Borroloola

Other photos from Limmen NP

Butterfly Springs in Limmen NP

Daniel lighting the first ever fire he made entirely himself (Conor did one the night before)

Cane toad trying to hitch a ride East

A casualty of the Savannah Way

For some reason it doesn't seem to be working....

Today we saw quite a few feral animals – cane toads, buffalo and wild horses, and that was all before 9am on the way into Borroloola. The cane toads must have all been sitting under out trailer unbeknownst to us, and when we packed it up they all jumped around and hid under wheels, one of them trying to throw himself into a hole in the wheel (didn’t quite fit). They’re obviously repenting of their evil ways and trying to hitch a lift back to the East coast. On the positive side, we disturbed a pair of big beautiful jabiru on one of the creeks we crossed and they flew off right in front of us, looked great.

We got into Borroloola and it was a busy Saturday morning for a small town – there was much jostling to get to the water tap at one of the servos as we all queued up to refill (we were all more interested in the water than the fuel), and then we restocked with a few things in the store. It was still early but of course it was already stinking hot, so we drove past the public pool which had a big closed sign outside, but I could see the head of someone swimming so went for a closer look as a whole lot of local kids were hanging around outside like they were waiting for it to open up. A guy who was coaching a soccer game on the field next to it said that we could go in no worries, he just couldn’t open it at the same time as refereeing the game, so he couldn’t be lifeguard. So we had a lovely swim, joined soon by the local kids after the game had finished, and there is no entry fee! It’s a very nice pool, can’t be very old, and was a great relief after a few hot and smelly days with no shower.

We had a chat to the guy afterwards and he turned out to be a Kiwi (with English accent!) who has come there with his English wife and two kids to be the PE teacher/soccer coach. There is a local benefactor, apparently an Indonesian businessman, who I think pays for him to try and get the local kids really into soccer, because his own adopted indigenous child is really good – so good in fact that he and some other local up and comings have recently been to Singapore for to a talent scout camp, and Singapore is very interested in the businessman’s son. He will be flown back there towards the end of the year apparently, hopefully to be signed up. The idea is that he will act as an inspiration for the local kids and give them something to aim for. It would just be amazing I think – this is a tiny town of a couple of hundred people seemingly in the middle of nowhere and they might be churning out soccer stars! The coach is very dedicated and determined, he has brought his wife who is working with getting kids into school, and his two kids, one of whom is home schooled and the other who has cystic fibrosis (although apparently this climate agrees with her much more than in the UK).

After that we went in search of a block of ice for the esky, being pointed to the caravan park on the road in. We hung around and waited for a while because the managers seemed to be nowhere in sight, had lunch and tried to book Lawn Hill NP online. They eventually came back from town and were the nicest couple imaginable – not only did they sell us a block of ice but they opened up a watermelon for the kids to get into, and then as we were leaving they got 3 big pieces of fish out of their freezer caught by the husband to give to us! We’ve been very spoilt what with them giving us fish, and on top of that the last two nights we’ve been having frozen mango for dessert – thoughtfully provided by Jamal out of their freezer. The caravan park couple moved to Borroloola from Bundaberg last year and were just a lovely – it turns out that their daughter is at the moment in Canberra on a soccer camp herself, auditioning for the AIS! She’s only 12 but her mum was adamant that if she gets in she can go to boarding school there – the mum doesn’t like the cold!

Finally it was time to drag us away with very fond memories of the people of Borroloola, and keep on heading down the Savannah Way. We’ve stopped at the Calvert River crossing which is a lovely bush camp, up on a hill overlooking it with a lovely breeze and a little creek running past to provide us with washing up water as well.