Splat.....Splat.....Splat

---

The Tropic Of Capricorn is only about 50km above Alice Springs. We soon found the line across the road although it didn't really feel any warmer above the line. The drive up to Tennants Creek was quite a boring one so it was good that I had company. We stopped at the Devils Marbles about 30 minutes before Tennant Creek. These are hundreds of spherical rocks scattered across the ground. Some are very precariously balanced on top of each other but no amount of pushing was going to move any of them! We got into Tennants Creek by late afternoon and found the hostel easily as it was yet again a one horse town. We thought that the hostel would be busy as this was the only stopping point on the way to Katherine and driving straight through would be a 13 hour drive. For whatever reason the only hostel in town was empty. Tennant Creek was another place not to venture out at night and for good reason. We could hear a lot of shouting and fighting going on down the street.
With nothing really to do in Tennant Creek we continued the next morning up to Katherine.
On the way up we passed several bush fires. To begin with they was interesting but this soon changed to concern when the flames started to lap the road. I then started to run over what I thought was just burnt debris; it turned out to be frogs fleeing from the fire. The road was covered with hundreds of them and before I even realised what they were I had left a trail of splattered frogs.
This town is a bit bigger than the others. The hostel was basic but turned out to be really nice. It was set among trees and was our first taste of the tropics.
The sun shines here every day and the temperature rises sharply from first light. It makes a nice change being able to sit outside late at night and then eat breakfast the following morning sat outside and not shivering.
With the heat come a lot more animals. Various types of gecko, frog and lizard can be found wandering around. None of them are out to get you so you just leave them to it.

The next morning we went out to Katherine Gorge. You can choose to fly over it, get a boat through it or walk over, up, down and round it. We chose the walk and for the first hour it was nice. Although as the day got hotter the walking got harder. There were also large sections of the 12km walk that were not very scenic at all. This proved to be very hard work. After climbing to the top we headed down and found a water hole and a sun baked frog! The walk back was even harder as the sun was baking down on us. Although the air temperature was about 34 degrees the sun on our backs was over 50 degrees. Finally we returned to the car and headed back to the hostel for some shade.

Back in the hostel we spent another evening sat outside with the other people from our room. Lou and Bill are both Australian and seem to have spent their lives just travelling round their own country and doing a bit or work here and there as they feel like it. This was going to be the last night in Katherine as tomorrow we are going to do the last little bit of road to the very top of the country.

---

Comments

[Lucy]

splat...
I'm sure Australians would love you if they were cane toads you splatted, but if they weren't... enjoy your time up in the tropics, I miss the warm evenings there but at the same time can't wait to make some snowmen!