By 2pm we were absolutely exhausted. But oh what a morning! We were up and on the road by 7am, heading out to Katherine Gorge.
We discovered that Harry was too young for canoeing and the river boat cruise included 45 minutes of swimming for which none of us had our bathers. In the end Ray, Az, Caleb and I went canoeing and Chris, Vicki, Hannah and Harry went in a helicopter trip over the Katherine Gorge.
Az and I paired up and it was quickly determined that I was totally useless at paddling. Az preferred me to keep the paddle out of the water so as to not slow us down. I gave a token sound of disappointment then stowed my paddle and sat back to enjoy the ride and his hard labour.
Ray had the opposite problem with Caleb at the helm. He was convinced he was actually helping Ray to paddle and nothing was going to convince him otherwise. This gave Ray an even bigger chore.
The 3.2km stretch of water through the first gorge was so picturesque. The gorge was formed by torrents of water passing through it and as a result, the cliff faces are over 60m high. An amazing natural example of the power of water.
We disembarked at a sandy alcove, Aaron and I managing to look half decent and pulled our canoe up onto the sand. Caleb noticed how we were tilting the front and dragging it up onto the sand so he thought he would help and do it with their canoe. Unfortunately, Ray was just standing up to get out of the canoe and was tipped out into the water. Caleb’s face was priceless. We couldn’t stop laughing until we realised that Ray’s phone, wallet and cigarettes were also in the water. All was fine because instead of following my gut reaction which was to quickly get my camera and take a photo, I fished them out.
We were all alone and it was so beautifully peaceful. A tour cruise came and went and we knew we had a good hour until another one came. We thought it was a good opportunity to have a swim even though we didn’t have our bathers. Who ever gets to say they swam in Katherine Gorge in their underwear with freshwater crocodiles? Aaron went on a Bear Grylls style exploration of the Gorge instead and Ray, Caleb and I stripped off and jumped in. It was beautiful. I sun baked like a lizard on a rock and then decided to get dressed. Once finished I looked up and two more canoeing tourists were in the distance and very soon disembarking on our little beach. Ray and Caleb were too far away for me to warn them without my words echoing around the Gorge. The other tourists were from Finland and stopped for a swim and a chat. It was hilarious to see Ray (who eventually returned) chatting away on the side of the waterhole in his wet jocks with the telltale “Bonds” band prominently displayed. Even more so when two Rangers appeared in their motorized tinnie for their regular “croc watch” along the banks. Ray didn’t seem worried, making conversation with them all. That’s my Ray!
Katherine Gorge was magnificent. Chris and Vicki flew over us on the river and we madly waved our paddles. The pilot did a sharp turn to acknowledge that they had seen us which scared Vicki. They reported that it was an amazing experience and we all thought it was reasonably priced.: $85 per person for a 12 minute ride. In comparison we paid $35 per person for 4 hours of canoe hire. Ours was much longer but also much harder work and we didn’t get to see as much of the Gorge as they did. Ideally, you could do both if you had the funds.
Even though I didn’t row much, it was a relief to get back to shore. My arms were killing me! Poor Aaron!
We had a picnic lunch and headed back to the caravan park for a relaxing swim with bathers and without crocodiles!
When we got there Harry had mastered riding his bike without any training wheels and was proudly riding around. We now have 3 independent kids riding bikes around the caravan park. The owner of the caravan park is lovely and shouted the kids an ice cream of their choice. Probably the nicest owner we have come across. We kept running into her around town and she would stop for a chat. The Big 4 Holiday Park in Katherine is where you should stay if you are ever travelling through here.
Vicki and I watched “Eclipse” in preparation for the new movie and we tried to resist the temptation to Google reviews on it as it was released today. We won’t see it until we reach Western Australia.