Holy Rollers Us

So last day in the Northern Territory, it is going to be cool (37C) so what do we do.......sleep in for starters......no alarm, a bit of a lie in till sevenish.......ahh the decadence.

We had decided that a day by a waterhole would be nice, so after breakfast off we went to Big Hole. I thought it was aound 50k, it was closer to 90. Still, not far. We were again impressed by the country and the bones.....it is almost like a herd of stegasaurs lying by the side of the road. Hard to get in photos....a close up and far away that does a poor job

We got there early and Marjan set up in the shade with her book. I went and did a walk. The walk is called the Dolomite walk as it leads up a gully with dolomite sandstone  on the left and reddish granite on the right. Apparently the mix in the middle makes the environment richer and creates a very diverse little mini ecology.

It was not a very long walk, just over an hour, so I got back to the waterhole hot, but not suffering. I had a quick swim and then checked it out. A few more people than the other day. Particularly kids. A few locals using their Sunday to give the kids a swim. Still very pleasant.

One bloke had set up a hammock half way up a tree over the water. He would occasionally just jump out and in, and then swim to shore and re-climb the tree. He is in this photo. A hint: it is in the angled tree.

And this tree is just off the top of the previous frame.....

We had some lunch at some point, nothing special but the place. We kept having to move to avoid the sun.

Around twoish a whole bunch of people began arriving, among them a number of americans. We assumed a picnic for some of the people working at the local base. We were wrong!

We had hit on the Sunday when the local church of whatever denomination was having its bi-annual baptism by immersion. The waterhole entry became crowded with people as a range of folk took turns to be baptised, with loud cheers emanating after each one came out of the water still breathing. It was quite a collection, young adults, elderly folk, americans, aborigines, locals. We felt quite holy.

At one point it got hot and I needed another swim, so I worked my way between them and slid into the water. I think I probably got some of the blessing, now I feel that God is on my side, I can do no wrong, I have the power!!!!

It was interesting that though the aborigines were part of the congregation, they tended to be towards the edge of the proceedings....also when the dunkin' was done the aborigines headed back to the car park to sit under the shelter, where it looked like they had their picnic baskets.......on the other hand, the black americans seemed to be heading for the cars to leave the water hole completely.

On the way home we sang :

Shall we gather at the river,

Where bright angel feet have trod,

With its crystal tide forever

Flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,

The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God.

Sorry....anyway, it was a lovely way to spend the day.