Daly Waters to Katherine, Northern Territory
We wake up early and head north, stopping at the circus that is Mataranka Hot Springs, then the Cutta Cutta caves, and finally Katherine Gorge.
Another sleepless night in a pub room. The room was nice, the beds were firm... and one guest kept on calling out "Zach, Zach, are you all right?" She had checked in late at night, there weren't any rooms with two beds left for her and her son. So they got two separate rooms. So we got to listen to her several times during the night, walking down the hall, banging on his door, waking him up. Pub rooms seem like great value, until you realize what you're really paying for.
We just got up and left at sunrise--on the road by 7. Our first stop was the curious World War II airstrip 100 kilometers north. This was known as the Gorrie airfield. During the war there were thousands of men there repairing airplanes. You know you're in north Australia when you run into WWII stuff! In a couple of days, we'll be in Darwin, which was bombed during the war. Anyway, Gorrie was just a big runway, still there sixty years later. Not much else is there.
About 40 minutes north is Mataranka Hot Springs (or Thermal Pools). We'd considered staying there for the night, and oh are we glad we didn't. It was crowded. The springs are lukewarm, at 34C/94F. And tour busses drop off huge tour groups for a dip. The camp ground was full and dusty. It wasn't a very pleasant place at all. Chris didn't want to swim with the three dozen or so people in the thermal pool, neither did I. The pool was about half the size of a backyard pool.
The Cutta Cutta caves were much better. These are limestone caves near Katherine and one is open. WIth the amount of rain they get in this region, the formations grow fairly fast. I liked them quite a bit; they're well decorated with large formations. I got annoyed at Lonely Planet: they described the caves as 'badly damaged by soldiers in WWII' but the damage isn't very noticable at all.
Lastly, we headed up to Katherine Gorge. It was crowded. The campground was dusty and hot. Chris was up for doing an eight hour cruise up the gorge. I opted for the two hour one--eight would just be too much, I thought. The gorge was fairly dramatic; it has 75 meter sandstone cliffs that rise straight out of the water, and freshwater crocodiles can be seen sunning themselves on logs. It was relaxing. And hot--maybe 34C and sunny. And crowded, with dozens of people canoeing and swimming all up and down the river.
So, we headed back into town. I wanted a quiet place to stay, so we chose a Best Western motel and stayed in for the night.
Weird Wildlife Sighting
A brown tree snake--in a cave!
And three freshwater crocodiles!