The Morcom's Grand Adventure.: Mataranka and Daly Waters

Mataranka and Daly Waters

After leaving Kakadu we were quickly back on the Stuart Highway or the track as it is known and reluctantly heading south. We passed through the small town of Pine Creek where Jim had camped on route to Darwin a long time ago before heading to Katherine for supplies. Katherine is great, it has the cheapest fuel in the Territory, it has a Woollies and the bottleshops open at 2pm due to community issues. The latter is not great when you want a carton of beer and a couple of bottles of wine at 11am because you are on the road, but we will survive. Perhaps?

Alas they sell beer in Mataranka 100 km to the south so we survived. Arriving in Mataranka we set up the van, got the bikes off and headed for Bitter Springs 300m from our park. Bitter Springs are thermally fed springs with crystal clear water, a constant 33degrees in temperature underneath palm trees. The process is simple, hop in with your thongs and noodle (optional), drift in the current for a couple of hundred metres, soak your tired muscles, look for turtles and then walk back 70m and do it again. All too easy.

Drifting down Bitter Springs on the lookout for turtles.

Bitter Springs

Wednesday also saw us catch up with Jim and Linda Henderson for the final time. Jim and Linda lived in Jurien Bay for a long time and were there when we spent a year there in 2004. Travelling works in funny ways. Jim H thought he saw Jim M is Broome, Jim M thought he saw Linda in Derby from a distance. We ran into each other At El Questro, Katherine, Litchfield, Darwin, Kakadu and Mataranka. They are heading to Melbourne to see their daughter and we are off to Queensland. Hopefully we will catch up with them in WA when we return as they are great company.

Our second day saw Jim and Kurt head to the springs early and were rewarded with 8 turtles spotted in the first run. Later we visited Mataranka Thermal Pools which were not as nice as Bitter Springs but still worth the visit. The bats and sprinklers were of great interest to the kids.

Mataranka Thermal pool, with concrete sides

Still a nice place to relax.

The resident bats at Mataranka Thermal pool. They stink and are very noisy and there are about 100 trees full of them.

That evening Jim, Kurt and Will headed to the river for one last chance for a Territory Barra. Kurt snagged the Gold Bomber (lure) in the tree on the opposite bank and it was as good as lost. The river is croc free but after 5 weeks of treating any river with deep mistrust and 4 days after the East Alligator croc fest, one is a little unsure. Earlier in the day Jim swam out to collect a lure from a tree rather nervously. Thankfully, Jim had come to his senses and was not swimming at 5.30 in the evening. Will said ‘lets use the boat’ - the overturned very small dingy on the bank covered in lots of branches. So with Will and Kurt paddling with palm leaves we crossed the river and saved the gold bomber. Boys adventures don’t get any better.

The next day we made the trek to Daly Waters and it’s historical pub. Daly Waters was once a communication and air travel hub in the Northern Territory. Now it has a pub with lots of stuff hanging from the roof and walls and pretty good meals. The bloke who owns it is smart enough to not change for kids at the caravan park. The result of this is that families eat at his reasonably priced pub with great meals as well as heaps of other tourists. We loved our meals, especially Jordy and Kurt who had Barra and Chicken burgers slightly smaller than their heads and Chrissy who enjoyed her barramundi. Today would have been Chrissy’s Dad’s Birthday, so we had a “Cheers to Pop” in the Daly Waters Pub that Nana and Pop had visited several times. This is a place not to miss if even for the relaxed atmosphere and corny stuff on the pub walls.