Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 41 - Halls Creek Day 2

As the title of the chapter suggests, the fix of Silver Leader’s Jeep was not quick. The mechanic was working on it when we arrived this morning to the depot at 8.00am and he noted the more he looked and investigated the more it pointed to a dead battery, should take him about an hour to fix. He suggests he will call when he knows more.

Back at the van park we decide to get ready to leave, and even if the Jeep is not ready by 10.00am the only van left in the park will be theirs and it will only cost us one van extra traffic rather than three. Rather than all for the call, and we have to refill anyway, we head down to the depot at 10.00am and what we find is not the news we were hoping for. Yes, he has been able to remove the old battery, yes, he has been able to start the vehicle with a new battery, but no that is not the problem as the new battery is also going flat quickly.

That sounds like an alternator issue.

The options are the mechanic can get a new alternator, which he may be able to arrange to arrive tomorrow because he has a Jeep being towed form Broome, from the Dealership, and he can get an alternator packed in with it or Silver Leader can arrange to have the Jeep towed to Broome for specialist work. It will cost us a day in Halls Creek, but we have shopping to do and work that can be done, especially on reducing the dust content of the vans. Plus, we have heard the bakery and the butcher are first class here, so we allow Silver Leader to relax and suggest the part in the Jeep on the tow truck from Broome to be replaced in the morning is OK.

We take the forlorn Silver Leader back to the van park, re-site our van, Forbsy is going to mark me on the levelness of today’s effort after yesterday, where to say it was falling to the rear would be an understatement, in fact I awoke to my leg, up to my knee, off the end of the bed. We all ay for another night in the park, and settle in.

Shopping is the first, and perhaps the last real requirement for the day. Rosalie and Forbsy join us for a trip into the town centre to find the local IGA, the renown bakery and butcher. The IGA is easy, we wander around with trolleys, picking up necessities, dabbling in niceties and generally spending time in the air-conditioning. Groceries done, it’s off to find the bakery, Forbsy declines suggesting he will only find something he wants rather than something he needs. 

The bakery is not. It’s a fast food shop, which happens to sell a few rolls and pies.

The butchery on entering feels the same. The doorknobs are made of meat cleavers, the sign on the front door suggests if you don’t have your wallet you cant come in. On entering the area is space with only a small display of meat. The prices are reasonable, but the butcher is surly, sniping at a young lady who has just walked in that all his staff wad walked out on him, and potentially thinking we are only looking. I order some forequarter chops and then ask him for a piece of each of his beef jerky he has on display. His demeanour changes immediately. Now with interest in a product obviously made in house, and I am speaking to the developer, he is all agog, pointing out the hot ones, the hot corn chips on the shelf, which he suggested he had opened and put on the counter for people to try and it took four days for them to be eaten, “one chip per hour is about all you can take”. Then he shows us his award for his chilly.

What was a chore in the butchers shop, has now become an adventure. He hands me a piece of the Scorpion Jerky, which I have purchased and is one of the hotter ones, to try. Initially its just jerky, very tasty, then it starts on you, it’s not explosive just the hint that becomes a taste, then becomes even more. I really enjoyed it, I wonder if the others will enjoy is when I bring it out at the next beer garden session, not to mention my next ablutions visit.

The display behind the meat deserves a photograph and I take several. There are bottles of chilly, there are posters of their ability to kill, maime and otherwise deliver injury to the consumer. We head back to the van park with my ammunition under my arm, ready to pounce when the time is right.

Its lunch time; might have a fresh bread roll and a nap.

Mid afternoon I am woken by Silver Leader with news from the mechanic. Broome did not have the part, the first time he can have the alternator, out of Perth, is Sunday, with fitting first thing Monday. This now creates a dilemma for us. Do Forbsy and us head on regardless or do we stay, explore what there is of Halls Creek and its surrounds and stay the extra two days.

Not something that can be decided in a quick way, we need to discuss such things over a beer at the pub, Silver Leader we are sure could use one. There are football semi-finals on and an ashes cricket match, surely we can find something to amuse us for the late afternoon, plus given the dinner we had there last night we might just stay for a while longer.

This is AFL territory and their side the West Coast Eagles are playing. The bar staff secretly want Geelong to win as the partying might be just a little less in that event. There are something like seven TV’s in the sports bar, all of them focussed on the AFL. They have erected an outside screen as well to accommodate the crowd. Nothing else just AFL footy wherever you look. We watch the rugby league, initially on the radio only but as the game progresses Forbsy and Silver Leader are able to access it on their phones, they might not as well have as my beloved Bunnies get a hiding.

The cricket I notice is on a phone at the bar, a wicket falls and I sidle for a better look. There is a little controversy about the Warner decision, but he is out – AGAIN – without really troubling the scorers. Given the interest I have shown at the bar, the head barman sneaks the Ashes onto the screen in front of those at the bar and us immediately behind. There are still plenty of screens from which the AFL can be seen, although a group of Geelong supporters even further behind us have to adjust their viewing perspective just a little to see the outside screen.

The time has meant we are dining here again tonight. A selection for me will be easy given I enjoyed the kangaroo so much the previous night, Robyn goes the cream garlic prawns with spinach gnocchi. Forbsy after hearing wax lyrically about the Kangaroo indulges in my choice and comments similarly about its tenderness. Silver Leader and Rosalie have seafood but different selections. The food is done, the footy is into the remnants of the third quarter and we decide to sneak out before the final siren with the game very close, not sure we would want to be there no matter which way it finishes.

The final decision over the next day was a one in all in agreement. Silver Leader and Rosalie are staying, so are the rest of us. We will make the best of the hand we are dealt. There are things to see here and places to go, plus the pub cooks great food, even if we might go Italian in the park tomorrow night.

We have done well in a place where we were not intending to stop, we did the same in Kununurra after hearing poor “reviews” of the place. So far here we have had nothing to suggest we have anything to worry about, even if the locals refer to the place as Hells Crack rather than Halls Creek. It has been a full moon and its Friday 13th, everything we had go wrong went wrong YESTERDAY, today was pleasant and we will make the rest of our stay here the same. 

Robyn and I feel good about the decision to stay with our travelling companions. The only place we really have to be at any time is Broome in 7 days’ time for a trip to the upside-down falls. Plenty of time remains, but for now sleep awaits and tomorrow is another day.