Daly Waters is a town based around a pub. Scratch that. Daly Waters is a pub and a caravan park. That’s it. The Daly Waters Pub is essentially the only thing for 100km in any direction. It is also considered the oldest pub in the Northern Territory, and for this reason gets a lot of tourists and visitors.
People call in for a beer and end up spending the night, reveling in music, drink and talk. It’s the first pub in a long time that I’ve seen that does not run the TV all day. It gets turned on for the morning news and the evening news and rugby games. that’s it. Besides, the TV just gets in the way of the conversations you find yourself in by just turning around. You meet the most interesting people at small town pubs, and Daly Waters may be the epitome of this.
I met a bloke that goes by the name of Dingo. he is 62 years old and retired. He lives his life sleeping in his swag and doing what he likes. He calls into the Daly Waters Pub twice a year (at least), and I was around for one of his visits. Despite being retired (and doing well for money) he just finished an 8 month stint looking after a cattle station during the wet season. During the wet season no one can get in or out of most places without the use of a helicopter, so they pay people to live there and look after the place. A bit like the hotel in The Shinning I suppose.
Dingo told me he likes to be alone most of the time, and can’t stand camping near people, but on the flip side he is one of the most social people I have met. As he calls into the pub often he knows the owners and is thoughtful enough to bring things for their children. He has an interesting outlook on life and had some amazing stories to tell. Life is to short to be stuck up in Sydney he says, there is to much to do. He wants to be living in the bush until he can’t any longer, and when that happens he wants to employ backpackers to drive him around and take care of him so he can keep traveling. I’m not sure if I’m that hardcore, but it’s an impressive dream
Dingo is only one of the fascinating cast of characters that live at or call into the Daly Waters Pub. The only way to truly appreciate the place is to call in your self — they’ll leave the light on for ya.
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