Well here we are - deep in the Northern Territory, over the Tropic of Capricorn and definitely into the hot (and dry) weather. We arrived at the Mataranka Homestead soon after lunch, fingers crossed because you couldn't book a site in advance. No problems there - except for the other van accidentally parked in our allocated site! After quickly setting up we grabbed bathers and headed for the famous thermal pool that is a five minute walk from the park, through really tall, semi-rainforest trees. The pool is a genuine hot spring, with water flowing through it at 30.5 million litres per day. (Lucky I knew that, because otherwise I'd have been a bit worried about sanitation, with all those people sitting in the same water.) How amazing - to have a natural swimming pool with no chlorination and a constant temperature of 34 degrees! The girls couldn't get over it. We also checked out the river, a few hundred metres downstream, and had a quick swim but were made nervous by the presence of a snake in the water with us and general threats of crocodiles (admittedly "freshies" but I'm sure they'd still give me a heart attack). Anyway - why would you bother when the thermal pool was right there?
(Don't tell the girls, but Andrew and I snuck back down to the pool after we'd put them to bed, and had another swim in virtually complete darkness, which was pretty special, although a bit spooky in the forest. And yes, we did wear our bathers.)
The next morning we checked out the barramundi feeding at another caravan park down the road (which looked much better than ours - typical!) and were filled in on the life-cycle of the barra (they all start out male and don't turn female until they first go to the sea aged about 4 - 5 years "and grow a brain"). We were also given a bonus lecture on cane toads and the devastation they are causing in the NT. Still - it seems that some of the native predators are learning to avoid eating them, which is a good thing except that with no predators they will simply overrun the country. Another amazingly stupid deliberate introduction. The people at this caravan park are doing their bit, though - they give (supervised) children free gloves and plastic bags at night and invite them to go around the park catching as many as they can for "euthanizing". The children even get a certificate of appreciation. Needless to say, we returned after dark for this cane toad busting, and caught 40 toads between us in less than an hour - and that was just after the school holidays, when apparently they had been "cleaned out". We found this achievement rather depressing, but the girls were thrilled with their certificate.
After the barra feeding we checked out the local national park - with a lovely "botanic walk" through the forest, where plaques helped us understand and appreciate the flora around us, and a swim/attempted fish in a different part of the river. No sign of any crocs and it was a designated swimming area, but I was still nervous! No fish, either - although there were lots of tantalising big splashes. Then the highlight: we found another thermal pool called "Bitter Springs" which actually extended a few hundred metres past the main pool as a winding, still-warm creek with really clear water. We put on our snorkelling gear and swam along enjoying the underwater scenery. Tahlia warmed to the snorkel after an initial reluctance and ended up determined never to take it off! (Now that could make life a bit quieter......)
We also had a quick walk through the replica of the Elsey Homestead. The original homestead where Jeannie Gunn lived for a year before writing the Australian classic book "We of the never never" is about 20km south of Mataranka, but the town has claimed its fame. The replica was moved to the Mataranka Homestead after being built and used for the 1980s movie of the book.
And apart from a fruitless attempt at fishing later on (Andrew and Kendall) and the previously mentioned cane toad busting, that was about it for Mataranka. We packed up the next morning and set out for Litchfield National Park - right up in the Top End.
Captions for photos
- Mataranka thermal pool
- Some unusual critters spotted on our botanic walk
- Swimming spot confusingly called 4 mile
- Attempted fishing at same spot
- Replica Elsey Homestead
- The cane toads used in the lecture. Shame the girls make them look like cute pets. NB The poison had been squeezed out beforehand.
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