Nitmiluk Gorge

It was a very hot day today.

I woke up to a constant buzz/hum in the trees under which we’re camped.  They were full of bees in the flowers and our chairs were full of blossom droppings!  There are also lots of different bugs everywhere.  Yesterday around the pool there were big wasps and little wasps.  And there are shiny green beetles.  It would be nice to know what all these bugs are called.

A lot of the trees and shrubs are in flower – I guess it is spring.  It’s nice seeing all the different blooms.  There are a lot of “burnoffs” of the land, too.  Apparently at this time of year, the aboriginals burn off patchwork parts of the land to encourage new growth during the wet season and to “tidy up” the land.  They’ve been doing it for centuries, and it’s written into the world heritage listing agreement for Kakadu that they continue to be allowed to do it.  Some national parks have discovered that it improves their plant and animal diversity if they continue to do it too.

We went on our Katherine Gorge cruise at 9am.  Because it’s the dry season, the different gorges aren’t connected by water deep enough to carry the boat, and you have to disembark, walk 600m to the next gorge, and recommence the tour in a new boat moored there.  The guide, Rob, did a great job and was very funny.  He was explaining the safety features of the flat bottomed, open sided “punt” and asked if we got that funny sinking feeling, were we aware of the exits?  To the left and to the right…

The gorge was very pretty and we saw baby Barramundi and stripy Grunters (fish) and a couple of freshwater crocodiles, which according to Rob, have a smaller jaw structure than a salt water croc, and so only eat small things, like long necked turtles, barramundi, and tourists.

It was interesting that Rob talked of aboriginal legend as having three beings involved in the creation of the gorge. One for the land, one for the gorge, and one for the water.  Sounded like the trinity.

After our tour it was so hot we came back to the van and collapsed.  Everyone had a bit of a swim, but not much else.

About 4.30pm we dragged the kids off to hike up to the Katherine gorge lookout.  Jospeh and Dominic ran up and back twice.  Cooper clambered over boulders that were half his size.  “This is very hard” was all he said.

The view at the top was great, and we saw the sun go down over the campsite.  It certainly cools down a lot after the sun disappears.

The sun is beautiful going down in Nitmiluk

After that we all needed another swim, and a late dinner.

In the night the kangaroos and wallabies moved in and started chomping on our campsite.  They found a sealed packet of premium crackers I’d left outside, but inside a backpack, and ate that.  Then they started on the cardboard Grant has stuck to the screen door to seal up the vents for dust.  They are very loud chompers.

It’s so dry my lips are drying out and I’m worried they’ll split, so I've been using paw paw ointment on them.(a Vaseline like cream)  Yesterday I went to open it and the heat had melted it and it ran out, all over the edge of the bed.  I had to scoop it back in with a spoon.

Grant has worked out that travelling around 85km/h gives the best fuel economy while towing the caravan.  He was excited to read that very thing in a caravaning book he bought.  I think most nomads have read the same book because we are not passed by many!  Yesterday, the road from Mataranka to Katherine seemed empty – I think everyone was travelling at the same speed.