Daly Waters pub, Mataranka, Katherine Gorge

We have gone from seeing the Ghan coming through the Heavitree gap in Alice Springs and lovely cold weather to semi warm at Tennant Creek. Stayed at a caravan park with a bush poet who supplied bush tea and damper around a campfire. Mmmm delicious.

The Ghan coming into Alice Springs

Next call was Daly Waters pub where we were told that the show is really funny. A must stop and see destination. Unfortunately the entertainer there called 'The Chicken Man' had left 2 days earlier so we can't check it off our bucket list. Will have to come back to see it again. What we did do however was eat the barra there but made the wrong choice apparently because the steak was 'melt in the mouth' and the barra was not as good as it should be! Oh well missed out this time on both counts! I forgot to take photos of all the underpants/panties, bras, money, thongs etc on the walls of the pub. Geoff however took video of it all so that will have to be part of our movie. The pub had a lot of quirky stuff so will put some photos in for you.

stop sign at Daly Waters pub

quirky building at Daly Waters pub

what's this?

parking sign at Daly Waters pub

We then moved on to Mataranka. The place where you 'never never leave' or you 'never never come back to'. I am of course referring to the book 'We of the Never Never'. I have never read the book or seen the movie. It is based on a cattle station in Mataranka. We finally watched the movie at a lovely old pub at Mataranka Homestead where there are also the naturally heated, crystal clear pools. This one was my favourite pool because they had cleared the debris from the bottom and put sand and seating all around the pool. I could see the bottom and talk to a lot of people there! Of course we didn't need much heating up because it was bloody hot there already. Fortunately the water was luke warm. A popular water hole for the tour buses as well.

Mataranka thermal pool

wallaby in the debris

Geoff's favourite swimming hole was called Bitter Springs. It was left naturally and you could float gently downstream to a bridge with a ladder. You get off there and walk around to start the process again. Our caravan park was near there so we could walk to this one. We got up one morning early to swim in there and see the steam rising before it got too hot. The water in both swimming holes is really clear. Only thing is the algae (slime) around the sides but it is all part of the nature cycle.

early morning Bitter Springs

early morning at Bitter Springs

floating downstream at Bitter Springs

snorkelling at Bitter Springs

We also couldn't resist taking some photos of the termite mounds near our caravan park. They are of course everywhere outback and I dare say they will get larger as we travel to WA.

smallish termite mounds!

king termite found his mound!

beautiful tree at Mataranka

After that we arrived in Katherine and stayed at the National park caravan park there. It's now really, really hot and up to 36 by day. It is not your usual facilities for National Park because there was a lovely, cold tropical swimming pool there with a bistro and entertainment. We needed it because the weather has been really hot and very hard to sleep. Luckily we have air con but it is a bit noisy when on and we will have to get used to it. We are now at the stage where it is important to have a swimming pool at each caravan park. Have been in the pool every hour or less and of course a lot of catch up talk with other nomads.

We took the early morning cruise on Katherine Gorge including breakfast. Fortunately we did because it was really hot during the day and only a swimming pool could cool you off. The gorge was beautiful in the early morning but can't say the same about the breakfast. We did 2 gorges. There are about 13 but most trips do 2-4 gorges. You have to get off and walk between each gorge because of the rocks and the water levels which are not the same. The boats are waiting for you in each gorge and the only time they can get boats in and out of there is in the wet season when the Katherine river rises.

walking between gorges to next boat

Katherine gorge

Enjoy the photos. So much beauty!

reflections 2 on Katherine gorge

early morning on Katherine gorge

amazing reflections 2

amazing reflections Katherine gorge

beautiful scenery Katherine gorge

Katherine gorge cliffs