Katherine & the 'canoe trip'

(This is a little delayed, we are currently in Darwin, it's extremely hot and I have been putting it off to do more important things.....like swim, enjoy!)

We arrived in Katherine on a Sunday afternoon after a short drive from Mataranka, the first thing we noticed was a Woolworths!
We had not seen one of them since Alice Springs!

It was about 40 degrees when we arrived and after doing a quick shop we headed to the Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge) which is 30kms from the centre of town.

After checking in, in the lovely air conditioned reception, that seemed like it was for a 4 star resort, we went off to find our powered sites, $30 a night for a powered site and we even had pool front views!!

The pool here was great, like an expensive resort, there was even a kiosk open all day in the pool area.
We got there a bit late in the afternoon so just spent our time relaxing by the pool, reading and enjoying the heat!

The next day we decided it was time to check out some of the national park and so we headed off on a huge walk at about 7 am, trying our best to beat the sun!

The walk we did was called the windolf walk and at the end was meant to be a swimming hole, we were hanging for a swim once we reached the so called water hole and it was extremely low with filthy water so we just sat and ate lunch and made our way slowy back up the steep rocks.

Getting steep.

This would be amazing in wet season!

Brenton exploring.

We may not have got the water but we did get a pretty fabulous view from the top, definitley worth the hard, steep, rocky and hot, 2 hour walk!

Looks like something out of Jurassic Park.

Brenton stressing a bit here with the heights (and me being an idiot).

Katherine Gorge is awesome, on our way back, almost the 4th hour we had a swim in the Katherine River, where there are freshwater crocs but apparently they are harmless, cant say we  weren't a little on edge!

The next day we went into town and spent the day looking around the little town that is Katherine, another hot day so it was back to the pool until tea time, preparing for our big overnight canoe trip the next day!

Main street in Katherine.

Katherine Markets

Brent discussing guitars with the busker.

And what a BIG, tough, annoying, lovely, interesting canoe trip it was.

We left about 9am.......and were pre-warned that this canoe trip was otherwise known as the marriage breaker , we just laughed and went on our merry way......

All smiles at the start, still dry!

Such a great way to see the gorge.

It took us ages (of arguing) to work out a rhythm so that we could go straight..

But once we got to our first rock crossing of the day we lost that rhythm!
We were told to carry the canoe's over our heads (yeah right!), they weighed about 50kgs and that wasn't counting the camp gear we had!
So dragging it was....

A water monitor we spotted.

Stopping at every lookout we could for a rest! I know we sook a lot but before we left Melbourne we weren't the fittest of couples! haha

Coming up to another water crossing.....one of the eight we did that day. Don't expect dry clothes by this time!

This was going to prove a bit harder, lucky we had muscles (stu) with us...

hhhmmmmm.....

Here we go again...37 degree heat starting to get us.....

Where there's a will, there's a way...

It was hard to balance as the rocks were mossy and you had fish swimming around your feet, the boys did one whilst we attempted the other.

Now Im standing....

Now Im not!
The camera may have a bit of water on it but it still captured my 100th fall of the day!

Surely we are nearly there....our arms were killing and our legs getting burnt by this stage!

Stopping for lunch and a quick fish.

Such great views!

We were trying to keep our eye's out for fresh water crocs the whole day, apparently there is heaps around...

No crocs, just more crossings, I must admit we were getting a bit testy by this stage..with the canoe's/rock's and each other!

Trying to get out gracefully!

If at first you don't succeed....

Pick yourself up and try again!!

Finally arriving at our camp spot!

It was about five by the time we got to the 8th gorge, that's an 8 hour day in the canoe, going over 8 crossings some that were 1 kilometre in length!

Our waterfront view, we were all friends again by this stage.

The boy's starting to cook pasta for dinner.

Took them a while to figure out how to use the stove.....

Then it was more fishing!

You can go further than the 8th gorge but there was no way we were going to cross this, it went on forever!!
Instead we camped near it and used it to get fresh water to drink.

More fishing.......more not catching anything...

hhhhmmmmm.......they got fire??

We ate our pasta, even though it was slightly sandy and were looking forward to a nice night's sleep, we were so stuffed!!

But like the rest of this canoe trip it proved to be just as tough, the sand was as hard as a rock and all we had to sleep on were our towels, it didn't drop below about 30 and there was no breeze as we were surrounded by rock.

We had massive bugs buzzing around our tents that sounded like jet planes and we ran out of water at about midnight and had to go for a walk to the rapids area to get fresh water!

There were frogs jumping all over our legs and we even saw a small water snake, we splashed ourselves off bit and tried to get back to sleep, we all sat there asking every five minutes if we thought the sun was going to come up, we had about 3 hours sleep in total and after the huge day we had it was definitely not enough!

Finally there was a hint of light......and we all got a bit excited..... until we realised we had to do exactly the same amount of work on the way back, with no sleep!!!

A pretty amazing view to wake-up with even after no sleep!

Me pondering if I will be able to physically/mentally be able to make it back.........shame I had no choice...... helicopter maybe??

Amazing sights!

At this stage I think we were all arguing that we should've stayed at the 5th gorge like all the sensible people, apparently not many make it this far, so whilst feeling slightly happy with ourselves for making it, it was hard thinking we were about to do it all again!

5 minutes in all smiles....

Slippery little suckers, another casualty..

We really should have had  training for this, we will be sore tomorrow!

So far to go!

Brenton thinking he can raft down, really he is just scraping the bottom of the canoe!

I gave him a push and he scraped into deeper water!

A short paddle then more lifting....

Not too far now......

Last picture of the day....we honestly thought we were not going to make it, we did give up a few times and just sat there spinning and laughing from exhaustion!
That's why there are no more photo's , too busy trying to get back!

We did survive, but it tested us all, we came back sleepy, bruised and cut from the falls (me especially!), sore and hungry, we spent the rest of the night in the pool and went to sleep in our very comfy bed early!

The next day we were still in pain, but found it easier to laugh about it all now that it was over, we left Katherine Gorge and headed off to stay in Katherine for another night to catch the footy, we stayed at the all seasons caravan park and for $25 a night for a powered site, we were impressed.

Our sites, backing on to the very nice, clean toilets/showers.

Brent and Stu discussing fishing/catching a fish no doubt......one day boys.

The view from the front, it's just off the Stuart Hwy.

Perfect outdoor setting for a bit of footy after eating our baked spuds!

Had to test out the pool!

Lazing about before heading off.

We left Katherine and Meg and Stu (who were staying behind to do a hike) and headed to Darwin which would be our home for the next few weeks.

We didn't know how we would survive without them for a whole 5 days, we have not parted since Alice!

Darwin here we come!

xxx