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Jesus Loves Nachos
Well...apparently he does, according to what you read when you cross the bridge in Katherine. It’s written in big letters alongside the railway bridge and every time we read it, we laugh!
Katherine was an interesting stay. A lot of time was spent trying to get Dad healthy. He came down with a nasty virus...had the shivers and shakes and couldn’t stop visiting the facilities. After ridiculously long waits in the Katherine Hospital Emergency Department....try from 9am until 330pm (told Dad he’d been at school)...we finally got some medicine to help Dad get on his feet.
Katherine allowed us to do some retail therapy...so we did a bit of shopping and bought a few birthday presents for people back home. There was a Maccas and Coffee Club there too...so we were right and managed to get quite a few coffees in during the 5 night stay. The girls and I also had a few serves of hotcakes and hash browns.
Some of the local attractions were rotten...ie. Springvale Homestead! We thought it would be like a Tyntynder or Murray Downs...but it was occupied by a souvenir shop and cafe...and so it didn’t seem old at all. The only thing of interest there were the huge raintrees...4 of them...one planted for each of the settlers children back in the 1880s.
There were more hot springs in Katherine, so we made a few visits to those...and they were quite nice. Not as warm though....only 32 degrees. Mataranka was 34 and Douglas Daly was 60! There were nice falls in these springs though...and Georg, Frey and I enjoyed getting under them, having a nice spa.
We did a drive down to Cutta Cutta Caves...and did a one hour tour of these karst limestone tropical caves. They were awesome. We were toured through several deep chambers with beautiful formations...including stalactites, stalagmites and curtains. Some of the stalagmites were full of shining crystals....which is where the Aboriginal name Cutta Cutta comes from....it means “Many stars”. As you go deeper into the caves, they become hotter and more humid, which is quite different to normal caves that are cold. The last section of the cave is closed to the public because the humidity is 100% and the temperature is around 35 degrees....not very pleasant. It’s also full of bats and snakes down there anyway....so we didn’t mind! On the way out...the tour guide turned off the lights to let us see how dark it is in the cave...PITCH BLACK!
The main attraction in Katherine is of course Nitmiluk (aka. Katherine Gorge). We booked in for a 3 gorge, 4 hour tour. During the tour you catch 3 different boats (one for each gorge) and explore each gorge. Between each gorge you have to climb over rocks and rapids to get to the next gorge. Let me tell you...the scenery in there is magic....especially the second gorge where the walls are sheer cliffs on both sides of you.... Along the way we saw Aboriginal rock art, caves (with bats), hanging gardens, waterfalls...and even water raining from the bottom of rock overhangs (it’s just the water from the swamp above slowly filtering through the sandstone)... The tour guide was an Aboriginal bloke and he did an excellent job. He told us about the formation of the gorge (both geological and Aboriginal perspectives). I liked the Aboriginal explanation the most....the Rainbow Serpent! On the way back we had a snack and had the opportunity to have a swim. Frey and I got in (cause G nearly broke her toe getting in) and swam in a safe area between the 1st and 2nd gorges....apparently the salties can’t get into the area because of the rocks and rapids! We had a great time and it left me wondering what the other 10 gorges would’ve looked like....
We didn’t really like the town of Katherine much...and felt that it wasn’t much of a highlight. The only saving grace was our caravan park....Low Level. It was a beautiful park, with a huge pool and spa (that the girls and I used a few times) and it was close to the Low Level Bridge and Katherine River. We walked down there a few times and I even threw a few lures around to try and catch a barra...but no luck. We saw a few freshies though and a golden tree snake. I’ve included a picture of the bridge with the girls to let you see how nice it was there!
Well...apparently he does, according to what you read when you cross the bridge in Katherine. It’s written in big letters alongside the railway bridge and every time we read it, we laugh!
Katherine was an interesting stay. A lot of time was spent trying to get Dad healthy. He came down with a nasty virus...had the shivers and shakes and couldn’t stop visiting the facilities. After ridiculously long waits in the Katherine Hospital Emergency Department....try from 9am until 330pm (told Dad he’d been at school)...we finally got some medicine to help Dad get on his feet.
Katherine allowed us to do some retail therapy...so we did a bit of shopping and bought a few birthday presents for people back home. There was a Maccas and Coffee Club there too...so we were right and managed to get quite a few coffees in during the 5 night stay. The girls and I also had a few serves of hotcakes and hash browns.
Some of the local attractions were rotten...ie. Springvale Homestead! We thought it would be like a Tyntynder or Murray Downs...but it was occupied by a souvenir shop and cafe...and so it didn’t seem old at all. The only thing of interest there were the huge raintrees...4 of them...one planted for each of the settlers children back in the 1880s.
There were more hot springs in Katherine, so we made a few visits to those...and they were quite nice. Not as warm though....only 32 degrees. Mataranka was 34 and Douglas Daly was 60! There were nice falls in these springs though...and Georg, Frey and I enjoyed getting under them, having a nice spa.
We did a drive down to Cutta Cutta Caves...and did a one hour tour of these karst limestone tropical caves. They were awesome. We were toured through several deep chambers with beautiful formations...including stalactites, stalagmites and curtains. Some of the stalagmites were full of shining crystals....which is where the Aboriginal name Cutta Cutta comes from....it means “Many stars”. As you go deeper into the caves, they become hotter and more humid, which is quite different to normal caves that are cold. The last section of the cave is closed to the public because the humidity is 100% and the temperature is around 35 degrees....not very pleasant. It’s also full of bats and snakes down there anyway....so we didn’t mind! On the way out...the tour guide turned off the lights to let us see how dark it is in the cave...PITCH BLACK!
The main attraction in Katherine is of course Nitmiluk (aka. Katherine Gorge). We booked in for a 3 gorge, 4 hour tour. During the tour you catch 3 different boats (one for each gorge) and explore each gorge. Between each gorge you have to climb over rocks and rapids to get to the next gorge. Let me tell you...the scenery in there is magic....especially the second gorge where the walls are sheer cliffs on both sides of you.... Along the way we saw Aboriginal rock art, caves (with bats), hanging gardens, waterfalls...and even water raining from the bottom of rock overhangs (it’s just the water from the swamp above slowly filtering through the sandstone)... The tour guide was an Aboriginal bloke and he did an excellent job. He told us about the formation of the gorge (both geological and Aboriginal perspectives). I liked the Aboriginal explanation the most....the Rainbow Serpent! On the way back we had a snack and had the opportunity to have a swim. Frey and I got in (cause G nearly broke her toe getting in) and swam in a safe area between the 1st and 2nd gorges....apparently the salties can’t get into the area because of the rocks and rapids! We had a great time and it left me wondering what the other 10 gorges would’ve looked like....
We didn’t really like the town of Katherine much...and felt that it wasn’t much of a highlight. The only saving grace was our caravan park....Low Level. It was a beautiful park, with a huge pool and spa (that the girls and I used a few times) and it was close to the Low Level Bridge and Katherine River. We walked down there a few times and I even threw a few lures around to try and catch a barra...but no luck. We saw a few freshies though and a golden tree snake. I’ve included a picture of the bridge with the girls to let you see how nice it was there!
