Strange encounter in Banana village. My world walk blog Australia 53

Strange encounter in Banana village 

Over breakfast my hosts Jim and John told me more about life on their farm. It seems that buffalo fly is a major problem for farmers. These flies are attracted by cow crap and it seems that a different type of fly, the so-called dung flies are the saving grace as they break up the cow dung and take it back to their nests and keeping the buffalo fly at bay. However, it also seems the there are two types of these dung flies: wet weather ones and dry weather. As it rarely rains here, that presents a problem for farmers as there is nothing to break it up and that's when the problems with buffalo flies begin. It's not just a humanitarian issue to rescue the cows from their torment, its also an economic one as they don't eat well and fatten up due to their misery. 

I was off walking along Leichhardt Highway at 7 am. The highway is named after a Prussian explorer who explored and mapped the area significantly in the 1800's.

I took a couple of long stops sitting on my small stool under shady trees as there was no hurry for me to cover my 35 kilometres, besides it was a hot day, 32C. Eventually, I made it to the strangely named village called Banana. The place is named after a hard working bullock from back in the pioneer days. The beast was yellow in colour and one day a worker called him a big banana and the name stuck. 

I stopped in the Banana Hotel bar and was pleasantly surprised when I was served by a woman with an un-Irish name called Heidi Mullin from County Donegal in Ireland. She is into the second and final year of her backpacker visa and is almost heartbroken that she has to return home in October. Along with Joanna from Malta and James a fence installer  from Western Australia  we had a lot of laughs. 

I'm so grateful to Rob, the hotel owner for shouting me dinner and a bed for the night and making my stay in Banana village so memorable. 

I'm now going to be walking in a remote region and on some backroads and its possible that I may not have a signal for three or four days. It's time to stock up on water, perhaps 14 litres.