17th July Daly Waters

 Kms today 400                     Kms to date 5850

I walked down a very quiet main street to have breakfast  at the Red Centre Café and got away at 8:30.  The Kawasaki was loving the BP Ultimate 98 that was in the tank and I was easily doing 20km/L. The country was flat with ridges running across east/west at 50km intervals. It must have been like Nevada is today 100 million years ago.

I stopped at Renner Springs for some refreshment and noticed they had Premium BP, not the Ultimate 98 but 95, so I filled up and was confident I could make it to Daly Waters. There was a Bernese Mountain Dog outside the shop  so I couldn't resist a pat.

Bernese Mountain Dog - don't you just love'm

 

There were various memorials along the way to Charles Stuart and Rev John Flynn (who set up the Flying Doctor service), and signs to airstrips built during WWII when Japan was bombing Darwin.

I arrived at Daly Waters at about 2 to find the kitchen was closed so I had to miss out on my lunch.  The accommodation was very good.  I explored the place while waiting for dinner time. There was a shed across from the Bar that  held a display of old bikes and cars. One was a pristine 1972 Z1 Kawasaki. The campsite was chockers and so was the Bar.

The Daly Waters Pub hadn't changed but everything else had.

This Z1 had only done 7 miles and was immaculate - worth a small fortune

I had my dinner with two couples travelling around Australia like me. One recalled his riding days on a Honda CB750 K1.  He moved to Canberra and had a very cold trip as he didn't have the best riding gear.  There was a duo on stage singing old favourites, not very interesting, so I retired to my motel cabin to watch the Wallabies play France and had a chat with Alan who was doing the same.

This hugely obese man would drive around the place on a scooter with a horse and goat and entertain the kids.

A large family group of Indians arrived at the Motel cabins and created a lot of noise from crying children,  clanging pots, loud voices and slamming doors.  I felt like giving them a piece of my mind,  but thought better of it and put in my ear plugs instead. Reminded me of the aborigines in Tennant Creek!