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Published: October 23rd 2009
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 Elsey NP and my campsite for the night, I stopped in for another swim.
Bats! Bats! Bats! Everywhere you look. I have never seen so many bats in all my life. Apparently they are only here at certain times of the year (how lucky for me). I am sorry to anyone out there who likes bats, but they smell, they
look creepy, they pee on you when they are in flight and did I mention the smell! Every tree on the way in to the springs has roughly 30-40 bats in it and there are a hundreds odd trees!
The springs are nice but with bats hanging over you head and that smell (honestly it was so strong), I think I preferred Bitter Springs with its rotten egg smell!
I camp for the night in Elsey NP, near the Roper River which is apparently a good spot to catch a barra or two. And speaking of barras, that is where I am off to this morning - a barra feeding show at one of the local campgrounds in town. Just before I go to the feeding show I stop in one more time at Bitter Springs for a swim, it really is lovely there.
The barra feeding show is free so it's not a fancy touristy thing, and I like that! It's really cool! The guy that does the feeding is a real nice guy. He feeds these MASSIVE barra by hand. Honestly, he had a few bandaids on his fingers and I think I know why!
It was interesting to hear about their breeding cycles, how big they can get etc. I learnt that they change from male to female (lucky them) and then finish out their days as a big fat loveable lady! Sounds about right!
Leaving the rotten eggs and bats behind, I head up to Katherine and Nitmiluk NP.
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Bitter Springs
