We never ever underestimate the power of the local word on interesting things to do and see.

There are many experiences that we have had that are not in any tourist books that we have found out about locally or just stumbled across during our own explorations. 

We decided to stay here another night and Ray went to pay at the office. He returned with a wealth of information on other places we could visit that we hadn’t heard about. 

We headed first to Archer Point. We discovered a couple of bumpy 4WD tracks and views of the Coral Sea that were magnificent. The wind was blowing and being up so high it felt like we were on top of the world. 

Down on the beach Ray and Caleb started a rock skimming contest while I explored the driftwood and variety of items that had washed up on the beach. The plastic was plentiful along with thongs, kitchen brushes and other household items. There were quite a few coconuts, some that had been smashed open by crashing on the rocks as they journeyed into shore. 

I sat for a while on the beach, nothing but the sound of the strong wind in my ears and gave myself up to the “nothingness”. It is amazing how the noise of wind itself can fill your whole head, leaving room for nothing else, and amazingly, its really quite cathartic. I stayed this way for a while until the wind picked up some more and it got decidedly chilly. We saw some free camping vans and could see why, it is quite simply stunning here. 

Ray was also told to check out The Lions Den Pub which was further along the Mulligans Hwy. We saw the pub and kept driving, exploring further, and looking for a picnic spot. Eventually Ray pulled over. This spot had none of our normal prerequisites of a picnic spot, no toilet, table or rubbish bin. What it did have however was running water and and endless supply of river pebbles just right for perfecting the skimming skills that had started at the beach. Ray had pulled over at the side of a shallow river bed. Ever wary of crocodiles, I did a quick assessment and decided it should be ok. I crossed my fingers, besides I wasn’t going in the water, only Ray, knowing him. 

We ate lunch on the tailgate, then the boys continued skimming. It wasn’t long before Ray was in the water wading to the other side of the river. (Well, stream really but it is called a river crossing in 4WD terms).
This gave Caleb the perfect opportunity to splash Ray with rocks and it wasn’t long before the plop was heard followed by Ray’s intake of breath as the cold water splashed onto him. It looked like so much fun (and an opportunity too good to miss) so Caleb and I made it our goal to totally drench Ray. As the pebbles got bigger and turned into rocks then small boulders, we were achieving our goal and Ray was getting some good shots in as well. 

Well, it’s always fun until someone gets hurt and with a few misplaced throws, Ray copped a bit of a battering. (Reminder to throw the tennis ball a bit more to improve Caleb’s target hitting skill). All of the giggling and running resulted in REALLY needing the toilet so we got into the car and went back to The Lions Den Hotel. 

Outback Aussie pubs are in a class of their own. You could tour the country going from one to the other and they would all be individual, yet so similiar at the same time. NB: I’ve actually recently heard that someone is touring Australia going from Pub to Pub and recording their adventures on social media. I’ll update this post if I ever get the link/handle.
We used the toilet, bought an icy pole and took a look around. The area has a few small mines and the pub was named after a stowaway, Daniel, who would frequent the pub. He would stand near the door on his many visits until someone referred to it as Daniel And The Lions Den from the Bible, and it just stuck. Simple really. 

We all agreed we had had a marvellous day exploring and making our own fun. Caleb’s comment from the back seat, ” I just love it when we sometimes do things together as a family” puzzled me somewhat though. Not sure what he thinks the past 9 months had been then? Hmmm…