15/9/08
Mataranka is a small pastoral town just south of Katherine. As we travel to Katherine a few times each year for school of the air events we didn’t stop this trip. Mataranka is known for its sandy bottomed thermal pools which certainly didn’t disappoint. The crystal clear water is very reassuring when you have crocodiles on your mind and the temperature was lovely. We did unintentionally swim with a snake one afternoon, and thankfully it was disinterested in us and was happy to go on it’s way. There was a board walk out beyond the thermal pools and of course the boys ran ahead. They found a massive olive python curled up under the walk and were wanting to extract it with a stick. The snake was large enough that it’s coils protruded from under the board walk. We reminded the boys about leaving nature alone to do it’s thing, and not to go near snakes. Another reminder of our daily need to pray for safety for our very inquisitive children. There were lots of beautiful walks around the area and we enjoyed the different scenery with paperbark tress and amazing termite mounds.
