Katherine once again

We reluctantly pack up from Litchfield and head towards Katherine. It all feels a bit strange as for the first time in a while we are heading south. We drove through Katherine a little while ago, when heading north from Mataranka to Kakadu. We shopped, refueled and visited the Visitors Centre to get the heads up on what to do when we returned. Lots to pack in to this stay. Not a long day of driving, and a few places to visit on the way. On our way down we pass through Adelaide River. We had dinner here last night at the Adelaide River Inn. This is the resting place for Charlie the bull from Crocodile Dundee. His stuffed carcass stands proudly on the bar but he has lost a few inches off his legs as he didn't quite fit.

Linda is responsible for lunches....this picture would not win any chefs hats I am sure. This particular sandwich was only supposed to have 2 slices of bread...Food shopping on the whole has been pretty easy as we have had not had any troubles purchasing fructose and wheat free options either.   

We have said this many times already, but the scenery never ceases to amaze us. Photographs don't really do it any justice, but if anything it will serve as a reminder for us as to how much we enjoyed the days on the road. The kids, like any kids, have their moments. But so far, ( we say this quietly so as not jinx us), they are still travelling well. The extra seat at the back has served us well. It allows us to separate them, but also gives them each some time on their own... a rare commodity these days.

We stop for a wee stop and a look around  Pine Creek. This was our turn off point when heading up into Kakadu. These pics are from the old Railway Station and open air museum about the early mining days.

Half an hour north of Katherine we visit the beautiful Lelilyn ( Edith Falls), part of the Nitmiluk National Park. We are loving this part of NT. Lots of water, fresh water, safe swimming water.....

....though no swimming here is without the reminder that fresh water crocs do inhabit the area.

In the beginning the thought of any croc would have stopped us in our tracks....but we are all learning to apppreciate that freshies are not interested in us humans. We felt very spoilt this morning, as for nearly the first hour that we were here, we had this incredible body of water all to ourselves. Rob and Linda took it in turns swimming out to the falls, alot further away then it looks. The water was so incredibly cold coming out of the falls. Linda went first and chose not to wear goggles, felt it better not to be able to see what was swimming under her. Rob on the other hand was braver althought he did get a fright when a huge barrumundi swam up from the depths straight past his legs when he arrived at the falls. 

As it is drawing close to the wet season, less and less people are travelling. It may be hot, but there are certainly less people at all the sights and in the parks. We don't have to worry about booking or arriving early as there are plenty of sites around, and Katherine is no exception. We chose to stay at the Lower Level Big 4 Caravan Park, a beautiful park with only a few vans and tents dotted around the park. We pulled up to our site only to find ourselves right in front of another van. We felt so sorry for this van and contemplated returning to the office and requesting an alternative site. Faced with a long walk back up to the office we decide to do what we are told. No sooner had we started to unpack, when our new neighbour came to say hello. Her family of 5 have been travelling since Jan 2010!!!!! She sent her brood off to find our kids who had escaped to the pool. When Linda arrived the six of them were chatting like they had known each other for ever so we owed the manager a huge thanks for putting us at this particular site. The kids were inseparable for the remainder of the evening and again in the morning till we headed off for our cruise through Katherine Gorge. Us adults had a wonderful time, swapping stories and talking like we had known each other for a lot longer than a mere few hours. Fabio, Mandy and your very well behaved children ( does that get them some more money????) we are so pleased our worlds collided as they did, and we so look forward to seeing you all in Coral Bay.

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Here we are at the beginning of our 4 hour cruise through Katherine Gorge, otherwise known as Nitmiluk Gorge, within  Nitmiluk National Park. Nitmiluk means place of the cicada dreaming.  This park is owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal people and jointly managed with the Parks and Wildlife Service of the Northern Territory. Our cruise goes for 4 hours and takes us through the first 3 out of  13 gorges. The water is crystal clear and you are able to see the schools of fishes swimming by. We get to see aboriginal rock art, bird life, freshies, stare in awe at the huge sandstone escarpments, try to imagine what the area looks like during the wet season and have a swim too!!! To top it off there were only 9 people on the cruise ( and we were 5 of those!!!). Our guide Chris was from the Jawoyn community and not only shared his immense knowledge about the area, but also told us some of his story.  

Whilst travelling on the gorge.

During the dry season the gorges do not all link together with water. However during the wet, the area is completely flowing with rapids and falls.

The Gore's loving the gorgeous gorges!!

Our first formal Aboriginal Cultural experience at Top Didj. This is us losing ourselves in the art of Aboriginal Dot Painting. Our instructor is originally from the desert in the NT and this is her tribes style of painting.

Showing off the finished products.

Fire making the traditional way (hard work)......

Success!!!!

Aiming at a cardboard kangaroo...seeing if we could catch dinner to cook on Rob's fire.

Quite the naturals.

The next morning we visited the Katherine School of the Air. This is a distance education School, that covers something like 800,000 square kms of the NT. They are funded like a regular public school and follow the same curriculum. The program is now run over the Internet and the children get 45 minutes each day of the school week with the teacher on Skype. The rest of the day, they have either one of their parents acting as the teacher, or a tutor. They are of a very high standard in comparison with state schools, and we would have to agree after looking at some of the work on display. The kids were very much in awe of the program, and wished that we had enrolled them. Funny that, we now have enough trouble getting them to do 30 minutes on their journal, imagine trying to do that whilst travelling in this heat!!!!!

With the wet season rapidly approaching we have the added bonus of cloud cover to boost our already incredible sunsets

Currently Robbie's favourite trees. They are Flame Trees and they come in mauve, red and pink. Spectacular in full bloom, another bonus for us travelling at this time of year.

So we now start to head west. We have loved the Northern Territory and can't wait to see what Western Australia has to offer.