Day 182 – 6/6/14 – Douglas Hot
Springs – King River NT
The last remnants of the hive of
Aboriginal kids from Port Keats was being packed away as we poked out squinting
eyes out of the van in morning. Over breakfast we discussed the possibility of
going for another swim but decided against it, if for no other reason that is
was a touch colder than usual this morning!
After school we packed up and hit
the road again. We headed further down the road as we had read that there was a
good swimming hole at “The Arches” and that at the end of the road, The Oolloo
Crossing, there was some half decent barra fishing. We were running pretty low
on fuel so we hit the only sign of civilisation, the Douglas-Daly Caravan Park,
Despite not spending a penny there the lady who manages the park was happy to
spend 15 minutes chatting with me about the area and how there were two bull
sharks at “The Arches”, so we had better not swim there, and how the Crossing
wasn’t worth going to and it would be bloody hard with a van anyway....so
disappointed with the outcome but enthused by the conversation we turned and
headed towards Katherine Gorge.
After a late lunch we hit the
falls swimming the 150m to its base. We have seen some pretty amazing falls
over the past month and unfortunately this one was a fair way down the list on
natural appeal. We had just got to the rock wall near the base and were holding
onto the edge catching our breath when whoooomp, splashhh something hit the
water from above us and a few seconds later a smiling face appeared from below
the water. A few seconds later and the same thing happened. I had been told
about the high dives at these falls but unsure where they were I had written
them off....not any more!
A quick conversation ensued and we
(the two lads from Perth who had just jumped) were clambering back up the falls
to get to the launch spot. A few minutes later they had launched themselves and
the boys were on their second or third ‘count down’ to encourage me to jump.
The problem was there was a pretty strong breeze blowing and the ‘pinnacle’ we
were jumping from wasn’t big enough for one of my feet let alone both of them,
oh and the fact that I was slightly sh!$ scared jumping from 10+m. One more
count down and I jumped. While it felt like an eternity before I hit the water
it wasn’t long enough for me to straighten my legs out and when I hit the water
my oversized arse was sticking out, causing it to make its own entry point. My
feet were stinging as they had ‘slapped’ the water as they entered, but that
was nothing in comparison to how my but felt as I called urgently for a large
excavator to try and find my board shorts that had disappeared up my crack upon
impact! I gingerly swam over to the delighted faces of my two boys trying
desperately not to show the slight tingle of pain I was feeling and needless to
say despite their pleas no they were not going to jump from there!
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| Without my silly writing on it |
We hit the road and headed into
Katherine to restock. Now I don’t want to moan but Katherine has already taken the title as the single most unwelcoming town for tourists in all of Australia
with daylight coming a distant second. I won’t go into detail but I suggest
that if you can avoid this town’s facilitites then do.
Stocked up we headed south on the
Stuart until we reached the King River Rest Area. It already had around 20 vans
in it so we squeezed our self in and sent the boys of to get rids of the last
of their “Co-op” product, which they successfully did which was followed by
paying themselves out all of the remaining profits of their last six months
work. To their credit De and I have not given them a single cent for the six
months of the trip to date and they have spent a fair amount on all sorts of things
but have been smart avoiding the trappings of lollies and ice creams.
Hopefully, if nothing more, this trip has taught them that money doesn’t grow
on trees and it had to be earned.
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