Heading into the Top End

We bade our farewells to Margaret and Alf and went into Alice to stock up on supplies, get a script made up and even bought a couple of souvenirs. Then we got fuel and headed north.

We stopped at The Tropic of Capricorn rest area for lunch and a photo, the stopped again further north at 'Ryans Well'. A quite desolate spot, with a memorial to the early pioneers and across the road to the old well was the ruins of Glen McGarrie homestead. This was built in 1918 and abandoned in 1935, only 17 years, supplying the telegraph workers before everything was transferred into Tennant Creek. The spot may have been isolated but the flies were the friendliest I've come across.

We drove on to the next rest stop – Prowse Gap. Here there really was a 'gap' in the fence at the rest area, leading through to a shaded area, further away from the road noise. We drove through, found a shady spot and set in for the rest of the day. In the early evening a young couple in a 4WD drove up and joined us. They set up, cooked and ate dinner under the protection of fly veils and then retreated into their vehicle, we at least had the luxury of 'in house' cooking and dining.

It was definitely getting hotter, the temperature in our van was reading 32 degrees and humidity was 50%. I think we'll have to go into caravan parks from now on if this continues. It's hard to think that we had a duvet on the bed on our last night in Alice Springs.

The next day we were away before our neighbours, which doesn't happen often. We drove into the Devils Marbles but as it was lunch time and the temperature was up over 34 degrees we kept on driving. We had been there before and had had a lovely time exploring. If it had been cooler and later in the day we might have been tempted to linger but we chickened out and headed on into Tennant Creek.

The last time we were in town we stayed at the Tennant Creek caravan park on the north side of town, on the main road. It had been basic and noisy. We heard of another caravan park off the main road so went to check it out. We did phone them but at 1pm they still had their night answering phone on, so drove out there. The price of a powered site was $39 – with my seniors card I got a full $2 discount. We went back to the highway and checked out the other park – here a powered site was just $29. We checked in here, hoping for a quieter night than last time……..

Just behind the caravan park the BP service station has changed to 24hr opening and unfortunately our visit coincided with a cash, royalties payment for the locals – the party started early and continued very late.Just when we thought that we'd get a couple of hours sleep, the contractors at the caravan park arrived to start construction on the new chalets – 6.50am

Not many people in Tennant Creek got a good nights sleep last night!

We checked out and drove around to have a cup of coffee with a chap that we'd met in Alice Springs. He and his wife had been staying at the B & B and told us to drop by – so we did.

Then we continued northwards.

On our last trip we had come across Queensland on the Barkly Hwy, meeting the Stuart at Threeways, where we almost ran out of fuel. This was the furthest north that we have been in this area. We reminisced about the drama of almost running out of fuel and celebrated by stopping at Threeways Roadhouse and sharing a burger, with the lot, and chips for lunch.

Then we were off on 'uncharted territory' for us, new ground.

We stopped and enquired about camping at Renner Springs, but with no shade anywhere ($16pp) we drove on. We asked again in the 'township' of Elliott and as there was plenty of shade ($30pn) we checked in. The ablutions were spotless even if old and the presence of a tiny frog behind the door and peacocks wandering around the place was an added bonus.

The temperature didn't drop much at night, we kept the a/c running and pulled up the duvet. This proved too much for Michael in the middle of the night and he turned off the a/c and went back to just a sheet. This was too much for me, I threw off the sheet!

The next morning we were aghast to find the kitchen worktop seething with ants. When we checked we discovered that they had climbed up the power cable and got in through the socket. They must be in the cavity as they were swarming – I wiped up all those visible and scattered talcum powder around the cupboards.

I HATE ANTS! If they persist maybe we'll have to see a pest control firm in Darwin.

We pressed on northwards stopping briefly at Newcastle Waters

for a photo with an iconic stockman.

We were amazed to find water at Newcastle Waters, we drove over a causeway to reach the town – we had thought that it was just a name, not a fact.

The town is a ghost town now and we just did a quick tour of a couple of streets before rejoining the Hwy and heading on to our next stop – Daly Waters.

We stopped at the signposted WWII Aerodrome on the outskirts of town. Our leaflet told us the we could look around the hangar and walk along the airstrip – the place was deserted and overgrown with signs saying No Admittance to Airstrip. We continued on into Daly Waters settlement.

The Daly Waters pub is one of those famous outback places, like the Ora Banda pub in WA Goldfields, the Innamincka pub or the pub at William Creek. We were thinking of maybe having lunch here, but as we parked a Contiki coach pulled up alongside us and a horde of youngsters disgorged. Maybe they'd pre ordered but we didn't think it would be a quick lunch stop so we opted for soup and a roll in the van.

It was a good couple of degrees cooler outside than it was in the van so I grabbed a stool and sat out. 

I recognise that ruckus! There they were – a dozen or so crazy birds, Apostle birds. They came over to join me, strutting and hopping between my feet. They really are a delight.

