'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 12-06 Mataranka

I know I keep raving about the scenery, especially the flora, not knowing how NT normally looks we can only say that south of Alice it has been like driving through a continuously changing garden. The spinifex, although somewhat brown looking, is definitely alive & growing, all flowering plants are in flower now, & the whole scene is just bursting with colour.

Our next stop was to be Kings Canyon, a 330K return side trip. The cloudiness from the day before continued & as we arrived mid afternoon, we did the lower canyon walk intending the 3.5 hour top walk next day. Many people have told us that it is much prettier here than at Uluru. Unfortunately it rained all night & continued into the following day so we cut our losses & made our way back to Alice with an o’night stop at Finke River once again.

Still raining & we have stayed o’night in Alice again as phone & internet contact is only predictable in as much as you hardly ever have it. A little about alcohol sales in the territory. No drinking outside of licenced premises, bottles sales only after 2:00PM, cask sales only after 6:00PM & one (1) 2lt cask per person per day. They scan your licence & every liquor outlet must be connected as you can’t buy a second one anywhere else. Sundays you can make a purchase after 10:00 AM?????? Oh, & fuel, $2.50lt is now the most expensive to date.

Rained for 2 more days so we continued North, stopping at Finke River & the Devils Marbles once again where it poured during the night but next day was bright & clear but cold. Once past Alice the flora returned to vast fields of spinifex with small dense shrubs. Our next stop was Banka Banka Station. We arrived about 11:30 AM, there were a few vans there but by evening there must have been 40 – 50 vans. It was a nice setup, level sites, grassed & as much spring water as you want, I even gave the old girl (the truck, that is) a much needed tub. There were walks to the water hole & the lookout for something to do.

Once past Renner Springs small trees started appearing & soon dominated the landscape. Our next stop was Dally Waters, the pub there is the oldest pub in N.T. est.1930. It has caravan parking adjoining & there were around 100 vans there, talking to an employee, he told me it was the same every night. We spent happy hour in the pub & stayed till about 6:00 PM. There was live entertainment & the pub had a specialty of beef & barra for $27.50 a head plus a normal menu.

Next stop was Larrimah where we visited the local pub & zoo, had the most delicious home made pie & then proceeded to Mataranka where we visited the thermal pools for a dip, unfortunately the water temp here is only 34º, a lot lower than Atherton. Nearby was Bitter Springs where the water temp was the same but the water was a blue-green colour due to the dissolved limestone. Once again, another beautiful part of nature.