Alice Springs to Mataranka Springs

We stayed in Alice Springs a little longer than planned due to some unforeseen circumstances. The car needed a service, and as it turned out so did the family, with three trips to three different doctors in 2 days! John's head needed attention (the outside, not yet the inside), James developed an ear infection and Thomas a high fever. And we were doing so well for a couple of days! So we stayed put in the luxurious caravan park and I'm happy to say a three days on, everyone is on the mend.

We braced ourselves for a couple of days of serious driving as we headed up the Stuart Highway toward our destination of Mataranka Springs (a town 200km south of Katherine). The first night we stopped in a teeny town called Whitecliff Well - famed as the "UFO capital of Australia". Apparently the aliens find something interesting about it...hmmm. It did add some fun to the stop over as the kids went spotlighting with some new found friends in search of crashed flying saucers.

The next day was a marathon 8 hour drive as we pushed on to Mataranka - a town know for its thermal springs. Most of the drive was fairly monotonous - one very long straight road with endless low scrub either side, but there were a few highlights. The first was a stop at the Devil's Marbles - an amazing geological marvel, where erosion over millions of years has left boulders seemingly perched on top of each other, in the middle of the otherwise flat landscape. Georgie thought they should be called the Devil's Potatoes, as they, quite rightly, looked more like spuds than marbles. Thomas was delighted to have the opportunity to finally climb something!

Our afternoon stop was at the famous Daly Waters Hotel - a watering hole for travellers for 100 years. It is a very colourful place, smack bang in the middle of nowhere (as indeed, everything feels like it is in NT). It is decorated with underwear, money, t-shirts etc. from visitors from around the world.

With only 2 hours to go (already thinking like seasoned travellers) we aimed to stop at the next town for fuel, only to discover that the petrol station had burned down years before! We were 70kms south of Mataranka and on reserve! Luckily the pub had a can of diesel out the back for emergencies, which we were able to convince them ours was. Fingers crossed it was clean. And diesel.



Daly Waters Pub



At last we arrived at Mataranka at 7pm that night. Parking the van in the dark was rather challenging - thank goodness for a full moon! The caravan park is situated just out of Mataranka in a place called Bitter Springs. We were planning to stay for one night and have now been here for 3 - it is such a special spot. A short walk from the park are the thermal springs, where you can swim in the bath like, crystal clear waters. Swimming there is almost like a Northern Territory themed ride at Disneyland. You climb down a ladder at the starting point and the current carries you gently downstream for a few hundred metres, bobbing on your noodle, taking in the beautiful scenery, spotting turtles (dodging submerged logs) and having a grand old time. You then climb out, walk back to the start, and do it all again! And again. And again. All day. For two days! We have also had the good fortune of meeting 3 other families with young children, at various stages of "the Lap", who have been great company. Thomas and Georgie have barely been seen for two days - other than short periods when we have 8 children in our van sharing 2 ipads!

Bitter Springs, Mataranka NT

We are heading off tomorrow to Edith Falls - a picturesque spot not far from Katherine, where we are meeting up with friends of ours (Juz and Tim Catterall), who have been doing the same trip as ours in reverse, having left in April. We are looking forward to hearing and learning from their experiences!