Mataranka - Northern Territory

Friday 18th September.

We have left Queensland and have now crossed the border into the Northern Territory.  We can't believe we are here and we are all shivering we are so cold. We decided to do a free camp tonight which was a rest area called Attack Creek which was just past the 3 ways.  After setting up the caravan the girls were playing outside and screamed that they could here something in the bushes.  We also heard it and Nathan decided to investigate and out he brings a tiny little kitten only a week or so old.  The girls were screaming with delight "can we please keep it". The poor little thing had been dumped Nathan had another look to see if there were any others.  Thank God there wasn't.  The girls were busy making a bed for the kitten and Jade was finding some toys so it had something to play with.  Lucky I had a talk to some German backpackers and for a bottle of wine they took the kitten off our hands and would deliver the kitten to the RSPCA.

 

The next day we arrived in Mataranka and met up with a family we were staying next to at Mount Isa.  They suggested we stay at Bitter Springs which was nice and quite and away from the tourist buses arriving in Mataranka. They have been coming here from NSW for the past 6 years so they could give us some good advice.  The springs were a nice 34%.  The girls enjoyed using the noodles and just floating down the creek carried by the gentle current created by the springs.

A nice diversion on the way to Mataranka is the Daly Waters pub. The pub is decorated with all manner of personal items which you can attach to the bar for a small donation. Emily now has a photo on the bar. Well worth the stopover, the food is great and the beer is ice cold (Coopers Pale on tap too). 

We also stopped at Newcastle Waters which is now a virtual ghost town. The pub is where all the old stockmen came in for a cold beer and would have been pretty wild in it's time.