(photos: Katherine Gorge, Blue-faced Honeyeater)
Slept in to 7:30! Outside our cottage we found a cooler full of fruit, yogurt, milk and coffee with which we made a delicious breakfast. Drove a few more kilometers to Katherine Gorge Park and signed up for a boat trip at 11. The main feature of the Park is the deep chasm cut into the red and orange sandstone and the series of gorges that line it. There are many trails, but all but two are rated difficult with the most extreme being a five-day, 66 km trek that takes you up to Gorge Five. We took a short steep moderate hike to an overlook looking down on Gorge One. Along the way Bob spotted a Great Bowerbird under a bush: a large brown bird with an iridescent purple patch on the back of his head and powerful feet that he uses to build an “avenue” bower in grass that he lines with white and green objects to seduce a likely mate. We thought that was a pretty good sighting until we later saw G. B.s on the restaurant terrace!
We arrived at the boat dock at 10:45 and boarded a wide motorboat lined with chairs and chugged up to the end of Gorge One, disembarked and walked over rocks to Gorge Two where we got on another boat. The river rises about nine meters during theWet that enables the boat company to position the vessels. Now at the end of the Dry, the water is very low and we barely got through some areas. Our guide was a local Aborigine who gave us an amusing commentary on history, plant use and mythology of the area.
We divided a great steak, chips and salad on the Park info center and returned to our cottage for relaxation, laundry and sloppy ball playing with Nina who spotted us driving in and dashed back for her ball.
Set out at 4:30 to look for the Gouldian Finch that only occurs around here; drove to an obscure little billabong and stood around for an hour or so waiting for the evening action to begin. Saw a water snake slithering through the water, but little else. Too bad, because that means we have to check out of our delightful cottage at six AM in order to have a chance of seeing the damn finch which can only be seen reliably at dawn!
Back to Maude Creek Lodge, paid our bill and returned to our cottage for more scrambled eggs, wine and bananas. Compare and contrast food in Spain with country fare in Oz! Much as I love Australia, it’s stunning how wonderful the food is in every corner of Spain!
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