Gismo Queen and her King

Day 21 - Katherine

The presence of multiple people around our campsites is something different to what we have experienced in recent weeks. The Katherine locals are a little more vocal than those we have previously seen, and apparently yesterday was pay day so alcohol sales were high today - not only from the bottle shop here at the caravan park but also trolleys full from Woolworths. Anyway, we slept OK and woke  to the joy of coffee machine cappucinos this morning. We were sitting out the front of our van drinking them when we saw the first stirrings of life from our friends' van. Ten year old Harrison came over to say good morning, followed not too much later by 4 year old Kobi. By the time Paul came over, I immediately made him a strong coffee to get our morning going.

Lisa and I did some washing and indulged in something I have missed for several weeks - girly talk! Chit chat you can only have with your best friend of 29 years! Mind you, the guys have also been chewing the fat as only boys can...... Then it was morning tea time at the Mallett caravan so out came the banana cake from the Dream Pot a couple of weeks ago and more coffee. Apparently all that eating and coffee drinking wiled the morning away.

We were booked in for a 1pm cruise through Katherine Gorge so we needed to get moving but weren't ready for lunch yet so we made sandwiches and drove the 30km out to Katherine Gorge, or Nitmiluk National Park. This is the reason we aren't staying out there (which is what we had originally planned) - noisy and smelly:

As we entered the gorges, the walls became more and more vertical and true gorge like. This was more like what I was expecting, and hoping we would see:


It was a beautiful cruise and our guide did some wonderful story telling. It was pretty hot out there in the sun though and there was some temptation to duck in for a swim between the gorges but the crocs seem to keep people away.

By the time we got back, we were all pretty hot so Lisa, Greg and I made a quick stop at Woolies (our first real supermarket stop since leaving home!) before we headed out to the Katherine hot springs (which aren't very hot - not even as hot as Lorella Springs). But the water was very pleasant, despite the many people and the locals who had brought several slabs to a spot just downstream and were happily making their way through them.


It was my turn to cook back at camp so we had a creamy chicken pasta followed by golden syrup dumplings. Ahhh, this is the life!

posted by Tracey @ 9:03 pm