Getting There

The Springs

The infrastructure at the Springs was new and well planned. The staff were lovely, and knowledgeable and very helpful. The Springs themselves were amazing. They don’t come from the Great Artesian Basin like most of the hot springs and bores in Australia, instead they come from rain on the nearby mountain range. The water coming out the Springs is clear and bubbling and very hot: too hot to touch.

“Talaroo is home to the only mound springs in Australia not fed by the Great Artesian Basin but from water seeping from kilometres underground heated by hot granite rocks. At Talaroo, this water takes an incredible 20,000 years from falling as rain in the nearby Newcastle ranges to discharging from the Springs. “

Sadly, maintenance of the facilities was lacking. The swimming pool near the cafe was closed: the water looked thick and green. The ladies’ toilet and shower block was closed; I used the disabled shower, the shelf was broken. Although the published information said there was potable water available at each camp site, signs warned the water was not drinkable unless boiled for 10 minutes. The camp sites were set out very well, large sites easy to access. Not sure if the lack of maintenance is a management, staffing or finance issue, but with regular routine maintenance it would be amazing.

The hot spring pool is only available with the tour, so you can’t just go there for a soak at anytime. The pool had a lot of large pieces of green algae floating in it. Possibly also a maintenance issue, not sure. We didn’t feel really comfortable staying in it.

I don’t like to say negative things on our blogs, but it was disappointing. There is so much potential for it to be an amazing place. Hopefully things will change and improve.

cheers til next time, Helen & Tim