27 July - Elsey National Park and Mataranka

27 July 2016 – 180 780

Elsey National Park and Mataranka

This morning I took some photos of the cool shelter Hayden spent some of yesterday creating from natural materials.  After packing up we headed to Bitter Springs in Elsey National Park for another relaxing float. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/elsey-national-park Drew and Hayden snorkelled, and found a school of small fish as well as the great variety of plants; unfortunately, they could not find the turtles Drew had seen yesterday.  Mataranka was our next stop – it is a very small town.  We visited the Museum of the Never Never which had some interesting items; Mataranka was a significant base during WW2, but was considered just outside the “war zone”. 


The Rainbow Springs at Mataranka Homestead in Esley National Park were a little disappointing; they are not as warm as Bitter Springs, all the edges are paved like a swimming pool and you can’t float along, but rather just stand in the water much as you would in a swimming pool.  I am sure it is still relaxing, but after the natural beauty of Bitter Springs I found it disappointing. https://www.matarankahomestead.com.au/ I did enjoy looking at the Elsey Homestead replica that was built at Mataranka Homestead for the filming of “We of the Never Never” in the 1980’s. 

Katherine, our next stop, was only about an hour’s drive.  We stopped off at the Tourist Information Centre to collect some information on the area.  We have camped for the next few nights at Manbulloo Homestead Caravan Park – this is a cattle station about 10km from Katherine.  Hayden really enjoys seeing the horses, cattle and dogs. It is quite hot, but there is a constant breeze which helps a lot. https://manbulloohomesteadcaravanpark.com.au/
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