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 066 - Katherine

Day:  066

Date: Saturday, 05 September 2020

Start:  Katherine

Finish:  Katherine 

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

Total Kilometres:  6646

Weather:  Hot and sunny

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cooked breakfast

  Lunch:  Egg & lettuce sandwich/Chicken salad roll, frozen mango

  Dinner:  Curried sausages & vegetables/Beef & bacon pasta, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  The Katherine thermal pools (see below)

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

With a day off in prospect, we slept in then walked over to the motel restaurant at 7:30am for a treat - a cooked buffet breakfast.  Energised (well, sort of), we then set out to walk the 4km to the Katherine thermal pools on the other side of town via the river walk, a long scenic path along the Katherine River on the north side of town.  The river itself wasn't visible, but the treed valley was full of birdlife and the walk surrounds were well maintained, though everything was extremely dry.  There was even a small grass fire being put out by the local fire brigade in one place.  The path also passed two interesting heritage buildings that dated from WW2 when they were built as officers' messes.

The thermal pools were also very well maintained, with clear warmish water running in a narrow channel between a series of pools, of varying depths, surrounded by jungle-like vegetation.  Although there were a score or more of people in the pools, it wasn't at all crowded, and Julie joined them while I enjoyed the shade.  Adjacent to, and above, the pools, there was a beautiful grassed park area and a mobile cafe busy with people chatting over Saturday brunch at tables beneath the trees.  A very pleasant scene.

From the pools we walked back to our motel via the busy Katherine shopping area and purchased a few things we needed as well as lunch which we ate back at the motel.  The afternoon was spent doing a few chores and relaxing.  There were signs advertising rugby league matches at the local ground this afternoon, and I did toy with the idea of walking across to have a look, but sitting outside in the high 30°s C lost its appeal when the time arrived.

Around 5pm we walked back to the main street to get supplies for dinner and tomorrow, passing a showground where the Katherine Junk Art Festival had just opened.  We thought about detouring for a look, but it seemed there was an entry fee and neither of us was that enthused, so we gave it a miss.  Lazy, I know.

We had the usual microwaved dinner back at the motel, prepared for tomorrow's ride, and had an early night.

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