Day 156 18th July 2012

Day 156 Wednesday 18^th July 2012.   

Up and at it at a reasonable time this morning. Packed the back pack with drinks (soft variety), towel and hats. Headed off to do a 12K return walk into Butterfly Gorge on the Katherine River. Walk was classified as “hard”. I don’t think it was the hardest walk we have done to date but there was a bit of “anxiety” along the way. With about 400-500 metres to go to reach our destination, Vania (hawk eyes) spotted a BIG snake which would have only been ½ metre or less away from where she was walking. Vania naturally got a big fright and it took a little bit of time and a cold drink to ease her fear a little. I had no fear at all cause I couldn’t see the bloody thing. It is great to be blind and deaf as well!

At the end of our walk it basically came to a “rocky” / “cliffy” inlet. No doubt we will find many of these tomorrow when we go canoeing.  Whilst yours truly was climbing up / down and around cliffs to get a better view old hawk eyes (Vania) spotted a fairly large turtle and a much smaller younger one as well. We watched these for at least 20 minutes hoping to get a great photo opportunity when they came up for air. No such luck. Every time they came up for air they were either in dark spots or too far away.

Headed back along the path with much intrepidation of meeting “Sammy” the snake.  Numerous other people had also come along and none had seen the snake so I felt it would have slithered away somewhere.  Past the point of sighting the snake we both felt a little bit more at ease.

Walk took us just over 4 hours to complete. Back at the caravan we had a “nibbly” lunch and then headed into Katherine to go to the “hot springs”. Supposedly the water temperature is 32 Celsius all the time. To me it seemed much cooler than that. Anyway it was a great spot and obviously a favourite with the “kids”. Lots of aboriginal children playing and swing of ropes. Great to see.

Back home for the compulsory drink (at least for me anyway). Had a relaxing afternoon in readiness for tomorrows canoeing challenge.

 So till next time take care you people in “blog” land. Cheers from Vania and Oscar.

PS I really have to throw any schedule I may have had out the window as my fantastic Longines watch seems to have died (even after a new battery).  I had already lost the day of the week and now I’m losing the time. Who cares! Do we have an appointment somewhere? No!

View at the end of the "Butterfly Gorge" walk. We will be paddling this area in a canoe tomorrow.

This will be us tomorrow. Seperate canoes however.

This was the LARGE turtle that Vania spotted.

One of my favourite birds. This flock had both the yellow tail as well as the red tail. Very unusual. They are very ellusive as well. Get near them and off they

Kids having fun at the "Hot Springs" in Katherin. Great to see  aborigine kids and whites playing together.

Boat cruises along the Katherine River. Apparantly there are some fresh water crocs in the river system. Vania was NOT pleased to hear that.

Part of the walk track to "Butterfly Gorge". It was shortly after this that Vania spotted "Sammy" the snake.

Sorry! Must include some "arty farty" photos as well.

And another................

Beautiful birds. Vania's camera has a much better telephoto lens than mine. I'm jealous.