We shopped and fuelled up at Tennant Creek and then camped just outside of Tennant Creek at The Pebbles a nice quiet camp site a few kms off road.
From there to Attack Creek which was a very nice spot and then on to Newcastle Waters where we stayed a few days to pass away the school holidays as we had heard that everywhere up north was quite cramped.
We had to pick up a few more groceries at Mataranka as we were staying over at Elsey National Park. The prices were terrible eg $6.50 for a frozen white loaf of bread, but I suppose we have to look at freight costs.
Elsey NP is a lovely spot with large campsites, shady or not as you prefer. The Roper river runs alongside with fishing and swimming. The NP provides pontoons for swimming and you can also hire canoes. Although there are Barramundi in the river and we tried our best to catch one for dinner we were unsuccessful and had to have frozen fish for tea.
We walked 4km to the Elsey falls but they were unremarkable. The small waterfalls closer to the campsite are a lot more pleasing.
The NP check for saltwater crocodiles prior to the busy season but there are still freshwater in the river. On our walk to the falls we took a photo of one sunning itself on a log with a turtle sat right behind it on the same log.
Every night we heard the wild donkeys and the first night we were woken with a fight which had broken out amongst them. There were also wallabies and Apostle birds and Bower birds which came down every day to get a feed.
Also at Mataranka are several thermal pools which are lovely. Bitter springs is a natural waterhole where you can swim and drift along with the current and climb out again downstream. The other thermal pool is at the Mataranka homestead and is more manmade with a large concreted area to loll in.
We stayed for 5 nights and all in all had a nice restful time.
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