During the night Brett discovered that the camper battery had gone flat (Chantelle's 12v night light was out) and had to find an alternative for our frozen meals so that they didn't thaw out. So at 3am he was quietly getting all the meals out of our camper fridge and transferring them to the freezer in the camping grounds camp kitchen. He said he felt like a thief in the night trying to do it all without waking anyone. Fortunately there was plenty of room in that freezer and we were able to get some charge back into the battery so we could have lights the next night. Guess that's the problem that can arise when you don't get a powered site. After investigation the fridge had some issue from Mataranka that had it using much more power than it should which drained the battery. Was easily fixed and all good after battery was recharged.
Today we did the 2 hour gorge cruise of Katherine Gorge. We couldnt get into the morning cruises due to some bus loads of kids arriving so the 1pm cruise was what we got. Its such a beautifull place and stunning to photograph. The cruise allowed us to view gorges 1 and 2 over a 2 hour period. There is a 4 hour cruise which includes the third gorge but we weren't sure how Chantelle would handle that length of time and all the walking involved. In the past Brett had done a 5 gorge tour which took all day but they don't do that tour now for some reason. On our trip we were able to spot 3 freshwater crocs in their natural environment. There are 13 gorges in total but the only way you can view all of them is by helicopter. We looked into booking such an experience but the company were booked out. It's really expensive to do but i think that the experience would be awesome and most memorable and give you greater appreciation again of its spectacular beauty. We will be ringing them to try to do a flight on the way south when we come through.
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| One of the friendly locals who posed for a photo. |
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| The walk between the 2 gorges. |
That evening the pool area was surrounded by the kids from the 3 or 4 buses that arrived that morning. Chantelle still wanted to go swimming so dragged Brett to the pool only to throw her dive sticks in and then say its too cold. When Brett dived down to get them he didn't realise that the very bottom step was so far out and banged his head on it. He came back with this graze on his fore head which will look great in any close up photos we might take.
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| While the sun was setting the moon rose above the escarpment. |
Monday - Katherine gorge to Litchfield national park
Packed up and headed back to Katherine for a quick stop to pick up a few things from the shops before heading north again.
First stop was Edith Falls for morning tea which is less than an hour up the road from Katherine. It was a very pretty waterfall plung pool scene. The water was quite nippy and being the morning the day was still yet to warm up. Just out from the waters entry was a pile of stones that seemed to be strangely placed. After talking to a tour guide that was there it seemed that the pile of stones was caused by the volume of water that came down after a storm in January. If you look at the photos it shows how much water must have been involved to gouge the stones from under the water and pile them where it has.
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| Edith Falls |
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| The bank of rocks formed after a flood came through. |
We then were headed for Litchfield National Park but detoured to it via Douglas hot springs. Amazing as the stream there (which is not very deep ) has natural thermal Springs heating it up in pockets. So funny to turn up and see bodies everywhere lying and sitting in pools of water. Some parts of the stream are hot and some cold depending where you stand. Everyone seemed to pick a spot where they felt the water temperature was just right for them. A little further up stream the water is so hot at 60 degrees where it comes out of some cracks in a rock and seems to form this little water fall. We only called in there as a lunch stop but were so impressed as there are camping facilities and may stop in over night on our way back from Kakadu.
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| Sign as you come into Douglas Hot Springs. |
We also stopped at the war graves at Adelaide River which was immaculately manicured in its landscaping. The graves read of all the troops lost during ww2 in the Darwin area. A lot of young men only in their 20's! That was so sad.
From Adelaide River it was then straight to Litchfield where we decided to camp at a place called Litchfield Safari Camp. We weren't sure what to expect and when we arrived we were greeted by an older chap named Don with a big white beard. Very friendly and all records kept in a book. Didn't seem to worry about computers here but there was a sign up wanting someone to help with connecting a phone line up somewhere. The pool at this place was also something to behold and pictures will follow in a later blog post. Other than that the place had a rustic charm about it with plenty of trees for shade and fire places for camp fires. We have 2 full days in Litchfield and the next blog update will be all about that.
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