Then we were back on the road. We were too hot and bothered to even think about a road side stop, we drove on to Mataranka. We saw a bit more wildlife than we'd seen earlier in the day, at one point several cattle walked across in front of us and then we disturbed 3 Black Kites feasting on some, centre of the road, roadkill.

It was almost 3pm as we drove into Mataranka, we drove past the signs for the old Elsey homestead,the Graves and the Thermal pool. (Mataranka is the setting for the book – We of the Never Never. )

We turned off the Hwy on the northern edge of town and went out to the Bitter Springs cabin and caravan park – the closest to the Bitter Springs Thermal Pool. This pool is apparently totally natural, whereas the Mataranka Pool is now tiled and commercialised.

I booked in for two nights as a powered site was only $35. to be honest I was expecting a lot more.

We found a shady spot, with hopefully shade in the morning too, and set up. I coated the power cable with talcum powder because I didn't want a repeat ant invasion. They do seem to have disappeared.

Later in the afternoon I strolled along the river to have a look at the thermal Pool. Certainly within walking distance. One participant exclaimed that it was warmer than bath water, swimming in it feeling quite unnatural. We'll find our for ourselves tomorrow.

When I got back I spotted a little wallaby across the park, when we went out to look more closely a couple of children rode past, disturbing about 20 of them that had been grazing nearby. Maybe tomorrow we'll see more.

The next day was either a little cooler or we were getting used to the heat, we sat outside just after breakfast and stayed out to enjoy our lunch. These inquisitive little Blue Faced Honeyeaters were not shy in joining us.

Around 4 pm we put on our bathers and walked down the road to the thermal pool.

There were only 3 other people around the pool, yesterday there were around 20.

Michael stepped down the ladder into the water and said how pleasant it was, and it did look inviting. I joined him and then thought, “It's now or never” and took off swimming down to the exit steps, around the bend in the river.

 Michael followed and we easily arrived at the first stage, feeling confident we carried on and were getting a bit anxious when we couldn't see the exit ladder. I spotted a low tree branch and swam over to hang on for a while, Michael caught up and I took off again. Just around a bend I spotted the exit ladder – Hurrah! We both made it but were very grateful to climb up that ladder and rest. We had been told that it was easier with a 'noodle' and we would recommend one to everyone making the trip. We felt like a couple of old codgers as we emerged from the water, but were pleased with ourselves for doing it.

I told Michael that I couldn't have done it without him with me, he said the same about me too.

Last week we climbed over rocks and walked into Standley Chasm, this week swimming in Bitter Springs – next week I think we'll tackle something else. Something like a shopping centre in Darwin. It will have to have coffee lounge though.

This caravan park and the Springs are not commercialised. The Springs is totally natural and the caravan park has basic amenities, as the following photo of the amenities block shows. But it was lovely, we both enjoyed the two day break.

The next morning we hit the road again. We didn't go into Mataranka itself, deciding against driving out to the more famous Mataranka Thermal Pool.

We drove into Katherine and found a shady spot to park on the street. 

When we had been in Katherine last year, on a stop over on our trip on the Ghan we noticed all the “No trailer, No caravan, No motorhome” parking signs so were glad to find street parking. We went into the supermarket and bought just the few basics that we needed. We found the post office and posted a present to a friend and then headed around the corner to a cheap fuel outlet before turning back onto the Stuart Hwy and continued northwards.

We turned off the Hwy into the small town of Pine Creek. It was a bigger town than we envisaged and we headed out to the Historic Railway Precinct where we pulled up under the shade of some huge trees and had lunch.

                             

There was a lot of noise in the tree tops, we thought that it was Corellas but when I stepped out of the van and looked up – I was surprised to see hundreds of BATS. They were flapping and squawking in the heat. We don't have fruit bats in Western Australia and I think they're sweet but am mindful of the problems that they can cause and the disease that they can spread. I was happy to photograph them up in the trees.

We had noticed a small caravan park as we drove out to the Railway but it did not appeal, we had also seen a sign to another park, behind the Lazy Lizard Tavern. We checked this one out, $30 for a powered site, and use of the swimming pool. We were in. We set up and leaving the a/c running to cool the van, went for a swim.

 Heaven, not too cool and no where near the 30 degrees of Bitter Springs. We spent over an hour in the cool and then went back to relax. In the cool of the evening we sat outside and watched the multitude of birdlife around the park. There were Red Winged parrots, Lapwings, and to our delight – Great Bower Birds pottering around a nest just across the grass from our camp spot.

 

 These birds are fascinating, we had never seen one in the wild before. The male works tirelessly making this 'bower' to woo a mate. The nest apparently always runs north-south and this collection of glass, snails and plastic was typical. There were 3 or 4 birds around this nest so I suppose that they would eventually have to fight it out over the lucky female. Mating takes place in the bower and then the female flies off to lay an egg and raise a chick. The male certainly works hard preparing his 'love nest' even if it's not used as a nursery.

 It was so relaxing and we had enjoyed our two day break in Mataranka so much that we decided to have another two day break and stay on another day. How hard could it be?
 Watching parrots and bower birds and relaxing in a huge swimming pool.