Katherine Gorge

Tues 7 April….We are well and truly in the tropics here in Katherine everything that flies or crawls …..Bites! We are full of lumps and bumps form being bitten, the ants are the worst as they seem to get where other crawlies can’t. The bird life is very different also and the noise around dusk last night was quite something. There are lots of flying foxes here and we think they make the most racket along with the galahs and other parrots. There is also a very limited phone signal and they lied to us about WiFi again, so you will get a lot when we can send it!
Today we are going to Katherine Gorge or Nitmiluk as it is called by the Aboringine people. It’s not too far, about 30K but when we get there, there isn’t much to see unless you go for a 5K hike along the top of the gorge or take a gentle boat trip through the gorge The boat trip won! It was lovely, it took about 2 hours through some great scenery and we just managed to get enough photos before the camera battery ran out. Our guide, who is Baggy Saunders double, explained that the river can rise and fall 10 metres and in an exceptional wet season, up to 30 metres . It was amazing to think that we were floating along 100feet below the high water mark. Baggy ( real name Taffy!) was a mine of information, mostly useless but interesting, like if the river was in full flood, the volume of water would fill an empty Sydney Harbour, every 9 hours, so there you are! Anyway , there is no swimming in the gorge yet as there are still some salt water crocs about in the area. We saw their tracks in the sandbanks and inspected the traps they have set. Once the river level drops another metre that will provide a natural defence to anymore getting into the gorge. Then all they have to do is trap and relocate the ones that have made it and hope that they get them all! We were planning to visit a thermal pool quite close by, water temp a constant 36 degrees but as the air temp is 36 degrees we decide the pool at the camp would be more refreshing!