It was hot overnight and as soon as the sun came up, the temperature started to climb.
“He” had actually woken at 5:35am in preparation to make a telephone call to book accommodation.
We had been informed that Kakadu was very busy and the intended national park campsites were full. With this in mind, we had decided to try to book sites at Cooinda but due to the overall size of three of the vehicles in our group, we could not book via the internet.
The resort opened for business at 6:00am so at 6:01am “He” was on the phone making a reservation for the five of us. Over the next 48 hours, we would learn that making a booking was indeed the right thing to do.
Having booked a dawn cruise on Katherine Gorge for Sunday, Saturday was to be a relatively quiet day. In saying that, we decided to reverse a decision we had made on the previous day and take a visit to the Cutta Cutta cave system.
These caves are located about 25k’s south east of Katherine and we made a quick trip there so we could join the 10am tour. We made it with five minutes to spare.
We were told that the walk to the cave entrance was just over three hundred meters but without knowing, we took the scenic route as the signage at the caves was far from clear. After walking for ages, we had to ask the couple in front of us if they were going on a bushwalk or actually going to the cave. Like us, they were also going to the cave and had also taken the track that was almost twice as long as the normal walk.
When we arrived at the cave we were fortunate to see a tree snake sitting over the cave entrance. The snake was actually a Brown Tree snake and the guide told us later that is was very unusual to see the snake there as it is a nocturnal creature.
The cave was unique in its own special way. It is the home for a rare bat (we didn’t see the bats as they were deep in the cave) and the cave is still alive with growth still being recorded on some of the formations. The cave normally floods during the wet season. There are several other caves in the area and they are part of a limestone deposit that we were told runs for a very long distance. The guide informed us that her father had travelled up to 75k’s underground within this system.
After leaving the cave we returned to Katherine for a little grocery shopping before looking for the railway station. We understood that the Ghan arrived at lunchtime but that information was inaccurate as the station, when we finally found it, was deserted.
After lunch we drove out to Katherine Gorge (25k’s from the caravan park) and had a look in the visitor centre. We had intended to walk to a lookout but due to the heat, the staff warned against that.
Happy hour was therefore a good excuse to find shelter and participate in ample supplies of refreshing liquids.
With an early start planned for the following day, we were not up late even though in preparation for our next day departure, “He” disconnected water and drainage from the caravan after we had showered.