Day 114 - Douglas Hot Springs

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We had enjoyed Mataranka and Bitter Springs so much that it seemed only natural that we should pick Douglas Hot Springs to go to when heading north to Darwin. But first we needed some fuel for the bus. The rodeo trucks seemed to have taken much of Katherines supply of diesel but we eventually got filled and headed up the highway.

It's not a direct route to Douglas Hot Springs and the last 7 or 8 kilometres are dirt but not too bad. We arrived at lunchtime and immediately went to check out the creek. It's only shallow (mostly) with very hot springs coming in from one branch and that mixes with water at a normal temperature from another branch. The idea is that you get in where the two branches meet and then see how far up the hot branch you can go.

We met a friendly couple in the springs and got chatting about their travels and favourite places. We had such a lovely time that we had a very late lunch (about 4pm). We were invited back to their campfire but we ended up going with them to another larger campfire where we chatted the night away with a Dutch couple that had been travelling in Australia for four years (on and off for visa reasons).

This is how camping in the bush should be. It was spoiled somewhat by Parks being very slow in servicing this camping area. There was no toilet paper but lots of rubbish. Some of the NT Parks (including Litchfield) have recently gone bin-less (take your rubbish with you) and this little camp ground seemed to be a dumping ground. Let's hope they find a solution soon so that it does not become spoiled.

We were told that the springs become very steamy in the early morning so we got up early next day to find that our Dutch friends had already left! We took some photos of the steamy hot springs and then packed up to move on to Adelaide River, Batchelor and Litchfield National Park.

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