Travelling north to Darwin

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Last night we stopped off at the Devils Marbles again and Samuel spent the afternoon riding his bike . He can officially ride without training wheels hipeeee!!!!!!
We arrived a Daly Waters to check out the famous Pub. It was a unique place with everything you could imagine hanging from the walls around the bar. There was Frank the chookman to entertain us that night. He told some great Aussie jokes and sang some funny songs with a wedge tailed eagle on his head AKA a black chook. This was another monumental moment for Samuel as he lost his tooth and he was told that the tooth fairy doesn’t come to the NT because it is too far to fly so they have a Bush Fairy instead, it is the same as the tooth fairy except you get $50 per tooth. So Sam got his $50 from the Bush Fairy in Daly Water NT.
Before setting off for Mataranka we had to explore the World War 2 Aircraft hanger and Airstrip at Daly waters. It has not been turned into a tourist attraction but does have a few information boards with the story of the Daly waters settlement prior to WW2 and how it became a refueling stop for Qantas and its overseas flights to Singapore. During the war the RAAF used it as a small base to protect the top of Australia from the Japanese. Sam did some more bike riding on the taxi way before we took the Watergate for a drive along the airstrip which is still in really good condition although a little overgrown.
Further along the Stuart highway just north of Larrimah Steve found a sign saying Gorrie Airfield so of cause we had to explore it as well. The turn took us down a dirt track (with the Watergate) that twisted and turned and had cross roads and forks with no signs so we just for fun had to take a wrong turn down a dead end and then manouvre the Watergate to turn around. We finally found the airstrip and went for another run down to the other end, this one was a lot more overgrown and took us back only 700m and out onto the track we came in on, all we needed to do on the way in was turn right at the first cross road we came to and we would have found the end of the strip but getting lost was half the fun.
We relaxed in Mataranka for a few days while we waited for the Lemos to catch up AGAIN. And how hard was it to wait at a place that has a thermal spring to swim in everyday. Mataranka itself is the location of the story “We of the Never Never” and it was very special being in the exact location of such a famous Australian Story, it really brought the characters to life. It WAS as peaceful place and then the Lemos arrived. We spent our time sitting around campfires even though the temperature is 25 and looking out for “fully extended peacocks” and sneaky wallabies fighting under the “Watergate.” We also went to see the Barramundi getting hand fed, the man feeds them twice a day and can grab a metre long barra out of the water in his hand as they take the food.

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