Day 59: Katherine Gorge
As the drive out to Katherine Gorge was a good 3.5 hours, we got up bright and early to make to most of the morning. We stopped at the K-Mart in Darwin on the way to pick up a 5-person tent this time, as sleeping in the car would NOT be an option in this heat, then headed down the Stuart Highway.
For the record, Lindsay was still leaning toward a 3-man tent, but Igor put his foot down
We reached Katherine Gorge at midday. Our original plan was to book an overnight canoe trip down the river, but unfortunately we found out that the river is still closed to personal watercraft as the rangers haven’t finished their crocodile surveys for the season. Apparently, salties will come upriver during the wet season, and at the beginning of the dry season, the rangers will trap all the crocs and release them downriver to make it *safer* for park visitors. Since canoes were out of the question, and a $70pp river cruise wasn’t exactly our cup of tea, there was no other way for us to enjoy the gorge then to grab a couple liters of water, our hats and some sunscreen and head out into the bush.
Heading out on the Southern Walks trail to Pat’s Lookout for a glimpse of Katherine Gorge
Trying to find a shaded spot to enjoy the vista of Katherine Gorge
After a short lunch break at the viewpoint, we headed back toward the Information Center. Luckily for us, the weather was partly cloudy, and few large clouds gave us some relief from the sun during the hottest part of the afternoon. Thanks to that tiny respite, we had the strength to explore a side trail to the Southern Waterhole (which unfortunately has nearly dried up now that’s it’s the dry season, and was too tiny for swimming), and return to the Information Center via the Baruwei Loop.
Shady break at the Southern Waterhole
If you go down, you must go back up! It’s a killer staircase in this heat
Oh no, where did our cloud go?
The Baruwei Loop has water stations periodically on the trail (heat exhaustion is a real danger), but our last fill up was with warm water. We were ELATED to find this water fountain with ICE COLD water at the top of the hill
View from the Baruwei Lookout
(Very loud) Flying Foxes in the trees near the Information Center, and one very surprised wallaby
We bought a cold can of Coca Cola and sat in the air conditioned Information Center (pretending to watch their video on the history of the park) for the last 15 minutes before they closed, then dragged ourselves out to the car to head back north to the campground at Edith Falls. Since it’s the beginning of the dry season, we constantly saw small fires throughout the park – it’s part of a traditional land management led by the Aboriginal people native to the area where small, controlled fires set at the very end of the wet season help prevent large wildfires later in the dry season.
Driving past bushfires – no need for alarm
We arrived at the campground just after sunset, so we pitched our new tent and found an empty picnic table to set up our dinner. Since it was still pretty humid, we decided to sleep without the fly on the tent – just a light mesh to keep the bugs away from us – we were sleeping under the stars.
Avocado sandwiches, chips, and wine straight from the bottle.
Nighty night.