Sunday 22nd August - Katherine Gorge to Katherine

I’m not sure we’re really suited to the two man canoe we hired for a trip up Katherine Gorge.  There seemed to be a lack of communication and we spent the first hour zigzagging our way along the main gorge as keeping the canoe in a straight line proved troublesome.

Anne also won’t be allowing me in the rear seat again soon as I allegedly kept splashing her and had a habit of clashing paddles. Eventually we got coordinated, but in future individual canoes may be wise.

To see Katherine Gorge from the water and to go at your own pace, stopping off for a swim or relax where you please, really is the best way to spend a day, and we only wished we had more time to do an overnight trip up the river.  We made it to gorge four, but with more time you can paddle up to gorge eight, camp for the night on the bank and return the next day.  The gorges are separated by rocky rapids which require a portage with the canoe, but it’s all good exercise (although I think we’ll have aching shoulders tomorrow). 

After a great day on the river we headed back to Katherine to restock our food at Woolworths before we met up with Margaret and Gordon at the Big4 caravan park as they’d invited us round for dinner.  Margaret and Gordon are the couple next to whom we’d setup at the crowded Newcastle Waters Rest Area on the Stuart Highway a couple of weeks ago, and we’d bumped into them again at Katherine Gorge visitors’ centre.  They’d also been to Litchfield, Darwin and Kakadu, but in a different order from us, and were about to head west to Kununara.  They are retired and escaping the cold weather in Orange, NSW and associated heating bills (they’d rather spend the money on diesel for their Land Cruiser).  Never ones to refuse an invite, we were treated to steak and sausages, a great select of salads and a bottle of bubbly, and had a lovely evening. SPOT