Wednesday 2nd July

Included in today’s photos are some we have copied from some other travellers al from the Daly Water’s pub. Ours did not turn out so well.

Today is a rest day from driving. As the sun does not get up here until around 0700, it is an opportunity to catch up on a little sleep. The weather is quite warm although the early morning becomes cool enough to pull up a light blanket. That is from one who likes to sleep a little on the cool side.

We had our breakfast then we decided what we would do for at least the first few hours. Prue was doing some washing and then went for a short bike ride, by my standard, down to the Bitter Springs and then back along the road into Mataranka.

I went off on my bike and not really sure where I was going until I found my way to wherever. I rode into Mataranka, known as the capital of the “Never Never”, and looked at the world’s largest man made termite mound which is used to describe the area. After a few friendly words to some aborigines, resting in the park at 0900, I made my way in a southerly direction coming onto to the road to the Mataranka Homestead which I took.

Eventually, I arrived at the Mataranka Homestead Resort. On arrival, my first impression was that it is much commercialised. The first item I visited was a replica of the Elsey Homestead that was built as an authentic copy for the film “We of the Never Never”. In it were some items of historic interest and represents the era of Jeannie Gunn who wrote the story of the film title in about 1908. She was quite a person and endured very hard times but always went with her husband, Aeneas Gunn, on mustering camps, etc.

From there, I rode a short distance to the Mataranka Thermal Pool, which is still in the same complex with camping areas. The pool has been made into a swimming pool like structure with the water flowing over each end of it as it passes by. There were a lot of people there and more coming in as I rode my return journey.

When I returned, to the Caravan Park we are in after riding a fairly quick 33 kilometres, I changed into swimming gear and washed my ride gear. AS I completed that I discovered Prue was socialising with a couple nearby. So much chatting and coffee to this very pleasant Tasmanian couple. He is an Air Traffic Controller at Hobart and now only works on contract as he is officially retired after 37 years. Some interesting stories from him.

Before lunch, which ended being quite late, we went for a swim/soak in the Bitter Springs thermal pool just a few minutes from here. A nice way to stretch the limbs in the warm mineral rich water. Prue did a few laps in the waterway getting an easy swim downstream then having to work a bit on the upstream lap. There is quite a large current to contend with. This led to having to replace fluids at dinner.