Accommodation and the unmentionable

The proper accommodation, i.e. in a building with a proper bed and your own shower and toilet, was nicely spaced throughout the trip. Best of all, I loved sleeping under the stars. I coped with the shower blocks, was glad there weren't too many behind-a-bush toilet stops. But along with most others, I was always counting down to the plumbing of real civilisation. It varied from the luxury of Cable Beach Club, to the most expensive but nothing out of the ordinary hotel in Darwin, to a couple of better than average motels, to a permanent “tent” at Emma Gorge.

Wee small hours - full moon
at Drysdale River Station

"Tent" at Emma Gorge resort -
complete with en suite bathroom!

The stars are so shiny and numerous and the full moon was so bright. We miss these things in our cities filled with light pollution. I put up a tent when we were staying somewhere for two nights, as much as anything because it seemed odd to leave my belongings simply stacked in a pile when we went off for the day. It was the thought of it looking odd, security was unchanged. I finished up sleeping in the tent for three nights. One night there was a lot of dew and my sleeping bag got wet. It dried quickly the following day but I didn't want to be rolling up a wet bag after the night after that. Then we hit the big smoke of Kununurra. What a shock to the system! That camp-ground was very much high-density living after the isolation across the Gibb River Road. No room to put a tent up and have outside space for a stretcher.

I did have one bush shower – in a canvas cubicle with a hose poking in at the top. It was only put up once, for the experience I guess.

I spotted a couple with Outback Spirit backpacks arriving at the hotel in Darwin. I asked their owners what trip they were doing .... the reverse of what I'd just done. I said what a brilliant time they were in for then the man said to his wife, “I'll check in and you can talk about women's stuff.” Well, he and she meant toilets, didn't they? Were there many bush stops? A few. Were there really bushes at bush stops? A few, not always too bushy though. I was very pleased that in the gym programme I did before going away that squats featured and had to be practised often – it put me in good stead ;-)

The long drops – varied in design, pretty clean on the whole, didn't smell too bad, sometimes worse at a distance when 'the odour' drifted across to the camp-site on a breeze. Only one that made me gag and there was no reason for that – there was a resident ranger at Mitchell Falls so things should have been in tip-top order. The thunder-box over the hole in the ground when crossing the Tanami worked – although the hole could have been deeper. There was plenty of paper on board where that wasn't provided or had run out, and hand cleanser got used when there were no taps ... and in addition to a water wash when taps were available! For someone who always swore she'd never go anywhere where there wasn't a flush toilet, I did pretty damn well!!! 
If you see what I mean - photos here!