Civilisation

Everyone felt a bit more rested this morning after staying in the same spot for two nights.  Looking forward to longer stays along the West Coast.

I washed my hair in a bucket, because it felt so disgusting, using water Grant brought up from the little pool. Then I trimmed it, cut Grant's and Oskar's hair, and helped Katie wash her hair.  We looked a little less feral when we headed off. 

It took a bit to gather up all our things after a day's rest.  We had set up our camp in the dark and must have lain our ground sheet over an ant's nest.  Oskar pointed out this morning that they had eaten a hole out of the mat to clear their front door!  Those bad ants.  They were very vicious looking.

Back into Halls Creek to fill up our tank with gas, and our tyres also (grant lets down the tyres when we drive on gravel - it's less likely to get a puncture from a sharp rock) then on we went towards Fitzroy Crossing.

There are still plenty of termite mounds in Western Australia, red dirt mounds among the shrubby trees and spiky grass clumps.  While the termite mounds in Kakadu were called 'Cathedral mounds', and the ones in Litchfield were 'magnetic mounds', the ones I've seen here could best be described as 'chocolate muffin mounds', or maybe a slightly different name if you're Dominic. If someone is going to come up with something gross it will be him.

It was fun crossing the Fitzroy River knowing that during the wet season the bridge may go under water and travelers sometimes have to wait to get across. It was so fun we did it three times...well, only because the first accommodation we tried to get wanted to charge us $78 dollars for the night in our van. We went around the corner to the oldest hotel in Fitzroy Crossing and are camped out the back in a lovely shady spot, with a flushing toilet and laundry close by...luxury.

The pub was doing a roaring trade when we went to check in a 3:30pm, with one white face among the sixty or so jovial customers. When I asked, the receptionist told me it was a quiet day - on Thursdays and Fridays they can get upwards of two hundred in the pub. Glad we came today!

After setting up we drove out to Geikie Gorge to have a look at the rock formations and to walk over the sandy river bed, but after a short while we decided we'd rather be back at the van, catching up on some repairs and emails.

So now everyone is fed, showered, laundry washed and hung up, washing up done, and blog posted....Good night.
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Vicki