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We woke up and watched the view of the lake reveal its self from the campsite as we were on a cliff overlooking Lake Argyle. We had been told there was an infinity pool at the campsite but it was dark when we arrived at camp the previous evening so we decided to check it our at sunrise instead and we weren't disappointed as the water from the pool looked as though it was flowing into Lake Argyle and had incredible views.
We had a long drive in the morning as we made our way to Katherine. We stopped just before lunchtime at Jo's Gorge where we did the Nawulbinbin walk which took up the side of the gorge. It was very humid today and so the climb up the gorge was tough at times. Along the way Rich pointed out a few Aboriginal drawings on the cliff face, these particular Drawings have been called Bradshaw drawings because that was the first person to study them. They are mainly images of men and animals. Apparently if the figure of a man is drawn upside down then it indicates danger in the area. Similarly if there is an image of a
woman upside down then it indicates that is a mans area and women shouldn't be there. On the walk back down the forge we saw one of the very tall palm trees fall nearby in the forest of palms.
We had lunch at a roadhouse on the way into Katherine and then stopped in the town of Katherine to pick up a few essential supplies, which for Jo meant chocolate! Katherine is the 3rd largest town in the Northern Territory. Nick told us about a devastating flood which had occurred in Katherine in 1998 when the waters had risen 21 metres above the dry season level and left the town under a meter of water and having to be evacuated. Although there were a couple of guys in the town who thought they would use this to their advantage and broke in through the ceiling of the local Woolworths store to steal the alcohol. Unfortunately they weren't the only ones with that idea as they discovered a crocodile happily grazing away in the meat section of the store and they ended up trapped, perched on the high shelves and having to call the authorities to come and save them!
We then drove just outside of the town to Katherine hot springs for a refreshing swim. In the water Rich found a couple of very small and cute Short Neck Turtles which fitted in the palm of our hands. They were also very close to being a pet for the rest of the tour until Will pointed out they would probably need to fed maggots, Jo was then happy to put him back in the water.
As we arrived at camp we were happily surprised to see that we had permanent tents with beds and a fully equipped kitchen to make use of. So no need to go through the usual routine of setting up camp. After our final dinner of beef stroganoff we headed outside and sat around the campfire where Nick surprised us with the Kimberley Cruiser awards. Each person was given an award (a decorated paper plate) - Will's award was 'Gas on Call' as his hic-burps became a familiar sound after dinners and Jo received the 'Amazing tolerance of Gas on Call' award.
After the award ceremony it was time for 2 of the tour group to perform a song that they had
been challenged to sing on Day 1 of the tour. The theme of the song had been set as 'hotdogs and high heels', mainly because we had hot dogs for lunch on the first day, and the high heels part was just random. They borrowed the guitar from Nick and gave a unique performance in an opera style around the camp fire.
As it was the last campfire Will ceremoniously burnt the socks which he had been wearing for the last 8 days without clening. He had filled them with eucalyptus leaves earlier on to give them a bit more of a bang when they burnt and then waved goodbye to his (very stinky) socks as they were placed on the fire which seemed to burn blue!
Later on in the evening one of the group taught us the Abraham Lincoln song which basically involved waving both arms and legs in the air whilst wiggling your bum and sticking your tongue out! I'm sure we looked a picture, but we didn't get any photos of that I'm afraid.
It was a late night sat around the campfire with a few drinks as the clocks had gone forward
an hour and a half when we crossed into NT earlier today.
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