Katherine & Nitmiluk National Park

We spent a couple of nights camped in Katherine. Not sure if it is a good thing or not, but we saw our first live cane toad! He was a big fat one too. We checked out the local markets (and bought another painting) and the Mimi Art Centre, which had plenty of beautiful weavings, carvings and paintings from Arnhem Land and the central desert. We also spent a morning in the museum checking out the local history involving World War 2, the flying doctor service and the Old Telegraph Line to Adelaide.

Stuart had to do a bit of maintenance on the car – He replaced both of the headlight globes as one had blown (probably from all of the corrugated roads!) and the other one was looking pretty dodgy. He also made up a new 12v cord for the car fridge as the old plug had melted with all of the hard work it was doing chilling the beers!

NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK
Katherine Gorge Kayak

Having previously booked an overnight paddle in Katherine Gorge, we headed to the impressive Nitmiluk visitors centre to check in and get our permit for the 6th gorge campsite. (Very different from Geikie Gorge, as this gorge provides hired kayaks and booked campsites with toilet facilities.)

We headed out with the throngs of other paddlers and tour boats which operate in the first three gorges (if you take a boat tour you have to walk over the rock bars between the sections of gorge, changing boats each time, and then in reverse going back!).

The paddling was very peaceful and the scenery was beautiful. The further up the gorge we paddled, the less people we saw. Lifting two laden sea kayaks over seven rock bars with rapids was another story! Now I fully understand why Stuart said to pack lightly!

The first rock bar took 40 minutes (we probably could have paddled up the rapids, but had to portage around to keep clear of the tour boats!) The third rock bar had lots of water and huge rocks....in trying to cut corners and avoid carrying the kayaks over the rocks, we attempted to float the kayak up the rapid pulled from the top with a tow rope...... kayak hits a rock, tips 45 degrees, partially fills with water and Michelle loses her camera! It’s now somewhere on the bottom of the Katherine River taking happy snaps of the crocs!

By the fourth rock bar, I was mumbling profanities about recreation under my breath. We thought both the fifth AND sixth rock bar was the last ones....surely.... but no, the map was wrong and there was still another one awaiting us around the corner!

By this stage, we were considering just pulling up on any piece of flat rock for the night. I waited at the bottom, while Stuart scouted ahead on foot to see if the campsite was in view. It was!!! We left one kayak up on the rocks and decided to carry only one over this last rock bar, stuffed full of everything we needed out of both kayaks. Stuart would swim back in the morning! Hooray!

After all of our efforts, it was well worth it! The campsite was a beautiful spot and we had it all to ourselves (I’m sure it’s because it’s so bloody hard to get to!).

Despite forgetting to bring our drinking mugs (saucepan of tea anyone?), not getting a sunset due to cloud cover and a windy night blowing fine sand through the mesh of the tent all night, we woke the next morning to sunshine and a slight breeze at our backs, still smiling.

The going downstream was much easier and enjoyable as we floated the kayaks down most of the rapids and paddled (more bumped) our way down one . At one of the biggest rock bars (where we lost the camera), Stuart decided to ride both the kayaks down. Saved us having to carry them around, and he had the biggest grin on his face afterwards!

To finish of the day we saw a baby freshwater croc (~1metre) and an adult (2+metres). In hindsight, we agree that it was all good fun, that we both have very sore muscles and the XXXX beers we had at Pine Creek never tasted so good.

LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK

Today we were aiming to head into Litchfield National Park, via the southern 4WD entry road. However after confirming road conditions on the website that morning, we arrived to find the road closed to all traffic. Back out the highway and a quick review of our plans! Given it is really busy with school holidays, we decided to stop in Adelaide River township to visit “Charlie” the buffalo from Crocodile Dundee! He’s been stuffed and now graces the .303 bar in the pub! Had a little ride around the town this afternoon looking at all of the local heritage sites, quite a nice little town!

We’ll be packing up early tomorrow morning and try to get to Litchfield again by the northern bitumen road this time!