Outback Adventures: Katherine Gorge

For me Katherine Gorge is a long anticipated destination - cant wait to go exploring and do the Sunset Dinner Cruise.

Katherine city itself is certainly nothing rave about. A good place to restock in petrol and groceries. Couldn't even top up the wine supplies, as the bottle shops don't open till 2.00 pm, and even then there are restrictions on how much you can buy. Lucky we are well stocked :) Even the locals (white) that we encountered didn't seem too happy to be there - very grumpy!

Not to worry....out to the gorge, set up camp grab an ice cream - $3.90 for a Splice - and into the beautiful pool! Aaahhhhh happy days :)

Free Wi Fi as well. So the routine was dunk swim splash in the water and come back to my "office". Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. Lovely way to spend the first day.

First day we didn't do anything....just lazy!

Day two...... HELICOPTER over the gorge! Needless to say Dezzi very happy and excited. Just like Mt. Isa this was so much fun. The only way to get a perspective of the landscape, see the beauty of the place AND a helicopter ride (with another very nice young pilot!)

The smile says it all!

Katherine Gorge sits at the lower end of the Arnhem Plateau, which also encompasses Kakadu National Park. Just like everywhere else we have been, this area is in drought as well, so the river and gorge are not as full of water as it usually is. Still spectacular, though. So....here is how it looks from the air.

Up Up and Away

Katherine River.

The little white dot is one of the cruise boats.

The camping ground and "posh" accommodation. You can just see the camping area under the trees at the back, and the pool.

Looking towards the top of the gorges. There are thirteen gorges separated by natural rock walls.

Top of the gorges.

Yessssss! His t-shirt says " I love it when my wife lets me go fishing"! Ah, yes, the control :)

Next day, time to see it all from the ground, and a nice two hour hike. Dez very excited about this!?!? By the way, it is 38 degrees, and we are drinking water till our bellies swish!

Off we go........

Just a few stairs up the side of the first gorge.....

The rock is all sandstone, and the formations are spectacular. They are constantly overwhelming.

Happy Adventurers.

And the bush side is just as ruggedly stunning.

This cracked us up. It was at the end of this track.......

So...no kidding! Just as well I didn't pack the Mountain Bike, would have been a waste of time???

These scrappy trees were scattered through the bush. So I asked the Ranger what they were. This is the Kapok tree. Kapok used to be used (and still is I think) for stuffing mattresses and pillows, and cushions etc. back in the day. The Aboriginals also used the tree as their "crocodile calendar". When the tree flowers they mate, when the fruit appears, they lay their eggs, and when the pods open, the eggs are hatched. It lets them know what the crocs are up to!