Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 26 - Darwin to Katherine

As we said, a quick run to Katherine today. In the general scheme of things we have unbroken a 2 day trip by taking an extra day yesterday and doing Litchfield from Darwin rather than breaking the trip up. Only issue is we have to be in Katherine in time for the Gorge Tour. We have given ourselves plenty of time if we need to stop along the way, but we travel well. As we pass one of the rodeo sites we have come to see out of Darwin Robyn attempts to get a picture I have trying to achieve each time we have passed. The commentary box at this ground is a truck chassis perched high above the grandstand, exhaust pipes and all. She uses the hold the button method as we streak pass and still fails to capture it. There is always next time.

We run through Pine Creek and on towards Katherine. Suddenly Robyn calls “Ghan”, and sure enough the Ghan is running alongside us on the railway. Robyn snaps a couple of quick shots and we lose it behind a hill. As we pop over the hill there is a designated train spotting offset but we are going to quickly, so quickly in fact the Ghan cannot keep up and it’s the last we see of it.

Into Katherine and Silver Leader takes us around the town and off to Nitmiluk, the caravan park by the Gorge. Parking is an issue, the office staff are not real clear on where we are to plonk ourselves and when we get to the designated spot its not clear either. Tonight, we are on unpowered sites and they are not designated, so we circle the wagons to ensure we are not parked in, so we can get a quick get away in the morning for Lake Argyle some 500km away.

I put my head down for a rest after a quick lunch and are woken by Robyn not wanting to miss the cruise. I stumble out of bed, pack my runners into a backpack (there is supposedly a 400m walk between pools at some stage) and head off to the launch point. We are ticked off the list of attendees, dinner main course orders taken and ushered down a walkway to the first of three boats we will be travelling on today and tonight.

Our skipper, tour guide and lord high everything else for the first 2 sections, Sam, runs us thought the safety procedures. We are in an unsinkable boat (yeah heard that one before) bit she points out the life preservers etc.

From the moment she backs the boat into the channel and head up stream (I presume), you are gobsmacked at the views. Rock faces, vegetation, ripples in the water, rocks and snags, this place is amazing. In the daylight each turn, all of which seem to be 90 degrees, opens up a new vista worthy of many shots on their own. We were told at the office the walk from point A to point B on the tour would be 400m, the guides checking us off upped the ante to 500m, now Sam suggests its 600m, but what’s a couple of hundred metres between friends anyway. We get to the first landing spot readying ourselves for the walk that by now must be almost a kilometre in length ?.

As Robyn alights from the boat she is tapped on the shoulder with a “what are you doing here”. Australia is a vast land of 20 million people, the Northern Territory alone can have 2 million of them yet turning around Robyn comes face to face with Margaret and Mervyn, cousins from Melbourne. Apparently they are taking a leisurely trip to Broome to see one of their children and we may catch them there as well. Whilst we are going to Lake Argyle, the Kimberly and Bungle Bungle beforehand, they are going to Darwin and Kakadu on their trip. You could not script it, having said that the Australian film classic Jedda was filmed here and Sam our guide is very well versed, knowing of one of the stars who still lives in the area.

The second boat fills and we head into the next lagoon. Here it is, according to the local aboriginal, the rainbow serpent sleeps, having created the gorges in the dream time. We pass over what in legend is his resting place. Here the locals do not fish, the pregnant women do not swim and this part of the river is considered sacred. To violate this would cause the rainbow serpent to rise up and devastate what he created by crashing a biblical type flood through the area.

The sun is sinking in the west, so we head back to the first boat. It has been replaced with the dining boat, We are met with a glass of champagne and taken to our tables. Entrée is a mixture of kangaroo, crocodile and chicken all with local infusions and rocket salad. All very tasty morsels.

Main course which we chose before we boarded for me is a Rib Eye Steak and for Robyn Barramundi. Almost immediately the boat is encircled by some fish – catfish – they are healthy specimens and get fed small bits, but only small as it is too good to throw away. Desert, I am unable to imbibe because of the degree of coffee in it. That doesn’t stop the others from devouring it of course.

Sam motors the boat from side to side so no one misses out on photo opportunities. The sunset is not the brilliant red of Darwin but in its own was still very spectacular. The Night setting on the Samsung Phone picks up so much more than the naked eye, and until Sam puts on the spotlights I marvel and what I can shoot.

With the powerful spotlights I can go back to normal photography, and even video footage. The ripples in the water reflect onto the rocks giving an amazing effect. The pictures though, do this place no justice. It literally has to be seen to be believed. I send a selection of some of the 300 shots to friends. The wows, oo’s and ah’s come back in numbers.

Walking back to the van I call my daughter Kirsten. The night is pitch black and the Milky Way and the celestial emu Gugurmin are very visible. I try to take shots but fail miserably. I will try again after I settle down. I am a little worried bout the usage of storage on my phone, so I check. I have 850gb left, hmmm I think I can take a few more pictures before I have to save them off to the hard drive.

To bed early tonight, today we had driven 334 km and done the evening cruise, tomorrow will be a long day behind the wheel and Robyn will need to do a fair percentage, I think. I worry about Forbsy on his own, but he seems to be OK. In any event it only takes a hint and Silver Leader has us off the road and resting. West Australia early in the morning so we need to rid ourselves of certain foods before we cross the border. Mervyn and Margaret may get an early wake up call rather than throw the food out.