Northern Territory Pubs (12th&13th Nov)

Traveling down through the Northern Territory was amazing. We didn't get up to Darwin unfortunately, needed to find work, and since we were generally too late for fruit picking, we were heading back to sheep country.
Some of the places we found were amazing though. In Kataramku we found a place called Bitter Spring. This tiny little place was actually one of the highlights of my trip. The hot springs in Aus (actually only saw any in NT) weren't caused by underground volcanic activity, as the ones in NZ, but by the sheer heat and ground temperature.
Bitter Spring was a whole stream/creek/spring that was bath temp warm. The idea here was you start in this gorgeously warm pool and float down stream. Ever so relaxing, and then I tried it with my snorkel. The result was utterly breath-taking. To start with, the water was a clear, pristine, turquoise blue. And it turned out to be at least 15ft deep, and so beautiful, like an under water jungle or another world. There were fallen trees and so much green: underwater plants everywhere, vines, algae like mosses. So green, so magical, like a fairy world, everything just waving gently in the current without a sound. The banks in shadow, so much colder that the main flow but if you were lucky, hiding fresh water turtles, which were beautiful, such incredible movement. Amazing way to spend the morning.

And the pubs in the afternoon. Firstly Larrimah Wayside Inn, or as I like to think of it, The Pink Panther Pub, possibly due to the massive pink panther out front. The pub itself had a bar area about the size of the bar top. Drinks were not intended to be drunk inside. Through a little door, a room full of snakes, in tanks of course, but many snakes. Then a whole zoo with sleepy wallabies, angry emus, talking parrots and really crazy crocodiles. Little crocodiles that kept attacking the fence of the enclosure, but was a bit camera shy, and a parrot that wanted a cup of tea. Awesome.

Then on to the pub in Daly Waters which appeared in the book: 

"A sign out front says 'Angle Parking, Any Angle.' A set of traffic lights blinks in the dust. Inside a blackboard offers Toe Stead Samiges. Overhead, a line of g-strings hangs above the bar. Since 1893 the Daly Waters Pub has been humoring drovers, telegraph linesmen and even airmen from Quantas. Nowadays, tourists do most of the re-fueling, but please don't fall for the one-hole-golf-course trick."

What it fails to say is that this pub is about the entire town- the campsite, fuel station, post office, everything. And inside, yes a row of g-strings hang above the bar, according to a rule on the pool table underwear is donated if you get 7-balled during a game. Then there's the I.D's that cover every available surface of the bar, so many you now have to donate money to add yours. Currency of all types adorn the walls along with rows and rows of sports jerseys. Every available space is filled with something. Even the beer garden is filled with flip-flops/thongs.
Then there's the clientele. If the guy I
worked for in NSW thought shearers
were a 'rough lot', god help him if he
ever met ringers- the guys who work
in the cattle yards.
Our experiences in Daly Waters were
memorable. Jack Daniels. Shot guns.
Airstrips. Car crashes. Stitches. Blood
& Orange Juice. Experiences to be
lived not told. Between us we left with
 a fractured hip and 2 stitches above the eye.