Day 46

DAY 46 – Tuesday

First thing we did when we got up was to go down to the river and check the nets.  We had caught a total of 3 red claws and two fish.  As it wasn’t really enough to make it worth cooking them, we decided to put them back.  We went back to the van and chatted to our neighbours before having breakfast and getting on the road again.

We stopped at Georgetown for fuel and then found a shady spot beside the road to stop and have lunch.  While we were having lunch we got out Camps 6 and tried to work out a plan for the day.  We couldn’t decide what to do so we decided to just drive until we found something.
At about 3.30pm we drove into Innot Hot Springs.  Darren went to the office of the Caravan Park to find out where we could go for a swim.  The caravan park had 6 different pools that were fed by the springs.  Each one had a different amount of cold water added so that each pool was a different temperature.  It was going to cost $24 for us just to swim in the pools, and as we only had about an hour to spare we decided to go for a walk along the creek beside the park instead.
The creek was fed by the springs, and the boys proceeded to paddle their feet in the water, only to find that the water was bloody hot!!  In fact, it was too hot to be able to stay comfortably in any part of the creek.

We got back in the car and found a free camp about 15km up the road called Archer Creek Campground.  It was a lovely spot, with nice grassy sites beside a creek.  The boys immediately grabbed their towels and went for a swim in the icy water, while Darren grabbed his fishing rod and tried his luck.  Thomas got cold fairly quickly and was happy to wander along the edge of the creek climbing on logs.  Mitch was happy swimming in the cold water, retrieving Darren’s’ lures when they got stuck on the rocky bottom of the creek.  Darren was happy fishing for a while, while I took photos and walked along the edge of the creek.

When we went back to the caravan, I made pizzas for tea while Darren set up his camp shower, and we all had nice warm showers in the ensuite tent.  Thomas went visiting after dark and started talking to some people that had made a little campfire.  They invited us over to share their fire so we took over our chairs and a cuppa, and talked to the people, while the boys cooked marshmallows.  It started to get a bit cold and one lady went to bed, so we headed back to the caravan and set up the swags.  The boys had both been a bit cold the last couple of nights, so I put extra blankets in their swags.  We all went to bed at about 9pm.