Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 42 - Halls Creek Day 3

Ok the decision has been made to stay, what to do now.

Sleep in will be a good start. Robyn has work to do, and the lay days will allow her to get ahead, I have a couple of projects I wouldn’t mind attacking so the morning is set.

I head to reception and pay our extra days site fees, and on the way back I find Forbsy doing his washing, he has taken the time to knock over some sheets etc. On his win, he doesn’t accumulate much, so adding the sheets makes for a full load. We get to talking and the subject gets to John Jarret, seeing we are so close to Wolf Creek and I dig up a copy of Hero, a short film in which John acted as a gift to my son Justin, who is friends with Jarrett’s sons. 

The movie is a Star Wars inspired piece for Greg Grunberg’s charity which benefits autistic kids of which his son is one. The plot goes along the lines of John and Charlie Jarrett, scripted as local policemen are confronted by this woman running scared down the road saying a spaceship has crashed. The John Jarrett character is as home grown Aussie as you get (evidently John was instrumental in bringing many of the one liner’s to the film) and tells the terrified woman to hop into the police car and they will investigate.

On reaching the site Terms like “struth” and “no way” are trotted out as on John Jarrett can. They find a dazed Justin who warns them not to approach as their lives are in danger at which point Justin’s mate Chad, an ex US Navy Seal, scripted as his brother from a planet where the dark side of the force is worshipped, jumps into the scene and all hell breaks loose as a laser sword fight commences. Chad and Justin teach laser sword fighting and are known as some of the best exponents in Australia.

Jarret kind of commentates the fight as well as suggests someone should make a movie about this stuff, laying bets with his son as to the eventual winner and generally making light of the melee. Justin is eventually slain but not before instilling in the woman that she should fight Chad as he will underestimate her, and she will be victorious. The movie ends with Jarrett suggesting, that proves anyone can be a hero. Corny I know, but it has quite a bit of acclaim.

With the morning past, we lunch and look to explore in the afternoon. Robyn although supposedly working has done extensive research. One of the roads out of town has a number of things to see and we pile into the Cruiser and set off.

Silver Leader wants to check out the airport. He wants to see if wither of his back up plans can be sorted by anyone in the vicinity. He is looking for a 4WD hire business, which might operate in conjunction with the airport, or something else that might be a temporary fix should the repair of the Jeep go past Monday. My GPS shows the airport by no road leading to it. Improvisation time, I see a road go some of the way there, so I head down that and we are immediately faced with what looks like a building that might be an office, its actually a hangar, and some billboards. No joy, but the phone numbers on the billboards might be of assistance should the need arise.

The first point in the sightseeing tour, is a memorial to the helicopter pilots who have lost their lives in the Kimberly. It is a short distance from the van park and right by the rodeo grounds. Its only small but a poignant reminder of the dangers of mustering cattle and other pursuits. There is a plaque for each who has died, including two who died on the same day, apparently running into each other, which must have been terrifying for those on the ground who saw it.

From the memorial its only a short drive to a rock formation called the China Wall. There is a gate where the sign to the area takes you off the main road. I grab the video just in case Forbsy makes a mess of things. I don’t have to worry, I think Forbsy knew I would give him the sledge treatment and he hams it up, seeking to make what is a very easy gate opening quite the ordeal. Its only a little over a kilometre into the site where quartz ridges have been forced up between the red earth to form these stunning runs of white against the red background.

There is one main one and several other smaller ones. This we believe is obviously the place they found the original gold deposits in this area back in 1896. The quartz deposits remind me of Bathurst and Sofala, where I have dug and panned for gold on the school excursions of my youth. We clamber up and down to get better pictures, then eventually retire to the Cruiser for the next attraction.

Coral Pools is next. Again, this site is well sign posted. Forbsy outs tongue into gear before brain again and suggests there is about as much chance of finding water in these pools as there is finding a camel and its unicorn friend, a reference to the Katherine prediction of several days, dare I say weeks ago. In fact, there are not one but two pools of stagnant water at the designated spot nestled below rock formations in the shapes of cliffs and dotted with stark white ghost gums, the type Albert Namatjira made famous. 

This is a marvel, its hot, its dry and there is no real water anywhere else but just here there are two pools of water. I play with the super slow motion video again, throwing rocks into the pool, as well as capturing all sorts of shots of the topography, the flora and the tourists.

As I walk back towards the car, I start to get bogged in the dry sand, as it gives way below my thongs. The footwear comes back out bone dry, much to the joy of the crowd of Silver Leader and Rosalie watching on. Robyn and Forbsy have trekked along the creek bed to ascertain which way it might flow. To me it is a lay down misere, it flows from the cliff faces away, but Forbsy was not convinced initially, but was certain by the time they returned, evidence secured.

There are several other spots we can visit, but with the exception of the Old Halls Creek Town, they are more than 15 kilometres away. We will do the old town and then head back and perhaps explore the it further.

