You're not watching it no matter what!

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Day 130 - Alice Springs to Banka Banka

The rains came last night along with the howling wind! It shook the caravan and with the sound of the rain magnified on the roof it probably sounded worse than it really was but it was enough for us to find puddles in the morning.

All showered and ready to go we bid Tony and Jane a fond farewell, we’ve had such a great time with them and have been far more adventurous under the wing of Indiana Jane and Lightening Foot Tony! Fair Dinkum guys, we’ll be in touch and very much hope to see you before we return to the UK.

We stop for fuel at the good old Woolworths Caltex, $1.39 with our discount - gone are the heady Queensland days of $1.12!!

We’re on the road by 8.30 and its destination Banka Banka for us today which is heading north towards our eventual destination (in a couple of weeks) of Darwin. It’s nearing a 7 hour journey so we stop a couple of times along the way just to let us and the car cool down. One stop was Barrow Creek where the old Telegraph Station is and the second stop was for fuel at Tennant Creek which cost us $1.44 a litre. All the kids were coming out of school here so it was a bit chaotic but lovely to see. The sameness in scenery is long today and there’s little to break it up with Tennant Creek being the largest town by far with a huge population of just over 3000.

We arrive at Banka Banka with the time nearing 4pm, it’s been quite a long day and the weather is warm to say the least. We pull through the gates and drive up to the kiosk at the far end of the circle of grassy camp sites. Quite a few fellow travellers are already set up with some that look to have recently arrived. This has a history as a cattle station that spans across the years so we should find something interesting to while away the afternoon!

I spy a chap with a red Banka Banka shirt walking towards me so I give out a cheery “Hi ya, how are you” and I’m met with a less than cheery “Where’s he going?” gesturing towards Darryl who was driving round towards the empty sites. “Do you need to put us somewhere specific?” I asked to which he responded with “Yes, obviously”. Oh dear, not the warm greeting I was hoping for or expecting.

Darryl had stopped driving as soon as he spotted the conversation between me and the chap, figuring he was going to be given some instructions! I was told to wait while the chap dealt with a young couple setting up their tent. I waited patiently for his attention, which I got once he’d finished with the other couple. I followed him into the kiosk and he pointed to the book on the desk “Fill that out” he said. I completed the book and with that came the “$16” request. There is no power to the camp pitches so you’re paying to use the toilets, the hot showers and park in the security of a camp site. I’d heard from other people that there should be a slide show each night giving the details about the history of the station. This sounded interesting and was another good reason for staying here so I asked what time it was on “We don’t do that anymore, there’s never enough people here but you can download it from the internet”. I said out loud that I thought that was a shame hoping to change his mind but he continued to tell me where to park the caravan and where the toilets and showers were. He also told us that we could use as much water as we wanted to wash the car, caravan and that it was safe to drink. I wandered back to Darryl and we parked up as instructed.

It’s a nice place Banka Banka and it is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere There’s some shade here and the BBQ area is well laid out (although the BBQ itself was filthy (in our opinion) so we didn’t use it) and there's some interesting seating around the kiosk. All over the joint are signs saying that it’s a licensed BBQ area and no BYO is allowed. That’s fair enough, especially if you’re sitting watching the slide show (said with tongue in cheek).

Once we’re all settled we wander back to the kiosk as Dar fancies a cold beer, he’s obviously missing Tony already!! More travellers were arriving but it wasn't a full house by any means. We purchase a loaf of bread (frozen - which was great) and an ice cold beer. With more people arriving I thought I’d have another go at getting the slide show put on but was told that it had been played last week when there were double the amount of people on site, 16 turned up and 7 walked away shortly after the beginning which meant someone having to wait around all night to pack things away and it’s not worth it. I was told that it was going to be put on the internet so we would be able to download it. Fair enough but that's going to cost us money because of the amount of time it would take so I asked if it was possible to copy it to our hard drive so we could watch it now but was told no. Shame as it would have been good to watch the slide show here rather than miles away. I even volunteered to put the projector and associated stuff away afterwards so that nobody was put to any trouble but this resulted in the conversation ending comment of ‘You’re not watching it no matter what!’. So that’s a definite no then! Oh well, I tried and yes I was persistant but if you don't ask you miss out and I hate missing out!

Instead I took (I asked first) a couple of folders I’d spotted on the counter which seemed to contain the potted history of the joint and it's various owners over time. The section I found most interesting was that it was started by a member of the Ragged Thirteen, a group of men who had a reputation for taking whatever they wanted from whomever they choose. Operating at the turn of the century the self proclaimed leader, Thomas Nugent, established Banka Banka station (cattle) in 1885 and when he died rfom dropsy (?) he left it to his sister Mary Ambrose. It had a good reputation as a homestead and station and today is owned by the Kidman family (no relation to Nicole or at least I don't think so!) who also own Helen Springs another station further north. There are some photographs showing the effects of the wet season from 2008/2009 - you wouldn't want to be here without a paddle!

There's a visitors book outside the kiosk which had some great comments in it suggesting some very satisfied customers. I have to say that the few people (there were only two families) who mentioned Banka Banka prior to us staying didn't rate it at all. As always we choose to make our own minds up and as it was well positioned within our journey we chose to stay. However, word of mouth is a powerful tool and it's true to say that we've heard mixed opinions after our stay too. Some say it's over priced ($16 for a non powered site it is in keeping with the same sort of place in Katherine, NT), some say that the person who met them on site wasn't particularly friendly (I experienced a stand offish approach on arrival in my opinoin - it could have been warmer and more in keeping with other places we have stayed) and most say that watching the slide show would have been great (hear hear) so it seems there are some things which are even more important than money and in this case it was the expectation of a friendly welcome and getting to watch a slide show which is advertised on site as a nightly event albeit at the manager's descretion.

Either way we enjoyed our one night there and would not discourage other travellers from visiting, as others tried to with us. When all is said and done, Banka Banka itself is very nice, the sites are grassy, large and all have spring fed water which you can use to fill your tanks, drink or wash your vehicles! The donkey, goats, chickens and kangaroos are a joy to watch and the friendly ‘goat herding’ collie dog is beautiful. There’s a great walk to a lookout at the back of the campsite and a longer one to a waterhole which we started but then turned back as the sun was beginning to fade away. I had a good wander around the rest of the site where the Adventure Oz group have some permanent camp sites set up, it’s a great little spot in the middle of nowhere to spend a night.

Dar cooked up a fabulously tasty dinner and we ate under the starry sky. We played around with the cameras for a while trying to get some night shots of road trains and the stars in the sky. It was still pretty warm when we went to bed at about 8.30pm just waiting for the next road train to zoom past which kept us entertained well through the night! Had it not been for the dry welcome we would have had alot less to write about today, such is life!

Sweet dreams

Dar and Sar

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