Day 27: Mon 17 May - King Ash Bay to Daly Waters, 430 km; total towed: 3 973 km

9-30 degC, fine and sunny, perfect day.

Today was a matter of getting from A (KAB) to B (Daley Waters) in a reasonable time.  The only thing in the middle was lovely lush, bushy countryside and Cape Crawford Roadhouse, which we had seen a couple of days ago.   We decided to get up early and after a quick coffee get the 21km of rough dirt behind us before stopping for brekky.  The left side of the road on the way out wasn't as bad as the other side and we were determined to take our time.   In the main the rest of the road was a great tarred surface, it was just the width that was the issue, as it went from single vehicle width to a wide two way highway.  Most of the time we were the biggest vehicle so oncoming vehicles got right off the road, but there were some trucks and big boats that we got off the side for.  

Refuelled and had mornos at Cape Crawford and then only stopped once for lunch and a comfort stop before arriving at Daley Waters about 2:45pm.  We just made it in time as the place was absolutely packed about an hour after we arrived, even in the unpowered/ no water part.  DW is a quirky little one-horse town with a pub and a servo.  Every building is rustic with a lot of interesting junk laying around.  They have a pet saltwater croc and wild pig which likes a back scratch.  Well worth a couple of days seeing we're not in a hurry.  

These pictures don't really show the actual condition of the road - downright UGLY!

Larrimah war memorial / Cenotaph

All the different roads that make up Highway 1 from Borroloola to Stuart Highway

Day 26: Sun 16 May - King Ash Bay

14-32 degC, fine and sunny with a light breeze

Apart from fishing (word is there is not that many fish about), and drinking beer (neither of which we are into), there is not a great deal to do here at KAB. There were 40 boat trailers parked at the boat ramp awaiting the return of their boats this morning so there is no wonder there are no fish! You can cycle, however, apart from the first 10 km out from KAB, the roads are mostly soft sand/dust and therefore not conducive to good riding, even on a MTB. So, it was a great time to relax and catch up on some admin, although that is restricted due to the dodgy phone/internet reception. Whilst the KAB Fishing Club has installed it’s on Telstra 3G/4G repeater, the service is not always reliable due to the distance KAB is from the nearest Telstra mobile tower, and other interferences. They do have two Telstra landline payphones available. If you park yourself outside the Bar and Grill, you can get pretty good reception. You would think that with all the people that populate this area in the season, it would be in Telstra’s best interest to instal an actual tower. They have one near the McArthur River Mine site, so why not one here?

So, now we can tick another place off our ‘to-see’ list. We do not imagine we will be rushing back here anytime soon, unless of course, we ‘discover’ fishing and drinking beer.

After our walks and breakfast, Greg went off for another shorter ride, whilst Wendy played domestic goddess and prepared mornos. After mornos, Greg went out for another ride whilst Wendy did nothing much of anything. Because it is a Sunday, we did some relaxing, which was great.

Early afternoon on the McArthur River

Early evening at KAB

Water but no power sites, goes on for ages, lot of generators though

Galahs at KAB

That red road