Camping space in roadside stops and rest areas these days are surprisingly hard to come by. The road side stops or ‘free camps’ are packed, even out here in the middle of nowhere! Full to the brim of caravans, some of which are massive and take up loads of room. If you are not pulled over and set up camp by 4pm you don’t stand a chance.

After not being able to find space in a roadside stop the night before we pushed on north which meant our first stop of the day was at Daly Waters. A small country town mostly famous for its quirky bar which boasts an impressive collection of ‘stuff’ all over it’s walls. It seems people would leave anything behind to leave their mark from underwear to id’s and name badges.

Daly Waters is worth dropping by if you ever head up the Stuart and the pub is definitely a must see. Surprisingly however, we found the most interest in the historic airstrip and hangar just outside town that was used in the second World War. Up to 6 planes every 15 minutes would land at the Daly Waters airstrip when they were evacuating women and children out of Darwin after the bombing.

As we continued North along the highway on our way to Mataranka I spotted a sign advertising ‘fresh home made sausage rolls and pies’ ‘an assortment of home made pastries’ and ‘Devonshire tea house’. After a few weeks with not much fresh food or civilization both Rob and I were both sucked in by the signs and found ourselves pulling up at an outdated back yard café in the middle of nowhere. We arrived and there was no one but a door to a house with a bell and a sign to ring the bell. We rang and a frumpy old lady (Fran) greeted us. She had no sausage rolls but offered some sheapards pie that was just coming out of the oven. There was nothing else on the menu.  It was all very strange. Feeling too polite to refuse, Rob accepted and she went back into her house (that was strangely adorned with teddy bears) to retrieve the food. While we both wondered if we were actually about to be served beef I looked around her decorations and strange collection of scond hand books for sale that were just on a table outside and Rob got a toilet key. He later told me that on the back of the toilet door a sign read ‘Don’t even think of pinchin the dunny key and lock. I have servaylance camera unders house others have tried p.s. you can check if you want Fran”

A few minutes later Fran emerged with a small plate of pie and we reluctantly tasted the food. It was OK, but I think everything about the place and Fran was too strange to trust what we were eating and we ate as quickly as possible so we could get out of there. Fran charged us $12 for one little piece of pie and that experience is definitely the quirkiest we have come across yet!

We continued to Mataranka for the rest of the day to enjoy the hot springs. Water gets trapped inside the granite rocks in the area during the wet season and is heated up to a balmy 24 degrees by the warmth of the rocks. The water is then released at Mataranka through springs that release 30 million litres of spring water a day! These springs were damned by soldiers during the second world war to create a pool which they used for recreation while posted in the area.

The springs were lovely and the most magnificent shade of blue, but it was so full of grey nomads that it felt although we were swimming at the nursing home pool. Seriously. We even overheard them telling dirty jokes! Gross.