Wilsons on the road: Monday 13 May 2013 - Edith Falls (Nitmuluk NP)

Monday 13 May 2013 - Edith Falls (Nitmuluk NP)

We drove into Katherine on Saturday, fuelling up and braving Woolworths, which was absolutely packed. The lady at the servo said that when the tourist season is really busy, the supermarket can get pretty bare and she advised us to shop in the morning, after the nightfill crew had restocked the shelves. Fortunately, even though it was early afternoon, we managed to get everything we needed. The atmosphere in the town itself wasn’t very pleasant though – Glenn got asked for money by an old blackfella as we were walking into the shopping centre (he only had 50c in his pocket at the time!) and there were quite a few loiterers all around, some of them arguing and fighting.

Glenn is now a cask wine drinker, because beer is too bulky for the fridges. Goon bags fit in the top of the fridge or freezer really easily, plus of course, it’s cheap. Unfortunately, it’s also unavailable at a lot of places in the NT because it’s the preferred drink of certain locals and by “gentleman’s agreement”, many establishments won’t sell it. The liquor store next to Woolies didn’t, so we went to the drive-through after putting our groceries away. ID is required and only one cask per adult is permitted. In so many ways the Territory is laid-back and relaxed, but then in other ways it’s over-regulated and strict, usually because of a minority group who’ve abused their freedoms. And not just the Aboriginals – in many national parks there are signs all over the place listing rules for conduct and asking visitors to report people who are destructive or inconsiderate of others.

After we’d escaped Katherine, we drove back up the highway and turned off at Edith River, heading for Edith Falls. We found a semi-shady spot, set up the camper and then wandered over to the waterhole for a quick swim before dinner. Fortunately, we had leftovers (chilli con carne) from the previous night, so after the girls were fed and in bed, we only had to heat to eat!

The next day (yesterday) was Mother’s Day and first thing in the morning I was greeted with a card, a gift (wrapped in a tea towel) and Yasmin calling “Happy Mother’s Birthday Mummy”. The gift turned out to be a HEMA map of the Kimberley – some might call this a ‘bowling ball present’ (remember The Simpsons episode?) but I was actually quite excited to get it, as it will definitely come in handy when we begin the Gibb River Road journey.

Unfortunately the rest of the day was tainted by my rash flaring up quite angrily, burning and itching as the day got warmer. We went for another swim in the waterhole (which helped cool it down) and I stroked out towards the falls themselves. It’s about 150m and there wasn’t much of a current from them as they aren’t particularly high, but it was quite eerie and surreal swimming all the way out into the gorge on my own – especially as everyone else was way back at the shore. Even though the area has been cleared for crocs, I still felt completely vulnerable as I was out in the middle of an open expanse of deep water, literally a sitting duck!

I tried to rest for the remainder of the day, using a cold wet washer on my leg to try and draw some of the heat out and Glenn watched the girls so I could have an afternoon nap. He cooked us a delicious goat curry for dinner and the girls were moderately behaved all day too. Glenn had set up a little tent/cubby for them on the grassy patch in front of our camper, so they spent much of the day pottering around there. I suggested we put them to bed in it for the night!

Today dawned sunny and clear (again) and pleasantly cool. There’s a light breeze around and the only annoying thing are a few sticky flies that love to crawl inside your eyes, nose and ears. Sticky meaning once you shoo them away, they keep coming back – usually more determined to wipe their grubby little poo hands all over your face. We had a few wallabies and roos hop straight past our camp and I even caught sight of a few dingoes pottering in the grass nearby. Glenn heard them howl in the night too, but they haven’t given us any trouble.

Glenn got a nice little sleep-in this morning while I sorted the girls, then I cooked him (and myself) an omelette for brekkie and took the girls off for a little swim. We returned and found the dishes done and it was time for smoko. Sienna went down for a morning nap and now we’re all hanging out in our little back porch, Yasmin playing the iPad in her cubby, Glenn reading his book and me doing this