Mataranka

Did the tourist stuff today. Mataranka is the home of "we of the never never" so went to see the replica of the Homestead at the Esley National Park.It was ok and the Mataranka Thermal pool is there also. It is the most famous of the pools but I think I like bitter springs better.

Being the Northern Territory I cant buy booze until 2 in the afternoon. Wll be a dry night tonight.

Here are the photos:

Part of the Thermal pool

Thermal pool

Flying Foxes on the way to the pool

Inside the Homestead

More inside the Homestead

Outside of the Homestead

Daly Waters to Mataranka

Eventuall got going as I didn't have far to go. Arrived at Mataranka around midday and went straight to the place I am staying. The town is nothig much but the park is ok and is about 3 k's from town.
 Had an interesting drive, as the roads are pretty rough. I was travelling along and the gps fell off the screen, happens when it gets really hot. Anyhow the gps fell off, so while I was trying to stick it back on I wasn't taking notice of where I was on the road. Found my self on the wrong side of the road and in trying to get back in a hurry to the right side I managed to get the van to start swaying. Not a good feel doing 95kmh and having a van swaying behind you. Hit the accelerator and managed to stop the swaying. This was a lesson for new players, be very careful when you are towing a 3 ton van.

Mataranka is the home of 'we of the never never', so as I am here for 3 days I am going to do the touristy things. Will have quite a few photos to post. Mataranka also has thermal ( 33 degrees) springs and one is just 500mts from where I am staying.
Went to the springs and it was well worth it. The waters is absolutely clear.

The photos show the springs and what you see in the photo is white rocks etc. That is the bottom of the springs, and I tested the depth and it was around 2mts deep.

There is 2mts of water and the bottom looks like you could put your hand in the water and touch it.

Here are some more photos

Here is todays travel

Banka Banka to Daly Waters Pub

Had a good night with  a breeze coming through at about midnight which really cooled down the temp. Was probably my best sleep since leaving Mt Isa. Met a couple from Murray Bridge who travel in a bus. Nice people. There was a fair wind blowing from the south east so was good for me travelling north. Had it been blowing from the north I would have stayed put until it had eased. The fuel cost of driving into a head wind is enormous. I have noticed that since I have had the new tyres my fuel consumption has increased by about 10%. I guess it is because thay have a larger footprint or maybe it is because of the wind over the last couple of days, time will tell.

Left  Banka Banka to head to the Daly Waters pub. Had heard a lot about it, so had to see what was what.Got to Daly Waters around 1pm and set up in the carvan park they have. Daly waters consists of about 10 houses and the pub is the only thing in town. I was hoping for an experience like the Prarie Hotel but unfortunatley it was not to be. All the workers seemed to be Irish backpackers and they were not the most friendly people I have come across on this trip. A real pity because the pub has an interesting atmosphere. Had one beer at the pub and went back to the van and spent the night there.

Here is some photos of Daly Waters

here is todays travels

Camooweal to Banka Banka

Enjoyed my time at the billabong but it was time to move. Got up early in the morning and decided to have a big day travelling. The trip was reasonably interesting considering that the land was pretty flat. All along the way, people have been putting shirts etc on ant mounds. Haven't got a photo yet because with the caravan it difficult to pull up on the side of the road. Geez, it is a long way between places in Australia, it's a big country.Filled up with fuel at Barkly Homestead at 2.09 per litre. About 20c a litre more expensive than I have paid anywhere. Prices are really high once you are in isolated areas.

Here is a photo of the iconic Three Ways Roadhouse

Continued up the Stuart to Banka Banka station. Good value at $10 a night unpowered. Did about 590k's for the day so I have set myself up for a couple of easy days. Glad I had big day.

Photos of Banka Banka Station

Todays travel

Mt Isa to Camooweal

Left Mt Isa yesterday with new tyres on the car and headed to Camooweal. Quite a interesting drive and I still hate road trains. Coming up to a bridge an oversize load and pilot vehicles was coming in the opposite direction. Got on the radio to tell them I would move to the side of the road but they said go for it and then thanked me for contacting them, I wil take it back on my rant on truck drivers.

Anyhow arrived at Camooweal which is only 14 k's from the NT border. Took a while to make up my mind as to whether to go on for a few hours or stay here as planned. Decided to stay and found the Camooweal Billabong free camp area. Would be really spectacular here just after the wet, with the billabong full of water.

Parked up, in a great spot right on the edge of the billabong. The billabong has water lilleys growing in it and plenty of birdlife. Was sitting under the annex and only 40m's from me was 2 Brolgas in the billabong. My first brolgas in the wild. Pretty good.

Bloody hot but I can run the generator to run the air con so not too bad. With not running the genny at night it was pretty hot last night and not a real good sleep. Today is forecast to get to 40, so here we go again. Will stay today to watch Bathurst abd start heading to Katherine. Plan to hit Katherine on the 17th, so will make contact tomorrow with the farm. It is getting close. Here are the photos of where I am setup.

Brolga