Day 45
After our rest at King River Rest Area, we got up early and headed for the Nitmiluk National Park in Katherine. Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge) is a large (292,800 hectare) National Park owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal people and jointly managed with the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory.
There are boat tours, accommodation, canoe hire and walks that can be done. As we couldn’t afford to do any of the gorge tours and we didn’t want to hire a canoe as there were signs saying that crocodiles had been recently seen in the area, we did the short walk up to the Baruwei Lookout, returning via the escarpment.
After a look at the Nitmiluk Visitor Centre where we learnt a lot about the cultural and spiritual significance of the gorge for the Jawoyn and Dagoment people, we headed on a walk to the Baruwei Lookout.
At the start of the track, we met this cute little creature, its mum was hiding behind a tree.
As with many of the walking tracks we have walked, they are blended into the surroundings as much as possible.
From the lookout, we were able to see a couple of boats heading out on their tours.
Walking back along the escarpment, was a lot easier and ended up being a lot quicker as well.
Thankfully we didn’t see any crocs!
Next, we headed up to a free camp around 25km from Edith Falls getting an early night, ready for a big day of swimming!
Apparently on the WikiCamps App, some people are having trouble finding the entrance. Hopefully these photos will help.
Lap of Oz: Days 42-44 King River Rest Area