Day 56 / 2025 - Alice Springs to Daly Waters

As luck would have it our old nemesis the heavy-going-on-for-days-and-days rain returned once again as we packed up to leave. Another wide band of rain was heading from the Kimberly's in Western Australia across the whole of the  Northern Territory, dropping hundreds of Millimetres of rain in its path, this was definitely out of season. The weather has been either cold, raining or both on this trip. When will we experience some warm dry weather.

Leaving Alice Springs we once again headed north with the rain following us closely on our heals. The road was quite awash with water where we copped blinding sprays from each passing road train. We did stop for lunch at Ti Tree arriving just in time for the rain to really pelt down. Moving on we decided to stop at Taylors Creek Rest Area another 120 km down the road. This spot was elevated and we could park on a sealed road surface. We were expecting heavy rain overnight and into the morning so did not want to risk getting bogged on a dirt track. We drove for over 300 Km and the rain did not let up. 

 Some water did get in through vents and around window seals from driving rain and passing trucks. Looks like the caravan had developed a leak around the window on the right hand side of the van at the front damaging the inside walls and possibly the timber frame. Not sure why, just another thing to fix. This is starting to become an expensive trip with repairs.

 Next morning the rain had stopped... sort of, so we headed off towards Tennant Creek. We decided we wanted to get out of the cold an wet so aimed for Newcastle Waters about 400 km north of our current location. Driving to Tennant Creek the rain started to increase again with some of the road becoming awash with water. Trucks passing were throwing up quite a spray making the road ahead difficult to see. The water was flowing quite steady down the sides of the road and started to creep across some of the floodways. Finally making it to Tennant Creek the rain started to abate as we pulled into a fuel station to fill up on diesel. We then moved onto Lake Mary Anne to stop for lunch. We checked inside the van and once again some water had entered around windows in hatches but nothing that a quick wipe up couldn't solve.

 Leaving here we then pushed on North towards Elliot and Newcastle Waters trying to put some distance between us and the cold and wet. It was still cloudy but at least it wasn't raining. Another 240 Km on we found our camp for the night. We decided to park at whats known in Wiki Camps as Newcastle Waters South which is basically a big gravel pit. We have stayed at the actual rest area, about 6 km further north on a previous trip but the site is very popular and gets busy especially during the dry season. We could see evidence of rain in this area so decided to stay close to the road on some shale. After setting up camp we did go for a wander down the Wiki Camps publisised path but could see evidence of vehicles being stuck in the mud. There were also still some large puddles lying around so felt our original choice was a sensible one.

Next morning we could see the sun starting to peak through and some blue sky. The temperature was also quite plesant compared to what we have been experiencing. We packed up what little we had out and headed further north passing the as expected very busy rest area. Our next stop was Daly Waters about another 160 Km up the road. Arriving at Daly Waters about 10:30 am we could see vans starting to line up to enter. You need to pay for your accomodation at the pub first then join the line at the entrance and wait until someone on a golf buggy would check your receipt then expertly guide you to your camping spot for the night. There is power and water but the water is untreated bore so we opted to only use power and use the provided facilities for showers instead. Daly Waters is a historic town, the airfield was used durring WW2 as well as being the first international airport used by QANTAS. The town pub has lots of items stuck to walls and the ceiling such as old licences, photos, ladies Bra's and other things. You can also leave your own mark if you wish to. The town is a bit of a museum (junk yard) itself with old cars and trucks as well as broken aircraft dotted around the streets. The local animals also seem to have free rein of the town with horses, goats and donkey's wandering around unrestrained.

The main reason for coming to Daly Waters is the evenings entertainment at the pub and the famous Beef & Barra BBQ. It starts of with a 2 hour Happy hour for beer and wine. There is a good choice of tap beers on offer which I believe there is 12 of. Next the owner comes out and give a little history talk on the local area as well as publising their other venues. Next we have the serving of Beef & Barra meals which are done in sessions from 6 pm. You need to order and pay earlier in the day and nominate what time you would like you meal cooked and servered. Your name is then called on your designated time where you pickup your meal then help youself to a salad bar. There are other on menu items you can choose from if Beef and Barra is not your choice. Finally we then have a 3 hour session of live music from a local or travelling Artist(s). The entertainment finishes around 9PM with most of the patrons toddling off to their caravans for a good nights rest.