Vikings in Australia - Víkingar í Ástralíu

17^th of September

We had a lazy morning as we were not due until 9am at the jetty to do the three gorges tour. So once we were ready it was only a short walk to the Visitor centre and then from there to the Jetty. Once we arrived there, there were people queuing up for the tours! We simply sat on a bench and waited until the queue had been called on board! It really doesn’t matter where you sit in these tours as they try to make sure everyone can take good photos, plus you can move around in the boat most of the time.

Once settled in, the flat boat headed off up the gorge. The first gorge is quite wide, but with high cliff walls on either side. It is the longest gorge. At the end of it are a set of rocky rapids, so the boat came ashore and everyone had to exit and walk across 400 meters of rapids to the next boat.

However, before doing that we stopped and looked at some rock art that was high on the walls of the gorge. Obviously this had been painted at a time, when the bed of the river was higher up! Once we had taken our time to view the rock art, we moved to the second gorge. There we boarded another boat and headed up across the second gorge. This gorge is the most spectacular of all the gorges. It is narrow and has very high cliff faces towering over the boat! It also has the knee of the zig zag the gorges take, thus in the knee of the zig zag is the deepest point in the gorge system. Once we reached the end of the second gorge, off the boat we went again to walk across the rocky rapids to board the third boat for the third gorge. That gorge is also very interesting. Not as narrow as the second one, but also has the 90 degree bend in it!. We went as far as the boat could go and then turned back. As we approached the beginning of the third gorge to disembark, someone found a snake on-board the boat. There was of course the general panic as one would expect. The captain asked for a description of the snake as he couldn’t abandon the steering wheel so readily. We then established it was a tree snake, i.e. not poisonous so it was fine. As it turned out it was very small. All the same some people took quite a detour when passing the place where the snake had settled in the boat!. Once all the passengers had left, the captain simply scooped it into his hat and threw it overboard! It swam away, quite happy to be rid of these neurotic tourists!

On the return to the second gorge, we were directed to a place whereby we could swim. So in we went and had a swim. Bear in mind it’s up to 40 degrees hot every day, so we have to cool our brain and body down to keep them in working order!

We also used the time to view the rock art again and then boarded the boat in the first gorge and headed back to the jetty. This trip was pretty spectacular and well worth doing. We went to the visitor centre to have some lunch, before heading back to camp to relax before we would head out to the helipad for our helicopter ride!

I put on the kettle, but when I turned it on, nothing happened! After some inspection, I realised that the kettle had been taken over by small ants. They were marching into it at the base and in the handle, so I suspected they had somehow gotten themselves between the contacts of the switch! I quickly took the cover off and sure enough the ants were everywhere! After some short cleanout I put it together again, but it still didn’t work. We then had to abandon this and head out to the helipad for our scenic tour.

The helipad was only a couple of kilometres away from the visitor centre, so it wasn’t a long drive. Once we got there we paid our fees and boarded a Robinsons A44, three passenger helicopter with air-conditioning. Simon, the pilot was aware of Sibbas fear, so she got the back seat to herself and I the co-pilot seat! Thus, we were the only passengers for the trip.

We took off and headed up the Katherine gorge system and river until it petered out into the flat landscape. Then we headed towards a small creek and gorge, where we landed in the middle of nowhere!. This place is practically only accessible by helicopter and is an aboriginal sacred site. It has several rock art paintings of different styles that date back 8-10 thousand years. After spending some time looking at the rock art, we headed back to the helicopter and took off to another spectacular gorge. The pilot flew through and into the gorge, doing a 90 degree turn to land at the bottom. So now we can add to our gorge exploration a helicopter flight through a gorge and landing by a helicopter in a gorge!! We then went for a swim in a beautiful pool, just below a high cliff face with a small waterfall. Even the pilot joined us as well!

It was just fantastic. After a while we flew out of there and headed back towards the Katherine gorges and flew down all the gorges again! After that we flew out and went over the Edith falls, which is a beutifull waterfall that cascades down in steps.

A pretty amazing flight and scenery.

Back in camp, I took out the Kettle, just to find out that the ants were persisting in moving into it!! They had re-doubled their efforts and really moved in. I ended up having to take it apart and flushing it out with water, electrics and all!. I could understand wanting to move into a Kettle costing lots of money, but why our Kettle?? It only cost around $10 in Coles!

After flushing out the ants and making sure there wasn’t an ant ball between the electrical contacts, I put it together again and got it going again! After drying it of course!

The ants had also raided our Weber bbq and our bread box. The bbq was easy to clear of ants, just fire it up and the ants went up in smoke!! The bread box was a lot harder. We had to throw out some bread and bikkies and clean it out to get rid of them.

We then headed to the swimming pool, for a cold beer and a glass of wine. Kylie got quite excited about the pool and wanted to go for a swim, but we convinced her that it was bad for her fur!!

At the swimming pool bar, we surveyed the menu again and chose to sample the crock kebab for starters, plus I went for a steak and Sibba the grilled barra! The girl at the counter was the same girl as the night before. Very nice and based on her accent, we thought she was French!! (How wrong we were!!)

The Crock kebab was interesting; it tasted much like a chicken. The meat is very white and soft, doesn't taste like fish at all.

Once our mains arrived we finished them off with our beer and wine, so it was time for another round! I went to fetch more red wine, but the girl at the bar thought it was finished! She wasn’t sure she could get two glasses out of the casket in the fridge. As it turned out, she managed to fill the two glasses without any issues. Later on, she came to clear our table, so we got talking as one does. As soon as she realised that we were Icelandic, she said “Eg tala Islensku” (I speak Icelandic). Well, we certainly didn’t expect that!. As it turns out, she wasn’t French at all, but German!. Had been an Au Pair in Iceland for a year back in 2004! Working for someone high up in one of the Icelandic banks at the time! Her name is Hanna, so for all her friends in Iceland, she is travelling through Australia, by working in different places. What a surprise!!