TV....... 

Our camp at Corella Dam, Cloncurry

Emily on the left and Ada helping us take Bentley a walk, I think Mum and Dad were glad of the break....

We spent time cooking

Egg and bacon breakfast

Bread

Chicken, with Ada getting in the shot

That chicken was yummy, had roast veggies too, all cooked in the Weber

Looking back from the dam into the campsite

Sunset at the dam

Our camp at Camooweal Billabong

The Pelicans came in for a feed

And then the Spoonbils followed

Brian set the table for a candle lit dinner, it was a lovely mild evening and we ate outside.

There was a sunrise over the Billabong but no photo, I laid in bed with a cup of tea and watched the sky change colour.......

Normanton and Karumba

We travelled on from Mt Surprise and camped in a rest area outside of Georgetown on Tuesday night. The road is called a Development Road and is Bitumen but at times the bitumen is only a narrow strip up the middle and you have to give way to oncoming traffic by straddling the Bitumen and gravel sides and go slow and if a road train comes along then you just pull completely off and leave the bitumen to the trucks, makes for a slow journey sometimes. 

After our overnighter we travelled to Croydon, once a gold town, stopping at Lake Belmore for our morning tea, then on to Normanton where we camped at a free camp just over the river. It was hot and sticky when we arrived on the Wednesday, about 32 degrees, we had all the van windows opened to let in the breeze, we were told to keep Bentley away from the rivers edge because of crocodiles !,,,. Had a look around Normanton, it does have a Bakery and we bought some rolls but the cakes weren't up to much and it seemed to Brian that he baked the bread but only did other goods if he felt like it........... Had a drink at the hotel and did consider a meal there BUT it was the state of Origin match between Qld and NSW (rugby) and they were gearing up for a very busy night and we didn't feel we wanted to be in the middle of it all, they take the State of Origin very seriously here and Qld colours are Maroon and every one wears it. 

On Thursday we decided to travel up to Karumba which was our final destination on this part of the trip. Karumba is well known for its fishing and people come up here stay in the caravan parks for 3 months and fish, but it seems because of the lack of rain in the last couple of years the fish are not around, but the people are because we couldn't get into the caravan parks. We did enjoy a fish and chip lunch, had Barramundi and chips.

We had another night at Normanton and today have travelled down the Development road towards Cloncurry and have found a rest area to camp tonight,

 Soon be time to buy a Northern Territory map.....

Cooking tea at our roadside stop

Lake Belmore our morning tea stop, what a perfect spot for morning tea 

Enjoying Fish and Chips at Karumba

Sunset Tavern Karumba

Karumba 

Bentley with his sore leg

But he's happy

This notice was in the ladies loo at Normanton

This one in at Burke and Wills roadhouse, Brian says no notices in the Gents???

Moving on

After our day out at Cairns we decided it was time for some business, so spent a couple of days organising two new tyres for the car, after a bit of asking here, ringing there we organised them at Tyre Power, Mareeba and had to wait till Friday as they had come from Townsville. We moved back to our free spot out of Atherton for three nights and took advantage of our wait to take Bentley to the Vet. His feeling is that it's his Crucible Ligament and needs an X-ray and operation, we had a detailed discussion about having the op while travelling and the rehab period, it would take 6 weeks for him to recover but we wouldn't need to be in one place that long, but would need to stay for a week or know that the next town had a vet if there was an infection and taking the stitches out........ So we will see when we next settle. We have some anti inflammatory meds for him if needed, but he doesn't seem to be bothered that one leg doesn't work......

The weather changed while we were waiting and it became a bit wet and cool.

The tyres came and were fitted Friday and we moved Saturday and headed off the Tablelands via Ravenshoe and a winding drive to another free camp at Archer Creek, great little stop as they were having markets on the Sunday and we awoke at 7.00am Sunday morning to the sound of the markets setting up. Good markets, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, so we stocked up as we are heading west towards Normanton. Have enjoyed the Tablelands and the abundance of fresh food, the soils here a quite rich I think, volcanic based. 

Today Monday we travelled to Mount Surprise and are camped at Planet Earth a nice cheap camping area with all the facilities for $17 @ night, also throws in a snake show each night. Mount Surprise is a railway town and centre for gem fossicking, we did quite a bit of that last year so giving it a miss.

Morning tea at Skybury Coffee Plantation

As the weather cooled we did more cooking

Chicken casserole

Chicken legs, sweet potato and brocollini

Markets at Archer Creek, our van is on the right 

Black Headed Python at our Mt Surprise Camp, his name is Clancy 

A map to give an idea of where we are....

If you find Cairns on the right side of the map, you then find Atherton, follow the road down to Ravenshoe and then down and to the left to Mt Surprise, from here we will continue to the left or west to Normanton and Karumba before heading down the red road which will take us on to the Flinders hwy, and we will then be heading into the Northern Territory

Atherton Tablelands still

Well on Saturday morning we travelled 27 ks north to Mareeba, there was a limit of 3 days at the free camp and we had stayed 5 nights so thought we had better move. We are now at the Rodeo Grounds, $18@ night with power and water, very big area and friendly.

We spent Sunday at Karunda which is about half hour away, a little village which is has markets 7 days a week, also there is a train which winds its way down to Cairns and a Sky Rail which goes down through the rainforest, haven't organised ourselves to do that yet...... We enjoyed the village feel and the markets, we seemed to walk and walk.....

Today Monday is a public holiday and we drove down to Cairns, after reaching Karunda the road descends down, winding its self down from the tablelands. Karunda is 1000 feet above Cairns.

We headed to the Esplanade and managed to find a spot to park, had a lovely coffee and cake and again just enjoyed the shops, cafes etc, we had Bentley with us so took him a walk too. The weather was overcast and showery, managed to miss the showers by having coffee and looking in the shops! 

Have been enjoying the tropical fruits, this is Dragon Fruit, we thought with the rich, vibrant red colour it would be a rich tasting fruit but no, quite bland so we ate it with ice cream.

Paw Paw, one of my favourites

Yungaburra, lovely town, visited here more than once

Lake Barrine Tea rooms, another favourite place

Lake Barrine

Free camp area outside of Atherton

Markets Karunda

Lagoon at Cairns.   Cairns was not very photogenic today.......