Blogs from Mataranka, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 4

This ended up being a great day ! After filling up at Tennent Creek we set out for either Daly Waters or Katherine, we hadn't really decided which. We saw our first Northern Territory snake on the road today - a very large brown snake which was heading back to the scrub and was luckily not hit by a passing car. We stopped for a cuppa at Renner Springs then stopped again at Dunmarra and made ourselves a sandwich. By this time it was starting to heat up in the ute and the air conditioning wasn't working properly, David thinks we need to have it regassed so hopefully we can find someone in Katherine to do this for us. In the mean time we wind down the windows ! After lots of good reports we decided ... read more

Just a few pics. The day we left Julia creek Daves gearbox stripped the spline on the input shaft to the transfer case. We pulled it out in the motor camp , Raced it into Mount Isa , the man rebuilt box and we put in in next day.We were very lucky it happened where it did !, Since then we have travelled up to Karumba and across the gulf and are now in Mataranka, dedusting and washing.Will be heading up Darwin way then up to Coburg peninsula ,north east of Darwin. ... read more

Hello to all After spending the afternoon and night at Renner Springs...yet another old interesting pub/roadhouse.. was warned on arrival by the park manager to beware of the resident geese.. as the apprently they chase the ladies and childred (so I was in deep trouble) however managed to steer clear. Some travellers informed us that the Gibb River Road maybe closed due to more recent heavy rain. Keeping our fingers crossed..that this won't be the case but will have to wait until we get to Kununurra to check this out. Checked out the Daly Waters Pub...the photos we attach will give you an idea of what it is like very rough but fascinating.. all these old pubs seem to be going the same way. We are now at Mataranka Homestead..just delightful, been for a soak in ... read more

13th October 09 - 14th October 09 Arh, thermal hot springs here I come! During my travels thus far, I have been told that Bitter Springs is a place I just have to go to. And I can see why... it's beautiful! I didn't arrive till around 4pm feeling hot and over being in a van so the warm amazingly clear blue waters of Bitter Springs was just what I was looking for. The water was luke warm and surprisingly refreshing. There was a faint rotten egg smell to the place, but apart from that it was very relaxing. There was a nice group of people to chat to around the Springs and the afternoon pasted by. There is another thermal spring on the other side of town and as it is on the way to ... read more

When I published my last blog I thought I would not be chatting to you again until we reached far North Queensland, but the places we have visited and the things we have done really do warrant a mention. After leaving Katherine and the beautiful hot springs we travelled on down to Mataranka. This is a small country town with very few amenities but they have two of the most wonderful hot springs you could ever wish to bathe in. We stayed at the Mataranka Caravan park which is adjacent to Bitter Springs and we were told that these springs are both deep and fast flowing which did not bother us too much but when told there was a big python living there we opted for the springs at Elsey Homestead instead, inspiration for the book ... read more