Riding from Kununurra to Katherine: The Intrepids Cross the Border: Tues 13 Aug.

Today we crossed the border from WA to the Northern Territory, where the time zone changes to be 1 ½ hours ahead. It was lovely and cool to start off with, but got hotter at 36 degrees. Our first stop was at Timber Creek roadhouse for a drink, then on through to Victoria River roadhouse for a delicious lunch. This place has lovely views of the big Victoria River, lots of high scenery, and helicopter flights available for those who can afford to spend $101 for a 10 minute flight.

When we were 50kms out of Katherine, Dave who was riding behind me suddenly said "I have to pull over, something's going wrong with my bike!" He passed me with a loud clanking noise and I could see one of the PVC tubes that was under the trailer banging on the road. Before we left Perth clever Dave had bracketed 2 PVC cylinder tubes under the trailer, one holding our tent poles, the other holding important emergency tools like a jack, a big ratchet and spanner set and other little tools. And now one of these cylinders had come undone, most likely early this morning as we left the Hidden Valley Caravan Park….I had noticed the underside of the trailer had banged onto a high kerbing as Dave had ridden down onto a pot holey road. And now one of the brackets had come loose, 50km from Katherine! We stopped our bikes under a shady tree, and assessed the damage. Then Dave unhitched the trailer, hopped on his bike and rode back up the Victoria Highway to see if he could find the contents of the now totally munted empty PVC cylinder. He came back a few minutes later looking much happier: he had managed to find the tools scattered all over the road, including the jack and big ratchet tool. We realised it was just as well I wasn't riding behind him when the cylinder broke open, otherwise I would have been showered with an assortment of metal tools! Luckily no one was driving behind Dave at the time either. The only thing that Dave couldn't find was our 3 rock samples from Marble Bar…bummer! They have gone to earth somewhere in the bush near Katherine now. We had picked them out so carefully from a tourist deposit, planning to make some great jewellery for family, but never mind, at least we got our important emergency tools back. We finally arrived in Katherine only half an hour later than planned, and set up camp happily at the Low Level Big 4 Caravan Park. This is a huge park with an excellent camp kitchen where lots of tourists from around the world and all over Australia get to have a yarn.

Katherine Museum and NT Alcohol Rules: Wed 14 Aug. Today we checked out Katherine town site. First stop to the Information Centre in the middle town to get the goss on all the touristy things to do around here. Then onto the Katherine Museum to educate ourselves. We both love local museums as they always give us some detail about the history of a place. The Katherine Museum is well worth a visit; very informative. We learnt about a wonderful flying doctor who flew his own little planes to help people, and he was a real eccentric who cut through rules and red tape and made a big difference to people. His name was Clyde Fenton and he must have been a real character. His little Gypsy Moth plane is on display, apparently rescued and brought back to a grateful Katherine population. I'm pleased to see the local primary school is called the Clyde Fenton Primary School: well deserved. We had a really delicious lunch at the museum, with "Jungle juice" topped up for free when we finished the first carafe. This drink is made from local berries and herbs and was so refreshing. Our next stop was at the main shopping centre in Katherine, then onto the local bottle shop nearby to get a couple of 2litre casks of red wine. Red wine is best for us as it doesn't need refrigeration, and the 2L casks travel well in the trailer….it will last us for ages, but is sometimes hard to find these casks. We realised we had to buy any alcohol in this part of the Northern Territory by getting our drivers licences scanned, and each person can only buy one alcohol product each, to try and stop alcoholism among the locals. I got a shock when I went to go to the toilet at the shopping centre in town, and a big burly security guard told me it would cost a dollar. "You're joking!" I said, but no, it is true, it costs a dollar to use the public shopping centre toilets there. Apparently to stop local indigenous from trashing them, as has happened in the past.

Exploring Katherine Gorge: Nitmiluk, Place of the Cicadas. Today (Thurs 15 Aug), we rode to what is now called Nitmiluk Gorge, in respect of Aboriginal heritage, and were lucky enough to arrive just in time to go on a free guided tour with a National Park Ranger, a young lass called Natalie. It was very interesting hearing what sort of work the rangers do, especially the night spotting for saltwater crocodiles that occasionally come up the gorges and how these creatures are trapped in a metal cage, being tempted in with a pig's head. They get relocated, so tourists are safe in the huge sandstone gorges. We decided not to do a Gorge river cruise due to the high cost.

After an ordinary lunch at the Nitmiluk Visitor Centre, having timed ourselves badly to be there just as 2 busloads of tourists arrived, we donned our hot motorbike gear and rode north to a place called Edith Falls. I was wondering if it was worth going the distance, as it was so hot on the busy road. But the Edith Falls was lovely, a great big natural waterhole in the bush, with a waterfall tumbling into it. We felt so refreshed after a big swim.

The next day (Friday) we rode 100km down to Mataranka Springs, swimming at a beautiful natural springs place called Bitter Springs. The waters are naturally heated to 32 degrees and we floated like happy corks down the river, climbing out at one end, scurrying back to the starting point and doing the floating again and again. We saw a big water monitor lizard with a flat paddle-type tail eyeing us from a reedy bank, and we marvelled at the fish and moss we saw under our feet in the water. There are other naturally heated springs at Mataranka but they have been turned into "civilised" concrete pool areas, which isn't the same as the garden of paradise bush place that we enjoyed. And I swear the morning wallowing in the thermal springs helped heal my arthritis for a few days. We had a delicious lunch at the Stockyard Café and Gallery in Mataranka. I would have loved to have bought some beautiful Aboriginal art, but budgeting didn't allow this. Never mind, the looking was free!

By the time we rode the 100km back to Katherine, we were hot again, so into the camp swimming pool to refresh before getting our gear sorted for a pack up and ride up to Litchfield National Park tomorrow.