Mataranka (19/4/12 - 20/4/12)

Our drive from Daly Waters to Mataranka was a walk in the park, a mere 144km drive.  Mataranka is on the Roper River and is 100kms south west of Katherine.  It has a population of 250 and services outlying cattle stations and Aboriginal communities.  This area was made famous in the Jeannie Gunn novel, "We of the Never Never," written in 1908 about nearby Elsey Station.

Mataranka is well known for its thermal springs in Elsey National Park.  Many people believe they have therapeutic powers.  Bitter Springs thermal pool was our first stop, not far from where we were staying.  This was a beautiful spot.  This spring-fed pool is set amongst palms and paperbarks.  The current takes you down the spring to a pool at the end, where you can get out and walk back.  You can swim back against the current, but we were too lazy!  The water was clear and a lovely 33 degrees.  We had two swims here, the second at 7am on the morning we left.  It was on this swim that the kids spotted a number of turtles, which was very exciting.  The kids just loved it here and could have stayed all day.  What a way to start the day - just beautiful!

We visited Mataranka Thermal Pools after our first swim at Bitter Springs.  These pools have a constant water temperature of 34 degrees and flows from Rainbow Springs at 30.5 million litres a day.  It is surrounded by palm trees and is a lot shallower than Bitter Springs.  We enjoyed our swim here too, but we all preferred Bitter Springs.  Bitter Springs was in a more natural setting, whereas Mataranka Springs had some concrete walls and a walk ledge.  Plus there were turtles at Bitter Springs.

Simon and the kids tried their luck at catching some redclaw and cherabin in the river a short walk from our campsite.  They caught two cherabin, one which was massive.  They also caught a small turtle, but thankfully it was returned to the river unharmed.

We really enjoyed our time at Mataranka and the thermal pools were a definite highlight.

Bitter Springs Thermal Pool - turtle searching

Morning swim - beautiful.  Bitter Spring

Mataranka Thermal Pool

Elsey Station Homestead Replica