Tail end charlie Our Travels -Day 24 - Mataranka to Banka Banks

Kim was a happy chappy this morning as he had enjoyed a wonderful sleep on a camp bed in his new dry tent.

As we left Mataranka we noticed statues in the local park - these had been made by a local lady to celebrate the lives of Jeannie and Aeneas Gunn. Jeannie was the author of 'We of the Never Never', about life on nearby Elsey Station in the late 1800's. Not too far away from the township is the cemetery and original homestead of the Gunn family.

Our Chamberlain Champion caused quite a stir as he was driven into the township of Daly Waters, much to the amazement of the locals. The pub is full of memorabilia from passing tourists with various sized and coloured bras. Photos, messages, business cards etc adorn every inch of space. A young lady who works at the pub, Claire, thoroughly enjoyed a quick spin in our tractor and posing for a photo.

Daly Waters was named by explorer John MacDougall Stuart after the Governor of South Australia (Daly) and the chain of ponds nearby.

Stuart was an explorer during the 1800's who tried three times to find a way from Adelaide to Darwin. He was successful on his third attempt and it is so difficult to imagine a man travelling all that way on horseback through thick scrub and bush, when we take the sealed roads for granted today.

A large 'S' is said to have been carved on a tree now known as 'Stuart's Tree' by Stuart or one of his party , but there has been no record of this in any of his diaries.

At our lunch stop, we met up with a coachload of Greek tourists from Melbourne who were very interested in our activities and very generous in making donations into our tins. We met up with them again at Renner Springs where anecdotes were exchanged.

Thanks are extended to the kind ladies at Renner Springs Desert Inn who were expecting us and greeted us with a bottle of Scotch to share among the group.

Dick attaching a TEC ear tag to bra display at Daly Waters

Ron at Daly Waters Pub

Clair, barmaid at Daly Waters Pub

tec
Statue of stockman from Elsey Station

Our tractor at the NT border