Is there supposed to be water in the canoe?


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Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » Katherine
September 1st 2004
Published: September 1st 2004
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The bats returning from their night search for fruit woke me up in Mataranka (rachel slept through it). Next stop, Katherine, which is almost as large a city as Alice Springs. We spent an hour wandering as Tim and Daylight bought more food, then we set up camp, ate lunch and headed to the gorge. We went "canoeing" in the gorge. We'd probobly call it Kayaking, because the boats were flatter, the seats were deeper in the boat, and we had paddles with paddles as both ends, if that makes any sense. Uwe was my partner and we started out strong. Things were going really well, a little crooked at times, but we were really moving. The we started to notice that we were sitting in water. A lot of water. We pulled over and Daylight helped us dump out the boat. We ended up dumping out the boat at least 6 times. Rachel and Jon had no chemistry when it came to boating, so Tim and Rachel ended up as partners. We all went to a beach on the banks of the gorge. We played in the water, then kept rowing. The gorge had 1 billion year old sandstone... damn thats old!
Things started to get interesting at the rapids. There were 2 gorges, with rapids between them. Uwe, being german, actually followed the signes for where canoers were supposed to go and carry their canoes. There was one catch, i couldn't  lift the canoe to carry it with him. So we ended up following the group and tim helped us get the canoe up to the second gorge. On We turned round at a bend in the second gorge. Uwe and i dumpped out pur canoe again, then he just dove in the river. so i paddled my way to the group as he swam. We pulled up alongside jon, and after Susie and daylight moved their boat over to help, Uwe got back in the boat. Going downstream was much harder then upstream, contrary to logic. Unless logic includes sore arm muscles, and a leaky boat, then it makes sense.
So back to rapids. We brought up the rear as we weren't moving to well. The Susie and Daylight got stuck on a rock anf their boat filled with water. Susie got out, and Uwe got out of our boat to help. They got the boat unstuck then as much as i tried i ended up going down the rapid before anyone could join me. We pulled the boats over to the side and got everything sorted and the water out of both boats. It was quite fun!
After boating, back to the campsite for a Barbie dinner and drinking. Yay campfires, sausages, cheesy 80's music and staying up late 

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