We had been going to stay for the rodeo but we’d had to change the date of our
Katherine Gorge cruise from Sunday to tonight so we had to leave. At
Katherine we decided to camp at Shady Lane which is
on the road out towards the Gorge but not far from town. I did the washing, we had lunch and then it was time to get ready to drive out to the Gorge.
Katherine Gorge
The cruise we had booked was the Dinner Cruise and it was a real pleasure. We left at 4.30 and went up two gorges. For the cruise back our boat was set up beautifully with white tablecloths. We were greeted with drinks then served entrée of salmon, prawn and bush tucker dressings. The main meal was a choice of chicken or
barramundi followed by two choices of dessert. The whole meal was delicious. The meal was finished with coffee and after dinner mints. We drifted along the river, through the gorge as the daylight faded and the stars came out. It was a lovely experience.
Next morning we were driving out to look at the Low Level crossing when we passed the showgrounds and noticed horse floats and horses everywhere.
Katherine Campdraft
Happily for us, a camp draft was on and this made up for missing the rodeo in
Mataranka. We watched the juniors go through their paces for a few hours, had a huge steak sandwich for lunch then decided to do some sightseeing and come back later. We went to the Low Level, Springvale Homestead, the Rock
Shop and to the hot springs for a swim. Back at the camp draft it was time for the finals and they were really exciting. The horsemanship was so good to watch.
We had one more day in
Katherine and Ray used this to fix a part on the
water tank that had broken. We thought we’d go and find a cappuccino in the street and spent a bit of time wandering around. After lunch we just drove around town and found O’Keefe House so stopped to go in and have a chat with the lady looking after it. The house was originally built by soldiers as a mess hall and then after the war a series of local families lived there. Olive O’Keefe, a nurse who flew with Clive Fenton of the Flying Doctors became the owner and she lived there until her death when she was in her late 80’s. She must have been an inspirational and dedicated lady. She received an MBE for her services towards the health of the people of the outback.
From there we went to the
Katherine Museum which was extremely interesting. They have extensive information about the first inhabitants, the first settlers, the beginning of the town, the cattle stations, the war years, the overland telegraph amongst other things
There is an aeroplane flown by Clive Fenton, a display of old machinery, vehicles and home appliances.
The roof of Galloping Jack's Planetarium
The thing that caught my interest was an astronomy machine built by a bloke called Galloping Jack who must’ve been a real character.
Our last stop on the tourist track was Knotts Crossing which was the site of the original
Katherine settlement and originally called Emungalan.
The
weather was really warming up by now as we left
Katherine to head further north.
Umbrawarra Gorge
was our first stop and we wandered through this pretty place all by ourselves
Back on the track we detoured to have a look at Coppermine Dam to find that there were quite a few campers set up there. In
Pine Creek we got fuel and had a look at the Railway Museum and the old Bakery. We would have looked in the old store but it was closed for lunch! From
Pine Creek we decided to head up the highway to
Adelaide River and then take the old road around to Douglas Hot Springs to camp for the night.
Adelaide River
Adelaide River War Memorial Cemetery is such a solemn, respectful and serene place. It always makes me sad when I read the inscriptions on the graves and see how very young most of these men and women were.
Morning Douglas Hot Springs
It was late afternoon when we pulled into Douglas Hot Springs so we quickly set up camp and went down to laze around in the hot and
cold water. Some of the water was so hot that it burnt and the trick was to find just the right temperature and then it was bliss!
From Douglas Hot Springs we returned to
Pine Creek and headed out to
Mary River Roadhouse to pick up the key for Koolpin Gorge. It was mid morning so we decided to go to Gunlom first for lunch and a swim. The road was quite corrugated and when we got there we relaxed and had lunch on the grass under the shady trees.
It’s just a short walk down to the falls and although it was hot and humid a swim in the
cool water with the great scenery of the plunge pool soon had us feeling refreshed. After a while we set off to climb to the top of the falls.
Top Falls Gunlom
This took about half an hour and was really worthwhile. The pools and small falls are so nice and there were only two others there. You can swim to the edge of the first pool and it looks like you are right on edge of the falls. We spent a long time here then returned to the car and set off for Koolpin.
The road to Koolpin was pretty good and once in there it was just slow going on a narrow track with a couple of water crossings and some ranges. There are only forty people allowed in to Koolpin at one time and luckily for us there was only one group of about six
young people set up in the campground when we got there. It was a hot and very humid night and the bats were having another party in a nearby tree. Every now and then it seemed that a couple took their fighting seriously and were like two blokes in a pub - “you, me, outside” and then off they’d go to another tree and settle the argument.
In the morning we headed off to discover Koolpin Gorge. The first hurdle was a barrier of rocks that we couldn’t get past without wading through thigh high water
From there we rock hopped around the first pool, climbed over a high rocky barrier to walk around the sandy edges of another lovely pool. It took about two hours and a lot of scrambling and climbing over rocks to reach the waterfall.
