Katherine

Kununurra – Katherine:  6 August [519 Km]

We got an early start for two reasons:  first, it will be another longish day on the road and, second, we ‘lost’ one and a half hours this morning as we crossed the border into Northern Territory.

Our day went very smoothly.  We left WA and travelled through some quite undulating country, with lots of boabs and kapok flowers.  After a while, we encountered flat country with our familiar straight road.  As we neared Victoria River and Timber Creek, however, we started seeing some impressive escarpments on both sides of the road. 

These have been created by the mighty Victoria River as it has cut through the plateau over eons.  Even the bridge over the Victoria River is quite high and very long, in part to withstand the water flows during wet seasons.  We then had undulating country all the way to Katherine, although there was no sign of any mountains or similar features.  We arrived in Katherine by 2.30 (NT time) and checked into our cabin and relaxed.

Katherine:  7-8 August

We set off early to drive to Nitmiluk National Park to board our boat for the tour along Katherine Gorge.  Dave was our driver/captain and he was very laid-back and laconic.  We set off up the first gorge and the enormous cliffs soon came into view.  After travelling up the first gorge, it is necessary to walk to the second gorge.

A notable sheer cliff is called Jedda’s Rock (Question:  Who was Jedda and what happened to her?).  It is quite stunning the way it falls straight into the river.

We also saw our first (and only) freshwater crocodile for this tour.  According to Dave, it was a male because it was simply lying on a rock in the sun – and it hadn’t moved when we returned! 

There are some fascinating geological formations throughout this system of gorges, particularly the way in which the sandstone has been fractured and is now being eroded.  The second gorge is quite spectacular, with the tall cliffs and the narrowing of the gorge itself. 

It also was interesting to see the growth of ferns and small trees on the walls of the cliffs – where water that is held within the sandstone leaks out continuously and drips into the river.  At the end of this gorge, the rocks separating the two gorges were clearly evident and, at this time, it was not possible for boats to travel in any of the higher gorges.

On our return to the first gorge, there were lots of people swimming in various pools along the river.  None of them seemed to be worried about crocodiles as they swam in the very warm air in the gorge.  We had a smooth run back to the landing listening to more of Dave’s laconic humour.

After some shopping at Woolies, we returned to our cabin to catch up on our blog, have a swim and then prepare dinner.  It was lovely eating dinner on our little deck under the stars in the warm evening air. 

The first thing we both did on Thursday was to get a haircut!  It had been 10 weeks or so since the last haircuts and we were starting to look a bit dishevelled.  Then it was back to our cabin and get our gear for our trip to Edith Falls – or Leliyn in the Jawoyn language.  We had an easy run up the Stuart Highway [Question:  Who was this Highway named after and why?] and in to the Falls;  this is a really picturesque place.

We dived into the big pool at the base of the Falls.  What bliss! 

After being refreshed – indeed, Kerryn swam almost to the bottom of the falls – we had lunch and then walked to the upper pools.  On a rather warm day, we welcomed the cooler but still very refreshing water at the top of the Falls. 

It is a really lovely spot amongst all the cascades, boulders and large and small pools.  After enjoying our swimming, we simply relaxed in this beaut environment for a while.  Then we returned to our cabin after a great day in the north of Nitmiluk National Park.  In fact, this was as far north as we will venture on this trip:  Darwin, Kakadu and Litchfield await a later trip.  Then it was dinner and an early night ready to start heading south tomorrow. 

Trip Update

We have finally left Western Australia after spending just over five weeks experiencing some of what this State has to offer visitors.  What a fabulous time we had:  given some of our experiences, it is difficult to find new superlatives to describe our adventure.  Swimming with the whale sharks;  travelling to the Mitchell Falls and the Bungle Bungles;  going through the two horizontal falls;  enjoying two helicopter flights;  viewing the Cockburn Range;  seeing the five rivers from the Wyndham lookout;  drinking mango smoothies at Shady Lane café:  these are just some of the activities we have done during our time in WA.  What fun and what an adventure! 

Now that we are in Northern Territory, our adventure continues as we travel east across Australia.  So, keep reading and enjoying our story…

This leg of our adventure also was significant for another reason:  we have travelled just over 10,000 km since we left Canberra in mid-June.  Wow!  This distance does not include the 3,600 km we travelled through the Kimberleys with our Outback Spirit tour.  So, Chaunticleer is chalking up some impressive performance during our trip together.