Sun 03/08/14 Five hour drive to Katherine today. Stopped at Timber Creek for fuel and food - saw some pics in the store of huge salty trying to drag in a braham cow - scary stuff. The Victoria River flows through here and is known for its high concentration of saltys and good barra fishing; not convinced fishing where lots of crocs reside is the best idea? Had another roadside stop for the fidgeting passengers, hot driving today, 38oC. Arrived at Katherine Big4 near hot springs and setup. Phones start 'binging like crazy" - reception is back woohoo! Kids went for a bike ride to investigate the park, we settled down to reading / answering txts and emails. Twenty minutes later a man & his wife bring us a rather distrssed Alexis and her bike. She had managed to snag her foot in the front wheel and flip off over the handle bars, landing on her left wrist and head - very sore arm, bloody lip & tooth, scratched nose and knees. Patched her up, complete with icepack and bandage - very unhappy about us touching her arm; panadol to try to take the edge off.

Mon 04/08/14 After a terrible night with Alexis, we were all sitting in Katherine Hospital Emergency Dept by 8am. After a 4 hour visit, xrays were hard to decipher due to the area in question being in/on her wrist growth plates; diagnosis 'query fracture' = they're not 100% sure, but think she's fractured it = half cast & sling for a week. Went into Katherine for a look around and food shopping. Back at the park kids from Argyle boat ride had arrived - Brodie, Alannah and Isabel Leech plus Ty & Ruby - kiddies all off for soccer, footy, swims or drawing. Relax time for adults - yay!

Tues 05/08/14 Another hot day. Hiking and waterhole swimming off the menu with Miss Plaster Cast, so visited the Nitmiluk National Park Visitor Centre and decided on the 2 hour Gorges 1&2 cruise. Hundreds of fruit bats hang in the trees as you walk through the park to the jetty; smelly critters. Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) comprises 13 gorges, but the first two constitute about 70% of that. Half way along the cruise you encounter a rockwall across the river and have to disembark and take a 300mt walk to the next boat on the other side. Very well organised and magic scenery...Our park ranger / skipper / guide, Tom, had a very dry sense of humor and loads of information. He choose when we were over the deepest point in the gorge, being 40mts, to discuss the movie "Rogue" - about an oversized saltwater croc that terrorises tourists on an NT river cruise - ha ha ha! His explanation of how the criss cross pattern of gorges occurred was perfect for the kids: "imagine the earths crust as a mango and how we cut the criss cross pattern in it, then push the mango inside out to eat it; voila you get these rock formations". Many of the sandy beaches were closed as 'freshies' have now laid their eggs. Aboriginals use the cappock trees as indicators - flowering = time crocs and turtles lay their eggs, seed pods = time eggs are ready to collect for eating. Canoeists happily paddled by as Tom explained that saltys wash in during the wet season and parks management have to search, capture and remove them before opening the waterholes for swimming in the dry season. They keep traps in place all year round as a precaution; hope they got 'em all! At the end of our cruise Tom farewells us all in aboriginal, "bor bor', ties the boat moorings, then says 'now get off' - so funny - very enjoyable trip!

Wed 06/08/14 Packed up and headed into Katherine to give car and van a long overdue wash, then made our way to Leliyn (Edith Falls) for a cooling swim before making our way to Darwin. Another picturesque waterfall; lovely. Noted we are in saltwater croc territory now - croc warning signs, swim at own risk signs and the 'precautionary' salty traps positioned in the reeds by the bank. Whilst we did hop in for a cooling dip, got that '6th sense' feeling and decided to NOT swim the 200mt across the large pool to the waterfall. Time to get out kiddies!