Day 132 - Back to Katherine (Kakadu reflections)

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This was a day of travelling and catching up on chores mostly. As we drove out of Kakadu, we had time to reflect on our park experience. The park itself seems to have had very little spent on it (by the Federal Governement) since the early days. Some areas are badly in need of some TLC. The good thing is that private operators are being allowed into the park and they are offering tours and "experiences" that are generally of a high quality.

In the end, we felt happy with our Kakadu experience. While we have such high class acts such as Christian the Parks Ranger, Ned (the Birdman) at Yellow Waters and Sean and Patsy offering Animal Tracks, we think that Kakadu will be OK.

That's not to say that we should leave this park without making a comment about the burning that occurs in the dry season. It does seem to have a dramatic effect on wildlife numbers (birds however can fly away so they are somewhat less affected although habitat is being destroyed. There seems to be some link with burning and carbon credits being paid to large companies. This needs further follow up before we can be sure of our thoughts.

In Katherine we fuelled up with diesel (and coffee for us) and then we did (Georgi did) a big load of washing. We filled an LP gas bottle too.

We dropped in to the Katherine museum on the way out to the Gorge. Many years ago Georgi and her friend Jan, rode a motorbike (just one bike, two girls) around Australia. Katherine was a much smaller place then. Of course, the public service in Darwin were mostly shifted to Katherine after Cyclone Tracy and other ecomic incentives (including expansion of the beef industry) helped to grow Katherine to the size it is now. We planned to stay at Katherine Gorge (now called Nitmiluk) for two nights.

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Photos

Katherine Museum
Old photos of Katherine streetscape