Elliott, the shithole

September 29, 2015 Longboard Lady 0 Comments



"Elliott is a shithole." The tone she used was neutral but the words very clear. Ok, we still wanted to believe that Elliott was the next "heaven" for us, no matter what the young girl at the reception/bar/restaurant in one of the former small towns said. A place where we, a week later, should be able to relax, refuel, eat and drink from more than one menu and maybe even buy new shoes for Anders. Well, now we know. Elliott IS a shithole. She definitely knew what she was talking about! A friendly shit hole though.

We have another week of skating until the next imagined heaven, Tennant Creek, and our legs beg us for a rest day. The skating equipment too, things loosen on a longboard riding this, mildly described, shaky road. We'll stay in the shithole for two nights.

So, for anyone else who reads in a few years old guidebook or have any kind of fantasies about Elliott as a metropolis, please remember that it's still a nice town but:

  1. There are NOT a couple of roadhouses here. The only room we found was an old cabin at the hotel, when you enter the town from the north. It had seen its better days to be honest but the bar area is really nice . The hotel didn't open until noon due to the "Alcohol restriction law" though. (We just wanted a room but as mentioned it also serve as the local bar.) There is a caravan park at the other end of the town too, according to Google Maps, 750 metres away from "our" hotel. Didn't find any rooms there, can't be sure.

  2. You can't buy any other footwear than thongs here and that's not what Anders needs.

  3. The only "Breakfast Menu" in town, which is in the hotel that opens at 12, is no longer available. Same thing with "Lunch Menu" which is said to be between 12 and 1 pm. Doesn't exist. The "Dinner Menu" though, between 6 pm and 8 pm is still there and pretty decent for the outback too.

  4. There is a "Take Away" kitchen at the BP store. When we went there the kitchen was closed though, because of the chef's birthday. The next day it seemed to be her birthday too!? Besides that the staff is helpful and friendly.

  5. Another place for hot food around lunchtime is in the store next to the campsite. The store is randomly closed though and when we were hungry around noonish yesterday we couldn't find a single soul. All doors closed. No sign and no opening hours available. Today at the same time the store was open but the kitchen closed. Friendly staff here too, that helps.

  6. The minimart that's supposed to be adjoined to the hotel is no longer there. I guess they've just closed.

  7. If you find the store next to the camping open and make some complementary shopping at the BP store you can refill your grocery supply pretty well. They do have a selection of canned food and some other things you'll need if you travel slowly in the outback. That's good! Expensive as hell of course but what the heck, we are just passing.

Elliott is also the place which is almost in the middle of what we have decided to be the "Grand Final" of our skating adventure. Darwin to Alice Springs, hurray... If I find the opening hours for the bar, if they keep it open on these hours, if they actually store gin, which seem surprisingly rare, and if they have someone serving I will try to find a GT tonight, celebrating that we only have another 761 kilometres (Google Maps again) to skate before we'll turn into, what other people call, more "normal" travellers.

Well, now it sounds like Elliott is a totally boring place to be. I must say that it's not fair. We've had our share of smiles and warm faces and the people still living here can't be blamed for the decreased numbers of inhabitants, which I guess is one of the main reasons for this towns status. It's still a shithole, but a nice and friendly one.

Cheers! :)

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