Julie and I were supposed to be hiking the 5,000km Continental Divide Trail in the US in 2020, but COVID-19 derailed that plan. Instead, we will have an adventure in Australia, circumnavigating the country on our bikes, a distance of about 16,500km taking approximately five and a half months. We will use minor roads where possible and occasionally catch ferries across rivers and inlets to avoid busier inland routes. We will camp some of the time and stay in motels, hotels, etc, at others. There will be stretches of up to five days with no accommodation or resupply available, so we will need to be self-sufficient.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 054 - Katherine Gorge

Day:  054

Date: Monday, 24 August 2020

Start:  Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park)

Finish:  Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park)

Daily Kilometres:  0 (click here for Julie's Strava and photos from our canoe trip)

Total Kilometres:  5540

Weather:  Hot and sunny

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Toasted ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Toasted chicken & avocado sandwich 

  Lunch:  Trail mix, ice-cream

  Dinner:  Soup, macaroni cheese

Aches:  Julie cut her toe when she slipped on a trail in the gorge

Highlight:  Our five-hour excursion up through the Katherine Gorge by boat and canoe was excellent.  It started with a boat trip, along with about 30 other participants, through the spectacular first part of the gorge, accompanied by expert guide commentary, including information about the unlikely-to-be-dangerous freshwater crocodile inhabitants.  We disembarked at the end of the first gorge and hiked a few hundred metres across a rocky bar to reach our canoes in the second gorge.  We then had about four hours to explore as far up the gorges as we cared to go.  For most of us that meant paddling the length of the second gorge, portaging the canoes 100m across another rocky bar, then paddling the length of the third gorge.  The walls of the gorges were generally sheer rock cliffs, but it was amazing how individual trees, especially pencil-thin palms, and small hanging gardens had grown in the most unlikely places.  Here and there were feeder canyons to explore.  We hiked up one, at the end of which was a beautiful big pool that Julie swam across (on the way back she slipped and cut her toe), and at another we clambered up to view some ancient aboriginal rock art.  At other places, we beached our canoe to sit and admire the view and/or Julie went for a dip.  The other canoeists did similar things while one family with children spent time scaling high up the cliffs to then jump into the river (memories of recklessly taking young Aaron, then about 8 years old, jumping off the cliffs at Johnson's Shut-Ins in Missouri).

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Our booked boat/canoe excursion didn't depart from near the Katherine Gorge Visitor Centre until 9am, so we were able to sleep in a little before wandering down to the Visitor Centre around 8am to buy some drinks and toasties for breakfast, which we ate on their magnificent shaded deck overlooking the Katherine River valley.

From there it was a short walk down to the river and the start of our very enjoyable excursion (see above).  After the excursion returned to the dock just before 2pm, we hastened back to the Visitor Centre cafe, scheduled to close at 2pm (COVID-19 hours), and bought an ice cream as a reward for all of our paddling, which we enjoyed on their deck.

With nothing else on the agenda for the day, we returned to the campground to read (and swim/sunbake, in Julie's case) for the rest of the afternoon.  Dinner in the camp kitchen followed in the evening then an early night.  Pedalling instead of paddling tomorrow!

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