17 March 2013 - Big4 Katherine Holiday Park, Katherine, Northern Territory

The alarm was set for an early start but failed to ring. Fortunately Chris woke soon after we should have been up and we were soon breakfasted and on the road out to the Katherine Gorge National Park, or more correctly the Nitmiluk National Park. It was just as well that we had phoned through a tour booking or we might have delayed or even changed our plans entirely. Instead we were at the park and waiting near the wharf on the river at 8.45 am ready for the Nit Nit Dreaming 2 Gorge Cultural Cruise. Normally there is a choice of about five different tours up through the gorge on the river, all running several times throughout the day, however we are early for “the season” and so rather restricted as to our choices; it was just this one to be taken in the morning or at 2 pm.

We had packed up lunch the night before and were prepared for an entire day at the park, cruising, walking, picnicking and generally taking in all that was on offer.

The beautiful Katherine Gorge

The cruise boat was about half full with nineteen passengers and the one aboriginal worker, an excellent captain and guide whose name we failed to catch on the less than perfect PA system. (We were disappointed after hearing the long battle to have the land returned to the traditional owners, that he seemed to be the only aboriginal employee.) He took us up through the first two gorges naturally carved through sandstone by the Katherine River, with rocks and boulders separating each gorge. We had to transfer to another boat in the second gorge, a short walk of 400 metres along a gentle rocky path. The gorges are truly spectacular and we did enjoy the trip very much however did think that $73 per person for a cruise of one and three quarters of an hour, the catering restricted to cool water in plastic cups, is a little over the top. Having said that I suspect we will be ripped off in a far greater fashion as we make our way around this tourist mecca of the Top End.

We also delighted in the close up encounters with especially colourful kookaburras, great flocks of Little Red Flying Foxes back near the wharf on the river bank and a couple of freshwater crocodiles who are generally not dangerous; they prefer insects, fish and small animals to human flesh.

Our guide attending to the boat as we climbed across to the second gorge

Back at the Nitmiluk Centre, we were impressed by the small but informative displays, and spent some time reading everything on offer. It had been our intention to have lunch there and then undertake one of the smaller walks from the Centre but the heat had set in and the thought of walking much further than the return to the car park was all too much.

Instead we came on back to camp, picnicked under the awning watched by a couple of blue faced honey eaters and then spent the greater part of the afternoon at the pool, swimming, lounging about in chaise longues and reading. Neither of us could remember ever doing that before! It was a very pleasant way to pass a sunny Sunday in March at the Top End.