CAMPSITE # 142 - Mataranka Hot Springs, NT

Hot springs seemed to be all the rage in this area. All of the way from Litchfield down to Mataranka. But the ones we kept on hearing about were the hot springs at Mataranka and Bitter Springs.


We checked ourselves into -


Site : Mataranka Homestead 
Rating : 11 / 20
Facilities : Short walk to the hot springs pool. Riddled with people but that's what you can expect I suppose. Just 12kms drive to Bitter Springs. Loads of roos and peacocks ready and waiting to scavenge a free meal.

Mataranka Hot Springs - 

The colour of the water almost looks artificial. It's as though someone has come along with a giant bottle of blue food dye and tipped it all in. You can see right to the bottom! Tom and Jim thought it would be a good idea to go for a late night swim, when you can see the steam coming off the water and there's no other folk around to bother you. The swim got cancelled very quickly when a brown snake found its head within inches from Tom's ankle and tried to have a go at him. Urgh! For some reason, the boys got really put off by the thought of going for a swim in the dark!!

At Bitter Springs there's a gradual current that will sweep you along the springs. At this point we really wished we had some sort of flotation device because you can't touch the bottom so it quickly becomes a rather tiring swim.

I've been leading James down the Australian path. I tempted him with a good old Aussie Lamington and not surprisingly, he very promptly asked for seconds...

Tom's been desperate to take James out for a fish, so that they can tick catch / fillet / cook a fish off of his To Do list. To date, there's been no fish to speak of but we've just continued to remind Jim that persistence will prevail...