Day 27 – Wednesday 13 July 2016 – Mataranka

A lot cooler today although still t-shirt & shorts weather.  It was probably more that the overcast day meant no humidity which I was grateful for.  

On exiting the van to let Kitty out I spotted a dead Cane Toad right in front of our van that someone had kindly squashed.  No time for a photo – just get that thing out of here!!!!!  I was heading back to the van with Kitty when the couple from last night walked by again – “Morning Humans” I remarked and with a bit of a giggle they said "morning" back.

A call home to mum this morning made us feel better about the cooler weather here – evidently it snowed again yesterday – so that’s 4 times in 16 years and thankfully I’ve managed to miss it twice on this trip.  As Shane said this morning, it was definitely the winter to miss at home!

Kerrie & John headed off to Darwin so after farewells and a tasty breakfast of pancakes we set off to have a look around Mataranka.  It’s really strange to see the tropical vegetation now after so many days of the arid land growth.  Palm fronds dot the area and are prolific where there are creeks and ponds.  We didn’t venture into the national parks with the dogs, but even the edges sported some lovely little creeks and ponds. 

Mataranka itself isn’t much more than a couple of fuel stations, a grocery store and a few other shops and stops.    Oh and the pub of course which had a good representation of locals even around lunch time.  The grocery store also has a Bottle-O which doesn’t open until 2.00pm.  We were there at around 1.30pm and I couldn’t help but notice a couple of Aboriginal men sauntering past the store both checking their watches.  What was most unpleasant though was the smell around the town.  I assume the water is recycled (as is the case at a lot of the outback towns we’ve visited) for use on the towns roadside parks as the whole town smelled a lot like a poorly operating septic system.  It must do a reasonable trade though as there were constantly cars and caravans pulling in.

Just across in the paddocks beside the main street we could see several campsites which were home to some of the local Aboriginal people.  Camping is fine for some - I've always said I prefer sleeping under the stars - All 5 of them.  Caravaning works fine for me.  But how you could live in a campsite like this especially up here in the summer is beyond me.  I keep saying I feel sorry for the kids as they don't have a choice.  

We headed back to camp for some lunch and could not believe how empty it was.  By that time the day before it was almost full and vans were still rolling in.  By 3.30pm there were still no new campers in our area.  Pushbike Man was a day too early obviously!  At 4.00pm 3 vans pulled in but it looks like two of our neighbours (plus ourselves) are leaving in the morning so I’m thinking there’ll be no rush for the showers tomorrow morning!

No entertainment tonight except for the NRL State of Origin match on the big screen TV, so I opted for a night in the van with the dogs and my new crochet blanket while Shane went over to the bar to watch the game.  He said it was an interesting and entertaining experience watching a game with so many enthusiasts – more Queenslanders than NSW supporters.

Notbat sightings = 0