Day 11 – Friday 30 July 2021 – 111km

After leaving our Mataranka Springs campsite a little before 9am we drove through the very small town of Mataranka. Nothing to write home about, it is small and not very conducive to stopping. We turned into Bitter Springs to see if the springs were open so that we could have a look. We made a u-turn at the locked park gates, still closed. The drive to Katherine was uneventful, we passed Tindal Air Force base along the way, just south of Katherine. More & bigger termite mounds, taller trees, long straight roads.

We turned off in the middle of Katherine out to the Nitmilik National Park, Katherine Gorge and drove the 29 km out, hardly a car on the road. We booked in to our camp spot and managed to also book a 2pm 2 hour boat cruise of the first two of the 13 gorges in the system.   We could not book in online last night, the cruises were all full, they put on another boat as there were so many people interested to go out to see the gorges, what a relief.  After setting up we walked down to the visitor centre and had a coffee and then lunch. We waited in the air-conditioned visitor centre with a number of other couples also going on our cruise.

The 400 metre walk down to the river was hot and we passed lots of gum trees filled with hanging flying foxes, what a terrible smell they have and also very noisy. They are all flapping their wings trying to keep cool. The boat we were on had about 30 people, with lots of spare seats. The gorges are spectacular, high sandstone cliffs, aboriginal rock art and even some freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves. At the end of the first gorge we got out of the boat and walked about 800 metres to the 2^nd gorge and a smaller boat, again we all fitted on comfortably.  The 2^nd gorge is narrower but just as spectacular and a little longer with a few twists and turns.  Our guide pointed out the height of the river when in flood. There is certainly some water flows through in the wet season. The commentary from our aboriginal guide and boat driver is very good, interesting and informative.  Well worth seeing the magnificent gorges. We drank a bottle of water each on the boat cruise, it was that hot. The 400 metre walk back up to the visitor centre was even hotter, we sat in the air-conditioned comfort of the visitor centre and indulged in an ice-cream each before they kicked us out at the 4.30pm closing time.  Back to the van and we changed into our swimmers for a dip in the pool at the van park, it is very nice and very cool and refreshing. We spend about an hour in the water before heading back to the van and preparing dinner. The washing machines are free here, unusual but convenient because we needed to do the washing so we have also put on a load of washing. As the sun sets the flying foxes move into the gum trees in the van park to feast on the nectar from the gum trees. They are very noisy. Another great day.