Mataranka to Palmerston, Darwin

The rains brewing on the road from Mataranka to Darwin

At a steady 80kms an hour for six hours we made the 420km trip to Palmerston, Darwin, with the fuel we earned at Mataranka, in a quiet, uneventful manner. We were looking forward to once more seeing the boisterous family we had immediately loved during our work in the land of the Never Never. Arriving late in the evening we headed straight for the loud amplified electric guitar being played in a back yard we knew would belong to Bernie.


Lou greets Bernie at his Road Train

Bernie, wearer of humorous T-shirts, speaker of foul language, driver of road trains and drinker of Drambuie, is a bloke who consistently looks as if he needs to desperately have a kip and yet he has an energy for dirty yarns unlike any other man I have met. He has a passion for squeezing laughter out of serious faces, unashamedly using extreme toilet and x-rated humour, in order to keep a chuckle spreading around the table in waves.
Immediately, a stubby of beer was put into one hand and Bernie declared me ‘some kind of pufter’ for not immediately downing the shot of Drambuie he put in my other hand - all my pleas of not eating yet and losing my tolerance for alcohol since the lack of it on the trip only fuelling his look of disbelief as I said I would have it after my beer and delicious sausage salad - yes, we are spoiled sometimes.



Taylor and Jake gave us a warm welcome and immediately went about showing us their various treasures, such as their pet snakes, dogs, dolls and swimming pool. We were in amidst the noise of a family and it was nice to feel part of, if only for a short while. We stayed with Lou and Bernie for a few days, baby sitting the kids, not one of the easiest jobs so far on the trip. As we are moving around so much it is hard to keep track of what kind of bed in whose place we went to sleep in. Every day it is necessary to spend the first few moments of consciousness trying to remember where we are and in what situation. But at Lou and Bernie’s we were not to have those few moments to gather our thoughts, we were suddenly woken up by children bouncing on our chests and a cat who also wanted in on the action. Attention giving is never done with children and animals.




Gareth with Taylor in the road train cabin and Phil with Jake

In between the plethora of dirty jokes we were told stories of the road, stories of Japanese cyclists crashing into kangaroos taking all the skin off their backs. Stories of the things that up at height in a road train cabin you can see happening in the cars below and stories of the many kangaroos that Bernie runs over weekly in his 50m road train as if they were grasshoppers. He goes into great detail, telling of the kind of mess 'roos makes on impact, blood and guts everywhere, then eagerly tells us the boys next job. Washing the road train, of course! Bugs and 'roo juice, yuk!



The front Bernie's road train



Road train cock pit





Anne and Phil in the sparkling clean road train the boys just washed



Anne can't get enough of the big lorries

Lou, bus driver and mother, organiser of parties and chief laugher at jokes rules the household we grew very fond of. In this animated family of laughter and scolding, crying and cooing, cuddles and hair pulling, in between the buzzing of the busy parents, the giggling of kids and the squawking of frantic animals we surprisingly found a very relaxing place to be. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Lou and Bernie, who opened up their home and their family life to us.