Mataranka, Northern Territory, Australia
Mum loves the very civilised 130km/hour speed limit in the Northern Territory. This made the time it took to travel the 1,075 kilometres north from Alice Springs to Mataranka go by much faster.
We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn early on, with time for a quick photo stop. Many small regional towns are great at creating a reason for tourists to stop and to hopefully spend some money. Today, we spotted the Aileron Man and the U.F.O. Capital of the World at small outposts along the highway.
Along the way, we stopped to admire the Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles). These are boulders that appear to be stacked precariously in an abstract way. Many caravans had pulled up to make camp for the evening and to enjoy sunset on the Marbles.
Everyone travelling north has to experience the Daly Waters Pub. It was happy hour and everyone was very happy. The campground was full and the bar was packed. If you are looking for a job, you could get one here!
Mum also had to pass the most number of caravans today: she passed 36 of them heading north. Many of the caravans were from Victoria. We didn't count the ones heading south.
It was almost dark when we pulled into the campsite that had been recommended to us, only to discover it was fully booked out. We continued on to the Mataranka Homestead where we were able to join the 500 odd other campers for the night. Now, the majority of people are travelling in caravans and they were lined up as far as the eye could see. There were just so many people, which didn't excite us. We had found the mass exodus of grey nomads who have headed north for the winter.
Not only did Mataranka Homestead have hundreds of campers, they didn't have a camp kitchen. This encouraged everyone to dine at the Mataranka Homestead. We joined the queue and chose to eat from the very ordinary specials menu as the alternative was to wait almost an hour for dinner.
Live music was playing, people were dancing and everyone appeared to be waiting for the 9pm whip cracking show by Nathan "Whippy" Griggs. We took front row seats and waited for the show to begin. Whippy was an entertainer and impressed us all. For his finale, he set his whips alight! There were many children who left Mataranka with their first whip! Sadly, there is no room in our car for a whip, let alone two!
2025-05-22