Day 152 – 14th June 2018 – Katherine

Of course I was back with my walking running buddy, so met Joyce at 8am to go for our morning walk/run.  Let me tell you that 8am was a little too late as it was well on the way to heating up and you really felt it when running.  We had a very cute fan club watching us intently, a herd of young cattle of all different colours.  I wanted to go over to pat one but the minute we walked toward them they ran away.

Herd of calves at Manbulloo Station NT
Herd of calves at Manbulloo Station NT

So Col and I planned a wonderful day out today, we were heading to Katherine Gorge and I had booked us on a canoe tour through the Gorge that goes for the whole afternoon.  This is my sort of thing and I was pretty excited.  Combining being on the water with seeing stunning gorges, I really couldn’t wait.  So off we went, but unfortunately we put into Google ‘Nitmiluk National Park’ where Katherine Gorge is, and off we headed.  We had timed it perfectly…. or so we thought.  Nitmiluk National Park is huge, and unfortunately Google took us to the other end of the park at Edith Falls!  We started to put 2 + 2 together and work out that we were not in the right place and the tensions were going up rapidly in the FJ Cruiser, as the canoe trip was not cheap.  Suddenly we came across a car accident and our attention was diverted.  Three men came piling out of the car as the accident had just happened before we arrived seconds later.  No one was hurt but I cannot believe how they escaped this unscathed!!  Two back tyres had blown and gone bouncing off the car.  It was towing a big trailer with motorbikes in it and ran up a steep embankment on the side of the road.  But somehow they didn’t roll and they all walked out of this vehicle!  Col and I stopped to check they were ok and to offer assistance and all was ok thankfully.

Car Accident near Katherine NT
Car Accident near Katherine NT
Car Accident near Katherine NT
Car Accident near Katherine NT

So after making sure everyone was ok we called the Katherine Gorge Tour and let them know we were not going to make it.  The girl was lovely and kindly offered us a voucher to use later this year.  As Katherine is only 320km from Darwin we are happy to come back on a weekend to do the Katherine Gorge.  We are happy not to have lost the money and will book this in another time.

So the new issue was what to do with the afternoon.  We considered going to Edith Falls as we were so close, but we were dressed for a canoe ride and not a hike, so that ruled out that option.  You really don’t want to go hiking in these locations unprepared. We decided on a visit to the Katherine Hot Springs, neither of us was very excited by this idea as we had our hearts set on Katherine Gorge, but we headed there regardless.  I was worried about going into a hot spring when it was already really hot.  Col was not keen on a fake environment where hot water was simply pumped into a pool.  I am pleased to say that we were both wrong and very pleasantly surprised.  It was a beautiful, natural environment and the water was a perfect temperature.  Enough to cool you off, but comfortable to get into the water.  It was also free of charge, again something worth noting when you are travelling with a family or on a low budget.  Katherine Hot Springs is definitely worth a visit.  They are currently upgrading the Hot Springs too, so future visits will be even better.

Katherine Hot Springs NT
Katherine Hot Springs NT
Katherine Hot Springs NT
Katherine Hot Springs NT

We then headed back to Manbulloo Station and went for a walk with James and Joyce down to the river on the property.  Such a beautiful spot.  The river was so still and serene at one end and then poured over rocks and became beautiful rapids in front of us.   Loved the contrast.

Katherine River, Manbulloo Station NT
Katherine River, Manbulloo Station NT

I loved the reflections of the trees in the water too.

Tree reflections in the Katherine River, Manbulloo Station NT
Tree reflections in the Katherine River, Manbulloo Station NT
James and Joyce, Katherine River, Manbulloo Station NT
James and Joyce, Katherine River, Manbulloo Station NT

We noticed many small cone shapes in the sand along the bank and Col taught me about ‘Antlions’, a small insect that digs a cone shape hole and waits at the bottom for an unsuspecting ant to stagger in and slide to the bottom where it is attacked.  We picked up some small shells and dropped these into the cone shaped holes, it was hilarious, the Antlions managed to ping the shell up and out of the hole!  It was very funny to watch.  Col tried to dig them up but we didn’t manage to see any, only to watch the interesting antics of the Antlion trying to clear the cone.

Col looking for Antlion Cones in the sand, Manbulloo Station River Walk NT
Col looking for Antlion Cones in the sand, Manbulloo Station River Walk NT

 

6 thoughts on “Day 152 – 14th June 2018 – Katherine”

  1. Omgoodness ,those men were lucky ,What a great bus ,get up.Did you mean they lost their tyres on the trailer ,i got a bit confused cause could see the tyres on the bus ,but trailer looked well dug in to the sand wow ,big job to get that up and tyres back on it poor buggers .
    I have hear about the springs many times and all ways in good regard , so glad you went to see it and had a swim .looks amazing .

    1. They really were very lucky. It was their back tyres on the right drivers side, they had two wheels on the one axle. You can’t see them in the pic. Police and ambulance arrived so they had help get it out of the sand thankfully.
      Definitely worth going to the hot springs, just beautiful.

  2. Great to have posts on the blog again Kris.i have missed you guys. The last few days look fantastic. Some beautiful pics and great to hear that your fun times continue. Hot springs sound good and look amazing. Col is hilarious – the font of all knowledge. What doesn’t he know.??!! Xx

    1. Thanks Son, have definitely felt the distance from home without the regular interaction with everyone. Miss you too. There is just so much happening all the time it is hard to fit the blogging in! But I will try and stay on top of it now.
      The hot springs were awesome and Col cracks me up! xx

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *