Beautiful Bitter Springs / Mataranka

 

We arrived at Bitter Springs around 11:00am and had no trouble securing a site for two nights. There still doesn’t appear to be that many tourists around, much to our delight, with only about one-third of the park occupied.

What a beautiful afternoon we had floating along the crystal clear, thermal pool in the Elsey National Park, only 500m walk from our van. The warm spring water rises from underground at a rate of 30.5 million litres per day and is set among beautiful palms and tropical woodlands. We spent several hours at the springs, relaxing and floating on our pool noodles, delightful!

The next morning we walked back to the springs before breakfast, for a few more trips floating in the warm current in the dappled morning sun. It was so beautifully quiet and peaceful, with only a few other people in the water (also enjoying the serenity). There were so many birds singing, it was amazing.

After a late breakfast we headed into Mataranka and out to the Mataranka Homestead and the Mataranka Thermal Pool. We enjoyed walking through the old Homestead built for the movie ‘We of the Never Never’, and then had a plunge in the thermal pool. Whilst still lovely, we far preferred the natural beauty of Bitter Springs over the Mataranka Thermal Pool – too many people for our liking, although the actual campground appeared quite empty.

We grabbed a famous Mataranka meat pie for lunch and spent the late afternoon, once again,  floating lazily in the warm thermal springs – so beautiful, it was hard to leave.