TOD Tour 2.0 Day 41 - Bitter Springs

Bitter Springs

There is no doubt that one-night stays have the distinct advantage of allowing a quick departure the next day. With the van already attached, there is little infrastructure to be reorganised and the majority of the time between waking up and driving away, is breakfast.

As has been the case for more than a week now, most of the travelers we shared the campground with last night were heading either south or south and then east. Very few are heading in our direction. We are aware the next four weeks will be hot and increasingly humid weather but our choices are limited. Even after we leave Darwin to cross Australia from north to south in about six weeks, there will only be increasing heat. It’s a price we have to pay for our late departure and the reason we have chosen to change our original intent to “go over the top”. Such is life and it’s not home.

There were three things about the drive which made it interesting. Easily the strangest happened when we stopped at Larrimah. Its barely a dot on the map, but it had a strategic importance in WWII, as Gorrie Airfield was built just out of town. It was built because it was just out of the range of Japanese bombers and it would provide a place for Allied aircraft to be repaired in safety. We stopped in here during AUC 1995 but I doubt the kids remember anything other than me shooting footage of hundreds of Pink Galahs being scared into flight by Chris running at them. Sarah would probably remember seeing her first Sturt's Dessert Pea. The Stuart Highway at Larrimah. We like funny little eateries and stray cups of coffee in out of the way places. They have always rewarded us.

Fran's place

Not this time. Fran, apparently, has "the cancer" and is in Melbourne for treatment. Young lady - unknown - was closing down the business "in a few days". We ordered tea and Sue ordered a scone. I drove back to the pub because the toilet was blocked but I was invited outback for man's business. By the time I returned, the tea and scone had arrived. The scone was a dried up bit of dough about the size of a fifty cent piece. The jam was of uncertain variety. The tea was a tea bag hanging in hot water. Sugar came the way of raw sugar which could be prized away from the motherload with judicious scraping. The spoons were plastic and in a screw lid jar which was labelled "clean spoons". Until then, I had thought the point of plastic spoons was to throw them away.

That had been the easy part. When I went to pay I was told my tea was $6 and Sue's tea and scone was $14. Now you are thinking what followed was spirited exchange with our host over the cost and a refusal to pay. Perhaps, on another day, when a NT Police sign - a big "vote for me"sized sign - asking for information on the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty, wasn't beside me. Paddy, who walked out of the Larrimah Pub one night, hopped on his quad bike with his dog and has never been seen again. Perhaps if I hadn't seen the woman's partner - we'll call him Billy Bob - who walked by us twice: the first time carrying a tommyhawk and the second an axe.

We paid and left and were still complaining about our sacrificed $20 when the truck nearly ran us off the road and the bushfire started to dominate the eastern side of the roadway

160kms today to Bitter Springs, which is a few kms east of Mataranka. Bitter Springs is part of Elsey National Park, so named because much of it was formerly Elsey Station, home of Aeneas and Jeannie Gunn from 1901 to 1903. It must have been a fertile place because Mrs Gunn found enough material to write two books, The Little Black Princess and the better known autobiographical novel We Of The Never Never. The latter has sold over a million copies since it was published in 1908 and although Gunn changed the names of characters in the book, it was a thinly disguised retelling of her life at Elsey. Tragically, her short time away from Melbourne and in the Northern Territory - two years - was caused by the death of her new husband.

There is nothing left of the Elsey Homestead but a marker.

After a quick stop at Mataranka, we traveled the short distance to our caravan park which borders the national park and the Bitter Springs thermal pool. The pool is a 500m spring fed thermal pool, of which about 200m is available to use. Unlike others in the area it is deeper than adult height and has a current but it does have the trademark warmth of about 28C. Most enter at one end with a noodle - those high density coloured foam things - and just float from one end to the other along the boomerang shaped pool.

We took a walk out to the springs in the late afternoon. The water is clearer than tap water and the entry and exit points well maintained. There is a cement pathway into the springs from a car park (no one mentioned you could take your car in) and around one side of a circular path on either side of the springs. Tall palms tower above you and paperbark fill the space between, so the area is constantly in shade.

Somewhat disquieting are the crocodile warning signs, but authorities are certain, at worst, that any encounter would be a freshwater crocodile. A man was bitten here a few years ago. Humans are not on their diet but they will still bite. The more dangerous saltwater crocodile don’t inhabit the area.

I’m not sure I’m reassured!

Click for today's photos

We have previously visited Mataranka Homestead, which has always been the tourist Mecca of the area. The Springs there were made into a formal pool with steps and formed sides during WWII, as a retreat for the officer class. It’s delightful but the adjacent caravan park and inn, leave a lot to be desired these days.

Three nights here.

AUC 1995 - Mataranka (NT)

Mataranka (NT)
Larimah (Stuart Highway) 168 kms

The road was beneath us again, come 8:30 am, as we headed toward Mataranka Homestead. This was one of our planned short hops, to compensate for the popularity of the place we were travelling to: the theory being, early arrival at our destination would ensure the site we wanted. Therefore, the 170km we had to travel was not seen in the same daunting light the previous day's travel had been.

Our route north took us past several more cairns, but we didn't make any "real" stops until the town of Larimah. On little more than a whim, we turned off the Stuart Highway because of a sign which simply said "museum" and in the process, found enough fascinating history to fill a few hours.

This started at the "museum" in question, a little building located near a disused railway siding. Several signs outside and inside caught the attention, owing to their humorous and at times quirky wording. Near the entrance was a visitors book which had a preface "For old diggers ONLY" and another imploring the visitor to turn the lights off after they leave - presuming, one would suppose, all visitors must have long arms !

