I seem to have a weak Vodaphone signal, in spite of being in the wilderness, so I may be able to post some text, though not photos.
I think today can be summarised by saying
Sat in the bus
Sat in the Cultural Centre
Sat in the river
Sat in the boat
Sat in the bus.
The alarm went at 4.45 and we were on time, though the bus picking us up wasn't; we could have had an extra half hour in bed!
We drove through more savannah woodland out of Darwin, and then more stone country. At least this bus has air conditioning so we haven't been so unbearably hot while travelling. We made a breakfast stop at a pub at Adelaide River where they have the stuffed water buffalo which starred in a Crocodile Dundee film. Its name is Charlie, and apparently it was stuffed and kept because it was famous.
The pub owners wanted to keep it on the bar, but the bar was so high and Charlie is so tall that his horns got in the way of the fan. Lowering the counter was too expensive and apparently nobody thought of moving the fan. So they cut bits out of Charlie's legs, so he now has stumpy legs. Only in Australia...
Once in stone country, we were nearer to Katherine Gorge, where we arrived about 12 and made lunch. We inadvertently disturbed a bower bird, by lunching too close to its bower, a rather colourless affair,
and it shouted and swore at us all through lunch.
Various walks were on offer, but the heat was really fierce and nobody could face a walk. Some of us went instead to the air conditioned Cultural Centre for coffee and to look at the displays, which explained the history of the park and tied it to the history of the local tribes. There were also slide shows - a nice chance to sit in a cool place.
We had booked a cruise in the gorge, and until it was time for that to begin, Paul and I went down to the swimming place to swim. The swimming place was surrounded by crocodile warnings, but salt water crocodiles are unlikely in the dry season, and lots of other people were swimming, so we went in. The water was very cloudy because of all the sand being stirred up by the boats, so I contented myself by sitting in the water up to my neck until I had cooled off. Then we put our clothes on again on top of wet swim suits and went off to the boat cruise.
Katherine Gorge is really beautiful, with high red cliffs of fractured sandstone.
There are several gorges, and we took a boat down the first one; then you have to get out of the boat and walk 400 or 500 metres to the second gorge.
This is Katherine Gorge itself, where you get on another boat and go all the way down that - somewhere between 2 and 3 kms.
It is so picturesque with the high cliffs and green trees growing out of many places it is hard not to keep clicking the camera. Everybody, including me, took lots of pictures and, in my case, they were mostly full of hats. It was bakingly hot again, and everybody was wearing huge hats and lots of sunscreen and drinking lots of water.
Incidentally, Paul and I have both had a lot of trouble with agonising muscle cramps in the legs, and initially were told this might be dehydration. But apparently it is just as likely to be because we are losing body salts by sweating so much. So we have been taking isotonic drinks and hoping to spend a better night. But my feet and legs are swollen enormously and are most uncomfortable. And it's home sweet tent again tonight, and tomorrow night. The night after that, we are in a motel in Alice Springs.
We saw some rather sweet wallabies near the Katherine Gorge car park ,just after 5, especially a mother and a joey, and were able to get some pictures. They didn't seem too intimidated by people.
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