Mataranka

From Daly Waters we resumed our journey north along the Stuart Highway with our next stop being Mataranka. The district is, of course know for it’s thermal springs. We chose to set up camp at the 12-mile yards campground in Elsey N.P. about 17Km out of town. Here it was peaceful and quiet on the banks of the Roper River. On our trips into town we visited the thermal springs (Mataranka) as well as Bitter Springs, which is more natural, less crowded and very attractive. Another interesting activity was at the Territory Manor where we witnessed the Barra feeding and saw a very large Barra caught by hand.

After 3 days at Mataranka we headed of to Katherine, the largest town we had seen for quite some time. Although Katherine has many attractions for visitors we concentrated on re-stocking the pantry, collecting mail and re-fuelling. ($1.24.9 per litre for diesel with a shopper docket). As our first night was Mother’s day Sue thought it would be nice to go out for dinner, so on the recommendation of the lady at the caravan park we went along to a Teahouse/restaurant about 3Km up the road. They had a Mother’s day special buffet dinner for just $20 per head for all you could eat. The food was outstanding with prawns, Barra and roast beef and vegies as well as a large selection of salads and Asian dishes, all finished off with a selection of deserts and tea and coffee. We also had a visit from Sue’s 2nd cousin Paul, who lives in Katherine, and it was great to catch up with him and also to absorb a little local knowledge. With us only spending a couple of days in Katherine we decided against doing anything of a tourist nature as we will be returning here after Darwin. You need to come back down to Katherine to pick up the Victoria Highway to head west towards the W.A border.

Daly Waters

Daly Waters 4th & 5th May

The next stop for us was at Daly Waters where we camped the grounds of the historic pub for $5 p.p.p.n. unpowered or you can pay $10 p.p.p.n. for power. The Daly Waters village, such as it is, has a lot of history attached to it. Probably the most notable being the airfield. The airfield was active from about the 1930s and was a base for Qantas doing the aerial mail service and then later the flights to Singapore. It is described as Australia’s first international airport. During WWII it became an important base and forward staging point for aircrews and other military personnel.

We had a good look around the area putting our folding bikes to good use. As well as the airfield we saw the old police station and cells as well as a tree marked Stuart on his exploration through the area in the 1860s. The highlight of our stay was definitely the pub and it’s surrounding buildings I don’t think you would find such an interesting and colourful collection of unusual buildings anywhere else than outback Australia. We had the “Beef & Barra” dinner in the company of some very nice people and were entertained by a great comedian and singer, “Chicken Man” who performed with 2 baby wedge tail eagles (Chinese Silky Chickens) on his hat. All in all a very enjoyable and entertaining stay.

After more sunrise pictures at the Devils Marbles we were on the road north. The 106 Km return journey to Tennant Creek was a little more pleasant than the southbound trip, due in part to a helpful tailwind. We stopped in Tennant Creek only long enough to re-fuel, with the price being quite reasonable considering the location. The pump price was $1.39.9 but we were given a 3 cents per litre discount for having spent more than $50 at the local supermarket the day before.

Tennant creek to us was quite depressing with all the houses having very high fences and locked gates and there were many groups of aboriginal people just wandering the streets, seemingly aimlessly. All this gave us the impression that the town suffered from a deal of social problems and possibly a high crime rate, considering the previously mentioned fences. About 9 Km north of Tennant Creek is the old Overland Telegraph Station. This was truly worth a visit and we spent about an hour wandering around looking at the well-preserved buildings and reading the info boards. It must have been a harsh and lonely existence for the workers stationed out here in the 1800s.

Once again heading north we passed by Three Ways again and set our destination for Banka Banka Station. We had heard that this was a good spot to stop for the night and the recommendations were certainly correct. It was the first nice green grass we had seen for quite some time and although they do not offer power you are able to run a generator until 7p.m. We were quite surprised when we were offered the opportunity to wash our car and van, and this we did because both were covered in red dust from our trip out to Lawn Hill and Riversliegh. The water at Banka Banka comes from a spring and is clean and sweet tasting, you can drink it straight from the tap unlike the bore water at most of the places we had been over last few weeks. Because there was an abundance of this good quality water we also took the opportunity to fill our water tanks.

Our overnight stay at Banka Banka was very pleasant and we enjoyed the free slide show which runs each night for all visitors. It gives a very good insight to the daily life of the station workers here and at the two nearby stations that are part of this section of the Kidman Cattle Company. We thought this a good place for anyone to break their journey, the cost is reasonable at $16 per night ($8 p.p.p.n.), the amenities are large and clean, and the sites are shady with lush green grass, highly recommended.

Camooweal to the Devils Marbles 1/5 to 4/5

Crossing the Barkly Tableland we made our first stop at Barkly Homestead for lunch. This isolated place is like an oasis with a roadhouse, bar and caravan park. It also lies at the junction of the Barkly and Tablelands Highways, with the later being an alternate rout to Darwin vie Cape Crawford and Borroloola on the gulf. We continued west on the Barkly camping overnight beside a disused Telstra microwave tower. This put us quite a distance from the highway, unlike the regular roadside rest areas which suffer from the highway noise, the only downside being copious quantities of flies. However the flies disappeared after sunset but were replaced by hordes of tiny insects that managed to climb through the screens to reach the lights inside the van. Never mind it was a small price to pay for the solitude.

Reaching the intersection of the Stuart Highway at the iconic Three Ways Roadhouse it was time for us to head south through Tennant Creek and on to the Devils Marbles for our first visit to this well-known landmark. At first Sue was hesitant for us to travel the 124 Km from Three Ways, because like me, she had the impression that it was a collection of about a dozen or so round boulders. My only reservation was the fact that for the entire distance we were driving straight into an extremely strong headwind and you could literally see the fuel gauge going down. Well, let me tell you how wrong our expectations were, the Devils Marbles is comprised of many hundreds, if not a thousand or so, exposed and weathered rocks of all shapes and sizes. They range in size from very large to some that would be not much bigger than a beach ball. Some are solitary and then there are those in small groups, just like a handful of marbles, others are split as though cut with giant knife and there are many in large stacks which look like they have been squashed with the stack resembling a pile of pancakes. We spent hours wandering through this unusual landscape and because they are at their most impressive at sunset and sunrise we stayed the night in the well-maintained N.P. campground. ($3.30 p.p.p.n.) The only facilities here are long-drop toilets but they are clean and don’t smell. Thank heavens for digital cameras because I took almost a hundred shots, and even though any photo could not give you the real feeling for the place I have included a collection in the gallery to give you just a little idea, so please have a look.