I left early in the morning before the kids got up for breakfast. I thought I'd be up at sunrise every morning of this year long trip but soon realised that despite my expectations of a year long 'holiday' the full-time work of 'growing up' a young family rapidly brought me back to reality. My wife and I stay up late, grasping onto the limited time alone together, only to be left tired the next morning. Just like home!
Once I slid into the mirror smooth green/brown water of Nitmiluk and began stroking upstream I began drifting into the world of quiet, solitude, reflection and solace. It was easy to get into a rhythm and as usual found my mind skipping from topic to topic, family-work-that was a freshwater croc-holidays-family-white breasted sea eagle-work-holidays-getting hot now-family...
The gorge is large and there are some beautiful sandy spits and banks with signs warning to keep clear of these fragile freshwater crocodile nesting sites. The first gorge seems to be the widest and as one gets further upstream the narrower it becomes. The towering orange brick-like cliffs looming in over me reminded me of the narrow canals in Amsterdam lined by leaning Dutch terrace houses!
Where I could I kept to the shady side seeking relief from the tropical sun. The first gorge ends at a rocky barrier that would produce some fun rapids when the water level was higher. There was very little flow when we were there so I dragged my kayak (the beauty of plastic!) up the middle and took advantage of a couple of pools that I could paddle across.
I paddled up to the third gorge which is as far as one is allowed to go on a day permit. It wasn't until I was there that I thought that I'd missed a good opportunity to do another solo overnighter (Steep Point being the last) by camping further up the gorge for a night.
Instead I sat on some rocks under a battered, almost horizontal paperbark tree between the second and third gorges and listened to the gurgling of Nitmiluk as it passed by me on its long course to the ocean. It was a wonderful moment and thoughts came to me of my late father who would have so enjoyed following our journey. I deliberately hadn't brought a camera with me this time and took in the scene before me intending to sketch it from memory when the kids were next drawing.
The thought of freshly ground coffee urged me back to our roaming home and we were also heading into Katherine town to catch up with some friends, another travelling family, who were overtaking us on their way east too.
As I paddled back downstream it was the vibrant and varied colours of the gorge walls that stuck in my mind. Colour has been a recurring feature in my memories of this trip. The colours of northern Australia in particular really gets to me. Some of the most pleasurable moments have been driving the vast distances in this wondrous country of ours. Through the deep reds and oranges of the many Pilbara & Kimberley ranges spotted with light green and brown spinifex hummocks, through open savannah and Gulf country with miles of dry native grasses, oranges, purples, browns, yellows, the thin white trunks of the eucalypts with their dark green foliage stamped against the deep blue sky. We've had hours and hours of this and I love it.
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