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. 

Swimming, swimming and some more swimming.

After a slow start this morning we head off to explore Litchfield National Park. Our drive today only a short one as Litchfield is aprox 100 kms from Darwin. We decide to stay out of the park in the town of Batchelor. We learn that this town, along with its neighbouring town of Adelaide River were important areas during World War II. Adelaide River was used as a major military base for 30,000 Australians and US soldiers, and Batchelor was established as a large air force base.

Not a bad place to park your van! All set up in time to watch the bird feeding. Unfortunately due to recent hawks and rain only a few birds came for a feed. But no worries, lovely company,a beautiful sunset and an informal history lesson by the campsite manager, was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Our angelic faced children.........................  smiling and pleading to be allowed to play on the 18 hole mini golf course within the caravan park!!!!!

Not exactly sure how long on the road, but yes we are still enjoying our 24/7 time together. Doesn't he look cute in his new head band that Timna won at the Mindil Sunset market in Darwin!!!!

The next morning we head for our day at Litchfield National Park. This was only officially opened as a national park around the mid 80's. Prior to this only the locals knew about it and access was 4 wheel drive only. During that time it took 4 hours to get to Florence Falls. You can see on the sign, Florence Falls is now only 24 kms away, that is less than 20 minutes!!!! Litchfield is a very popular place with the tourists but also very much so with the locals. They love it because of all the croc free swimming, and how easy it is to travel from one waterhole to the next.

First stop the magnetic termite mounds.  In the top part of Australia, nobody builds in timber!!! This is a Cathedral Termite mound.

  We thought this looked like a cemetery with lots of tombstones. Actually it is more termite mounds.

These are the Magnetic termite mounds. They are all aligned from north to south.

Next stop Buley Rock hole. The water is so clear and cool. You can make your way all the way from the top...the water runs quite fast at the waterfall bits. It makes you wonder just how fast it must run during the wet season. Dare say it would not be as safe place to be then!!!

Still at Buley Rockhole.

Still there.........we could have stayed  all day.

This is from the lookout at Florence Falls. 140+ steps to get down to the base. Or 1.3km monsoon forest trail walk. We opt for the steps to go down. Rob and Boaz will later take the monsoon walk back up, they say it was one of the most beautiful walks.

We found this gorgeous rock wallaby sheltering from the sun. He looks like he is sitting on his derriere, all that appears to be missing is the TV and cold stubby.

At Florence Falls, schools of fish and a powerful waterfall. Once again, considering we are at the end of the dry season, would love to see the falls during the wet. That actually goes for the whole of the Northern Territory.

The monsoon walk back to the car park.

This the creek that connects Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls, you can follow this to get from one to the other, and have a cool dip when you get too hot.

A Golden Orb spider.

Next stop, Wangi Falls. It is such a hard life exploring this incredible part of the territory.

At the base of the fall, those 2 little specks are Benj and Linda. We all climbed up the waterfall rock face and sat in this extremely deep little rock pool. At one point it was just Timna, Benj, Linda and 2 other men. All relaxing, until Benj pops up from exploring under the water saying not so calmly....I think I just saw a croc!!!! Lets just say we all moved extremely quickly. The only crocs that inhabit these areas (most of the time) are the fresh water variety. They wouldn't choose to bite a human unless you really annoyed them....their teeth aren't designed to bite on anything too hard. If they do their teeth will fall out. However, a croc is a croc is a croc!!

The kids finally get that game of mini golf.

Cloud formation pre sunset at the caravan park. We are now moving closer to the beginning of the wet season. The temperature is still climbing, but there is the added bonus of some storms and some rain. With this the temp drops as does the humidity. It is very monsoonal weather. Around 3.30-4pm, a front may come through, thunder, incredible electrical storms, wind and if you are lucky enough it might rain. If it rains it buckets down. But then it all stops, the heat comes back and all the rain dries away like it had never happened. We experienced some amazing rain in Darwin. It absolutely teemed down. During that time we managed to wash the car and the caravan. It was the most beautiful clean rain we have ever seen. So different to what we experience in Melbourne. The car and van looked almost brand new!!!!

A tough round of golf had by all. This completes our visit to Litchfield National Park. Next destination Katherine.