An hour or so drive down the seamless bleak Stewart Hwy enrout to Alice Springs is fly speck of a town called Mataranka. Here you will find a cattle station, a couple of caravan parks, petrol station, food shop and a small gallery that sells the best ever mango smoothies and exhibits some paintings from Utopia.
The persons in Mataranka are of two kinds either travellers or aboriginals. The latter being the residence and the former stopping here for the enchanting hot springs. The springs here are an embracing 34 degree and at Bitter Springs a delicate current will gently drift you down the creek passing lily pads and flowers, pandamas trees, tiny speckled frogs, and a few swimming turtles. The whole glide goes about 250metres and at the finish a bush trail will lead you back to the start and you can do it all again. The experience can be likened to swimming through a tropical freshwater aquariums complete with water plants and fish. So if the perfect temperature and the surreal blue-green glowey colour isn't enough to make you take the a plunge then you'll be missing out on one of the best hot springs in Australia. Unfortunately the springs are closed at dark as the only thing that could have enhanced our experience would have been a star-studded night sky.
People that have visited Mataranka hot springs smile when they tell you about it and now we too can't help but crack a smile as we talk about our day gliding down the palm tree fringed blue-green waters of Bitter Springs. Top of the list!
The motley crew
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