Canoedling up the Katherine Gorge

Hello dear blogsters, I am so tired tonight it is hard to write the blog.... but I shall endure so you have something to read (sigh).

Today we canoed for 13 km up the Katherine Gorge (well actually we canoed up 3 gorges). We left early and picked up our canoes at 8.15. We climbed into the canoes in a slightly less than expert manner, and set off up the gorge. The first leg was over 3 km and we did this with great style. Lachlan and Sam were entirely silly in their canoe..... nothing new there!

At the end of the first leg, we had to get out, leave our canoes, walk over some rocks and pick up a new canoe. The second gorge was even more beautiful and we really enjoyed this paddle. We stopped off under an overhang and enjoyed getting "rained" on by the water dripping from above. We continued on to the end of this gorge and then had to carry our canoes over the rocks to the third gorge. Thankfully Lachlan and Sam helped out with carrying the heavy canoes (of course, if we had emptied the water out of them first, they would have been lighter).

We continued on to the end of this gorge and then paddled back to a sandbar for lunch. Lachlan took the opportunity to have a swim - the crocs left him alone fortunately. We stopped off for lunch and, apart from Sam who buried himself in sand and Danni who amused herself making little slides down the sandhills, we all had a snooze. Paddi had been showing off on an oar earlier and had fallen into the water - so he needed to dry out.

After lunch we started the long paddle back. We stopped off to have a look at a waterfall, and Lachlan and Sam took the opportunity to have a shower.

After this we continued on - with Lachlan and Sam stopping to have a look at every crevass and hole along the way. They stopped off under a little waterfall to do a scientific experiment - to find out how much water it takes to sink a canoe. The answer is - a lot - but they did finally get their canoe to sink to the bottom and then discovered just how heavy a canoe full of water is to lift out and empty.

Mum and Dad and Uncle John did a great job of paddling (pretty darned good for old buggers) - there's life in them yet!

When we got back we were feeling rather tired after 8 hours of paddling. It was good to get back to our camp site where I cooked up a green chicken curry for dinner (go the wok!). Tomorrow we move on again.

Happy winter solstice to all my Chrysalis Friends - I hope you have managed to celebrate in style. We are having a very different, warm solstice here. The sky is clear and the night calm and warm - a lovely, different celebration.

Hi to Nic and Bron - wish you were still with us! And Hi to Kelley, Steve and Gail - I miss you all!