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Our ten day tour with Wayoutback comprised 3 separate tours. The three day Kakadu and Litchfield, three day Darwin to Alice Springs and finally the three day Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon tour. The next morning at 0445hrs, Lia, Hannah, Evelin, Joshua, Patrick and I started the Darwin to Alice Springs portion of the trip, which for me, and probably everyone else on the bus, would become the highlight of the whole tour. We were greeted by a smiling laid back woman, named Kim, who stuck us in a 22 seater mini bus, which we learned would hold just our little group, plus two newcomers, Sandro and Stephan! So we stretched out and got comfy and settled in for the drive out to the Adelaide River in where we stopped at the Adelaide River Resort for breakfast and coffee. we had been here only yesterday, but hadn't actually taken a look inside the pub, so I took the opportunity to do so this morning,
Then we settled in for the long drive out to Katherine Gorge, with a stop in Katherine to go to woolies (Woolworths supermarket) and grab some supplies. I had a cheesymite scroll, consisting of cheese and that fabulous black spreadable stuff we Aussies love called Vegemite, which I kindly offered to my new German friends to try. Lia is a vegan, but I couldn't understand why she wouldn't eat it. "But its cheesymite!" I kept insisting! Hahaha! Joshua will never let me forget that.
Arriving at the visitor centre car park in Katherine Gorge, we fixed ourselves basic sandwiches to shove in our packs to eat at some stage during the day when we got hungry. We waited for a million years for the staff to arrange our cruise tickets, Kim said they are rather slow in there, even though we had pre booked them. Finally we were on our way and set off on a massive trek through the Nitmiluk National Park, learning about the native flora and fauna, and nearly dying of heat exhaustion (that was me, as the only Aussie in the group apart from the guide, I can say I did my country proud by being the only one who had to call for a time out and some shade and water!). Don't forget to bring lots of water and a hat!
It was a walk full of loose rocks and crossing over little streams on rocks and some steep rocky stair. The view from the lookout down the gorge was worth nearly dying for. We headed down some rock steps to the bottom of a spectacular waterfall where we washed off all the grime of the day in the stunning pool below, while Sandro and Josh took it in turns jumping off the rocks. I could have stayed here forever as well... but after lunch, we moved along and headed down to the river to wait to for the water taxi to take us to the bus. We actually got a little surprise here as we finally got to see a crocodile in the wild! It was only a freshwater crocodile, but we figured hey, it has sharp pointy teeth and looks prehistoric, its a win! Gotta take what you can get. We pulled the boat up pretty close before he disappeared into the water.
The stunning gorge is something that needs to be seen to be believed. I have a short video but it doesn't capture the feeling of being out on the river at all. I am well and truly convinced I am a water baby now. I think I could live on a boat - if it wasn't for the seasickness thing....
Back in the car park we saw some massive boab trees, which hold water in their trunks, like camels in their humps. We then drove back through Katherine and headed out to Mataranka Springs. Because of the recent floods, the vegetation had been washed away and there was mud and leaves and trees all over the place. Jumping in the pool was like having a nice bath and quite relaxing, although there was lots of dirt, leaves and sticks, and there were massive webs and spiders hanging above us all about the place. I've been told it looks spectacular, but when we were there it was just a dirty pool. It was pretty cool swimming in a thermal pool though, refreshingly lovely after a long day walking, I could have stayed there for ages. I'd like to go back when they have cleaned it up, as I can imagine it would look beautiful normally.
We ended the day with a surprise. Kim hadn't told us where we were staying that night, she wanted to surprise us. And as we arrived at the Pink Panther Hotel in Larrimah, there were surprised noises emanating from every corner of the bus. This place is very cool. The first thing that strikes you as you enter the camp ground is the massive paper mache pink panther and big stubby (slang for bottle of beer) which stand guard outside the hotel. We settled ourselves in tiny cabins and rolled out our swags onto the beds and started making a dinner, I think it was a curry this night.
After dinner we all headed to the pub for a look-ey loo at all weird and wonderful things that had been collected and put all over the walls, and a drink or two. We met the barman, Kevin who had a few surprises of his own for us. There was a room full of snakes, spiders and birds and all sorts of other interesting local creatures. Turns out Kevin is a bit of an animal man, and likes to rescue native animals. He pulled out a python and we all took it in turns to have our photo taken with him. But the coolest surprise was yet to come. Kevin had rescued a baby red kangaroo he had named Redman, and he was living in a hessian sack behind the bar with him. Redman was about 6 months old and has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen! Such cuddles were given to Redman that night. By the women though. He wasn't much of a man's man Redman. He definitely preferred the ladies! Obligatory photos and a few beverages later, we were having a lovely chat and our group got smaller and smaller as they all trudged off to bed after a long day.
Not me. I love myself a good drink, and the more I drink the more I like to chat, and Kevin was definitely someone who you can have a good yarn with. My recollections of the night are a little fuzzy (they will do that when you drink copious amounts of Jack and dry into the night, which the barman was free pouring) but, it turns out he had some interesting stories to tell, as he had been involved in Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait, and had been deployed in Bosnia also. He was also a stock man, and told a story about when he was a young stock man out camping for the night, the head stock man suddenly rallied everyone around. He said they saw some figures on the hill in the distance who had been watching them for some time. He swears they were a group of Aboriginals who had never seen white people before, and they should be on guard just in case. He said it sent chills up his spine. Kevin swears there are still many Aboriginals living outback who have never seen white people, and the seriousness with which he was talking, and after seeing just how vast the country is, I believe him. Kevin is a really easy going bloke, and it was great to meet a real Aussie bushman, and have a great night.
It was also a novel experience of pouring drinks behind a bar in an extremely out of the way outback pub with a baby red kangaroo hopping around your legs, but eventually at 2:17am, I called it a night!
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