Mataranka Thermal Pool

A palm-fringed thermal pool in Elsey National Park, fed by a spring that discharges tens of millions of litres a day.

Calistemon

Bathing: Outdoor

Mataranka Thermal Pool lies in Elsey National Park in the Northern Territory, where Rainbow Spring rises beneath a stand of cabbage palms and paperbarks and forms a clear, sand-bottomed bathing pool before draining into the Waterhouse River. The water is warm year-round and the setting is pure tropical savannah — a short boardwalk from the car park, then steps down into water the colour of weak tea.

Balnevia view

Why visit

This is one of Australia's most accessible natural thermal soaks: no bathhouse, no bookings, just a spring-fed pool in the bush. Bathers share it with the sound of flying foxes in the palms, and the nearby Bitter Springs offers a slower, drifting alternative through a spring-fed channel.

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The water

Thermal water

Source: Rainbow Spring
Mineralisation: Warm calcium-bicarbonate spring water
Character: Clear, constantly flowing spring water discharging roughly 30 million litres a day into a sand-bottomed pool

History

The area is Mangarrayi and Yangman country, and the springs have long been significant to local Aboriginal people. The surrounding station was made famous by Jeannie Gunn's 1908 book "We of the Never Never", written about life at Elsey Station; the pool was developed for visitors in the twentieth century and is now managed within Elsey National Park.

Practical information

The pool is free, open year-round and busiest in the dry-season winter months. Facilities are basic — changing rooms, toilets and picnic tables. Do not put your head under the water, avoid the pool if you have open wounds, and check park notices for seasonal closures or water-quality advice.

Getting there

Mataranka is on the Stuart Highway about 105 km south-east of Katherine and 420 km south of Darwin. The thermal pool is roughly 8 km east of the township, signposted from the highway, with sealed road access and parking.