A bit more about Katherine

It is really relaxing to spend a few days here again at Katherine, have a more detailed look around and also check out some of the things-to-do while in Katherine. Being a bit of a flyer myself, I put down my name and contact number with 2 different companies that provide flights over various sights, mostly, all the gorges as well as several waterfalls. There is only one problem with that, on all flights a minimum of 2 passengers, on another, a minimum of 3 passengers. I am traveling alone, so am dependent on someone else to want to fly as well. So now I need to wait and see….

Yesterday I had a browse through an exhibition of semi precious stones and rock formations found in the wider circumference around Katherine.

Passing a river on the road to the gemstones

An ancient-looking man who has collected all the exhibits in a shed near his home told me, he prefers going out there to fosic during the wet season because he loves the heat and really enjoys being out there at that time of the year.

I bought one of his displayed "Blue Agates", sliced out of a rock, found at "Wave Hill Station" its about 6 mm thick and about 10 cm wide, highly polished. It is a bright blue with a variety of patterns throughout that light up when you hold it against the sun. Quite amazing, really. The blue colour, he tells me, is due to Nickel Minerals in the ground.

My Blue Gem stone

There were also very nice brown and ochre coloured once but I thought these were a lot more common and not anywhere near as nice as the blue ones.

Last night I met a couple, Sally and Jim, from the Gold Coast in Queensland. They have a permit to travel through Arnhem Land. They are driving a big, heavy 4-wheel drive with a 6 litre Chevy Diesel engine and a compact Aluminium trailer that contains their tent, refrigeration and a 50 litre water tank, perfect gear for going through the never-never where they were headed this morning. They will refuel at Jabiru, where I was last week. Apart from a full tank, they also carry 300 litres of Diesel and 100 litres of drinking water, as the fuel will have to be enough to also bring them back out. There are no filling stations where they are going. They have made these kind of excursions many times before, and so it is a pleasure to watch them this morning braking camp, each of them both knowing exactly what to do, in order to get under way. Very nice people. They invited me last night to share dinner with them. I brought a bottle and it turned out a really nice evening, talking mostly aboutr living that gypsy-life.

I have not heard so far from either of these two flight operators so far, so maybe its not happening. If it does happen for tomorrow, I will add-on another day at Katherine.


I also just bought a camping catalog that shows each campsite in all of Australia, together with the available amenities at each of these locations and GPS co-ordinates. All I need to do now, make up my mind where I want to stay the next night, key-in the respective degrees, minutes and seconds and my GPS will take me there. Pretty nifty, eh. Yes, I know, "…Peter the gadget-man…" True enough, I love travelling this way. It eliminates a lot of guesswork.