We decided that we had gone far enough then and sat back to enjoy the beautiful view stretching out before us. The three pools of vivid blue water, fringed with trees and rocks spread out in the morning sunlight.
Koolpin Gorge
We sat there and drank it all in for
ages before beginning the rock scramble and water crossing back to camp.
It was time to pack up, reluctantly leave Koolpin and return the key to the office at the
Mary River Roadhouse. After that was done we made our way further in to
Kakadu National Park and set up camp at Maguk Gorge. The road in to Maguk was very corrugated and there were by this time quite a few other campers there but we found a spot and set up. By now the humidity had increased and it was a very hot night.
We set off to climb to the top of Maguk Falls in the morning. The climb wasn’t hard and in about half an hour we were descending down the steep rocks to the pools and
small falls at the top of the Maguk plunge pool
Maguk Top of Falls
The water pours over a small waterfall and has carved its way around and through the rocks before it plummets to the pool far below. We spent ages here swimming and sitting enjoying the views. The most amazing part was that we had it to ourselves for most of the time we were there.
Back at the car the
fridge was not working properly. We were going to camp at
Mardugal campground but we now decided to go to
Cooinda because we wanted to check the
fridge on 240v. It was very busy at
Cooinda but on the plus side were lovely hot showers, the swimming pool and the restaurant so we made the most of all three.
We booked a Yellow Waters Cruise for 4.30 and before long we were out on the water with a group of Japanese tourists all merrily clicking away. It was a lovely evening and we saw lots of birds and crocodiles. We even saw a cormorant spear a fish that was almost too big for it to swallow and we waited as he valiantly tried to get it into his stomach. When it finally went down the whole boat gave a cheer! .
Yellow Waters Sunset
As we made our way back the sun was setting and the reflections were so pretty and of course there was a brilliant Yellow Waters sunset
The
fridge was working on power now but not when we plugged it into the car. We’d had to throw food out so we enjoyed the restaurant for dinner. Earlier today we’d seen a vehicle with an Exploroz tyre cover parked in the
Cooinda carpark. We didn’t have time to catch up to them so if your number plate begins with CH and you’re from NSW, hello and sorry we missed meeting you.
The next morning was spent at Warradjun Cultural Centre. We thought Warradjun was extremely interesting and enjoyed slowly walking through, reading, looking at the displays and listening to the music and the voices talking about their lives. At Bowali we got information on the depth of Jim Jim Creek for our
Twin Falls trip and then we had a walk around and a coffee at the little café there.
We drove out to
Ubirr Rock and walked around quietly taking it all in, the huge overhangs and the paintings. We climbed to look out over the escarpment and sat there for a while. It was getting quite hot so we got a drink and an icecream from the Border Store and went down to Cahill’s Crossing. There was a bloke
fishing on the causeway and just a little way from him on the bank there were four or five enormous crocodiles. I suppose he was used to it but they seemed a bit close for comfort to me
The next stop was at
Jabiru where we had our lunch on the lawn near the swimming pool and from there it was on to
Nourlangie Rock for the end of the day.
Nourlangie Rock
Majestic
Nourlangie Rock towered over us with its walls of
orange and brown. We found the shelters and the paintings so interesting and we were lucky enough to join in with a Ranger for one of his talks. As we walked beneath the massive overhanging rocks it wasn't difficult to imagine that they were shelter for the people who lived here so many years ago.
Back at
Cooinda we once again decided to have dinner out and watch some of the AFL. It was Hawthorn vs. Carlton with both Buddy Franklin and Brendan Fevola going for their 100 goals. We saw Buddy kick his hundred but didn’t stay to watch the end of the match and didn’t know for ages that Fevola was left stranded on 99.
Twin Falls
The next day was our day to go to Jim Jim and
Twin Falls. We left early and the road was really good until the campground where we got the shuttle boat tickets. After that it was just slow and winding with a couple of small water crossings before Jim Jim Creek which was about half a metre and we had no problems crossing.
We went to
Twin Falls first and did the climb to the top of the falls for a magnificent view. The walk took about two hours and began with a reasonably steep climb and then a walk through trees and some more small climbs until the top of the falls is reached. The views are worth the climb and the enormous smooth rocks which have been smoothed and shaped by the water are a testimony to its power and force.
When we got back to the carpark we were so hot we doused ourselves with water from the tank. Next we took the shuttle boat and walked to the base of
Twin Falls. Even with only a small amount of water pouring down it’s still such an impressive sight. We got right over against the rocks and got sprayed by the falls to
cool down.
From
Twin Falls we drove around to Jim Jim and walked and rock hopped our way in to the falls for a swim. That was really hard going, especially since we’d done the big walk earlier in the day and the track was sometimes difficult to follow. There was no water falling but it’s just so massive and must be an awesome sight in the wet season. We had a swim and then scrambled back over the rocks and returned to camp where we farewelled our time in
Kakadu with another dinner at the Bistro.
That was our last day in
Kakadu and next morning we left on the Old Jim Jim road to make our way to Point Stuart Resort for the next two nights
