DALY WATERS and MATARANKA

Ready for a fairly long day's driving we had left Tennant Creek early, but lost quite a lot of time at the Three Ways firstly looking at trucks and chatting to their drivers and then having a huge breakfast.

Maybe I should have been a truckie -  I just love the atmosphere at this major crossroads that's really in the middle of nowhere, it's an absolute mecca of trucking activity, currently with thousands of cattle being moved through daily, and an ever increasing number of refrigerated units  transporting food and other perishables through the heat and enormous distances to the north. Add to that the huge numbers of units carrying "general" freight and the huge amount of mining equipment and other wide loads on the move and it becomes a spectacle of major proportions. 

One clear advantage of all of this large  transport activity is the ever- increasing range of fresh food and fresh fruit and vegetables now available in most of the small towns  up the highway.

The difference between our first trip around in 2008 and the present day is astounding, where five years ago we were flat out finding edible salad items like lettuce and good tomatoes , there is now a choice (vine ripened anyone? how about some bok choy?). We don't remember being able to buy quality fruit like grapes and citrus, now there's a good variety in most towns, all thanks to the truckies of Australia.   

The Threeways Roadhouse. Traffic from Queensland via the Barkly Highway meets traffic from north and south on the Stuart Highway

370 odd Km later we rolled into Daly Waters and went straight to the Daily Waters Pub - as you do!!. The pub is another one of the quirky places on most travellers' itineraries on the trip up the Stuart Highway 

The caravan park attached to the pub is nothing to write home about, it's very dusty from overuse (already - and so early in the season) even though much watering is carried out before the daily influx of regulars and newcomers. The amenities are OK and the beer is icy cold. 

Their main claim to fame is the pub itself - established in 1930  it is now  decorated  with an eclectic mix of memorabilia including a huge assortment of bras and other undergarments, plaques and letters of appreciation from local and overseas armed services, badges and patches from all types of emergency services, a large number of banknotes from all over the world nailed to the wall and what is claimed to be Australia's first thong tree.. 

Each evening the pub puts on a Beef & Barra dinner. Quite nice but getting a bit pricey at $28 a head plus drinks. The entertainment the night we stayed was not up to the standard we had previously enjoyed - evidently their usual performer had not yet arrived this season - but we had a good night anyway.

Daly Waters' principal claim to fame is that it has Australia's very first international airport, pressed into service to refuel aircraft in the Australia to England air race. The local sealed airstrip is some 10,000 ft long and still in use today. 

The Larkin Hangar (spelt "hanger" in material produced by the National Trust LOL !) houses an excellent history of the airstrip, particularly its wartime use - well worth a look.

The Larkin Hangar at Daly Waters.
No, the Patrol has not mysteriously changed colour! This is a pic from our second trip through here in 2011.





The airstrip was used extensively during WW2 as a transit point for Australian and US aircraft carrying the war to New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. The situation was thought to be very grim with Darwin, Broome and even Katherine bombed by the Japanese. Additionally, both before and after the fall of Singapore there was a strong feeling that invasion was imminent, this thought was probably increased by the Japanese presence in New Guinea.

Robyne's late father Alan Dent could have transited through here on his way to Horn Island off the tip of Cape York with his comrades of the RAAF radio / radar sections, where they endured quite bad conditions including intense heat, food and water rationing and regular bombing and strafing from Japanese aircraft.

Onward and upward, (well, up the map anyhow) it was a short stroll of 169 Km through to Mataranka and the delights of their hot springs.

NT National Parks have done quite a nice job of improving access to the hot spring, as well as chasing away many thousands of flying foxes that also claimed the area as their own. Parks rather cleverly used the non-lethal method of placing sprinklers in the tall palms where the flying foxes chose to roost. The method was successful and it is now possible to visit the area without the screeching and the guano.

The pool area of the hot springs is also well designed and user friendly - well done, Parks, although they  had to exert their authority and introduce an alcohol free  policy at the springs.

 The Mataranka Hot Springs, the no alcohol policy works a treat !!

The water from the hot springs flows into the Waterhous River around 75 metres downstream from the springs. Luckily there is a screen preventing local wildlife like this fresh water crocodile from joining in the fun.  

It is usually possible to take a canoe and to swim in the Waterhous River (the fresh water crocs are harmless) and Parks provides an entry point to the river at the end of the walking track but this year there has been evidence of saltwater crocs in the area and a trapping programme is underway so swimming and canoeing is out..

NEXT STOP Katherine.

Regards

TJ
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