Driving along, all of a sudden I am back on bitumen as opposed to the corrugated dirt, with spotted patches of concrete on creek crossings road. We must be there, oh no we are just coming into another fording of a creek apparently, but just over the next rise is the old town. There is not much there anymore. There are memorial cairns of stone, some with brass plates others with simply closed up fireplaces. We venture on up to the cemetery, which apparently doubles as a caravan park, but don’t go in. We simply drive around and soak up the atmosphere of what was I suspect a bustling settlement in its gold rush heyday.

There is a tribute to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, although a runway is not to be seen, there are plaques to men who have died here, and one to the Hall’s who ventured from Coolgardie in the south across the Great Sandy and Gibb deserts to settle here. The general consensus in the car was they were mad, although Robyn has found mention of 7 camels in the expedition (and one dog), just to give Forbsy an extra ribbing.

Once back in town the first order of business is to find out how the patrons got into the beer garden car park of the hotel, we have eaten at the last two nights. Both nights we have either come through the motel entrance, an electric gate that requires a call and a pin or the front door which is locked after 7.00pm. Last night, I am positive we saw patrons drive into a carpark at the back of the bar and I am determined to work out this dilemma.

I head back down the road to the airport as that seems to run at the back of the hotel. My fellow passengers think I am mad until all of a sudden, the answer is right there in front of us. The back gates go straight to the carpark I had noticed the previous night. Dilemma sorted, the girls wonder why I do not drive in and do a victory lap of the car park, before I can answer Forbsy notes, as I would have, there is no point pulling in to a hotel and not stopping for a beer and that would have been fatal in the terms of any more exploring.

Time for a general wander. Robyn is sure when she was here many years ago there was a large Mobil roadhouse at which the bus stopped, but our investigations fail to find it. As we drive down the main street, we see a sign to the golf club, this must be investigated, if only to see the expected sand greens. The GPS shows it on both sides of the road as we head a little out of town, but all we see is drying vegetation. Wait, a sign, Halls Creek Golf Club, we turn in, there is a building, and we pass what might have in its day been a sand green, but there is no flag. We venture down to the building and the “guts” of it are gone replaced with what appears to be a couple of caravans which seem to be home to someone. We do not disturb them by driving around the back of the structure.

Back in town we drive around the sports complex, which includes a swimming pool which today is being well patronised. Past the pool is an undercover set of basketball courts and a bit further along the football field, Australian Rules of course. The ground is immaculately kept with flood lights for night-time play.

We have explored what Halls Creek has to offer, and its was as spectacular as anything else we had seen, and we were almost going to bypass this town given its sketchy reputation for unruly youth and alcoholism. Last night we saw a proactive approach to teenage drinking at the hotel, the bouncer turning away young girls who had any alcohol registering on an RBT device. We have spoken to publican and social worker alike here and alcohol is a problem, not so much ion the venues but afterwards as disagreements break out and accusations and abuse are hurled across roads at the tops of voices.

Its hard to work out what is the best way to deal with the issue. We have imposed upon an almost 100,000-year-old culture, etiquettes and ways so abhorrent, then thrown lots of money at the problem rather than finding a real solution. In my opinion there is room for both cultures, its getting the mix right, allowing the youth to emerge. They are bored, youth unemployment in the country is bordering on an epidemic, but simply hurling money at infrastructure, giving youth menial jobs in the short term is also not the answer.

To reach their potential they need incentive to learn, and that does not come in the form of dumping loads of money on them. Look at the Purnululu model, a community lead by its elders in association with white people willing to listen and nurture rather than inflict a short-term fix. They are not a dry community, but they monitor and self-govern any issues. 

Food for thought for anyone willing to take a long-term solution rather than a short-term fix.

Enough of that, we return to the camp site, where focus turns to dinner in. We have been musing about an Italian night. Forbsy has garlic bread and ravioli that is “burning a hole in his fridge”, to that Robyn is going to add the very Italian dish of satay chicken, and Rosalie will do the salad.

Entertainment, well that normally takes the form of sitting around and reviewing what we have seen, but its footy finals time and there is an Ashes Test in progress. Forbsy grabs his TV screen and sets it up in the Silver Leader Beer Garden, which is shaded by our van, and instantly we have the ability to cheer our favourite teams on. Most of us are ruing seasons of regret, but Robyn’s team is featuring tonight, being from Melbourne she is a Storm supporter.

She is disappointed as the Green Machine edge past them in the final minutes to take the win. There is another game straight after it and the end of the first one signals time to arrange the food. Forbsy needs only to heat the garlic bread and boil some water, Robyn needs a little more preparation time, as does Rosalie, but we are soon tucking into the evening repast. All agree it was “Bellissima”.

Once the footy is finished its over to the cricket, just prior to lunch in England, where we have taken a coupe of wickets in the session, but starting with a 60 odd lead, we will need to knock them over quickly, or this test might go the way of the enemy. The 40-minute break before the resumption of play is too long for me and I retire, and am out to it very quickly. Sleep is still something my body craves and although we have been getting lots of it, there is always room for more.