The building turned out to be a signal repeater station developed at Larimah during the Second World War. It had been essential for communication to the Top End to be improved dramatically, at the start of the fifth decade of this century, as well as a rapid improvement in the standard and reliability of transport.

The history of the NT, is marked by the enormous leap forward communication and transport links took during the course of the years 1940 to 1945. A rail link had existed, in part, to nearby Bidwill prior to the war. It was extended to Larimah in 1940, giving rise to the hope a link would be established, finally, from Adelaide to Darwin.

As the Japanese made repeated attacks on Darwin and northern Australia, troops were moved to the north for defensive purposes and in doing so, staging posts had to be established. Larimah was one such post and had as many as 6 000 personnel stationed there in 1943.

Nine kilometres further north, an airfield was established for the maintenance and repair of allied aircraft. It was built here because of the proximity to the rail head and the fact it was beyond the range of enemy bombers. The airfield was begun in November 1942 and the bulk of the work was completed by March 1943. During its life, the facility was vital in its role of replenishing the hardware needed in the defence of Darwin and the offensive taken in New Guinea. As the years rolled on, 1600 aircrew added to the compliment of service personnel in the area.

Gorrie Airfield

Gorrie Airfield was named after an RAAF pilot - Peter Gorrie - who was killed flying a mission in Europe and continued in its role, after the war, until closure in 1946*. The airfield also marks the southern most point any Japanese aircraft flew in Australian air space, as a Zero flew over the field in 1943, hotly pursued by an RAAF Spitfire. The Zero dropped its main external fuel tank on the runway, as it prepared to cut and runfrom the Spitfire, but it was ultimately shot down, having caused no damage. The fuel tank is on display in the Larimah Museum.

It was strange driving down the deserted gravel runway, claimed from the bush which was thick on either side and exploring the remains of control towers and other facilities. The ghosts of Liberators and Spitfires seemed to roar along with us as we drove from one end of the runway to the other. A photograph - in the Larimah Museum - of two airmen standing beside "the giant anthill" came flooding back as we stood beside the same anthill at the runway's southern end.

I returned to the car, after shooting stills and video footage, moved by the stillness and images of what life in this remote place must have been like.

From this place of fifty years silence, we moved further back in time, to the resting place of Aeneas Gunn and other luminaries mentioned in Jeannie Gunn's "We of the Never Never". The graves, now in a government burial place on the old Elsey Station, are approximately 3km from the site of the homestead. Both the graves and the homestead had little affect on us, as Sue and I both felt we had read more moving accounts and were aware of harder lives than that suffered, for twelve months, by Mrs Gunn.

It was on to our end point in the day's travel, Mataranka Homestead, and the delights it had to offer.

It is quite a complex! All type of accommodation needs are catered for here, from motels to camping. There is a pleasant bistro and bar, fresh pig on a spit each night, free live entertainment, billy tea and damper, visits to the recreated Elsey Homestead (used in the film "We of the Never Never"), scenic flights and the Thermal Pool.

The tourist resort is located adjacent to the Thermal Springs and the beautiful Waterhouse Creek - a
tributary of the Roper River. The thermal springs themselves, were developed during the Second World War, when soldiers were stationed here. The officers had the channel leading away from the spring widened, so they could enjoy the spoils of the 34.5 degree natural bathing. An enlisted man had the last laugh though. He recognised the tourist potential, bought the lease in 1946 and made a fortune until it became government property as a National Park.

The walls have been reinforced on one side with local rock and a series of steps into the water along this side, allow the visitor to sit quietly and enjoy the cleansing affect of the heated, mineral springs. Although there are some rocks on the bottom, the predominantly sandy floor of the channel is a most pleasing sensation. The clarity of the water is truly remarkable, as is its cleanliness. Sixteen thousand litres of water flow from the spring per hour and this keeps a constant flow passing through the Thermal Pool. It therefore copes with even the heaviest tourist usage.

After soaking for some time in the pool, we caught up with its most recent addition. It appeared, a 3 metre python had been visiting over the past week and had little concern for any human being which might be using the water at the time. Harmless to humans, the python leisurely lounged his way through the water, clearing a path for himself, simply by his presence. One disbeliever to the story of the snake I was now calling "Monty", had become a convert that morning. He had noticed that people had been avoiding him and had all either left the water or retired to the far side of the pool. The reason for their reluctance to continue being in close proximity to Mr Cynic reached realisation point for him when he looked down to see "Monty" brushing past his lonely feet at the bottom of the pool.

The water of the Thermal Pool was delightful and so warm we felt cold when we got out of the water, despite the outside temperature being in the mid twenties. The water is said to have therapeutic powers and many of the oldies which make up at least 60% of the travellers, seemed to believe this to be true. The copious numbers of older citizens and the late afternoon sunshine filtered through the trees and palms, was enough to bring vivid images of the movie "Cocoon" to mind.

During the evening, we attended the free entertainment provided by the resort. In this case, it was a guitarist/singer who obviously harked back to the sixties and had an excellent repertoire. He was an excellent musician (not just because he said I had a hot voice !) and was able to play a wide range of requests from an audience which varied in age, cultural background and interest. Chris was excited by the guitar work and Sue and I loved being able to sing along with most of the songs.
Some of his own songs were also very good and the satirical stuff which he included went down well.

* Please note correction in the comment from Bill Piggott, below.