Williams Lap of Australia: A couple of days at Nitmuluk

Left Mary River Roadhouse pretty early, well early for our standards anyway. Brushed off Katherine and set straight out for Nitmuluk National Park (Katherine Gorge). Katherine would take her revenge on us later! Arrived quite early so we set up and went back into town to re-stock and get some lunch. Turned out to be a pretty lively place with many locals picknicking around the shopping centre. Visited a ‘Target Country’ to replace kid swimmers that had holes in unseemly places and did the Woolies run. The kids discovered a new promo involving animal cards, so were chuffed to start up a collection. Finished off the day back at the campsite, testing out the new swimmers in the pool. Right on bedtime had a surprise visit from a wallaby, clearly used to being fed and open to being patted for a price.

Having learnt our lesson in the centre and top end, we set off early the next morning to actually see what the gorge was all about. Had a few false starts, but thought that 8am on the track was a decent effort. Our plan was to trek into Butterfly Gorge, which we thought the kids might enjoy, plus you could swim there. Consulted the signs at the start which warned us that the walk would take 4 and a half hours to complete. But it was only 6kms in – what kind of grandma pace takes over four hours to walk 12kms we thought. So off we go, with the blessing of a bit of cloud cover and our water bottles full. Once we had ascended the plateau the walking was pretty flat, although very rocky. The kids were onto us pretty early in the caper and started the complaining early. Rich kept Ariel motivated by creating two sequels to the story of the Pied Piper, with some M rated violence for added interest.

Once we reached the gorge proper it was all smiles. It was indeed full of butterflies, flitting around a peaceful and beautiful glade. We also happened upon a delicate little tree snake during the walk.

The swimming hole, which was actually continuous with the waterway that runs the length of Katherine Gorge, was deep and cool and quite private. We tested this theory by getting changed on the bank, with almost disastrous results when a couple of rangers popped around the corner followed by some kayakers. There was some hesitation getting in – it was murky! We still have yet to come to completely trust the signs which advise that we are swimming in croc managed waterways. Ariel was first in, followed by Rich, encouraged by a gentle shove. He then took it to the next level by swimming to the other side, climbing 10m up the rock face and leaping in.

With snack supplies running low we eventually decided to leave and head back. This is where the punishment began!! The benign slope into the gorge felt like steep incline on the way back. Sadly the cloud cover had burnt off, or moved on and now there was nowhere to hide from the sun on the plateau. Thankfully, there were a couple of water tanks along the way – not sure how it would have all ended if they were not there! To keep them moving along, we bribed the kids with a can of lemonade – one each! We dragged ourselves back to camp and got to the pool as soon as we could. Indeed it took 4 and a half hours, and whoops, it was 41 degrees. Were completely spent for the rest of the arvo. The kids revived and found the energy to play with some newly made friends who live at Turramurra.

Next morning got a relatively early start again. Went for another morning swim in the gorge at a pontoon near the campsite before setting off. Was a lovely way to start the day.

Drove back into Katherine and made a stop to have a look at the School of the Air. Rich lost Kel and sat in reception (much to the confusion of the receptionist who kept asking “Can I help you?”) while Kel and the kids walked aimlessly around the grounds of the school with people looking at them and wondering what they were doing. We finally established that contrary to the guide book they no longer do tours. Continued into town and pulled up in a neat little parking spot outside the camping store. Rich ducked in to get some supplies while Kel and the kids waited. On return he noticed that our front right tyre was tragically flat. RIch did his best impersonation of a Solo man (albeit with the car's instruction manual on hand) and changed the tyre - 45 mins, 40 degree heat - the culprit was a nail. Cheers for that Katherine. Better here than on a highway or a remote track we supposed! Katherine clearly had a beef with us because we left town in the wrong direction and had to go back there all over again!!! Third time lucky??

That changed our plans for the rest of the day. Drove as far as we could, passing on Victoria River...

and opting instead for the tiny settlement called Timber Creek. Again a dodgy looking shopfront turned out to be a gem. We stayed at the caravan park behind the servo and found a lovely tree lined park out the back, with a pool, lots of resident animals and awesome mobile reception (?!?). The kids ran over to watch crocodile feeding and visited the massive colony of fruit bats, followed up with a swim and play in the park (well, not much of a park but they are not very fussy these days!).