4 Stray Katz: A visit to Katherine hospital

Katherine & Edith River Free Camp

Thursday 3rd - Monday 7th August

We were filled with excitement, and some trepidation (worrying about what might have happened to our caravan in the 18 days we’d been in Arnhem Land), when we pulled into the caravan park where our van was stored. Thankfully nothing was damaged, however the pilot light on the fridge had gone off so we had a lot of defrosted food in the freezer. It must have only been off for a day though so luckily nothing was smelly or mouldy yet! As well as cleaning out the fridge we spent the day attempting to wash the Arnhem Land red dirt out of our clothes and bodies and unpacking all the camping gear (whilst the kids enjoyed the pool!).

Friday was also spent doing jobs in preparation for Kakadu although we did go down to the river for a swim in the rapids we’d all enjoyed last time. Strangely, no-one else was swimming – we soon found out why! Whilst the kids were underwater letting the strong current propel them down the river a lady came up to me to let me know a big crocodile was spotted in the area last night (actually just a few metres from where we were swimming!). We promptly got the kids out and she showed us a photo. It was a rather large crocodile, but thankfully only a freshwater one, although they can attack if disturbed or provoked so all the locals had warned each other not to swim (via the local Facebook page). We actually came back later that night (in the dark) and saw the crocodile resting on the rocks just across from where we had been swimming!!

We spent Friday night at the cinema, which was a real novelty as it has been a while. We convinced Daniel to see the Barbie movie and he was a very good sport about it (well he did get to ogle Margot Robbie for 2 hours so he had no reason to complain!).

The highlight of this time in Katherine for me though was catching up with a work friend, Annie. She is at the start of a trip across the Kimberly and, as luck would have it, we were in Katherine at the same time. I didn’t know this until Jackson and Daniel bumped into her and her husband in Woolies!! We spent Saturday morning catching up over coffee – it was so great to see her.

The boys got lucky again and got a bucket full of cherabin in the Katherine River.

The crocodile near the rapids where we were swimming!!

Edith River Free Camp

We’d been told about a lovely free camp just off the Stuart Highway, on the Edith River. It was so nice that we decided to stay for 2 nights. We spent Saturday afternoon relaxing in the shallow rapids before sitting around a campfire right next to the river, watching the stars. On Sunday we’d decided to go into nearby Edith Falls around lunchtime so Jackson spent the morning playing with the friends he’d made (there were 2 other families with 10 year old boys camping here as well) while the rest of us relaxed and enjoyed the serenity of our surroundings.

As we were about to leave, Jackson emerged from under the old bridge covered in blood and holding his hand in the air…..he’d sliced the top of his right pointer finger trying to skim an old piece of bitumen! It was a rather large gash so Daniel took him into Katherine hospital in case it needed stitches. The doctor and nurse who eventually saw Jackson said it was on the verge of needing stitches but they decided to just use steristrips as this would be less likely to scar. The cut didn’t stop him from joining his new mates as soon as he got back though, and he spent the afternoon (what was left of it anyway) fishing and catching cherabin. While they were in hospital Emilia and I had relaxing afternoon alternating between playing games, swimming and reading.