Mataranka. Not the prettiest town in the NT, but well worth a stop-over. It is famous for the book “We of the Never Never”, about Jeannie Gunn the first white woman to settle in the area. But for us Mataranka will always invoke very fond memories of Bitter Springs. Such a delight.
19/20 May 2018 and 26/27 May 2018
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
Getting there
The enjoyable journey to Mataranka is set out in our “To Mataranka” post – click here
Day 0 – arrive in Mataranka
We got to Mataranka at around 10.30 on 19 May, and stopped to look at the “big termite mound” in the park.
Next it was straight for the Bitter Springs Park. We were quickly checked in and told to grab any site we liked. But there are no drive-through sites. We selected one and after much deep thinking we realised that if we went out and came in the other way, we could turn into a vacant site and reverse into ours with a little wriggle. So we did. Another vanner came out to help.
It’s a large site with lots of grass – we have a good feel about this place. We put the ground sheet down but agreed we would take this up in a couple of days when we went to Lorella Springs. The only down side of the park is that there is no dump point – you have to drive the 5km to town and find the Point, which is a bit rough, and without a hose to wash everything down. Not that that bothers us real men.
We had good 4G coverage in the morning with both Telstra and Optus, but by the late afternoon it had all just disappeared. So while Kerry could watch that royal wedding thing on free to air ABC, I missed the Super Rugby Waratahs stop the litany of losses by Australian teams against NZ teams. Next morning our Optus modem was back in fine form.
As it is Saturday, we went back into town to see what shopping was available. We stocked up on the staples – bread, milk, soda water. Then we found out that the shop is not open tomorrow. So we went back, before 3.30 when it closes, to get other stuff we though we might need as we are off to the remote wilderness of Lorella Springs.
When filled up with fuel we are very surprised at the data. Up until this trip we had been driving on manual gear 4, as we had been told on our towing course. This provided most control of the total rig. But on the way I thought, why 4th gear? As I thought about it I reckoned that this was probably best for the coastal area where there are hills, tights turns and lots of traffic. But out here, in the flat plains of the inland with few turns, even less hills and relatively little traffic.
So we took the revolutionary step of driving in 5th gear manual. Now I can hear many of you asking why this particular light bulb has taken so long to turn on for us. Good question we say. Our fuel economy for this leg, from Tenant Creek to Mataranka over 582kms, was 19.35L/100km. This is about 2L/100km less than our previous norm when towing. Personally, I don’t know why we can’t get into cruise control mode, but Des says we should not do it.
We went back to the van park and then on to the Bitter Springs thermal pools. We had got a noodle from the Park – pay $5 and get $4 back on return. We could, make that should, have walked the 500m to the springs, but we drove.
The Springs are quite wonderful. The water is warm, is quite clear and a lovely aqua colour. It is an enticing little stream. You get in at one point and delight at the warmth (but not super hot) then slowly drift down the stream on your noodle, allowing it to set the pace, through the trees, alongside the pandanus and grasses. Then you get out at some steps, walk back the hundred meters plus to the start and do it all again. What would you rather be doing? We got some good videos of this – click here. The path back was even concreted so we didn’t have to hook thongs over the noodles to walk back. We love this place!
The next day was a Sunday so the town was closed. I did my trip to the dump point and saw that there was a market or some such going on. So soon we were back up to see what it’s all about. There was a National Parks tent there so we grilled then about Limmen NP, where we will be tomorrow. It sounds brilliant as they describe the Butterfly Springs, the Southern Lost City and the Caranbirini Conservation Reserve. Most of the other stalls are community based local action initiatives – such as landcare – so we have a quick look and move on.
Mataranka is known as the land of the “Never Never” and its history is mostly about Jeannie Gunn and her short life there. Jeannie was the first white woman to settle in the area. Her husband Aeneas Gunn was a partner in Elsey cattle station on the Roper River. In January 1902 the couple sailed for Port Darwin so that he could take up his role as the station’s new manager. Jeannie was discouraged from accompanying her husband on the basis that as a woman she would be “out of place” on a station such as the Elsey. However, she travelled with her husband and recorded her experiences in her famous book We of the Never Never.
On 16 March 1903 Aeneas died of malarial dysentery and Jeannie returned to Melbourne shortly afterwards. We of the Never Never was first published in 1908. Although published as a novel, it is an account of the author’s real experiences at Elsey Station in which she changed the names of people to obscure their identities. The book was made into a film in 1982 and shot on location.
In February 2000, the Federal government handed over the title deeds of the Elsey property to the traditional owners, the Mangarrayi peoples. The claim had taken nearly nine years to resolve.
We drove out to the original location of the Elsey homestead and the Elsey cemetery. About 15km to the south of Mataranka and then 8kms east, we came to the cemetery. Another 500m or so we got to the original site of the homestead. This is marked by a cairn and information boards, but there are no remains of the homestead.
Back at the cemetery we saw the grave of Aeneas Gunn and a memorial to Jeannie, who actually died in Melbourne. We also saw other graves, some of which were for people not identified – “the unknowns”. We saw that in one there is a namesake – someone called Cleary.
From there we went to look at the replica of the Elsey Homestead built for the 1982 film and later transported to its current site. This is at Mataranka Springs. The home is so basic and so stark, and we wondered about how people could have lived there in such primitive conditions. There were also some outbuildings. I read We of the Never Never years ago and was disappointed that the original homestead hadn’t been preserved, but I guess the replica was true to the original… Hard to imagine a woman back in the days in long dresses coping with the heat, droughts and the summer deluge.
Unfortunately, I seem to have lost all photos for that day except for the one shown. How can a day’s photos just disappear?
The replica is now near the Mataranka thermal pool, so we went off to have a look at that. It looked pretty good and was very popular, but we preferred our local Bitter Springs. It’s like comparing a landscaped swimming pool to a naturally flowing stream. So we headed back to Bitter Springs for another floating session. Really getting to enjoy this!
Remaining Days
We got back to Mataranka after our sojourn to Lorella Springs. But we did not do much as we were beginning to get ready for our return to Sydney/Brisbane to see the kids and grandkids. We had been running down the fridge and freezer to make thing simpler.
Our biggest disappointment was that the National Parks agency had to close Bitter Springs. Someone had reported seeing a croc and that was it. The van park staff were clearly unhappy at this and it certainly affected their bookings – the park was suddenly more than half empty. So we had to go over to Mataranka Springs – not nearly as good.
After 2 days of recovering from the big trip to Lorella and getting ready for the break, we drove the 100 or so kms to Katherine and checked in to the van park there. This was amazing as it was so packed – there were vans going in and out at a rapid pace. Not at all what we were used to. We caused a minor incident as we had to talk to them about changing our booking from a powered site to a storage site, which caused a major hiccup in the smooth change between incoming vans and outgoing vans. There was a big queue waiting for us to finish our negotiations!
By mid afternoon the “Full House” sign was up. Such a contrast to our travels so far. We reckon it is because we are now on the main junction of the pathway north from Alice Springs,
We had 2 nights there in which to prepare to put Mobi in storage. All the camping gear on the roof had to come down and amazingly there was no dust in our roof bag. An impressive product from Kings (4WD Supa Centre), as are many of the items we have bought from them. Genuinely cheap but the quality is very good.
Then we moved Mobi to storage at $10 a day for 19 days. Unfortunately Mobi is parked under a tree so the solar panels will not be so effective, and we dread the amount of bird crap we will have to deal with when we return. But that is for a few weeks time. The lady in the office said I could store some frozen and cold stuff in the office fridge/freezer while we were away. This is a great help – hate to toss good food out.
For photos relating to this post, click here
For video relating to this blog, click here