Day 134 - South to Mataranka via Cutta Cutta Caves

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We travelled south on the Stuart Highway, thinking that we would make a bush camp somewhere south of Mataranka. In the end, because we did some shopping in Katherine and stopped to tour Cutta Cutta Caves, we only managed to make it to Mataranka.

Cutta Cutta Caves is somewhat different to most other caves in Australia for two reasons; it is much much older (about 350 million years) and is a "warm" cave. It is the only sub-tropical cave that is accessible to the public in Australia. Whereas most caves are quite cool, Cutta Cutta remains a similar temperature to that above and sometimes feels a little stuffy.

There are guided tours throughout the day. Ethan was our guide and he was very knowledgeable.

After touring Cutta Cutta, we made a late plan to go to Bitter Springs near Mataranka but that looked very busy so we decided to go to Mataranka Resort instead. Big mistake! The resort was chockers (including a large touring school group) and we were lucky to get a camp site! No chance of a feed unless you waited an hour. Lucky we were self contained.

We were tired and hit the sack early.

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Photos

Cutta Cutta Caves
Entering the cave

Cutta Cutta Caves
Georgi and tour guide Ethan

Cutta Cutta Caves
Large Calcium Carbonate formation. It is very sparkly. Cutta Cutta means many stars.