Katherine Gorge

One of my students very kindly loaned me her car so I was able to sight see in the two days before I flew back to Perth.

I went on a cruise up the Katherine Gorge located in Nitmiluk National Park. Katherine Gorge is actually a series of gorges, 13 in all, cut into the colourful limestone over 23million years. The Three Gorge tour takes four hours. You travel by boat to the end of the first gorge and then walk a few hundred meters to the next boat, which takes you up the second gorge. There are aboriginal rock paintings to view along the walk and a swimming hole to cool off in on the return journey. Another boat takes you to the end of the second gorge and a then a walk to the next boat. The third boat trip is much shorter and at the end we walked a short way into Gorge number four.

  

  

  

There are Freshwater crocodiles in the gorges which are not bothered by all the attention. Usually only freshwater crocs inhabit the gorge but during the wet season and floods, “”Salties”, Saltwater crocodiles can sometimes make their way into the gorge. After “The Wet”, National Park officers clear the area for saltwater crocodiles. Theÿ use traps like this one to capture them and then relocate the saltwater crocodiles to another area.

 

Saltwater Crocodile Trap                                   Aboriginal Guide “Rocky