The Tvan can be set up in a number of ways – depending on how long you plan to stop in the one location, or the prevailing weather, etc. Our overnight stop beside the WWII airstrip had been part of a broader plan to be in Bitter Springs early enough to beat the rush for campsites. According to research conducted by Wendy (when we had internet connection), the caravan park we are aiming for doesn’t take bookings and it is strictly a ‘first-in, best dressed’ basis for the allocation of available sites. Apparently queues begin forming from about 9.00am, so we were wanting to make sure we were close to the head of the queue. As a result, our overnight setup in the Tvan was quick to pack up and have us on the road to Mataranka in good time.
Now that we are in the Northern Territory we have to come to terms with their 130 kph limit on open highways. We’re not sure of the legal limit when towing so Chris has chosen a compromise of 120 kph, which doesn’t impact fuel economy significantly and is still a comfortable speed to travel at. Our camp site on the Gorrie airfield was only 70 kilometres from Mataranka, and at 120 kph we were there in no time – around 8.40am to be precise.
We avoided the queues, and while Wendy enquired about a site for a couple of days Chris made use of the high pressure vehicle and caravan wash-down area. Days of accumulated dust ran like blood from the Prado and Tvan as the hose was directed towards them. Brushing up against either of them had resulted in ’badges of honour’ confirming we had been camping remotely for a while. Hopefully we would be able to avoid these badges for a few days and the washing machines in the caravan park could do their best to return our clothes to something resembling their original state.
Park employee Greg spends much of the day marshalling new arrivals to the caravan park to available sites scattered throughout the heavily-treed park. There are powered sites and unpowered sites. The unpowered sites may or may not be heavily shaded, which is a good thing in terms of staying out of the sun but can be a problem if you rely on solar panels to to keep batteries charged while staying here. As a result our preference was for a powered site – any concerns about batteries remaining charged would then be removed from our concerns. A site close to the new amenities block was to be ours for the next few nights. We set up camp while others around us finished their breakfasts.
The movement of vehicles in and out of the caravan park continued through to mid-afternoon, when Greg began his other duty as driver of the water tanker which drove around the site watering the gravel tracks to help keep the dust down. This appeared to be a successful strategy, and the tracks remained damp well into the next day.
Once set up, we settled in to check on a backlog of emails, text messages and other notifications that came flooding in on our devices as we approached Mataranka. Needless to say, most were of no consequence – but we both had to trawl through everything to find the important ones that required some action. We also took the opportunity to upload a number of blog entries that had been written but couldn’t be posted until we could get back online.
Our morning was pleasantly interrupted when a couple with another Tvan wandered over for a chat. They were from South Australia and were travelling with family members. They had driven up the Stuart Highway to Darwin, taking in the sights along the way, and were now returning to South Australia after a great time away.
With washing on the line drying and many of the chores around our campsite done, we headed off for a walk to check out the thermal springs that draw people to this area. The springs are part of a large aquifer that reaches the surface, pouring megalitres of water into the Roper River (and also the Gregory River in Queensland). This makes these systems permanent rivers that don’t rely on wet season rains to maintain their flow during the drier months. It wasn’t hard to find the areas designated ’safe’ for swimming (although signs did warn of the presence of fresh water crocodiles that can become aggressive if approached), as we just had to follow the procession of pool noodles being carried by people heading for a swim. A busy, day-use-only car park indicated we we getting closer and a winding footpath soon delivered us to an entry point into the thermal springs.
Many people enter the gently flowing thermal springs and let the current take them downstream to an exit point from where they walk back and repeat the process over and over until they have had enough. Others swim upstream a little into a shaded area and sit on submerged logs allowing the thermal spring waters to work their supposed ’healing magic’. We bobbed around for about 30 minutes, until we had absorbed enough of such magic for one day. The water is around 33C and, being from an underground aquifer, has been thoroughly filtered over thousands of years – resulting in crystal clear water.
The remainder of the day was spent packing away freshly washed clothes and bedding, talking to family and friends online, and finalising administrative matters. The forecast was for a minimum of 9C overnight with a maximum tomorrow of 29C under clear skies.