It's a long way to Tipperary...

'No it's not, it's just down the road'...

After Pine Creek, we wandered down to the Douglas Daly region, which is about 300km south of Darwin still. Earlier in Week One, one of the teachers had raved about the Douglas Daly Hot Springs, billboarding them higher than the Mataranka version, so of course it was our first stop over...
Umm, no. There's only about 3 square metres of water that is actually warm and of course that's where everyone sits. The rest of the creek is pretty damn cool. The Hot Springs themselves start further upstream but it's closed to white folk 'cause of cultural and conservational reasons - it's a sacred ceremonial site for the local Wagiman women. Also, the water can get up to 60 degrees and they don't want people hurting themselves.
Of course, none of that daunted the other maths team. They ignored warnings of quicksand, laughed at comments about scalding temperatures and jumped straight into the section that was supposedly off limits. Then they say they realised their 'mistake' on their return.

We then drove 17km along a dirt road with 5 river crossings (well, puddle crossings but damn it, its the best we've gotten all tour) and headed to Butterfly Gorge. It's a pretty short walk but steep, and the change in terrain is pretty marked - bush/rainforest to sandstone rubble. Then you walk/slide/crawl down the side of the hill and arrive in a gorgeous swimming hole. There are trees growing out of the rocks and butterflies live in the area. Very pretty, probably one of my favorites so far.

Then Douglas Daly, which was a tiny school of 6 kids. Had a headache (again) so the end of the day was bloody torture. But got through it, popped a few pills and then headed down to the local 'club' (which was basically an open shed with a drinks fridge) and watched a bit of telly (-as an aside, EXTRA's is bloody funny ;o)

Then headed off to Tipparary. R! was singing the song 'It's a long way...." and one of the kids from Douglas Daly piped up with 'no it's not, it's just down the road'. Anyway, visited the Arches (again, a gorgeous swimming hole. The NT is blessed with amazing swimming places... and crocodiles. So I guess it's a bit of a trade off.) and then made it to Tipperary...

Which is a story in itself that I shall save till tommorrow when we hit the big city lights of Darwin.

Pine Creek Gap

Had the final weekend and said goodbye to Jan's B&B, which was a pretty good home for a weekend or two. Had a sinus migrane since Thursday and it was worst on Friday (while trying to manage a group of 20 excited primary school kids) and Saturday (while at Katherine Gorge so had to sit quietly in the canteen while others went to lookout... although Jamos did take pity on me and once the Nurofen kicked in we wandered a little bit to a beach and played Poohsticks so wasn't too bad in the end). So am exhausted now.

This morning we headed off to Katherine Gorge for a 7am breakfast cruise. We went up the first two gorges, walking past some artwork on the side of the Gorge by the Jawoyn people. They put in a claim for the land in 1971 and got native title in 1989 (or around there) and now they are responible for maintaining the park and run the tours.The breakfast was nothing specatacular and Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) was nice... but i think i preferred Porcupine Gorge in Hugenden (QLD). But I wish I had the time to do an overnight canoe up the river and camp - it wouls have been gorgeous (he) to canoe along the Gorge early or late before any of the other boats arrived... and I haven't been kayaking for ages. Something to do if I ever come back this way.

So then we headed off to Edith Falls, and went for a quick swim. There are freshwater crocodiles in the area but they tend to run in the other direction - and while they can get up to 2m long, they aren't as aggressive as saltys. It was pretty nice - again, the water was amazingly clear. Never thought of the NT as a premier swimming place but it's great - particularly because it's all freshwater so you don't get the salt up your nose.

Then we got to our next stop - Pine Creek. Bit bigger than i imagined but the school only has 50 kids from Transition through to Year 6 so it's still tiny. Visiting school tommorrow and will stay here tommorrow night as well.

Try to post again soon.
Net