Lap Around Australia ..Katherine & Nitmiluk Gorge

Katherine and Nitmiluk Gorge

We're staying in Katherine for a few days at the Shady Lane Tourist Park, a few kilometres out of town on Gorge Road. John and I stayed here on our last trip and were very impressed with the caravan park which has great amenities that are kept spotlessly clean. We were pleased to find that they still are!

Some of the campsites are a bit tricky to manoeuvre into (A bit tricky? Hah! Oh very Hah!) . Both John and Barb, and later Karen and Steve, had words with their partners over directing them to back in. Now that John has had time to properly install the reversing cameras on our car and van we might not have to have this argument again, we hope! What never? Well, hardly ever!

The sites are indeed shady, with lovely tall palms all around providing some relief from the sun. We all (the girls that is) leapt at the opportunity to do laundry and hang our washing in full sun away from the dust of the driveway. The shower/toilet blocks are also lovely. Completely tiled throughout, with toilet paper, soap, hand driers, good lighting and hooks in the showers etc. The luxury!

It was a warm afternoon, so we went in the late afternoon to Katherine Springs, which are natural hot springs just out of town on the Victoria Highway. When we got there we discovered that they were doing a lot of work on constructing a precinct at the springs and there was a lot of dust and rockwork in progress.

There were also a lot of school aged kids at these springs. Being after school hours it's a favourite place for the locals to cool off too. The springs weren't as warm as Bitter Springs. Neither did they carry you downstream, but a bit further upstream towards the source of the springs there was a much deeper pool and a small rapids area gushing into it.

Some foolish young men started bomb diving into the pool (right beside the sign that said not to) and Barb left .... not wanting to see someone break their neck or back and have to perform resus.

When we got back to the campground the other two couples booked in to do the Two Gorge boat cruise the following day. John and I had done a Three Gorge cruise on a previous visit, so decided to this time do a bushwalk to see the gorges from the cliff-tops instead.

The next morning we set off early to do the walk out of the heat of the day - 35 degrees predicted. Steve came along too in his own vehicle to do the walk before his cruise that started at 2 pm from the same starting point. We all seriously under-estimated how hard the walk would be and how long it would take. Steve ended up only just making it back by 2 pm. John and I were rescued at about 2.30 pm. Read on!

The Baruwei walk is graded as moderately difficult, the 4.8 km round trip is supposed to take 2 hours. We easily did that part of the walk and the views of the gorge from above were spectacular.
We then decided to go on to the Windolf walk to see the Southern Rockhole and Pat's Lookout. The waterfall shown on the board looked so inviting. We met Steve (who'd gone on ahead of us) halfway to the rockhole. He told us the waterfall and pool were dry, so we instead walked with him to Pat's
Lookout. The views from this lookout were even more sensational, so we pressed on to Jedda's Rock to see views of the second gorge. This too was outstanding, but by now it was nearing midday and getting very hot. We'd brought what we thought was plenty of water and some muesli bars, had appropriate clothing and shoes etc, but all of us were starting to feel the effects of heat and dehydration.

 

 

We also didn't realise that parts of the path on the way back were graded difficulty level five! (parts of the Waleka Walk) We had a bit of trouble following the marked path, too. The arrows along the way were hard to spot and we had to do a lot of back-tracking to go back to the last arrow we'd seen and try again. Steve went on ahead as he needed to get back for the cruise. John and I pressed on at a slower pace. Steve finally reached a point where he got a phone signal and he phoned Karen to tell her he was running late and to travel with Ian and Kathy to the Gorge and meet him there. He then came back to check on us. Lucky that he did because Barb chose just then to take a nasty tumble, losing her footing on loose rocks. She fell hard onto her left side and almost rolled down an embankment, but luckily the spinifex grass broke her fall and John was able to grab her leg to stop her falling further. Steve and John helped Barb to her feet. She was very shaken and in pain. Luckily nothing appeared broken and she could still walk, so just bruising we thought.

On we trudged, getting hotter and tireder and eking out our water. It was hard going to get back to the next water tank (almost two kilometres of very rough terrain). Steve went on ahead when he knew we'd been able to refill our empty water bottles and as soon as he could contact Karen again asked her to call the Rangers to ask for help. Thank goodness that he did! Barb and John struggled on for the next two kilometres to another water tank and by this time Barb was crying with the pain and could barely walk. (We should point out that extended bushwalks over poor terrain, in high temperatures and when suffering from chronic arthritis are not an ideal mix).  We were both suffering heat exhaustion too. We found out later it's ten degrees warmer on the cliffs!

We were still at the water point when Di the Ranger turned up in a big, high clearance, four wheel drive Land Cruiser. There was never a more welcome sight! Two men helped Barb into the vehicle with John sandwiched into the front bench seat too. Di had brought lots of cold water which we greedily drank while she negotiated her way in low range down the boulder strewn track. Steve said later that when he walked that part of the track himself he knew there was no way Barb could do it in the state she was in. It was another 1.9 kilometres of terrible terrain.

We were driven back to our car, so John could pick it up and follow us to the Ranger station where Di very competently applied first aid to Barb's injuries and gave her pain relief. With a bruised and swollen left knee and left little finger, and pain in several other places ( left shoulder, left elbow and right knee) she advised a visit to the Emergency Department to be properly checked over. John filled out the accident report for the Rangers.

Several hours later after xray of her hand, fingers buddy-strapped and pandannus palm splinters removed from her hand Barb was allowed home. What a day! We were all exhausted. All of us had a restless night. John with cramps in his legs. Barb with pain and Steve feeling weak and fatigued.

The cruise however was great and everyone who went on it enjoyed that part of the day. Karen and Kathy also provided a welcome hot meal for us.

We are really going to miss these guys when they head north and we head west to Kununurra alone.
John and Barb had a rest day in Katherine while the others headed to Kakadu.
We Had a good look around the shops here. There is a rather good camping store and a good fishing store that caught Steve's eye.
We found the Coffee Club too and indulged in cappuccinos and a lovely meal in surroundings that would rival any Brisbane branch of CC.