From Daly Waters we continued our drive north to Mataranka. It took about two hours to reach the Bitter Springs caravan park in Mataranka, just out of the town. After checking in we were able to choose our own site and managed to pick quite a largish one.

We soon had the caravan set up van, ate some lunch and did a quick exploration walk around the park. It was interesting to see the giant termite nests up close and a beautiful day for a walk.

Later in the afternoon we took a noodle each, at the caravan park manager’s recommendation, and walked to the Bitter Springs thermal river pool. In a part of Australia where saltwater crocodiles make it hard to find a safe place to swim this is one such safe place.

As it turned out you walk past the exit points from the water

before you reach the entry point due to the direction of flow of the river.

The water was just a beautiful temperature. After taking turns to snap a photo of each other

we were soon floating along with the noodle from one section of the thermal river to the other end twice, chatting with others as we floated along. It was a lovely, relaxing time with a friendly vibe.

At a couple of points we did have to avoid a few sunken logs, which we managed fine. As the light faded we made our way back to the caravan park for a quick shower before cooking a barbecue for dinner.

Our next day was an even more relaxing day as we didn’t have to do any driving. We visited the thermal river in the morning and floated the river course along a couple of times with quite a few other people and again late afternoon.

Such a beautiful environment.

We certainly enjoyed our time in Mataranka.