northern territory: kayaking katherine gorge

I've never been that enthused about flat water kayaking. I love the dynamic nature of the ocean - the swell, waves and surge around the rocks. That intoxicating smell of salt spray. However, one hears so much praise about Katherine Gorge and years ago when I was there with my younger brother we weren't able to get up the river so I decided to ask my wife for some time off to paddle up the gorge this time!

I left early in the morning before the kids got up for breakfast. I thought I'd be up at sunrise every morning of this year long trip but soon realised that despite my expectations of a year long 'holiday' the full-time work of 'growing up' a young family rapidly brought me back to reality. My wife and I stay up late, grasping onto the limited time alone together, only to be left tired the next morning. Just like home!

Once I slid into the mirror smooth green/brown water of Nitmiluk and began stroking upstream I began drifting into the world of quiet, solitude, reflection and solace. It was easy to get into a rhythm and as usual found my mind skipping from topic to topic, family-work-that was a freshwater croc-holidays-family-white breasted sea eagle-work-holidays-getting hot now-family...

The gorge is large and there are some beautiful sandy spits and banks with signs warning to keep clear of these fragile freshwater crocodile nesting sites. The first gorge seems to be the widest and as one gets further upstream the narrower it becomes. The towering orange brick-like cliffs looming in over me reminded me of the narrow canals in Amsterdam lined by leaning Dutch terrace houses!

Where I could I kept to the shady side seeking relief from the tropical sun. The first gorge ends at a rocky barrier that would produce some fun rapids when the water level was higher. There was very little flow when we were there so I dragged my kayak (the beauty of plastic!) up the middle and took advantage of a couple of pools that I could paddle across.

I paddled up to the third gorge which is as far as one is allowed to go on a day permit. It wasn't until I was there that I thought that I'd missed a good opportunity to do another solo overnighter (Steep Point being the last) by camping further up the gorge for a night.

Instead I sat on some rocks under a battered, almost horizontal paperbark tree between the second and third gorges and listened to the gurgling of Nitmiluk as it passed by me on its long course to the ocean. It was a wonderful moment and thoughts came to me of my late father who would have so enjoyed following our journey. I deliberately hadn't brought a camera with me this time and took in the scene before me intending to sketch it from memory when the kids were next drawing.

The thought of freshly ground coffee urged me back to our roaming home and we were also heading into Katherine town to catch up with some friends, another travelling family, who were overtaking us on their way east too. 

As I paddled back downstream it was the vibrant and varied colours of the gorge walls that stuck in my mind. Colour has been a recurring feature in my memories of this trip. The colours of northern Australia in particular really gets to me. Some of the most pleasurable moments have been driving the vast distances in this wondrous country of ours. Through the deep reds and oranges of the many Pilbara & Kimberley ranges spotted with light green and brown spinifex hummocks, through open savannah and Gulf country with miles of dry native grasses, oranges, purples, browns, yellows, the thin white trunks of the eucalypts with their dark green foliage stamped against the deep blue sky. We've had hours and hours of this and I love it.

northern territory: katherine gorge

We were at Katherine Gorge for two nights but arriving late in the afternoon we only had the time to cool off in the pool before dinner and bed. 

The lovely Matt and Georgia adopted B & P as regulars to their camper. The couple are just finishing their university degrees and are travelling the country for eight months. What a brilliant thing to be doing at their age. They made our stay a lot simpler by reading and playing with the kids while we packed and cleaned up. Thanks guys! I hope one day, when you travel again with your family some young'ns will help you out! 

J was up early and in his kayak on the water (after buying his permit). He paddled up through to Gorge Number Three and while he did forget his camera he did make this sketch on his return. These special moments in the quiet in the kayak are relished! (see the following post - J's blog post about his kayak up the gorge.)

The kids and I were slow going in the morning. Little A had his brekky and then explored every inch of dirt in the campground until he was coated in it. He had a ball! We had a swim in the pool then headed back in to Katherine to meet friends at Katherine Springs. We'd met this family at Sandy Cape, WA and travelled with them to Geraldton and Kalbarri and it was nice to see familiar faces although they're looking somewhat tanned after five weeks in Bali! 

northern territory: nitmiluk national park, leliyn

Also known as Edith Falls, Leliyn is a beautiful spot. There are a few bush walks from the campground ($25/n for the family) and we chose to take the kids on the 1.6km loop to the Upper Pool and back down the other side. We also left our camera behind so there are no photos of the gorgeous rock pools. 

On our second day B got through some school work before heading to the huge lower pool. It wasn't as warm as the springs though! 

B has taken to whittling again and made this neat spear. The hammock was a good spot to read the afternoon away with a new book. 

Initially we thought we'd stay a night but ended up staying three at Leliyn. The grounds are pleasant with actual real green grass! Fellow travellers will understand our excitement as we had somewhere the kids could run and Little A could practice his walking. We were pleased to not be packing, unpacking and racing off. 

Little A is cutting a good set of (five or more) teeth at the moment and whilst we've noticed he's a slightly more demanding version of his usual happy-go-lucky self, he's coping pretty well with the pain. After thirteen months he's finally going to have some teeth to gnaw with!

northern territory: tjuwaliyn hot springs

We'd planned to farewell my parents from Kakadu but it made sense to change (ever changing) plans when they mentioned a possible return to Tjuwaliyn (also known as Douglas Daly). There are exceptions to the rule of never going backwards and this was one of them. The campground is by the banks of The springs and its a short walk down to the water which is a woman's sacred site. Visitors are asked to bathe only in the sections of the springs close to the campground which were mind blowing. Although the water temperate varied in pools some of the water was too hot to touch let alone swim in. 

A bunch of kids lined up to do bombies. The pool came with its own springboard.  

Little A had a ball sometimes crawling, sometimes swimming, sometimes walking through the water. The temperature was bearable for the little lad. 

And the rest of us! 

It was a sad farewell with my parents who we had such a memorable holiday with. We're all going to miss other!

Ochre paints at the springs. Thanks Mum for this photo. 

northern territory: anbangbang, yellow waters

There's no better way to experience the wetlands of Yellow Waters than on a crocodile-proof cruise which we did with Ma and Grug. The kids were just as excited for the five-minute bus ride to the jetty as the boat ride. 

An egret, a shag and a whitebreasted sea eagle on the banks of Yellow Waters. 

There was so much wildlife to see on the cruise - dozens of huge (and smaller) saltwater crocodiles and beautiful water birds including eagles, kites, egrets, brolgas and rainbow bee-eaters. The billabong was lined with the beautiful lotus and pandanus plants. It must be magic to see this place teaming with wildlife during the wet and at the beginning of the dry season. 

Anbangbang (wrongly but more commonly known as Nourlangie) is about half an hour by car from Cooinda and the site of more incredible rock art. Sheltered by huge overhangs much of the paint has remained intact over thousands of years. If you're in the area be sure to tack on to a free ranger guided talk. The national park rangers present informative and engaging talks about the sites. 

Thanks to my mum for these two photographs. 

On our tour with Animal Tracks Patsy taught us how to identify a green ant's nest. Green ants are a bush medicine used to relieve a headache and quell a sore tummy. We showed the children how, with a quick movement, Patsy quickly removed a nest and squished the ants before producing the medicine. Strangely the ants do taste like salt and vinegar chips.