Pine creek, Mataranka and bitter springs

We left Kakadu on the 22nd of July , me with a very sad heart, not sure what it is about Kakadu but i just really love being there.

Anyway we commenced our southward journey, the first stop Pine creek.

Pine creek is coated about 90kms north of Katherine

This was our third visit to pine creek, twice on this trip. Both times we stayed at the lazy Lizard caravan park,  which is really quite nice,  located next to the tavern of the same name. We had a little wander around , visited the museum, but generally just caught up on blogging correspondence ect.

What we didn't get to see last time was “the shed”

The shed is a private collection of cars , motor bikes and assorted memorabilia 

 

For a gold coin donation you can wander around looking at this collection .

The donation goes to the Melanoma foundation.

The bikes didn't really stir a lot of memories for me but the cars certainly did. Predominately Holden vehicles and my growing up with a dad , grandad and uncle with a passion for Holdens , it was like stepping back in time .

This blue Ute really touched my heart, my mum and dad had a Holden premier that was “Inca gold”, and whilst not identical to this it was very similar  and brought back memories of Sunday drives to Newcastle to get KFC which we would then eat at Strezlecki lookout “Don’t Touch the seats with your greasy fingers was a constant theme from dad. We would also visit the oak factory on the way home , my favourite milkshake became a vanilla malt although i mm pretty sure banana was definitely up there.

Whilst not  a lot to see in town the caravan park and both of the hotels here are lovely,the people are friendly and if you like old cars and bikes the shed is definitely worth a visit.

Mataranka and Bitter springs 

This was not our first visit to Mataranka or the Mataranka homestead caravan park. We previously visited here in 2019 pre COVID when we still had Bridget. The mataranka springs did not fail to impress as always it was lovely and had obviously had recent work on it , and when we were there they were renewing the boardwalk to the rainbow spring ( the source of the thermal spring at Mataranka)  

Im not going to put much information on here as i have previously talked about it , it if you interested you can look at this post for more information.

We did not visit Bitter springs last time we were here, and I am thrilled that we discovered it this time. The spring flows along a creek bed with just enough currently to just gently pull you along. We floated down here on our noodles , enjoying the warmth of 

The crystal clear water, dodging rocks and fallen trees, (not that many really) floating under a canopy of palms. 

When you get to the end you climb out follow the short winding path through the forest back to the beginning and start all over again.

Our second time in Gadget and i hung out in here the top pool for as long as we could,  before. Giving way to the current and floating downstream again. I really loved it and because it covers a larger area it doesn’t become crowded like Mataranka .The really interesting thing here was it was super quiet, everyone spoke in hushed tones, even kids seemed to not scream and shout,  and just peacefully floated along. It was a very relaxing space. There is a lot of debate on the internet about which is better , honestly it’s subjective , at both places you get to float in a thermal pool, and whilst bitter springs in more natural, Mataranka is relaxing.

After this we headed into town, topped up our grocery supplies grabbed a pie for lunch , which was really good.

It was another lovely day in this wonderful journey.

Until the next blog 

The Touring Knights

“Every day deserves a story”