Mataranka - Katherine & Beyond

Blog 10-7-2008

Pippa – We woke up early and packed up and went to Mc Donald’s for breaky. I got two hash browns, one egg and bacon muffin and one Blue berry juice. Then we hit the road. We are trying to get Katherine but we know we won’t get there. In the end we got to Materranka we traveled for 10 hours all up in that trip. We went to a show that night. Before that we went to the hot springs. We went to the hot springs the next day and played with some kids that we meet at Alice Springs. We traveled to Katherine and bush camped. We went shopping the next day. Today we are going on a cruse.

Lachlan- We woke-up and headed to Katherine. On the GPS it said 1176km to next turn of! Dad and mum swapped turns driving. One would drive and the other would sit in the back and watch a DVD. We went passed the Devils Marbles. It isn’t very spectacular. To be honest they look like any other rocks. So we took a few pictures and kept going. You could see it got a lot greener and the termite mounds got bigger. We pulled up that night at materanka , we went to a concert. An old man got up and sang and danced.. After we set up we had a swim. We saw turtles and archerfish. The next day we went fishing but caught nothing. The rest of the day we swam in the spring. On the way to Katherine we went into some caves. The place we are staying know is a dried up pond down a dirt track outside of Katherine. We are going on a cruse in Katherine gorge.

Rhys – Mataranka was a nice place so we stayed an extra night. Went fishing with the kids in the Roper river and caught 6 snags a few others got away, they weren’t much good as they took our hook and sinker each time. Hot springs where hard to take, floating around in a warm pool in a tropical forest, its tough. From there to about 30km from Katherine staying in a bush camp that were where advised about, heaven is already on earth. Beautiful rich colours in the trees, interesting birdlife, bight stars, F-18 jets overhead good company, what more can you want! Not to keen on camping near the river, I’m a bit scared of those saltys that live there. Last night we (well the kids and I) played indigenous people and continued the burning off process that all the locals enjoy, the recent arrivals also enjoyed it.

We packed up to leave yesterday as 4 fuses blew in the trailer, fortunately was able to work our what was causing it, once fixed we resetup our camp. Kathy is so impressed with this place she does not want to leave, serious, she is loving it. I’m still in shock with this, I have not had a shower since I don’t now when, the kids have been wearing charcoal face paint, combined with some food left overs, there is no latte machine within a thousand miles, and she continues to enjoy, I’m most impressed. It must be said though that the portaloo is a hit with the girls, not so much with the boys, as they just go for a prowl with the trowel!

Today we are going for a cruse through the Katherine Gorge, then a walk, and a swim, hope its not to hot as most days have been about 28’C.

Campbell – we went to Cutta Cutta caves you can see where the WW11 soldiers shot the stalactites. We went to Mataranka and swam in the hot springs. It was lots of fun. I made some friends. We are at Katherine. We are staying in the bush. I really like it. There are lots of nice trees.

Kathy – Well, it doesn’t get much better than this. Here I am an Nitmiluk National Park at Katherine Gorge writing my blog entry on a picnic table shaded by a large paper bark tree and lilypilly. We went on a cruise of the river. It was very beautiful, particularly the Canyon. While Rhys and the kids went swimming in the Gorge I read a book and watched a wallaby and her joey feeding only metres away – magical.

After Mataranka we made the short trip to Katherine via the Cutta Cutta caves which are quite interesting but certainly not worth the $50 odd dollars it cost to enter them. The termite mounds are getting bigger and more numerous now along the road. By the way, what to you call a collection of termite mounds? You’ve heard of a flock of geese what about a cemetery of termite mounds? (That was Campbell’s description and it is very apt because enmass they do look like lots of headstones).

On the advice of a friend’s sister who lives in the area we found this fantastic bush camp just out of Nitmiluk National Park. The site we found (after some pretty serious four wheel driving) is like paradise. It is, in fact, a dried up lagoon but it is flat, surrounded by beautiful trees and you have the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, even though only kms down the road are numerous tourists, park rangers etc. Perfect. I’m not sure if I really appreciate Rhys’ take on my liking for the place – even though he thinks he is paying me a compliment by his comments – but I really do enjoy the bush camping far more than going to the outback to spend every night cheek to jowl with hundreds of other campers. The problem is that there are very few opportunities to do bush camping because it is not encouraged after the usual few idiots gave all campers a bad name and now no one wants people camping anywhere other than caravan parks.

We are now off to Kakadu and we’re hoping to find another more remote campsite to base ourselves for three or four days. We’re hoping then to stay in a motel in Jabaru for a couple of days while Rhys does some work at Ranger Mine.

Sorry no pics this time as we dont have a good internet connection.