After the dramatic food theft of the previous night I was keen to get too Donnelly River Village and fix up my tent. Daniel and I left together but he was doing another double hut (as he does every day) so was soon ahead of me. The hike into DRV was around 22 km and would take me five hours in the end.
DRV is basically a large holiday park that is privately owned but use to be a working village. It’s particularly famous for the very friendly wildlife that hang out around the general store, which acts as the centre of the community.
The wildlife are mainly kangeroos and emus and proves very popular with families who day trip in great numbers. There are a number of holiday cottages to rent and various accommodation aimed at walkers.
I arrived at the general store and immediately ordered a coffee and toasted sandwich, both of which were surprisingly good in these rustic surroundings. There was a roaring log fire too which was welcome as it was still quite cold and wet outside.
I asked if they sold any tape to fix the hole in Kmart and some random guy very kindly offered to lend me his huge roll of duct tape which did an awesome job of covering up the hole.
I enquired about the accommodation and was told that the old school housed small dorm rooms and a kitchen for $25. It was pretty basic but no one else would show so I got my own room, which is a treat in Australia!
The weather became very wet and I was glad to have not pushed on beyond the village. The lady who worked in the General store was very sweet. There was not a lot of fresh food on offer but she sold me one person portions of fruit and veg from the kitchen.
It proved to be a very cold night and I was happy to not to be camping.