Swimming With The Crocodiles

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After all the early mornings and nights trying to sleep on buses, I was well asleep when the bus arrived at Katherine. If the driver had not tried to find the owner of the lone backpack that was left on the roadside, I would probably have woken up several hundred miles away in Alice Springs or Townsville.

The main attraction in Katherine was the gorge and, if you had the energy, the best way to experience it was by canoe. You could spend several days going the full length of the gorge, but due to a lack of camping gear and my general laziness meant that I opted for just one day. That was hard enough on the arms and they were stiff for several days afterwards.

The guy who hired out the canoes cheerfully informed us that there were crocs in the gorge. Obviously he didn't want the business! He expected us to be reassured by the fact that they were fresh-water and not salt-water crocs, although as far as we were concerned they both had just as many teeth. Not entirely convinced we reluctantly set off, hoping that we didn't capsize. After a couple of hours of canoeing in the summer heat, however, a swim became a necessity and well worth the risk of being eaten alive. Of course, it was just after a group of us had started swimming that a crocodile decided to give us the shits by swimming past. I remembered how I felt in that Bangkok gambling den all over again.

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Photos

Katherine Gorge
Canoeing along Katherine Gorge