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Published: September 13th 2014
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Rainbow Springs, Katherine Hot Spring
The head of the hot spring that wells up out of the ground looks even more beautiful in daylight than it did last time we were here at dusk. We were up at 8am and spent a little while after breakfast watching a small group of Great Bower Birds working out who belonged to whom. Then it was time to move on to Katherine, about 70kms down the road. Fortunately, the ute air-con seemed to be working OK today, which was just as well because the temperature was rising rapidly.
We booked into the Riverview Resort again as we wanted to be near the Hot Springs (more warm really). We had a quick lunch and then Barry wanted to get the air-con checked out and see if it needed regassing. He spoke to two different auto electricians and neither knew why it had switched to hot last night but the 2
nd one checked the gas level and said it was fine and didn’t need a top up. He also said not to go into WA during the Build-up as it just got worse and became unbearable.
After leaving the auto electrician, we went back to the Tourist Information Centre to see if they agreed. We’ve both found this heat difficult to do things in and it is very draining. The lady in the TIC looked up a
Edith Falls Kiosk
They made a great Barra Burger! It was also the Campground Office. website, “weatherzone.com” and was able to pinpoint specific places, like Alice Springs or Broome, and see what was the usual and what was expected in the various months and seasons. It was as we’d been told. The Alice was 5 degrees cooler than here and even cooler compared to Broome and upper WA. That made our decision easy. We’ll head back through the Centre to the Alice and Uluru (Ayres Rock) then Coober Pedy and decide where to from there later. We’re not ready to go home yet – we’re having way too much fun! We’ll come back next year but set off earlier, and go back up to Katherine and then West.
Barry was still feeling crook so we’d got him some Cold and Flu Relief tablets, which he took, and then we set off to the Thermal Spring Pool. We had a look at the source of the water, a spring, Rainbow Spring, welling up out of the rocks in a top pool. We’d seen it at dusk last time and it was even more beautiful in full daylight.
It was 5pm by then and the pool was quite busy. There were lots of
Trees Grow in Some Funny Places
This lovely rock formation was fairly typical of the weird stones we were seeing along the Stuart Highway on the way to Katherine. This one looks like a pillar someone has erected rather than a natural rock. Aboriginal kids having a great time jumping in and out of the water. One pair of young scamps decided we made good handrails and launch points for pushing off. They were both in an area where they were out of their depth but were having a good go at swimming. They just needed something to hold on to when they stopped. We were nominated as the somethings when their previous one left the pool. They were full of fun, smiles and laughs and had absolutely no inhibitions about latching on to complete strangers. After a while, another gentleman arrived with his daughter, who he threw across the water. The boys decided they wanted to join that game and jumped on him, instead.
While we had chance, we went for a short swim to another area of the pool to see if there were any fish where there was less splashing. There was a big burly tattooed man standing in the water drinking beer from glass bottles, which kept being replenished by family members on the bank. This is supposed to be a no glass area to prevent anyone getting cut on broken shards. Some people just don’t know
Courting Bower Bird Style
This Great Bower Bird had made his bower right next to the picnic tables at the Katherine Tourist Information Centre, in a fenced garden area. Despite his poor location choice he still seems to have interested the female that is inside inspecting it. Good luck, mate! how to have fun without alcohol and totally ignore the rules put there to protect others. It is very frustrating and disappointing.
We couldn’t see any fish here either, so we headed further downstream and, as we passed them, we re-acquired our little hangers-on who had exhausted the other man from all the tossing of little bodies. Another young girl came over to talk to me, and used me to stop the force of the stream carrying her over the cascade. She compared our skin and how it was different colours on our legs and arms, and asked about red scratches on my leg and Barry’s birthmark on his shoulder. Then she told me how she was related to most of the other kids in the pool, either siblings or cousins. She also said that her father was in jail for hitting her mother but he would get out on Tuesday. She was very matter of fact but didn’t appear happy that he would be out so soon. She also found a beer bottle cap on the rocks and said people shouldn’t drink beer. A wise little thing. I hope she sticks to it.
After a while, she asked if Barry and I would take them upstream to the bridge. I said she could go herself but she insisted we came too. Once we got there, I realised that she had probably seen the tattooed man drinking beer there and was afraid. She felt safe with us there. They played near and on us for a while longer and then suddenly left the water and ran off towards some older kids at the top of the entrance steps. I hadn’t heard any calls but they obviously had. It was time to go home.
We didn’t stay much longer either, as it was nearly sundown. We dried ourselves roughly and covered up to make the trek back up the hill to the campground before they closed the back gate at 7pm.
With the air-conditioner on I was able to cook a meal today without overheating the van and after dinner Barry watched a little TV and then had an early night. The tablets were helping but he was still very under the weather.
I stayed up to sort through the photos from the last few days. I’d turned off the air-con once the outside air became cooler, and opened the door. After a while, I heard a scrabbling in the leaves outside. I went to look, with torch in hand, but couldn’t see anything. I did a tour of the area, shining the light through the trees, too, in case there were any nocturnal animals or birds around. Nothing. I heard a Tawny Frogmouth but he was quite a way off.
I went back in and carried on sorting. Several times, I heard it again and went to the door with the light. Still nothing. Then one time, I spotted a slight movement in the dead leaves on the garden beside the van. I swung the light there and could barely see anything. I moved the light away and quickly back and sure enough, one of the “leaves” moved and then froze again. It was a little mouse with kangaroo type legs. I tricked him into moving a couple more times because when he was still it was almost impossible to distinguish him from a leaf. He was the same colour and size as most of them. It was hard to see detail through the mesh of the screen door but he moved like a mini kangaroo and even hopped a little when I turned off the light to let him go. I had probably been looking at him all the other times I went out but until he moved he was invisible.
That was a delightful way to end the day. I've since been told it was probably a Desert Mouse.
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