Day 8, Trip to Katherine Gorge (and Day 9)

Sorry, had to start loading some photos in Photobucket b/c they were taking forever to load in Blogger.

Day 8

Our day began early—as the pickup at our hotel was 6:20a.m. I had selected the AAT Kings Tours after reading good things about this reputable company off of TripAdvisor.com. The company did not disappoint, and were first-rate from the beginning. Our motor coach was spacious and comfortable, with A/C and bathrooms on board.

After picking up passengers at other hotels, we departed for Katherine around 7a.m. As we left Darwin, I was pleased to see the landscape widen, more “bush”-like, as they call it. True Territory landscape. Katherine was about 3.5 hours away, and we were to make a couple of shorts stops along the way. The first was Adelaide River—a small pub/hotel truly

in the middle of Nowhere, Australia. Its claim to fame, as mentioned by our driver, Ray, (who was nothing if not FULL of information and commentary throughout the entire journey. He almost never shut up, in a good way, usually!) was the huge, now-stuffed bull that was in the famed movie “Crocodile Dundee.” “Charlie” is there for his closeup for anyone who wants it. He is quite the icon in the area. We made a 20 minute stop so that we could have a quick breakfast (our own expense). Jay and I both got bacon and egg sandwiches and cokes. It was nice to get that bit of protein in our stomaches in preparation for the long day ahead. The Adelaide River pub is a true Outback pub—it had that slightly depressing, lazy-day feel, but full of local color and flavor. Definitely felt like it hadn’t changed much in 50 years.

We hopped back on the bus, and listened to more of Ray’s (age 70+) commentary on aboriginal life (he himself was half-raised by Aboriginals in cattle-land as his parents died when he was really young), Australian culture, landscape, types of snakes, spiders and other wildlife, as well as a plethora of other topics.

Our next stop was Pine Creek, a rather deserted “post-California gold ru

sh”-feel of a town. We stopped at the RR tracks which housed a turn-of-the-century small locomotive (wood-fire burning). It was closed (Ray had forgotten, bless him), but he knew enough to tell us to stay away from the toilet facilities. He “didn’t wa

nt us getting Crook” by getting bitten by one of the zillions of poisonous spiders. NICE. Gotta love the Outback. Truly—we really wanted to feel that thirstiness, that remoteness, that heritage of the Outback.

We pushed on toward Katherine; Ray let us know that Katherine (as well as other bodies of water, Mary and Edith (Falls)) were named after sisters. The Katherine river was named by an explorer, Stuart (whose namesake is a major highway throughout Darwin and beyond), b/c he fancied a gal named Katherine. However, apparently her name was actually spelled with a “C” (Catherine), and so she gave him the boot for not knowing the correct way to spell her name.

Next, we visited (other sister) Edith Falls, a beautiful little area with a peek int

o the rocky structures that were to come. A large placid watering hole with falls. Plenty of good photos here. If we had had more time (only about 30 minutes), we would have swum in the crystalline water—so tranquil, very “sleepaway camp”-esque, except more pristine. Walking back from the watering hole, I had an “exciting” experience: I nearly ran into a snake! There is nothing more terrifying to run into in the Outback, b/c of the ten most poisonous snakes in the wo

rld, ALL ARE AUSTRALIAN! How’s that for crazy? (thanks to the brilliant travel writer Bill Bryson for that nugget). Surely, the one I saw slithering mere feet from me was poisonous, and based on our depiction, Ray determined it a “Red-Bellied Black Snake”: Venemous, but not enough to kill. Good to know! (Here’s how the situation actually played out.

Me: “Oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s a snake!” (runs)
Jay: “Cool, where’s my camera?!?!?” (snaps several photos of scary snake)

We finally reached Katherine around 12:45pm. The third largest city in the

Territory, but you’d be hard-pressed to tel. We had a lunch (included in the tour price) buffet at the Welcome Center—it was actually pretty good! Ham, chicken, potato salad, slaw, rolls, and fruit salad, among several things.

We then headed across the way to the crowning jewel of our trip: a 2 hour boat cruise through

Katherine Gorge. Like “Grand Canyon-light”. It was absolutely stunning. We did two different Gorge passages, and both were spectacular. The bleached-brick red rock, up to 60 meters high, contrasted with the azure sky was quite breathtaking. The rock was so beautiful cut and molded by nature—I really enjoyed the short walk on the gorge walls in between gorges. Just a beautiful experience—really made our trip to the Northern Territory complete. We really needed this nice contrast to beachy Darwin and to help us appreciate all of Australia.

Had a dinner of fish and chips back at Adelaide River (same place) on the way home. Arrived back at our hotel around 8:45pm—a full day of adventure!

Day 9

Slept until about 9 am this morning, our last day in Darwin. Today’s agenda encompassed two things: Crocodylus Park and dinner at Pee Wee’s at the Point.

We made a quick stop at the open-air mall (not nearly as cool as it sounds, truly)—Jay got more film and a coke, and a Lipton Ice Tea for me (it really bothers me when this beverage is called ICE tea. It’s not ICE tea, it’s ICED tea, as in, the tea is ICED. Anyway, got a quick breakfast a Darwin-based bread company (really wished we’d discovered this place earlier!) I got a bacon and cheese savory pastry (1.20 AUD), and Jay got a chocolate crossiant (2.30 AUD). Really hit the spot. Headed over to the Darwin Tourism office to buy our bus passes to get to Crocodylus Park.

While waiting for the bus, we window shopped for about 20 minutes. Took to bus out—way out—to Crocodylus Park. We then had to cross two very busy highways, like nomads/hitchhikers, and then walk about 3/10 of a mile to the Park. Very bizarre. Away from civilization. It didn’t take long to feel as though we’d rejoined civilization, however: we entered the park, and busy kids were everywhere! Quite the bustling place. 25 AUD per person (although we used a 10% off coupon too). Got there just in time for the 12:00 tour/feedings. The HIGHLIGHT was holding a baby crocodile!!!

Very cool. I was a bit nervous (especially with the guide just handing it off to the adult crowd while attending to the kids), letting us knowthat the baby croc’s tail could knock our teeth out! The feedings were cool, too…the crocs (about 350 or so in the pool) would jump for the meat. We also visited the breeding pens, where the guide lured several of them out of the water (by banging a metal pole on the concrete, no less). She told us very interesting stuff, like the differences between saltwater crocs (territorial, the really mean killers) and freshwater crocs (more docile, we pose no threat to them unless provoked). The funny thing is, they’re very open about exactly what happens to the crocs later on – many of them are bred for handbags and croc meat! They even sell the merchandise in their gift shop. At the same time, they’ve got a program--that has taken the number of crocs from near-extinction to a population that has to be controlled—that has done a lot for research and science.

Dinner at Pee Wee’s to be posted later……………