Saturday...13 August 2011

Happy Birthday to my BB.
So pleased you are having this birthday. In fact very pleased you are here for this one, considering things could have been much much worse.
Look after you, be kind to her, and do your exercises.... I will be popping in again next year to see how you are going.
Nice lazy day in camp today. In fact we are so comfortable here that we have been discussing whether to bother packing up tomorrow and moving. Would be so easy to settle down and stay put for a while.
Beautiful  weather, soft breeze, open country to look at, whats not to like? We even have some animals for company!!!

Friday...12 August 2011

Today we went on a tour/cruise of three of the gorges in the Katherine River system. It took four hours and required getting out of each boat and walking over the rocks to the next gorge and the next boat waiting.
To get there we had to go back into town and turn onto the Nitmiluk National Park road and travel for
30kms, avoiding all sorts of things along the way. Seems it must have been pension day this week!!! All forms of interesting groups and individuals along the streets, in the streets, sitting on the footpaths etc...
Once out at the gorges area we parked as instructed by the Information place in town where we purchased our tour tickets, and wandered into the Information place to make sure we were in the right place only to be told we could continue down the road and park right near the boat ramps instead of having to hike over to it from the main building 600mtrs away! Not a good start but we duly moved the car to the nearer park and stood in line in the blazing sun for more than half an hour waiting to be called to our boat. Golly it was hot and I did have a hat on, just hot and humid and the air was impregnated with the smell of the bats roosting in the trees beside the river. Thousands of them, I first thought it was a half dead tree with black leaves until someone told me it was bats. Phewwwww.

Anyway we eventually got on the boat and it was worth the wait, such stunning scenery and the local parks and wildlife boys driving the boat and doing the commentary really knew their stuff. We learnt all sorts of facts and history of the Katherine area and its local tribes and how they have leased this area back to the government so that everyone can get to see and admire the beauty of the land.

Thursday...11 August 2011

Shocking night in Darwin last night, very very steamy. Kept waking up sweating.
Up nice and early at 7am to pack camp and move. Finally on the road by 9.30am. Such a shame really as the weather while we were in Darwin was wonderful, so barmy but that last night was like Darwin was saying to us that it was time to go...
Stopped at Pine Creek for lunch, Himself found a mini museum of old mining equipment and railway stuff. Pine Creek has had a chequered past depending on what mineral was found and mined. It began when gold was discovered by the builders of the overland telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin. Over the years several other minerals have been mined in the area depending on the market.
Onwards to Katherine arriving early afternoon. We went straight into the Information Centre and booked for a three gorges tour tomorrow beginning at 1pm. It goes for four hours so best I remember the sunscreen and a hat!!!
We took someones advice and went the extra mile to check into the Manbulloo station homestead caravan park which is 9 kilometers outside Katherine on the road to WA. Pretty little place beside the Katherine river. It is a working cattle station so we got up close and personal with some of the residents.

Not sure why but cannot access my own blog to reply to comments! So yes it is a Brahman and it is a BULL, a very big bull who enjoyed being scratched and rubbed by Himself at the fence next to the water trough.....