Australian Outback Adventure - Day 7 - Katherine Gorge

Canoeing Up The Katherine Gorge 

Thursday, October 25, 2012 - Push to Darwin - Two Fabulous Water Activities

Way Outback Itinerary for Day 7

Your guide will wake you early this morning for the short drive to the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park which is owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal people. Ancient sandstone has been carved away by the Katherine River to create a deep and picturesque gorge. You may like to take a boat cruise or paddle a canoe (seasonal) through the peaceful water (both optional and additional cost). In the afternoon, relax and watch the changing landscape as we travel to cosmopolitan Darwin. Overnight accommodation in Darwin is included (hotel room with ensuite).

• Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park

Bitter Springs in Mataranka

We were up at 5:00 a.m. this morning and immediately dressed in our swim suits.  Today we would travel nearly 500 km, about 300 miles to Darwin, with the usual pit stops, plus two major activities - a swim at Mataranka thermal springs (delayed from yesterday afternoon), and canoeing on the Katherine River through Katherine Gorge and picnic lunch.

It was so warm and humid at 7:00 a.m. in the morning, that the thought of a thermal swim didn't seem all that enticing.  The bus swung off the main road onto a side road.  Shortly after the turn  the topography changed from desert brush to jungle tropical as we approached the springs.  

Our group of 10 were the only people in this magical place of green in the desert.  After a short walk down a path we came to a beautiful crystal clear spring fringed with budding lily pads.  The pond meandered off through palm trees and grasses.  We were told that this stream meanders with a slight current for a couple hundred meters, where there are stairs at the end.  We can exit and walk back along a trail to repeat the float.

Most Fun in the Outback - Bitter Springs

We eased ourselves into the mildly warm water, just about body temperature. 

 It felt wonderful.  There was no perceptible current or odor. One of my gifts is being able to float easily on my back (fat floats).  Heading down stream on my back with feet forward the palm trees and and jungle meandered past as we drifted downstream. Russ is more of a forward facing swimmer. Whatever the viewpoint,  

it was delightful, so much so that several of us wanted a second go of it.  We spent an hour floating down the thermal stream.  So far, I've enjoyed this activity, one which I hadn't really looked forward, the most.  We left on our swim suits, as our next activity two hours down the road would also be a wet one.

Canoeing the Lazy River in Katherine Gore

The Katheine Gorge is a sandstone eroded river that meanders through towering cliffs.  We paid for our double canoe at the Nitmiluk museum and cultural center and after a brief look around proceeded to the launch point where we picked up our life vests, canoes, and paddles.  We were to paddle two kilometers up stream to the turn around bay for the canoes prior to the rapids.  There we could swim if we chose, turn the canoe around and let the current push us back down the river.

Since we were going up the river we didn't need to worry about the rapids presumably ahead of us.  We were paddling against a mild current even though the current on the river surface seemed invisible. If the bow of the canoe wasn't nosed directly into the invisible current, the bow would be caught and veer to one side or the other.  We were a bit of a comedy routine going up the river and seemed to zig zag all over the place. Finally, we got the hang of digging the paddles on the lee side to bring the bow in line with the current.  Russ was much better at this than me because he has more patience. 

Most of our mob is behind us

I tend to paddle faster for a correction then over correct.  Oh well, it was fun and good exercise.

We paddled by several lovely sand beaches that warned us away as this was a crocodile nesting area.  

These aren't the nasty saltwater crocs.  These are the smaller more docile freshwater crocs, and there is a $45,000 fine if you trespass in their nesting areas.  Well, they didn't need to worry about us.   We didn't see any crocs or even any prints on the sand.  

When we reached the turn around bay, we beached the canoe in an area where there was no crocodile nesting signs.  There were dry rocks where we expected to find the rapids, but it is the end of the dry season and the water is low.  The bay was clear, shallow, and inviting.  So we took a swim, walked about a bit, then paddled back down the river. 

We thought the paddle back would just be a float, but it turned out that the same invisible current that caught our bow going up, caught the stern going down so we had to pay attention to our paddling downstream as well.  

Hello Darwin

After our last picnic lunch, we hit the road again for Darwin.  It was just after 6:30 p.m. when we were
dropped off at our hotel.  The bus departed and we as we check in, we find out that we do not have a reservation at the Holiday Inn.  Oops. These arrangements were to have been made by the tour company.   We were given a free drink at the bar coupon while the tour company and hotel worked out the details (since there was no room available at this hotel tonight).  

Our Guide John and Russ

The hotel had a sister property of comparable quality next door and eventually everything worked out okay, but it was 7:30 before we were in our room.  We had just enough time to get  showered before it  was time to  walk into town for an 8:30 dinner reservations at Monsoons.  It happened to be ladies night so the ladies all received a free flute of bubbly wine (champaign seems to be the popular Oz sundowner drink of choice with the ladies).  





Had we stayed until midnight we also would have seen the male strip show, however, we left just prior to midnight wined, dined and exhausted from our road trip.  We are no longer in the hot dry outback.  We are in the hot and humid tropics of The Northern Territory.

This is the end of the road for some of our fellow travelers.  Tomorrow, we start the last leg of our adventure to Kakadu.