Wed, 24th July, 2024 Gravel pit off Elsey Cemetery Road, south of Mataranka to Mataranka Homestead Van Park, Mataranka, NT (Erica’s birthday)

12.4 degrees this morning and overcast. The overcast sky then descended into a heavy fog at 7.30am so no sun to warm us up but we refrained from putting the heater on!!

Erica’s birthday today - she would have been 88.

Still foggy as we drove into Mataranka and found the dump point etc.

Sky starting to lift as we headed back down the road to the Mataranka Homestead to park up for a couple of days and soak in the thermal waters here.

Very busy compared to when we were last here in March 2022 but there was still plenty of room. The others opted for powered sites and we parked up below them in the unpowered area. Lovely tree beside us to provide shade as the max temp is going to reach 33, 34 this week - heavenly.

Had a cuppa then put on our togs and walked down to the thermal pool for a soak. Still a bit cool but it was nice and wasn’t too crowded. Plenty of water flowing and it is lovely and clear.

Back to the camper for lunch. Lots of peacocks and chooks wandering about. The peacocks were having a mad race around for a while through the trees then they settled down to wandering slowly again. Funny listening to their honks.

I worked on my blog for a while and Steve checked the truck over. Found some insulation stuff around the exhaust pipe had come off so he pulled it off and redid it - another big job but that’s life on the road, maintenance needs to be done where ever you can do it.

Got to 31 degrees at 3pm.

After a cuppa we headed back down for another soak. Bit busier today. 

My cough is getting better but my ribs are still hurting from all the coughing.

Rang Terry to check on him. He went out to the crematorium to visit Erica’s plaque today. The orchid which the Cancer place had given her when she was having treatment flowered today which was a wonderful sign for him. He is doing well which is great.

Nice to be able to sit outside longer without having to put a jumper on when we had drinks. The others went for dinner in the pub but I had already put a roast in the Ecopot so we had it and roast vegies - the roast meat was so tender and delicious. There was a lady singing which we could hear clearly from our camp and she wasn’t too bad.