TENNANT CREEK and MATARANKA!

No...we haven't dropped off the face of the earth...just no Internet service and no McDonalds anywhere for free service. Tonight I've got an Internet booth, but can't post pics due to no flash drive access. Hope to soon though!

The drive to Tennant Creek from Alice was interesting. Aileron was an interesting stop with a huge Aboriginal man with a spear looming over the roadhouse from the hill behind. Beside the roadhouse there's a huge statue of an Aboriginal mother and child too. They are probably around 6 metres tall and look very effective out in the dry landscape.

Next stop was The Devils Marbles. Wow! Couldn't get over how many of them there were. That Rainbow Serpent really did lay a lot of eggs in the Dreamtime! We had lunch there....quite warm too, so had to sit beneath boulders to get out of the sun/heat. After a quick bite and cuppa, we walked around the rocks/boulders and then took off for Mataranka.

When we got there, we only just squeezed into the Homestead Campground and ended up in a bus area. It was a nightmare finding a site, as you just go where you want and hope you're lead is long enough...it's all just dust and ghost gums too....and half the power points don't work either! Finally we got settled and went down to Rainbow Thermal Pool...and it was awesome. A constant 34 degrees in the water. The pool is lined with huge native palms and the water is a jade green colour and flows quite quickly through the pool. No bats either....thanks to the sprinkler system that have installed to scared them away!

Got a few birds here too Golivers! Pheasant Coucal, Greater Bowerbird and shining flycatcher.

On the second day we went to a market....or really a car boot sale (around 5 stalls all up!) and then went and saw a free Barra feeding show in a lagoon. That was interesting, as the man hand feeds barra and then grabs them, lifts them clear out of the water and shows everyone! The fish didn't smile for my photo though. Georgia was lucky enough to feed one using a fishing rod (with no hook though!).

After the fish feeding, we went to Bitter Springs. This spring is much nicer than the commercial one, as it's less crowded, is much bigger and felt even hotter. You get into the spring (which looks like an aqua clear creek) and float down the stream/spring for about 800m between palms, paperbark trees, logs etc. The scary part is you float under heaps of huge spider webs that have massive orb spiders sitting in them, looking at you...."The spiderman is having me for dinner....tonight!". Anyway...once I got over the shock and learnt not to look up, Frey, Georg, Dad and I took to floating down the river (as the current is quick) on pool noodles. Frey actually used a life jacket....thanks Andrew and Mandy for that! It's been very useful.

We got Bec, Heather and Mum in too. That was hilarious, as they all enjoyed it, but didn't do it again. Don't think they liked the "natural" features of the pond, like spiders, weeds, slimy logs, water bugs, etc.

After a bbq tea, Dad, Frey, Georg and I went on a night walk. We walked along the waterhouse river and spotlighted.... On the way we killed around 12 cane toads....Georgia was the best at spotting them! Frey didn't like how their guts came out of their mouths when Pop or I stomped on them though!!! Lol...but we explained how we were doing our bit for the environment! When we went to the river, there was a large freshwater croc. just sleeping on a log where the thermal water flowed into the river! The s loved that! We also saw a lot of agile wallabies.

In the morning, we had a decent coffee in town (hard to find up here) and went canoeing on the Waterhouse River. Dad and Frey were in one canoe and Georg and I in another. We spent an hour going under pandanus palms, around logs and up and down the small creek paddling away. We saw heaps of birds too: flycatchers, bee-eaters, azure kingfishers, ies and more. We even had a large freshwater croc swim across in front of our canoe. Cool!

After lunch we went back to Bitter Springs to do it all again. We floated down stream and had a ball in the 30 degree sunny weather. I'm sunburnt! The only thing different about this time was we had Merten's Water Monitors crawling along the bank in the weeds. Cool! Georg and I did a bit of snorkelling too, as the water is crystal clear and quite deep...so you can see all of the logs and weeds and things. I even caught a little native turtle in the main pond...but let him go! Of course!

We had tea at the resort and had fun talking to Kev, John and Jenny from Hollands Buslines in Maryborough! They bought in 4 busloads and surrounded our van with 150 Year 11 students. Groan! But, they were quiet and we managed to have a good sleep.

Tonight I'm in Cooinda...which is in Kakadu. I'll write about here soon...but I'll give you the hot tip....it was 34 degrees here today and it was stinking hot! Right now it's 9pm and i'm sitting in wet bathers and a tank trying to stay cool!

Anyway...off to spot crocs off the jetty in the dark with a torch. Greg tells me their eyes glow red in the dark...so hope I see some red neons over the billa !

Hope you're happy now Brett.....the latest addition is up mate! Shaun....met a guy Reynolds here...works for Qantas in Yulara and knows you...plays cards with ya! Small world hey!