Before hitching up today Alex went to the Servo and filled the tanks, about 100 litres and was very surprised when the cashier told him he owed $4.85. If only that had been the case but no, it was the guy with the Postie bike who had that to pay. I can imagine his expression/expletive if he’d been told he owed our amount.
Driving along we started counting the proportion of holiday makers compared to other drivers and it was at least 70% tourists, they must be the lifeline for so many small communities. The first place we stopped was Larrimah. Some months ago I read a report about the feuding between two pie sellers in the town and the sudden disappearance of a local man. It sounded completely farcical and I thought it would be fun to see the place. We’ve eaten Fran’s pies before but this time we went to the pub. We didn’t raise the topic but when Alex asked about a strange saw the publican said it was given to an Irishman and we knew who that was. I got a feeling of his immense personal sadness and a need for the disappearance to be accounted for.
The publican told us about the Larrimah Museum so we went across the road to see it. Larrimah repeater station was established to enable Army voice to voice communications across the country, it was also a staging post for supplies and troops during WWII. The railway station was also moved from Birdum to Larrimah because that was considered more secure.
Our next stop was Dunmarra, just a roadhouse with a Caravan Park. So often when we stop at these little places we discover strange stories. Dunmarra has more than it’s share of sad ones. The name is said to have come from the local Aboriginal people trying to say the name of a telegraph linesman whose skeleton they found in 1930s. The man’s name was Dan O’Mara and he disappeared in the early 1900s.
The Happy Hour pint really was a pint!
2macstracks 
Comments on: "Dunmarra – Friday" (2)
Sad story about Paddy. Again very interesting!
He was apparently quite a character. It’s a harsh environment around Larrimah so investigating will be difficult but I hope they do find out what happened and who is responsible.