Serenity at the Cycad Gardens
The Manifold Colours of the Gorge
A Perfect Place for the Mother Freshwater Crocodile to Lay Her Eggs
What Lies Around the Corner?
Who Lives in the Cave?Hi there everyone, I know you must all be heartily sick of hearing from me, so I will keep this one short. As we are travelling pretty quickly at the moment, you are getting inundated with these blogs I know. It is probably not going to get any better in the short term as we have 3 stops to make within the next 11 days – so hold on to your hats.
Well what can I tell you about Katherine, it is of course lovely. There is not a huge amount to see here, it is really all about the Gorges. There are numerous boat trips to choose from if you wish to see the gorges that way. We did, and we chose a Breakfast Cruise. Great choice! The only real downside is that you have to make your own way to the mooring at around 6.15 in the morning. This means dodging wallabies all the way along the 30 min drive. It was a little nerve-wracking. When we arrived at the park, we were greeted by the early morning shrieking of the colony of fruit bats that were ‘just hanging around’ the place. It was my first fruit bat encounter – they are cute looking critters, but boy, what a racket – I can see why people get upset when they decide to make themselves at home. They do say that they stink, I have to say I couldn’t really pick up any unpleasant odour, but they may have only just arrived at that place.
Without much ado, we boarded the boat that was to take us up the Gorge. As we were seated large hot platters of food appeared before us. Chipolatas, scrambled eggs, baked eggplant and tomato sliced, baked stuffed capsicums, grilled tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms and baked beans. We were invited to help ourselves to fruit juice, tea, coffee and hot croissants. It was quite nippy, so the food didn’t stay particularly warm, but all in all, it was quite good. The view from the breakfast table was incomparable as we floated slowly into the gorge against the rising sun. Perhaps later in the day the colours on the walls of the gorge would have been more startling, but for us they were muted and beautiful. There is not a lot I can tell you about the cruise, instead I will let the photos do the talking for me. I think I have just about run out of superlatives to describe this country. The cruise took 2 hours and involved some moderate walking as we left one boat and the first gorge behind and moved into the second boat and gorge.
The only jarring note during the trip down the Gorge was the company we kept. A very nice and fit looking older couple shared our table. They had been working at one of the caravan parks in Mataranka for some 12 months. That was fine and admirable, until he mentioned how he used to catch and kill the little wallabies to stop them from eating the grass at the camp. They were not wasted he assured us, as he gave them to the local indigenous people for food. Very wonderful I am sure, for the people who ate the wallabies, but for us, as we had been encouraged to befriend them in one of the opposition parks, it was somewhat devastating. Many of the wallabies at the Homestead where we had stayed had been hand reared and I now fear for them. I know of course, that they are a normal and natural food for the locals, but I didn’t really need to hear that particular story over the breakfast table. I don’t mean to ‘cast nasturtiums’ all over our fellow diners, as they were only doing what they were paid to do, but...................................!
Later that same day, I left TBBITW to have a little lay down and I headed off to explore the beautiful Cycad Gardens just down the road from where we are staying. A unique garden, displaying a myriad of different cycads and succulents, all planted amongst huge boulders on a five acre property. The place was very maze-like and I managed to get myself lost a couple of times. I was encouraged by one of the people who work there “To take advantage of some of the seats provided and sit quietly and absorb the peace and tranquillity of the place” I did just this, and was rewarded by a family of local warblers coming down to investigate me as I rested in a shady little nook. The experience was delightful.
I arrived back in camp just in time to receive a phone call from some very old friends who wanted to catch up for lunch. Just what we needed after a big brekky! Needless to say, we were keen to catch up, so we went back to Cycad Gardens where they have an excellent eatery, and consumed Barra and Chips over an animated ‘catch up’. We agreed to meet again the next night for dinner and went back to the caravan to collapse in a very very full state indeed.
We caught up on our grocery shopping at the local Woollies and were super impressed by the locals. The indigenous population here is wonderful – well dressed, healthy looking and happy. It was lovely to see family groups at the check-out laughing and joking amongst themselves, particularly the dads. They really seem a happy mob up here. As a matter of fact, that pretty much applies to most of the Territorians we have encountered so far – this does seem to be a happy place in which to live. Perhaps it is the apparently relatively stress-less lifestyle here.
We probably didn’t do enough sight-seeing in Katherine, we have reached a stage where we are a little ‘gorged and rocked out’. It sounds very spoilt of us, but we have spoken to many other travellers who also get this way from time to time. On the coast it was the same, after a while, it is the “Not another Bay” syndrome instead.
We did have a BBQ with our old mates the following night, and it was really good to have a catch up like that on the road. It is interesting to note that so many of our fellow retirees are now travelling the country. We have at least another 4 couples who we plan to meet up with in various different spots. The number of vans travelling the roads completely staggers us – we are quite sure that Darwin must be absolutely chock-a-block as that is the intended destination of so many of our ‘silver’ mates.
Well guys, I guess that is not so short after all – I am sorry, but I don’t want to short change any of these wonderful destinations.
