As soon as we finished setting up the van and before we even thought about eating dinner we went for a drive, although it was dark, we wanted to see the beaches but it was way too dark and the spotties didn’t shine past the vegetation, the only things we managed to see was a small lonely crab on the road and our first live cane toad, mind you once we shined the lights on the golf course we saw our second, third and 100th all at the same time.
The Walkabout Caravan Park is basic but had green grass, power, fresh water, clean amenities and a pool so you couldn’t ask for too much more. The pool is by the rear bar and restaurant, so we sat around the pool one arvo and had some hot chips and drinks which was beautiful, watching the kids playing and swimming.
Not too sure who organised the entertainment but every night we would have thousands of bats fly across the sunset and over the top of us heading out for their nights hunting. It was absolutely magical to see.
The next morning, we just drove everywhere we could to check out the whole town, the beaches; the wharf; people’s houses; every bush track we saw; the golf course; Mangroves; future fishing spots. By this stage the place had us hooked and we fell in love with it. We came across a local family who had just got some fresh oysters off the rocks with a couple of fish they caught and where sitting on the beach with a fire cooking lunch and enjoying what this place has to offer. It’s like a secret community that doesn’t want to be found or have any info leaked out about them. The place is truly beautiful, and it has that real local community sort of feel about it, where everyone knows everyone.
In the afternoon we caught up with an old friend of the family who had been living in Gove for 16 odd years. The local car and bike club had a show and shine on and the whole town got involved. Everyone with a flash car, old car, motorbike, work in progress or something slightly cooler than your average daily drive entered in the competition and everyone who attended each stop got to vote what vehicle they liked the most, of course winner takes bragging rights for the next year. The local radio station, fire brigade and the Ambos all got involved with the convoy and show.
The cars cruised through town with the locals coming out of their homes to wave and see the convoy go past. They then went out to Yirrkala, a small Aboriginal community to show everyone there. It was amazing hundreds of local kids egging everyone to do a burnout and go really fast while they try race the cars on the side of the road. As we followed along at the back, we were the last to leave, although the car sounds good, unfortunately it is no burn out car much to their disappointment.
After the convoy and awards we headed to a not so secret meeting place “well for the locals it’s no secret” where everyone meets has a drink or two and gets up to sing, dances and take turns in playing the drum or guitars and have a great night . They put on food and had a raging bonfire outside to keep all entertained. Although we missed it some of the cars even showed what they can do on the old skid pad. It was a terrific day and night where a bit of local knowledge makes a difference.
Stay tuned next month for part 4.
Cheers Lapping The Island
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