The township of Mataranka pretty much peeved me because everything is so ridiculously overpriced and we had pretty much run out of food and water so we needed to buy stuff. I understand the whole argument about distances groceries are transported adding to the cost due to fuel costs, but given that towns further south (and therefore requiring much more transport) don't charge anything like they were at Mataranka, it is apparent that they are absolutely price gouging based on the distance between big townships and the likelihood of people running out of groceries and needing to replace them You could pretty much add $2 or more to the price of every. single. item. in the shop. It cost us $36 for 3 tomatoes, 4 tiny over ripe bananas, 1 loaf of frozen bread (but pretty much all bread in the outback is frozen), 4L of milk, 250g of cheese and a box of chocolate paddle pops. There was no water to buy unless we wanted to pay around $5-$6 for a 1L bottle of spring water. So this experience absolutely soured me on the township of Mataranka.
But the hot springs are an entirely different matter. They are free, which is amazing considering how stunning they are, and both such a wonderful experience. The water simply comes out of the limestone at the temperature of the ground there and flows downstream. They truly are an oasis and it is hard to imagine these beautiful bodies of water in the midst of all the dry, hot, dusty, scrubby land. I can imagine how surprised and elated the first explorers to discover them must have felt.
Bitter Springs runs at about 32 degrees C and is very natural. The only man made bits are 4 sets of steps (2 at the beginning, 1 in the middle and 1 at the end) and a path around part of the Springs. The edges are completely natural, just like any other river, lined with cabbage palms and forest. The water flows along and you get in at the first set of stairs and then float with the current down to the last set of stairs. Pool noodles, or another floatation device, are very handy to have, as the freshwater is nowhere near as bouyant as salt water. I float OK without but Greg struggled. We had Rory in his life jacket and once he learned to relax and float either vertically or on his back, he had an absolute blast. The water is crystal clear and you float along over gravel, rocks, logs, weed and algae. We saw turtles and other people saw some small fish as well. It is so hard to find the words to describe just how incredible an experience it is. I hope the photos do some justice. Despite how calm and crystal clear the water was, and how popular it was, I had a constant level of anxiety about crocodiles. It is the type of place where they could be (and it is inspected daily to be sure there aren't any). As I floated down the river I could see a croc calmly and slowly sliding into the water to hunt one of us. Despite that anxiety, it was a wonderful, amazing, incredible experience that I would pay for without any hesitation. The caravan park owners recommended we try a night time swim as there was a full moon.... but my fear just wouldn't let me do that. I am such a wuss. We stayed in walking distance to Bitter Springs so we went there three days in a row.
We also visited Mataranka Hot Springs. This is an amazing place, and reminds me of an ancient Greek hot bath surrounded by palms. It too is an incredible oasis in the middle of a very dry, dusty and inhospitable place. These hot springs are 34 degrees C and an incredible 30.2 million litres of water flows through them every day! These hot springs are more modified to include stone pathways, seats around the edges both in and out of the water and concrete/rock/retained walls. It is half natural waterway, half pool, but still beautiful nonetheless. These hot springs are much more popular, so more crowded, which is one of the reasons we stayed at Bitter Springs. There is a shallow end which was good for the kids, but we mostly stayed in the deeper part as Rory had discovered he can "swim" in his life jacket.
This is the sign saying they only manage crocodiles in some parts of the area now
This is Rainbow Spring, which is where the hot springs start flowing from. You can see the water bubbling up
I can see why people set up for a week or more to enjoy the hot springs every day. We had pretty much run out of fresh food by the end of our second day, and we had to drink the caravan park water which was quite minerally, so we were ready to move on. We had a good 1 1/2 hour swim at Bitter Springs again on the morning we left. There is room for caravans to park there so it worked well for us to check out of the caravan park, spend time in the water, before the hour long trip to Katherine.
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