Rick and Rae's Travels: Wed, 17th to Thurs, 18th August

We had a good sleep at Harriet River. We were the first to arrive there, but by nightfall were joined by 4 other groups. In the morning we drove about 40kms to Pine Creek, where we were able to dump the toilet, before continuing another 90kms to Katherine. This was a bit of back-tracking but the only way to go. We shopped, filled gas bottles, refuelled, had lunch etc. and generally wasted a bit of time until Woollies Liquor opened at 2:10pm. The pubs open at 2pm but Woollies opens ten minutes later, so avoiding the mad rush.

While having lunch in the park we witnessed our first road accident on the trip ... a four wheel drive turned right in front of a car towing a van along the Stuart Highway. Suddenly Police came from every direction! No-one was hurt fortunately but the four wheel drive was a bit of mess courtesy of the roo bar on the front of the other vehicle.

After stocking up we drove on another 100kms to the Elsey National Park at Mataranka on the Rober River. On the way we clocked up 20,000kms on our trip. We found a great site in the Park for $13.20 per night with drinking water, toilets and hot showers but no power. The river was a short walk from our site and we were assured by the camp hosts that the river had been checked and cleared of crocodiles, so was safe for swimming. Swimming pontoons were provided in the river and a short distance away were some little rapids on a side creek. Unfortunately, the temperature of the Roper River was a bit too cold for Barramundi at the time we were there.

On Thursday we drove into Mataranka township and had a look through the small but very interesting museum. We then found a laundromat at the local service station. While the washing was being done we drove 2kms to the Bitter Springs Thermal Pools which were beautiful. The was was so clear and such a beautiful colour. Quite a few people were swimming but we had to get back to the washing. We decided to save our swim for the other thermal pools closer to our camp area.

There is a nice park in the main street of Mataranka with a number of statues displayed. One is of Jeannie and Aeneas Gunn ... Jeannie is the famous author of the book 'We of the Never Never' which is her story of the couple of years she lived in Mataranka. Sadly, her husband Aeneas died two years after they moved there so Jeannie returned to Victoria where she wrote 'We of the Never Never' and 'The Little Black Princess'.

At 1pm we attended a Barramundi feeding at one of the local caravan parks. If ever you are ordering Barramundi at a restaurant, be aware that there are 'ocean' Barra and 'river' Barra. Ocean Barra is the one that tastes good. At one point, the guy feeding the fish was able to pick one up.

Before heading back to our camp we drove into a car park in the main street. Under an adjacent tree was a group of Aboriginals with a cute young baby aged about 18mths. The baby had a very young kitten with him. I was a bit disturbed though to see he/she had two hands around the kitten's neck and was bouncing it up and down by the throat like a toy. Interestingly, the following day as we drove through town, the same blankets and stroller, etc. were under the same tree, minus the people.

We went into the pub across the road to have a look as a lot of these towns have some interesting historical photos, etc. We backed out again very quickly as it was full of Aboriginals and there was nothing of historical interest to be seen. The only white person in sight was a young girl of around mid-twenties, five foot nothing and pure white short hair. She was the one telling the blokes to stop hassling her customers (us) on our way through the pub.

Later in the day we visited a re-creation of the old Mataranka homestead that was built for the movie 'We of the Never Never'. Adjacent to the homestead was the Mataranka Thermal Pools ... not quite as natural looking as the other pools, but we both enjoyed a swim in the constant 34 degree water that flows from Rainbow Springs at an amazing 30.5 million litres each day.