Gorgeous Gorges

It was a long, hot drive from Devil's Marbles up the A87 to Katherine on Monday. More road trains and termite mounds, though the mounds changed in color from the red of the Red Center, to a more grayish tan putty color. Some of them were just huge, they looked like giant sand castles. It was hard to get a decent pic flying by in the car at 130 kph.

We pulled into Katherine and followed the yellow and blue "i" signs, as had become the norm. The information centers were usually quite informative! We found some brochures, and decided on the Shady Lane Tourist Park, mostly because it had a pool. It was also on the way to Katherine Gorge/Nititmiluk National Park, where we planned to hike on Tuesday. Across the street from the information center was a shopping center complete with a Woolworth's (one of the main grocery store chains in Australia) so we got stocked with food and supplies and headed to the campground.

Shawn read some about the activities possible on the Katherine River and was very excited about a possible 2-day canoe trip where we could see all of the gorges. (There are about 8 of them I think.) The more I thought about this possibility, the more apprehensive I became. It just did not sound like the best idea for my first ever canoe trip.

The caravan park was lovely, and a little different from the ones we had recently stayed at in the red center. Sites were small and absolutely crammed with tropical plants. The amenities, including laundry, were the cleanest and nicest we'd ever seen. It was hot and we'd been driving a long time, so the most important amenity to us at the moment was the pool! We were the only ones in it, and it was so nice. After cooling off, we cooked a dinner of sausages and lentils with couscous, and did laundry. We slept like babies, had a nice breakfast of eggs and sausage. Shawn had taken a lovely hot shower before bed, and I was so looking forward to mine in the morning.  Imagine my disappointment when I could not get the water temp even to lukewarm in the morning-- one of the drawbacks of solar showers? Ugh.

Once we got to the park, we learned that there would be no canoeing on the Katherine River for another couple of weeks. It seems they like to give the crocodiles their space...sounds like a good idea to me!

We parked near the Visitor Center, and blocked the sun as best we could using my sarong and one of the sleeping pads, in order to keep the car from cooking too much while we were out. There were many different hikes through a whole bunch of gorges. We chose one that could be accessed from where we were; it would be about 8km including return. The track led us on an increasingly steep climb through rocks and tropical vegetation, until we were standing at the top of the cliffs above the first gorge. It was a stunning and amazing view after a challenging climb in the heat. We drank a lot of water, and filled our bottles at every water stop we found.

rocks and palms on the way up

Shawn always has to go closer to the edge than I like to.

We had a a granola bar and dried apricots while enjoying the view from the top. There were two paths down; one led to the river bank, and the other brought us back to the path we came in on. We decided to do both of them. The path to the river was a steep rocky descent, with climbing chains at several points. The trail was a little hard to follow sometimes, but it led to some beautiful sights. There was a sheltered waterfall before the riverbank, where swimming was safe. Shawn took a dip, while I stayed on the rocks and watched the fish check out my toes in the water.

It's a longer way down than it looks here

This is what passes for a "trail" here

Down by the river: no crocs visible, but I'm not about to stick my toes in!

The trail wound back around to the main trail that had brought us in to the gorge. It was very hot on the return, and I had to move quickly to try to get out of the sun. There were only tiny bits of shade on the path now, unlike when we came up. By the time we got back to the car I was well and truly cooked.

We drove on over to the park campground, which was very nice. There was a camp kitchen and older bathroom/shower complex, and a very nice pool. We took advantage of this as soon as the tent was up. There was a large group of young and rowdy teenagers setting up camp in one of the areas set aside for large group camping. They were chaperoned, but quite boisterous. They swarmed on the pool area just as we were getting out. Excellent timing!

In addition to some near-feral kids, there were other residents of the campground including an enormous colony of fruit bats, or "flying foxes." They squawked and squabbled and were quite a presence up in the trees near the shower building. The area smelled almost skunky or musky, and their berry-stained poop was obvious on the sidewalks in the area. They were fascinating to watch though.

See where the name "flying fox" comes from.

Kangaroo or wallaby?

Company for dinner

I had learned my lesson about solar showers, and did not wait until morning to take a shower...though it was hot enough I wouldn't have minded a cool one. We had a lovely dinner of finger foods, cheese, crackers, veggies, etc. and a nice bottle of white wine. Unfortunately, between the kids (who did quiet down at 10 pm), the girls camping nearby (who kept talking and drinking well into the small hours) and the bats who never shut up all night, I didn't get the best night of sleep. Good thing there was a kettle in the camp kitchen for a nice cuppa tea in the morning! Onward towards Darwin!