Mataranka

Have you ever swam in a natural thermal pool? It's as relaxing as it sounds. Limping into Mataranka, Northern Territory Australia in our 1994 Patrol, the sounds of the car coughing and spluttering were starting to stress me out. No reception, no internet, high thirty degrees and no way of knowing what was wrong. Flicking through the Patrol mechanical book, I identified some possible causes, but none we could fix on the side of the smelting road.

As we painfully counted down the 10km signs we finally made it to the town of Mataranka. The only petrol station carrying gas had the pump out of order. Our hearts sunk, gas was working, petrol wasn't! While we sat in the midday heat wondering what our next move was I signed up to RACV roadside assistance with the little reception I had. (Little did we know, Mount Isa was the last place with gas until we got to Darwin.) Every time the car started, it would roll a bit further to tease us and stop. With RACV signed up, just in case, we decided to limp the car to the nearest caravan park, Mataranka Caravan Park?

We crawled down the long straight road and rolled into the nearest car park. The caravan park had a lovely Bali vibe about it. The outdoor seating area, the tropical trees surrounding everything and the laid back friendly attitude of the staff. We paid for the night and again rolled into the camp site and let the car die. We all gave up on life and walked the short boardwalk to the thermal pools, got in and relaxed. We were in a tropical paradise.

We swam in the crystal clear, spring fed, 34 degrees Celsius water and listened to the birds soundtrack. Maybe an hour later, we decided to face our doom head on and sulked back to the camp site. We were hoyed over by some fellow campers who were feeding the local wallabies and peacocks, glad for the opportunity to procrastinate, we watched a proud beautiful peacock wandering around without a care in the world with his three peahens. 

It turns out Peacocks and Wallabies liked the slightly rotting carrots and spinach I bought from the farmers market on the Gold Coast a few days earlier! The Peacock's long skirt of blues, greens and black let me know miracles were possible and we left them in peace and wandered back to make dinner. Once we were adequately calmed down we went through our options.

Staying in Mataranka caravan park for the rest of our lives looked like a valid one. Surely they needed a kitchen hand :) We headed back to the camp site and my handy traveller narrowed down the possible issues I read about earlier and noticed there was a hole in the stubby holder which was holding pipes together. Too much air in the fuel aka not enough power!

$5 later, a new Australian stubby holder stood proud underneath the bonnet and the car was alive and sounding very beastly again. Proud of ourselves for our bush mechanic skills. Mataranka was memorable not for the main town, but the thermal pools, the wildlife and the caravan park.

A stop over not to be missed. We overheard another couple talking about how disappointing Bitter Springs as it wasn't flowing so we didn't end up visiting there however the pictures of the area also look just as beautiful. 

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