We woke up at Renner Springs this morning with some strong winds. This would normally mean not a good day for towing but they were tending to be tail winds so that was going to save some fuel.
It was only a 400km journey today from Renner Springs through to Mataranka Homestead. Only one stop for fuel at Elliott and sat between 100 to 110 kph with the tail wind.
Again, only light traffic on the road with some caravans and road trains making up the most of it.
On arrival at Mataranka Homestead we were expecting it to be empty but it was chockers. It turns out that it is a long weekend in the Northern Territory and most of Darwin seemed to have come down to Mataranka for the weekend.
So, we missed out on one of the shady spots closer to the Thermal Pool but settled for a spot on the old WW2 Runway. Even though it was in full sun, the awning and shade cloth kept the van cool. It is a powered site so the A/C was on as well.
After setting up the Taj, we walked down to the Thermal Pool. We have never seen it so packed. So much for social distancing. The signs said to keep a crocodile distance between yourself and the next person. There was no chance of that. It looked more like the Ganges today.
We kept our distance as best we could soaking for around 3 hours. The pool emptied out towards 530pm with all the kids being taken back to camp for the evening meal.
After some quiet time in the near empty pool it was back to the van for a lamb roast before heading down to the Homestead for the Nathan “Whippy” Griggs whip cracking show. This must be about the 15th time I have seen it and it hasn’t changed. It is still entertaining all the same.
