Another long travel today but just enough time for a couple of stops along the way.  It was getting close to beer time so we stopped in at the Daly Waters Pub for a drink. This area was given the name by John Mcdouall Stuart the explorer, in honour of another South Australian Governor,  Sir Dominic Daly - seems sucking up to politicians has not changed.  This was the location where he found water making it a vital stop over for the drovers to quench their thirst.  Seems like not much has changed today as the grey nomads and travellers stop for a drink.  

Like other pubs we have visited they have all kinds of paraphernalia stuck around the walls from notes from foreign lands, business cards for 'Tom's Plumber', thongs (no - the ones you wear on your feet) and the one I was most interested in - bras off all shapes, sizes and colours.  I tried to convince Kathy to leave her bra with all the others attached to the wall but for some strange reason she declined.

Having refueled (me not the car), we headed north into warmer weather.  It is amazing the difference in temperature as I sit here in t-shirt writing this blog.  Only yesterday I would have been in three layers, a beany and gloves. This warmer weather meant our next stop was even more pleasant as it was Mataranka Thermal Pools.  Nestled amongst the paperbarks and Palm forest the warm crystal waters of the natural pool (a warm bath temperature of 34deg c I have been told) made it a great spot to relax after the drive.  Like most places along the highway which are accessible by the 34,567 caravans travelling this way, it was busy with kids splashing, parents ignoring them and oldies relaxing.  I was doing all three.

From here it was another hour or so to our camp for the next couple of nights at Nitmiluk National Park, famous for the Gorge which we plan on visiting tomorrow.  No camp fire, but the camp site looks like one of the better 'formal' campsites so far. It doesn't get much better than this.