What a lovely chance it was to just relax today. Having been aiming to hit the road again, we were happy that we had chosen to stay put for an extra night. Not that we got much of a chance to sleep in, springing into action at a bit before 9:00AM. There were things that we needed to do.

Our first order of business, was to go for our morning walk with the dogs, meandering along the banks of the river with them again. Still no sightings of a crocodile to report yet, though we did keep a wary eye open all the same. It would have been every man, woman and dog for themselves if we had come across one.

Depositing the pooches back at the van, we headed towards where we had lunch yesterday, at the Mataranka Manor Caravan Park. They offer free Barramundi feeding shows twice a day, and we were aiming to catch the 9:30AM showing this morning. At a lake on the property, there was about a dozen of us standing around, waiting for the show to start. Even before the keeper made himself known, several large Barra specimens could be seen swimming hungrily about the submerged platform that speared out into the lake. Circling round, they were waiting for the feed that they knew wasn’t far away.

Look closely, and you can just see one of the Barramundi.

When the staff member did emerge, he walked out onto the platform, which had him standing knee deep in the water, the fish now slyly lying off to either side of him. With a bucket of small bait fish, he threaded pieces onto a fishing line, before hovering them out over the water. The big fish were surprisingly quick and agile, the bait floating over the surface of the water one second, and in a splash of water, gone the next.

When volunteers were called for, to have the big Barramundi eat from their hands, I quickly stuck my hand up. Walking out along the platform, gingerly holding the bait in my hand, I lowered it towards the water. With it sitting an inch or so above the water, before I could have second thoughts, my fingers were empty. Apart from a splash, droplets springing forth from the pond, I hadn’t felt a thing. Later, reviewing the video footage that Bec had filmed, I did indeed jump at the moment the fish relieved me of the tiny tasty morsel.

With the Barramundi having had their feed, we took our cue and headed into town. Our first stop was the supermarket, where we were going to purchase a few things for lunch. With very little choice of fresh fruit, vegetables and the only meat available frozen, there wasn’t much to choose from. We did buy a loaf of bread, which has also been frozen. They only get one delivery of bread per week out here, each Thursday. Apparently, any bread sold after Saturday, is therefore necessarily frozen. Even frozen, it’s not cheap, at $5.00 a loaf. We had heard stories of expensive bread, and one couple was bemoaning the fact at Daly Waters where, we had been told, it was $7.00 a loaf. They had been joking about their golden loaf. Being that we hadn’t paid quite that much, we have decided that ours is only a silver loaf. It just goes to show how difficult and expensive the cost of living is in the outback though, even in this day and age.

Right next door to the supermarket was the Mataranka Transaction Centre, where we had to go to gain access to the ‘Never, Never’ Museum. At $3.00 each, and having just spent the last of my small change on our silver loaf, I resorted to my emergency $50.00 note. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the change for a fifty, so we didn’t make a transaction at the Transaction Centre, and missed out on the museum in the process. In all likely hood, we may have been able to cobble together the required entry price, from the loose coins in ‘The Beast’, but I don’t think we really missed all that much.

Being that it was directly across the road, we then had a quick look at the giant man made termite mound. I fail to quite see the whole purpose of going to the effort of constructing what is declared to be the largest man made termite mound in the whole world, when we have seen bigger ones by the highway during our travels, which have been entirely designed by nature. Oh well, at least we can check off another item from our list of world record holding sights, not that the termite mound seems to have been officially recognised in any way.

That brought our sightseeing of the Mataranka area to an end, as we headed back towards the van. For the rest of the morning, we busied ourselves with some chores, including giving the dogs a shower. If anyone was to ask, I’d say that they don’t smell, but then we have been living with them in the close confines of our tin can for 7 weeks. I am sure that to an outsider, there would indeed be a particular odour apparent. No more though, with both dogs washed and shampooed to within an inch of their lives.

Following a late lunch, we changed into our swimming trunks, for another ride down the gentle rapids of Berry Springs. The water felt somewhat colder today, but was still a comfortable warmth in which to relax. Well, kind of relax, as the current took hold of us and swept us down stream. Clinging to my ‘noodle’, I bobbed about as the heavy current dragged me along.

I’ve conquered the rapids!

Looking upstream, from where we had just drifted.

Under and above the surface.

Getting used to the sensation, I began to enjoy it today. After three trips down stream, with a serene and relaxing paddle in the shallows at the end each time, before the freezing walk back to the starting point, I had conquered the rapids. I strode triumphantly back to the caravan park, proudly waving my ‘noodle’ about.

Holding my noodle.

It was already getting late by the time we called it quits, and back at the van, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening packing the caravan up. As much as we have loved it here, we must endeavor to continue, before falling irrevocably behind on our plans. At this stage, we are at least still on target for our expected arrival date in Darwin. In saying that, I am expecting to be wallowing about in a mobile phone reception black hole until such time that we do arrive in Darwin, so it will most likely not be until then that you get to hear about our next couple of weeks worth of adventures. Be sure to know though, that we will be having a fantastic time.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.