Capital of the ‘Never Never’

Wild Brumbies adjacent to our campsite

So the next morning it was back off to Katherine after a great few days in the Kakadu. Max really enjoyed our time there and I was impressed by the way the place was set-up. Our entire experience was reliant on the Parks and Wildlife Services - from campsites to the boat ride up the river – and everything was well priced and well run.
When we got to Katherine tracking down a tyre turned out to be a major issue. In the end the local Bridgestone workshop has had to order one in from Adelaide as there aren’t even any to fit our car in Darwin so we now have until Monday before we start heading off towards Kununurra.
Once we had topped up with fuel and washed clothes we headed off again for Mataranka after deciding to spend our remaining few days exploring the hot springs area. On the way down max looked through the Camps book and picked out a campsite he liked the look of. When we got there it turned out to be another run by parks and Wildlife, very similar to those we had stayed in throughout the Kakadu and max was thrilled with his choice. In the end we paid for the full four nights we have before we are able to get the new tyre fitted.
The following morning we headed back into Mataranka and spent a couple of hours looking through the local museum. While there was a lot of interesting information and a few valuable artefacts, the whole place had a feel of decay, with not a lot of are appearing to have been taken of many of the exhibits since it opened over 20 years ago.
We left there and headed back towards our campsite, however rather than turning off we continued onto the Mataranka Homestead and the hot springs there. When we got there we found the replica homestead used for the film ‘We of the Never Never’ had been relocated so we wandered around looking at it. There was also a note advising that the film plays in the nearby bar at noon every day so we have resolved to head back in the next couple of days and view it.
After much complaining I talked Max into walking down to the hot springs for a look. In the end this was another walk that he was glad we did as he had an absolute ball at the springs – including meeting another 9 year old boy who is also in the middle of touring Australia – in his case just with his mum. The result of this was the first time since we left Darwin that I haven’t been the focus of max’s attention which was fantastic in some ways but took a little getting used to…

The 'missed' sign

This morning we headed off to find the Mataranka Waterfalls. The walk trail starts at our campsite (in fact the directional sign is beside our car, although neither of us had noticed it until I went wandering around looking for a sign that would tell me how far away the falls were!) and Max was a little apprehensive at it is over 4km each way. The walk itself was very pleasant although Max complained bitterly for the first 1.5km (due to me insisting that we walked out to the falls first and stopped at the swimming pontoons on our way back as I thought we would need a swim by the time we got back). Suddenly Max decided that his hat was the problem and talked me into swapping, with the result that he ran much of the rest of the way leaving me to follow. The falls themselves were pleasant enough, but not up to the standard we had become used to in the Kakadu, also Max wasn’t particularly happy as I wouldn’t let him swim there as I didn’t think he was a strong enough swimmer for the river conditions.
The walk back was a chore as I worked out exactly how unfit Max really is, I guess we haven’t really done that many lengthy walks over the years as a family so hopefully the next few weeks will result in a difference. By the time we got back Max was so tuckered out he decided he would prefer a lie down to a swim!