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Published: July 15th 2012
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Day 10 – Mataranka to Mataranka. Ta-da. No real travelling today!!
Because we had made good progress North we decided to stay in Mataranka for two nights. We had a leisurely start to the day before a morning fishing session on the pontoon. Luke is very keen but none of us really know what we’re doing with a fishing rod and a tackle box. The line got snagged several times (once Luke claimed he actually had a barramundi on the line but guess what – it got away) and a couple of old blokes came along and told us what to do.
After our fishing attempt we made our way to the Bitter Springs just outside of Mataranka. We had been advised that Bitter Springs are a) nicer and more natural and b) less crowded than the Rainbow Springs in Mataranka. The advice was indeed correct. After a short walk into the shady wetlands, with swimming noodles and flip flops/ thongs tucked under our arms, we discovered the beautiful springs. A gentle current runs though the springs so you can get into the crystal clear water at one place, stick your flip flops on the end of
the noodle, use the noodle as a float and be transported about 400m to the end of the springs. Cunningly, as you have brought shoes with you, you can walk the rocky path back to the beginning again without cutting your feet open. How clever!
The clarity of the water was incredible. Despite numerous people floating and swimming along the channel at any one time, the water was never churned up and remained crystal clear. The kids got their goggles out and went underwater to check out the plant and animal life, though we didn’t see any of the turtles that we had been told about. But you didn’t even need to go under the water to see everything underneath if you put your nose to the water and looked in.
It was a fantastic experience J
Back at the campsite in the afternoon we availed ourselves of the free wood pile and got some great logs for our campfire. Mark went into “town” to make some work phone calls while Luke, Anna and Hazel hired a canoe to do some exploring on the Little Roper River. We explored as far as the saltwater crocodile trap some
400m upstream and thought we should stay in “safer” waters near the pontoons. Scaredy cats! Soon the canoe became a ferry for the kids on the shore pontoons to get them out to the pontoon in the middle of the river, where the fish were surely biting more frequently. The sun was setting. No fish had been caught (now there’s a surprise) and it was time for the canoe to be returned to the boat ramp.
After dinner around the campfire we were gifted some marshmallows by another friendly camper who had overdosed on the soft sugary snack the day before! He told us that if we go down to the river in the dark and shine a torch into the river banks we might be able to spot the red eyes of freshwater crocs lurking. So we made an expedition to the river in the pitch black, stopping only to remove one cane toad from the cane toad population. Unfortunately the crocs had decided to hang out in another part of the river and we didn’t get to see any scary red eyes staring at us from across the river. Never mind. We tried.
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Liz
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I thought Mark was quite good with a tackle box??? Stunning pictures. That water looks magical. Hard to imagine swimming and warmth at the moment. Too cold down south!