Alice Springs, Tennant Creek & Mataranka

Alice Springs, Tennant Creek & Mataranka

Hi all from the ‘Top end’!

Alice Springs NT

The town itself is a cess-pool, but the surrounding country is fantastic. Nai and I had a little spare cash from previous weeks so thought we’d get involved with a hot-air balloon. Thought we’d be guided by the local Alice Springs Ernie Dingo  – instead it was Kim from South Korea! Great experience none the less.

 

We ventured out the West MacDonnell ranges for a day trip visiting a few of the major attractions.

Simpson gap above was amazing and well worth a look.

Good track in boys.

Serpentine Gorge.

Tennant Creek NT

Hmmmmmm.... 150 police for a town of 7,000. You do math and make the judgement. Luckily for Nai and I it was only a 1 night stop-over before our 500 clicks up the last leg of the Stuart Hwy.

Jimmy the bush tucker man put on a show for us that night. Best (and maybe the only) good thing to come out of Tennant Creek.

Mataranka NT

A lovely small town on the Roper River near the ‘Top End’. Famous for their thermal springs. Great place to visit.

The thermal springs (conveniently 400m down the road) were a 2-3 times daily event. Constant 34 degree water and also constantly flowing from deep underground... So that cheeky little wee didn’t matter at all!

In our spare time had our first dab at catching the elusive Barramundi. Went to the effort to catch some live bait and got the shock of my life when I pulled in the biggest shrimp i’d ever seen. They call them Cherobin up here and eat them if their big enough. But I wanted to catch a Barra so I used him as bait! Needless to say I should have eaten the Cherobin myself...no barra....yet!