Katherine Gorge is known as Nitmiluk by the Jawoyn people who are indigenous to this area. "Nitmi" means cicada and "Luk" means place or country. Nitmiluk was returned to the Jawoyn people following a successful land rights claim in 1989 and is leased back to the Northern Territory Government on a 99 year lease. This allowed the area to be declared a national park.
The Nitmiluk National Park is jointly managed by the NT Parks and Wildlife and the Jawoyn people. This morning we became tourists on the Three Gorges Cruise.
We drove the 30km from Katherine to the gorge carpark and had breakfast at the visitor centre cafe. We had arranged to meet up with Cherryl's brother and sister-in-law who were having a surprise visit north to escape the cold weather in Melbourne. About 90% of the people we meet are from Victoria and we laugh about the slogan on their number plates - Victoria, The Place to Be - because there's no-one home! Anyway, I digress.
We picked up our bag containing our morning tea - a bottle of water, a couple of pieces of fruit, a piece of banana bread - and a postcard and boarded our boat at about 9.15am for the 4 hour cruise.
The sandstone was formed under the great inland sea some 1.5 billion years ago, so there are no fossils in the stone. This is some of the oldest and hardest sandstone in the world. Even so, we were able to see water seeping through the rock in places where there is water above it. It's strange to think this rock is like a big sponge soaking up water.
There are 13 gorges in total and we're going to see 3 of them. As we travelled through the 3 gorges our guide told up about the history and geology of the area.
At the end of the first gorge we walked over the rock dam after a quick stop to look at some Jawoyn rock art, and joined the boat which would take us through the second gorge. The rock dams provide a natural weir which maintains water in the gorges all year round.
The water comes only from rainfall in the wet season and flows through to the Daly River. If the rock dams were not there, the water would all flow through to the Daly River and the gorges would dry out in the dry season.
The second gorge is perhaps one of the most spectacular. The rock rises about 60m (200ft) above the water and the river is about 50m wide. The main gorge is crossed by sub-gorges. We are told that from the air the whole area looks like a giant block of chocolate with fissures and sub-gorges cutting the rock into squares. We've seen several helicopters taking tourists on joy flights.
Another short walk and we're into the third gorge. Each gorge has its own characteristics and this one has several waterfalls in the wet season. Unfortunately there's no water flowing over the rocks at this time of year.
Canoes are available for hire and there are plenty of canoes and kayaks being paddled in the still waters of the gorges.
At the end of the third gorge we turned around and headed back. We stopped for a while near some rocks where we all got off the boat and warmed up in the sun. Some more hardy souls went for a swim. Most of us thought it was a bit cold for a swim though we had come prepared with our swimmers and towels - it's just a bit cooler today.
Fresh water crocodiles live in the gorges. It's safe to swim here because the "freshies" are fish eaters and are not aggressive - they are quite timid and will run or swim away. Also, the females do not guard their nests as the "salties" (salt water crocodiles) do. There are many signs on the sandy beaches advising of crocodile nesting sites. Crocodile sex is determined by the temperature of the nest with females hatching in the cooler temperatures and males hatching in the warmer nests. In the wet season a few of the dangerous salties manage to get into the gorges by swimming up from the Daly River and the rangers are kept busy trapping and relocating them. There's no swimming allowed until they are sure there are no salties left in the gorges.
The only crocodile we saw was this one on a submerged tree near our boarding point when we arrived back at 1pm. We walked back to the visitor centre where we had a buffet lunch. Dinner tonight will be light - pancakes with berries and cream.
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