This weekend is a long weekend. Monday is Picnic day a holiday throughout the Northern Territory. We have been in Elliott this week and the prospect of a three day break whet our appetite for a drive north. Daly Waters is interesting, has a terrific pub but we set our sights a bit further north. It’s three hundred kilometres from Elliot to Mataranka. We left on Saturday morning and arrived there at lunchtime. We had lunch at a cafe before driving along Martins Road to the Territory Manor Caravan Park. There is motel style accommodation as well as powered and unpowered sites. The sites are spacious, the staff friendly and the meals are generous and delicious. After setting up camp, we unhitched the camper and then drove to Bitter Springs. This is about two kilometres from the park. There is an ample parking area, and a short walk beneath palm trees to the springs. These springs are not bitter at all, they are fresh water and flow at a prodigious rate. They are the headwaters of the Roper river which Belgians here and empties at the gulf of Carpentaria. There are railed steps down to the water, and the water is beautifully clean, it’s an iridescent green reflecting the abundant truth ferns and palms on the edge of the water. Lots of people are floating around, and many paddle along with the current downstream to exit about fifty meters away. You float past palms and forest, rushes and lilies in the Water. Fresh water crocodiles can swim here, but there none today. Further downstream, in the proper river, big salt water crocs make swimming far to dangerous. It’s a very pleasant spot indeed. 

We went back to our campsite, drifted over to the restaurant for happy hour and stayed for a pizza. There was a country and western singer, who was not too bad or too loud, which is fine. In the rafters above us a beautiful little bird was bustling around, a blue faced honey eater. Apparently it’s common in top end but I’ve never seen one before. Other birds bullied each other around our campsite, grey butcher birds. Parrots tumbled around the sky at low altitude narrowly missing trees and shrubs. 
On Saturday morning, we drove to the Thermal Springs. These are quite famous. We parked the car next to Mataranka Homestead and Pub. Beside the car park is the recreation of the Esley Homestead built for the film “ we of the never never”. Yes, Jeannie Gunn, author of this famous Australian novel lived here before moving south after the death of her husband who is buried at Esley cemetery. The timber building is a pretty accurate reconstruction of the original Homestead. Inside there is old furniture, clothes, and kitchen paraphernalia. It’s very interesting and inspired both of us to have a go at reading her book. Then we skirted the current hotel, and there were some very off people about. People were dressed in all sorts of outlandish garb. Their cars were decorated with toys, or crocodiles. Yes, we had stumbled into the Variety clubs annual drive. They were visiting many towns in the NT. They raise money for schools and clinics. Jennifer and I tools lots of photos of people with their cars. 🚗🚐🚙

Then at last we walked down to the springs. These are beautifully warm, I could feel any aches and pains just melting away. The springs here are not as attractive or as large as Bitter Springs, there is no Disney like paddle beneath the foliage. It’s just a splash about and out again. After we dried off we walked to Steves Hole, a widening of the river to form a Waterhole. It’s about a one kilometre walk along a sandy trail. Very beautiful. By now it was nearly 10:30 so we had to get back to our campsite. Max and Lyndal Rawlings were driving down from Katherine to have lunch with us. We had club sandwiches or BLTs with lots of juicy crisp chips. All washed down with Grey Nomad Sauvignon Blanc. 

After a long lunch and lots of talking about our experiences, they’re in Katherine and us in the centre. We faced similar problems in teaching and health. The same issues of lack of engagement and lack long term commitment to school or dealing with a health problem. So much of what we think is really important, being punctual, long term study, and so on, are just not shared by most of our clients. We discussed some books which might help us. In particular, “ When warriors lie down and die” which is about the miscommunication between whites and blacks and more importantly what to do about it. It’s now on my reading list.

We then drove to Bitter Springs. While Jennifer and Lyndal went for a swim, Max and I did a photo walk on the 500 meter circuit of the springs. The water is so beautiful and clean, the plants so beautiful. Max took some terrific photos with his new camera, a Nikon D700 ( I’m drooling over it). They really capture the light glinting on the water. I had a quick swim before drying off, and meeting everyone else back at the cars. We said good bye to our friends. It had been a wonderful afternoon. We had a quiet evening, sitting down at the campsite, m splaying the guitar and Jennifer cooking up yummy lamb cutlets.
This morning, we faced the 300 kilometre drive back to Elliott but still made time for a short walk. The Botannical walk. This pretty walk goes down to the stream, and there are palms and trees nestled by the water. Jennifer took a super photo of an orb spider, suspended in the middle of its web. 

We drove back, stopping for lunch at Daly Waters and then a short investigation of Marlinja, to explore Jones Store and the old Hotel. These relics of the droving world are fascinating. There are many photos and notes about the people and events of this area.

Now a few facts about Mataranka. The first white man in this area was Ludwig Leichhardt in 1848, but he vanished and was never heard of again. Augustus Gregory arrived in 1856, and it was he that named Esley creek. The springs provide warm water but it’s not due to volcanic hot spots as in New Zealand but simply due to water bubbling up from deep in the earth where it’s naturally a lot warmer. Limestone deposited a hundred million years ago, when all of northern and central Australia was sea and for millions of years all the dead microscopic animals floated down to the bottom, in layer, after layer. Now water bubbles through this huge strata, over hundreds of years, after descending as rain as far away as the Barkly. The water emerges at last at the Springs for us to enjoy.