Day 49 – Dunamarra to Bitter Springs (Mataranka)

We don’t need to travel quite so far today, we do a quick detour into Daly waters, seems like a strange (in a quirky way) place, and might have been an interesting place to stay. Given it’s only 10:30 a bit too early for a beer.

We make our way onto Mataranka. There are two thermal springs in the area, Mataranka and Bitter Springs. We’ve had a lot of recommendations for the latter. So we book into a caravan park nearby and drive down to the springs.


Bitter springs is a large creek-like waterway. Only it is pretty deep, probably between 2-4 mtrs deep. The water is absolutely crystal clear spring water. It runs with a pretty decent current. You climb into the water at one end and then float downstream about 400mtr to a ladder, then get out and walk back on a path to the beginning again. The water is pretty warm, they say about 35°


Justine goes down first with the kids as we only had two noodles and one inflatable ring. While they do this, I go back to the car and get the masks and snorkels. When I get back someone said they found a noodle and was leaving so we can use it.


With the masks it is pretty amazing. The water is so clear you can see 30 or more meters. With the noodles you just float downstream with the current, it’s a little slower than a slow walking pace. There is another group here and I overhear their guide saying there is usually turtles in the water, but no one has seen any. On our last trip down, I finally spot one that scampers out of my way.

We go back and have dinner at the restaurant. Given the lack of fridge, we’re doing that a lot more than we should be. About a dozen or so wallabies also have dinner in the grounds not far from us.

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