Talaroo Hot Springs

We had an early night last night, ready for our 6am start today. We finished packing up and headed up for breakfast at 7, then hit the road. The glare from the sun made the dirt road so much harder to navigate on the way out. As road trains would pass, they'd kick up dust and we couldn't see anything. We had a quick stop at Georgetown for fuel before heading to Talaroo Hot Springs. This one wasn't on our list, but Mac at the Charters Towers info centre suggested it and we've decided where possible, we'll do people's suggestions. The limited wifi meant we couldn't book, but we could see that there was a 10am tour with lots of availability, which we were aiming for. We arrived around 9:40 and were able to book on arrival. Levina was our tour guide today and we only had 2 other guests with us, who were on the Gorge tour with us yesterday morning. We were welcomed onto the Ewamian country and learned about the history of the area. The Ewamian's got the Talaroo land back in 2011 and only opened officially to the public last year for a short 8 week season (which is probably why it wasn't on our radar originally). They have built boardwalks around the Hot Springs, to preserve the springs and protect visitors. Levina was very entertaining and incredibly knowledgeable. She shared local stories, including those about a massacre location not far from where we stood, they are hoping to open it as a memorial reserve where people can reflect and have picnics and bbqs later down the track. The 'wallaby' is the hottest and deepest hot spring at 5km deep, before the camera the CSIRO sent down melted. The temperatures of each hotspring are measured each morning, today this one was 63°. We stopped at the 'foot spa', which measured at roughly 42°, guests are encouraged to immerse their feet, then after roughly 30 seconds, if you don't move, it doesn't feel as hot. It felt a bit like one of my showers. We finished the tour with a half an hour soak in a bathing pool at roughly 37°. It was lovely, especially as it's quite a fresh day at the moment.Baca lagi