Caravan Park – we are staying at the Shady Lane Caravan Park, a member of the Top Tourist Group. We chose it because it was slightly (6ks) out of town and on the way to the Gorge. The park is full of enormous trees, has large grassed sites with concrete pads and the amenities are excellent. Sadly it is not dog friendly tho’. All in all an excellent park, if not a little sterile, and well recommended by the two of us. Steph.
Well what can I tell you about Katherine, it is of course lovely. There is not a huge amount to see here, it is really all about the Gorges. There are numerous boat trips to choose from if you wish to see the gorges that way. We did, and we chose a Breakfast Cruise. Great choice! The only real downside is that you have to make your own way to the mooring at around 6.15 in the morning. This means dodging wallabies all the way along the 30 min drive. It was a little nerve-wracking. When we arrived at the park, we were greeted by the early morning shrieking of the colony of fruit bats that were ‘just hanging around’ the place. It was my first fruit bat encounter – they are cute looking critters, but boy, what a racket – I can see why people get upset when they decide to make themselves at home. They do say that they stink, I have to say I couldn’t really pick up any unpleasant odour, but they may have only just arrived at that place.
Without much ado, we boarded the boat that was to take us up the Gorge. As we were seated large hot platters of food appeared before us. Chipolatas, scrambled eggs, baked eggplant and tomato sliced, baked stuffed capsicums, grilled tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms and baked beans. We were invited to help ourselves to fruit juice, tea, coffee and hot croissants. It was quite nippy, so the food didn’t stay particularly warm, but all in all, it was quite good. The view from the breakfast table was incomparable as we floated slowly into the gorge against the rising sun. Perhaps later in the day the colours on the walls of the gorge would have been more startling, but for us they were muted and beautiful. There is not a lot I can tell you about the cruise, instead I will let the photos do the talking for me. I think I have just about run out of superlatives to describe this country. The cruise took 2 hours and involved some moderate walking as we left one boat and the first gorge behind and moved into the second boat and gorge.
The only jarring note during the trip down the Gorge was the company we kept. A very nice and fit looking older couple shared our table. They had been working at one of the caravan parks in Mataranka for some 12 months. That was fine and admirable, until he mentioned how he used to catch and kill the little wallabies to stop them from eating the grass at the camp. They were not wasted he assured us, as he gave them to the local indigenous people for food. Very wonderful I am sure, for the people who ate the wallabies, but for us, as we had been encouraged to befriend them in one of the opposition parks, it was somewhat devastating. Many of the wallabies at the Homestead where we had stayed had been hand reared and I now fear for them. I know of course, that they are a normal and natural food for the locals, but I didn’t really need to hear that particular story over the breakfast table. I don’t mean to ‘cast nasturtiums’ all over our fellow diners, as they were only doing what they were paid to do, but...................................!
Later that same day, I left TBBITW to have a little lay down and I headed off to explore the beautiful Cycad Gardens just down the road from where we are staying. A unique garden, displaying a myriad of different cycads and succulents, all planted amongst huge boulders on a five acre property. The place was very maze-like and I managed to get myself lost a couple of times. I was encouraged by one of the people who work there “To take advantage of some of the seats provided and sit quietly and absorb the peace and tranquillity of the place” I did just this, and was rewarded by a family of local warblers coming down to investigate me as I rested in a shady little nook. The experience was delightful.
I arrived back in camp just in time to receive a phone call from some very old friends who wanted to catch up for lunch. Just what we needed after a big brekky! Needless to say, we were keen to catch up, so we went back to Cycad Gardens where they have an excellent eatery, and consumed Barra and Chips over an animated ‘catch up’. We agreed to meet again the next night for dinner and went back to the caravan to collapse in a very very full state indeed.
We caught up on our grocery shopping at the local Woollies and were super impressed by the locals. The indigenous population here is wonderful – well dressed, healthy looking and happy. It was lovely to see family groups at the check-out laughing and joking amongst themselves, particularly the dads. They really seem a happy mob up here. As a matter of fact, that pretty much applies to most of the Territorians we have encountered so far – this does seem to be a happy place in which to live. Perhaps it is the apparently relatively stress-less lifestyle here.
We probably didn’t do enough sight-seeing in Katherine, we have reached a stage where we are a little ‘gorged and rocked out’. It sounds very spoilt of us, but we have spoken to many other travellers who also get this way from time to time. On the coast it was the same, after a while, it is the “Not another Bay” syndrome instead.
We did have a BBQ with our old mates the following night, and it was really good to have a catch up like that on the road. It is interesting to note that so many of our fellow retirees are now travelling the country. We have at least another 4 couples who we plan to meet up with in various different spots. The number of vans travelling the roads completely staggers us – we are quite sure that Darwin must be absolutely chock-a-block as that is the intended destination of so many of our ‘silver’ mates.
Well guys, I guess that is not so short after all – I am sorry, but I don’t want to short change any of these wonderful destinations.
Caravan Park – we are staying at the Shady Lane Caravan Park, a member of the Top Tourist Group. We chose it because it was slightly (6ks) out of town and on the way to the Gorge. The park is full of enormous trees, has large grassed sites with concrete pads and the amenities are excellent. Sadly it is not dog friendly tho’. All in all an excellent park, if not a little sterile, and well recommended by the two of us. Steph.
1 comment:
Looks like you have been to some beautiful spots! Very jealous :)
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