Day 1 – Saturday 17 August
Jatbula Hike – Nitmiluk Centre to Biddlecombe Cascades
We were up early, 5am, to be packed down by 6am, with everything loaded in our packs and ready to start our walk. The reason we got up this early, even though we were taking the 9am ferry is that we are Parkrun tragics. We had worked out that if we did the 3pm safety briefing the day before we could squeeze in a parkrun and still make it to the 9am ferry.
Katherine Hot Springs Parkrun had a younger
demographic than we are accustomed to, air force personnel and not surprisingly,
in the dry season, plenty of fellow tourists. It was a relatively flat course
along the river and then crossing over the Katherine River on a pedestrian
bridge – very pretty. It also passed two WW2 buildings – O’Keefe Residence and
Hunter House, both of which have been restored.
We then returned to the caravan park and got changed, unfortunately not
enough time for a shower, and drove to Nitmiluk Visitor Centre.
https://www.parkrun.com.au/katherinehotsprings/
We parked our hire car in the main visitor centre carpark and walked to the ferry. We had been advised we must be at the ferry by 8:45am, however we did not get to cross the Katherine River for quite some time. We were joined by the remainder of the hikers, who had all done the 8am briefing. There was a female couple, and a group of three young men, probably early 30’s. (Later in the trip we found out that the next closest of our fellow campers in age to us was 15 years younger). Prior to boarding the ferry we were required to show our signed permits indicating we had attended our safety briefing. The ferry trip was directly across the river – very expensive per metre travelled, but given the river is inhabited by saltwater crocodiles, excellent value!
https://www.nitmiluktours.com.au/about/visitor-centre/
https://www.nitmiluktours.com.au/gorge-experiences/gorge-tours/jatbula-trail-transfer/
The Northern Rockhole was a cool spot for a rest. By this late in the dry season the water level has dropped, and no new water is flowing in so it is relatively stagnant. We opted not to swim, with the hope that this evening’s campsite would have a nicer swimming area. We enjoyed our morning tea in the shade while admiring the spot.
From Northern Rockhole to Biddlecombe Cascades
campground the walk was hot and exposed for a period, followed by a solid
uphill section on a 4WD track with good views.
As you get closer to the campground there was some shade. We arrived in
camp by midday.
This campground has moderate shade and adequate room. The toilets are quite close by. It is a medium walk to the beautiful cool cascades for a swim. There are lots of tall Fern-leaved Grevilleas which have large bright orange flowers that attracted the lorikeets.
After putting down our packs and taking off our
boots, we headed off for a swim fully clothed to cool down. After this we had lunch and set up our tent.
The first pool had a waterfall that provided a
great shoulder and back massage. The power of the water was such that I had to
hold on to avoid being pushed out into the pool away from the waterfall. It
even managed to undo the back zip of my swimmers. When we were done swimming for now, we filled
all our water and rinsed our clothes thoroughly. Then off to explore the cascades. In the safety briefing we had been advised
not to go downstream and not to go past the third pool upstream. While I endeavoured to abide by this, I would
have found it helpful to have been able to take a picture of a map of exactly
which pool was meant to be pool one, two, three etc.
https://northernterritory.com/katherine-and-surrounds/see-and-do/biddlecombe-cascades
Mid-afternoon we returned to camp to read and relax. I also took a walk to the helicopter pad; the country was remarkably different away from the watercourse.
After dinner we had another swim and refilled our water again for the morning. All our fellow hikers watched the sunset near each other. We then read for a while before going to sleep. We did not put the fly on the tent and could see the full moon above. I chose to sleep with my buff over my eyes to make it darker.
What a beautiful day!
Distance 8.20km
Time 2h15m
Ascent 214m
Descent 107m
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