A true backpacker and camper! Who knew?!
We took a two hour boat cruise to the first two gorges of Katherine Gorge.
We were supposed to have the option to canoe or take the boat cruise, but since saltwater crocodiles had recently been spotted in the waters, our guides ixned that option. Instead we saw croc traps in the gorges and spotted a couple freshwater crocs from the boat.
During wet season, water flows freely between the first two gorges, but as it starts to dry up, we were able to walk between a portion of the two.
The first gorge.
The postcard picture of Katherine Gorge taken by yours truly.
There were lots of little remote pockets/islands/shelters between the gorges, with water dripping off the overhang and sometimes waterfalls.
The second gorge.
The glowing white limestone is the unweathered origin of these rocks.
This is Jedda rock as filmed in the movie 'Jedda' about incest and ensuing suicide off a 66m cliff.
Where's Jen? Can you find me in this picture? The canyon walls towered over me. In fact, it is 10-15 degrees Celsius hotter at the top of the cliff than the bottom, and it was already HOT.
The tree roots are all bent by the force of the rushing water during wet season.
We got our creative juices flowing at our next stop, an Aboriginal art gallery. This is Manuel. He grew up in Arnhem Land (20,000 Aboriginals living in 100,000 sq km) and started painting at age 15. His father, uncle, and brothers taught him the x-ray/cross hatch style painting of this region by painting on rocks.
Manuel had some sample pieces and demonstrated to us how to mimic the style. He also answered any questions we had about his culture and upbringing.
They provided paint, brushes, small canvases, and gave us the option to create our own painting. Not everyone siezed this opportunity, but I jumped at it.
Here I am drawing in the cross-hatching on my turtle.
The student and the teacher: me with my turtle and Manuel with his fish.
Another artist was painting didjeridoos with long stiff pieces of grass as paintbrushes.
We saw a few camels around NT. Supposedly the camels outnumber the people in NT. There are 200,000 people, 85,000 crocs, and even more camels.
This giant baramundi fish was spotted in Katherine.
We stopped again at Edith Falls. Max said freshwater crocs are like 4WDs - they have longer legs and can rock climb whereas salties are like sports cars with shorter legs. That is why you will find freshwater crocs further upstream.
We said goodbye to the Italian newlyweds Julia and Gimarco at Adelaide River. Our guide Max is in the background.
We had just watched the movie 'Crocodile Dundee I' on the bus, so Dean had to give Buffalo Charlie the hand signal at the Adelaide River bar.
Some interesting knitters we have here, don't you think?!
Max abruptly pulled the bus over, went running, and came back with this frill-necked lizard. I can't believe he caught him!
When Max let him go, this dragon ran like paddlewheels on his hind legs - it was pretty funny to watch.
We briefly stopped by the Adelaide River Ware Cemetery, a commemoration of lives lost in the Japanese bombing of Darwin in their mission to overtake all of Asia land.
The Adelaide River War Cemetery.
This beautiful peacock was wandering around the front garden of the cemetery.
After collecting wood along the roadside for our evening bonfire, we arrived at Mt Bundy Station, a working cattle farm, where we camped for the evening.
We watched the sunset over the cattle station.
Here we have kangaroo on the left and crocodile on the right. Yum!! The kangaroo was cooked just barely and was very tender. The croc was slightly more rubbery than chicken but far more flavorful.
We prepared our plates by candlelight.
We enjoyed a territory dinner under the stars and around the campfire. A few of us stuck around after dinner to finish off the cask wine. After all, it was our last evening together. It was a very interesting group of people - an Austraian architect Michaela, a German doctor Julienne (who quit her job when her leave was not approved), two Italian newlyweds Julia and Gimarco, a couple from Melbourne Geridene and Dean, a couple from rural Victoria Ian and Gwenda, me, and Team France. There were 6 people on Team France who spoke very little English and had a separate French speaking guide. However, somehow we managed to communicate and I still keep in touch with two of them, a French couple Christelle and Cedric.
