9th September 2008

Another cool night that required a blanket early in the morning. As I have mentioned before, the day warms up very quickly once the sun is over the horizon.
During the early hours, I went out of the Karavan to be confronted by a group of wallabies feeding on the grass that is watered every day in the Caravan Park. They are not too worried by people wandering around.
Today was pack at Mataranka. I lowered the awning and packed it all away before I had breakfast. Then I slowly proceeded to pack everything else away. There was no rush today as I was only travelling about 230 kms to historic Daly Waters Pub. I managed to depart at 0900 after saying goodbye to Gary, the caretaker.
The road was very quiet with only a handful of north bound caravans as well as a few road trains and other vehicles. Only a few vehicles passed me on their south bound journey.
As I turned off the Stuart Highway into Daly Waters, I decided to have a look at the Daly Waters airport which was originally Australia’s first international airport. It was a refuelling stop for the aircraft of old especially coming in from places like Indonesia and Europe. It is nothing more than a derelict airfield now. I believe it is used mainly for tourist traffic and the occasional Air Ambulance flight.
Then I drove into the Daly Waters Pub area. I booked in at the Pub for the powered site in the Caravan Park. I was met at the entrance gate by one of the staff and guided to a shady site. All this for only $9.00! The facilities are similar to Broome in that there are only dirt sites although they are watering to keep the dust down.
A quick set up as there was no awning up today being for a one day stop. It really does only take about 10 minutes to be set up. Then I brewed a nice Northern Rivers grown coffee.
After doing a few jobs around the Karavan, it was lunch time. I decided to see what was on the menu at the unique Daly Waters Pub. I ordered a Barramundi Burger which was absolutely beautiful and more than adequate for lunch. It beats a tomato sandwich.
As I was doing this order, I came across David and Jenny. David and I knew each other a very long time ago, about 47 years ago to be more precise. They had called in at Lennox Head while I was on a bicycle trip in late May and met up with Prue. We had planned to meet here.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on all the years in between. Our parents were good friends brought about by an original connection through my maternal grandmother, Rita Taylor. I have seen more of David’s brother, Robert, in recent years but we hope that will now change.
We had the “Barra and Beef” meal in the pub washed down by a couple of beers instead of red wine, for a change. The meal was really nice and I had a mix of Barramundi and Beef with salad that was added by helping myself at the well stocked salad bar. Then we chatted then went back to our caravans and having either a tea or coffee before bed. Our caravans were parked beside each other. So ended a day that has connected David and me again as well as getting to know Jenny. We will not catch up again until next year when they return to the east coast again.