Stopped at Ravensthorpe although goodness knows why cause there was really nothing there, for a quick stop and some petrol and then straight through to Lake King.
Pulled in here just before lunch and as we were setting up some guy came up and warned us that there was going to be a party here tonight and they were expecting a couple of hundred people to come. Its the Christmas party for the tavern, the transport company and all the locals. We sort of looked at each other and thought o'h dear this is going to be interesting - there is nowhere else to stay (close by - closest caravan park is 125km away) so we'll just have to tough it out.
This tiny town is "Hicksville." There is no booking in desk its an honesty system. You grab an envelope and head to the tavern to pay your fees - $25 a night, kids are free. There is power and water and the toilets/showers are really really clean and nice. There is even a camp kitchen with microwave and a fridge and brochures etc you can take or borrow. When you book in at the tavern they give you a voucher for a free drink. As you can see in the photo below its pretty basic though.
Had a quick lunch and then left the van and headed out to Wave Rock (about 120kms each way). Spent some time walking around and over it. Dave was a little disappointed - he thought it would be bigger but I thought it was great! It was nice to be out in the warmer weather again, only downer was the flies - they are small and sticky and love to get in your ears, up your nose and under your sunglasses.
Pretty amazing hey...
From Wave Rock if you drive around a little further (or if your not so lazy you can walk it) to Hippos Yawn.
Headed back to camp and thought we'd escape the noise of the party for a bit and go to the tavern for dinner. We walked in, ordered dinner and had a chat with a truckie who was envious of Dave having a beer as he hadn't finished driving yet so was sipping a lemon lime and bitters whilst he waited for his burger to be cooked.
At 8:30pm they draw a raffle to win $1000. We had 2 tickets in the draw and with only 15 people in the tavern we thought our odds would be pretty good. With dinner over we had a game of pool with the kids, this was their first ever game.
Dave's number purple B36 was the number drawn, he then had to select the Ace of Spade from the pack of cards that was laid out on the bar, if he drew the correct card we won $1000 if not he won a free drink. Sadly we aren't $1000 richer but Dave did enjoy a Emu Export beer.
We finished our game - team Dave and Jade won and thankfully the felt on the table is none the worse for us being there either.
We returned to camp expecting much noise however country people clearly don't party like City slickers - the noisiest party of the party is the generator powering the lights.
Goodnight Lake King, we're off to Albany tomorrow.
Kms travelled today 555
Total Kms travelled 4800.4 (that's a long way!!)
Emu Export. I'm pretty confident they don't export it, unless they are talking across state lines ;-)
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