Katherine

From Mataranka to Katherine is only a short drive. Katherine is quite a busy centre (it even has traffic lights) as it is the point where you either go north to Darwin of west to WA. We are not going to Darwin as we have been before so we will be heading West. We had heaps of shopping to do and then we settled into the caravan park. You just walk out the back gate to the Hot Springs so you can guess where I went as soon as we were set up. This one is long and narrow and a cooler than Bitter Springs. I love the way you meet people while in the Springs and I met a lovely couple who we had drinks with later on.
The car races were on Sunday which Brian wanted to watch so I decided to go on a cruise on the Katherine Gorge. We have been here before and we hired kayaks but we only went to the first gorge.
I chose the 3 gorge cruise and was lucky enough to get a lift out there with a couple I met in the hot springs.
The cruise was amazing. We all boarded the boat at 9am and headed up the first gorge. The cliffs tower above you on either side.
It is interesting to see how the trees grow out of little cracks and crevasses in the rocks. We came to the end of this gorge we all disembarked and walked up to view some rock art. Our guide explained the meaning of the drawings which are thousands of years old. We then walked over the rocks to board the next boat to cruise the second gorge. This gorge is spectacular and is narrower than the first one.As you pass by the huge cliffs you are awed by their magesty. There are lots of sub gorges that are full of trees which give some protection to the wildlife in the floods of the wet. As we came to the end of this one we disembarked and climbed onto some smooth rocks
which have all been weathered by the force of the flowing water to form holes and small caves. From here we could look right down the second gorge.
I was sitting next to a lovely couple who really appreciated the beauty of the landscape and it was nice to find someone with similar ideas to me.
Back on the boat and after a short time in the third gorge we clambered over some rocks to a beautiful waterhole and waterfall.
The water was very refreshing and very clear. When you swim in these water holes surrounded by huge cliffs and hear the splashing of the waterfall you really appreciate the beauty of this country of ours.
After the swim we had a snack and climbed back over the rocks to the waiting boat. On our way back our guide pointed out the different plants used by aborigines for bush tucker, weaving and spears. We also saw a freshwater crocodile sunny itself on the sandy banks. These crocodiles mainly eat small insects and small animals so are not really a threat to us unless you provoke them or it is their breeding season. They lay their eggs in the sandy banks that appear now and then. There normally aren’t any salt water crocs in here but when the water levels rise in the Wet the salties get washed down and we passed a croc trap on the boat trip. Every year the rangers have to check the area for the evidence of salt water crocs. At the moment there is one in the Gorge and so far they haven’t been able to catch it so you cannot go kayaking.
We arrived back and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Back at the campsite I went exploring on bike to the Springvale Homestead which is one of the oldest homesteads in the NT.
There are some huge trees here which were planted in1876. On the way there it I passed the Low Level crossing across the Katherine River. There a lovely picnic area here but unfortunately you can’t swim because of the crocodiles.

Peddling back the five kms back to caravan park I just had time for a quick swim in the Hot Springs before joining some friends for drinks. What an energetic day!

We are enjoying typical Top End days of blue skies and 30 degree days – shorts and t-shirt weather.