NOW: NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK
A stop in Jabiru identified our starting and auxiliary batteries in the car were on the way out. We replaced the starting battery but they didn’t have an auxiliary the right size in Jabiru. In Katherine we were able to replace the second battery, restock the larder and visit a butcher.
After some hours of washing the buffalo poo and red dirt off the car and van we floated down the Katherine Hot Springs. It was fairly busy but on the advice of a local family, we walked upstream then floated down and bottom bounced over the weir and into the deep pool. Fun for everyone – participants and observers!
We cruised up Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park years ago when our kids were young. This time we took the Sunset Dinner Cruise option. A cruise up the first 2 gorges with a walk in between, followed by white tablecloths, candles and a three course meal. Just perfect for our Saturday night date with a setting sun, crocodile soup, kangaroo fillet, a delicious steak and chocolate dessert.
Freshwater crocodiles inhabit the gorge and flying foxes roost by the thousand in the trees nearby. At night the flying foxes move like a cloud to feed on fruit and nectar in the forest.
Just north of Katherine and still in Nitmiluk National Park the campground at Edith Falls has the sites spread around the green grass of the common areas with shady trees. The falls were just a short walk away. David braved the bottom plunge pool but it was just too cold for me. The falls are more like a series of cascades following the 2006 floods when a huge wall of rock was washed away leaving the waterfall only 12 metres high. As we walked around the pool a large brown snake crossed the pathway making us cautious from then on.
A morning climb up the Leliyn Track took us above Edith Falls with a cool down swim in the upper pool and a splash about under the cascading water. From the top here you can see all the pools and waterfalls as they flow down to the main plunge pool and continue along the Edith River.
NEXT: DAVENPORT RANGE AND ON TO THE BIG RED BASH
See you on the Emu Track
Cheryl and David
