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Published: August 1st 2006
A swim hole at katherine gorge
...this was about 5km up stream, we was proper knackered at this point!"The road is long"...
We drove through the Queensland bush across the ‘Savannah Way’, which is single - track bitumen road that leads into the Northern Territory (that only the monster road trains use). We passed millions of termite mounds, road kill (inc. Kangaroos, Wallabies, Emus, Cows, Camels, Snakes, pigs, & rabbits), and the ‘Wedge-Tail’ Eagles - which are the biggest bird in Oz…its proper massive!
The weather was great with clear blue skies everyday. We have come in the dry season, so bush fires were all over the place. The Northern Territory is the most baron and least populated region in Ozz, only 1%!o(MISSING)f the population live here, which covers 20%!o(MISSING)f the country. We were heading towards Katherine, the first stop in our trip. After six days of relentless driving @ around 500km a day…we arrived!
Katherine Gorge
Aboriginal name: 'Nitimiluk'
Katherine Gorge (or Nitimiluk) is fairly remote and beautiful. It consists of 13 gorges separated from each other by rapids that carve the rugged and pre-historic gorge walls. As it’s the dry season, the waters are calm…so Ally and I rented a canoe for half a day and paddled (pathetically) up
the gorge! it was a beautiful place, with lots of bird life, but we didn’t see any of the fresh water crocs as they tend to distance themselves from human activity - unlike the saltwater crocs that are extremely dangerous in these parts, for example, a few days ago an 8yr old girl was eaten alive whilst fishing with her parents!! (by a 6 meter croc). Anyway, we spent the rest of the day making full use of the campsite showers, something we hadn’t done in a week!!
From Katherine we headed north to the much hyped , a lot of the Nomads called it: Kakadon’t …but we wanted to make our own mind up!!
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu is a cultural landscape, shaped by the Aboriginal people. There was a mass of wildlife and significant rock-art sites, so we stayed for three days in the various campsites and 'free' stops.
The wildlife in Kakadu is amazing, with 25 species of frogs, 51 freshwater fish, 60 types of mamals, 120 reptiles, 280 birds and around 10,000 kinds of insects - most of which seem to be vicious biting little bastards! The most fearsome is
obviously the saltwater crocs, this is what tourists say is anoyying about Kakadu: that you CANNOT swim anywhere inside the park - but i kind of think
'who bloody well cares'?, the place is a wildlife sanctuary, if you wanna swim, go to a swimming pool init!!
We did the early morning 'Yellow River' cruise around the parks vast wetlands, this meant getting up at 5.45am, we then picked up a French couple as their car battery had died and gave them a lift...
The Boat Trip... was probably the highlight of Kakadu, the dawn trip is best because the birds are more active, the light is perfect, saw a beautiful sun rise, and the place was calm and tranquil. This part of Kakadu is completely wetlands, the water was very still and the mirror reflections of Flora and fauna were proper. We saw: a variety of Kingfishers, rare Cranes & Storks, Parrots in their thousands, Sea Eagles, Fresh & Saltwater crocs (inc. a 5 meter monster on the shore), Brumbys (wild horses), whistling ducks, etc..
After the cruise we headed to the Aboriginal Rock-Art sites which was pretty good too. Some of the rock-art was
Squirt having (another) rest
...whilst I paddle....grrrrr!! 20,000 yrs old and still very visable. There were loads of it round there mind! The Aboriginals used the massive rocks and boulders to shelter from the harsh sun, as Austrailias humble gum tree dosen't provide decent shade. So kakadu was the place to be back in the day, a social epicentre for 'Abbos' (as the Ozzys call them!)
we spent the next few days chilling around campsites, in/out of swimming pools, sunbathing, cooking (the ridiculously cheaper) Fillet steak, and having a swig! Someones gotta do it!
next stop: Darwin - like any travel in Ozz it was just down the road!! 300km down the road!!!
Love ya'll
nick & ally (the weasel buffers)
xxxxx
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