Stayed at the Bark Hut, another iconic outback pub. A good little park with the usual Irish barmaids. Pub fair as usual out here, Chicken Parmigiana, Barra, Rump, all with salad & chips.
We are now in buffalo country so the pub had a bit of a different theme with horns adorning the walls, makes a change from baseball hats & undies. Also some history about the pioneer buffalo hunters & croc hunters.
The weather over the last few weeks has been very hot & humid. Max 34 deg, min 24 Late afternoon clouds were rolling in in from all directions with thunder rumbling in the distance. Steady rain commenced & continued during the night, clearing the air. The sound of soft rain on the caravan is fairly soothing so with the cooler temperature & the melody of the drops on the roof a good nights sleep was had. Next morning driving towards Kakadu the sky was sailor blue, the air crisp & the sun glistened on the leaves of the pandanus & gums, washed clean by the overnight shower. Heaven!
We took a side trip out to Wildman Lodge, a place we had visited about 8 years ago when a friend Mike McGuire was managing the original resort. Since then it has been turned into a upmarket Eco lodge with safari tent style accommodation or Eco lodges priced at $550 & $650 per night ... It does include food.
Our original stay here was a unique experience, the isolated situation, our first sighting of a wild croc, Big Arse ( he still lives in the home billabong) & the characters we met. Our accommodation was a donger complete with wild flowers on the bedside table, a walk to the shower while looking out for snakes & frogs, & a quick spray of the thoughtfully provided insect killer before disrobing to avoid bites on exposed flesh. Backpackers from Germany, UK & Japan were employed & became instant best friends. Other guests were workers employed on the salt water barriers who were helicoptered out each day to work in croc infested country. As you can imagine they were pretty tough blokes. One guy came to dinner each night in the mesh enclosed dining room with his blue Heeler, which sat on his lap for the entire meal. Somehow I think our experience would beat the experience of today's 5 star resort.. For me ..." More stars than the Milky Way"
The pool & safari tents overlooking the runway.
The Eco Lodges.
The new dining room. No Blue Heelers in here!
A local.
The old resort now staff accommodation.
We had a funny experience driving along the road to Pt Stuart. All of a sudden there was a sound like thunder & two buffalo were galloping in the bush beside us at rate of knots, one behind the other. The young heifer had age on her side & the bull gradually started puffing & heaving with a roar at the effort as he tried to keep up with her. He challenged us a few times but then would remember his original mission & take off again. Tone had his foot on the accelerator ready to take off each time we stopped in case the big boys lust moved from the princess to our silver Prado. Eventually age caught up & the bovine was reduced to a trot, by then the girl of his dreams was well down the track.
All in all an interesting day.
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