Katherine and "surrounds"

We stayed in the beautiful town of Katherine on the way back down.  While there we took a day to visit the Cutta Cutta cave, Mataranka Thermal Springs and Katherine Gorge.  Our first stop of the day was the cave. I was expecting a cold cave, more like Timpanogas, so Darcy and I had our rash guards on and I made sure Derek had a jacket.  I should have known, that with most other things in Australia, this cave was not like other caves I have visited.  It was quite warm inside and the deeper into the cave we went the hotter and more humid it got.  The cave gets it's name from the Aboriginal term, "Cutta" which means stars.  Anytime a word is repeated it means "many of," so cutta cutta means many stars.  There are a couple of areas within the cave that are covered in shimmering mineral deposits and when a torch is shined at them in the dark it looks like a beautiful night sky full of sparkling stars.  

After visiting the cave we drove down to Mataranka to go for a swim in the thermal springs. The water was quite deep, and there was a significant drop off from the steps that led into the water, so it wasn't very Darcy friendly.

She played a little on the steps but wouldn't go past that. 

  Jeff, Derek, and Aubrey rode the current down and Darcy and I met them at the bridge/stopping point.  From there Derek wanted to swim back.

So I got to swim [against the current] with him.  People kept telling us we were going the wrong way (as if I could't tell), and I kept trying to talk Derek into getting out and walking back, but he kept saying things like, "Mom this is a good challenge.  I know this is a challenge, but challenge is good.  Mom it's good to take the harder way.  Mom I want to do this even though it's hard."  Sure do love that kid, his persistence, and his positive attitude.  What I didn't realize (because I hadn't gone down the river) was that there were signs saying to only go with the current and that it was a one way river.  Ha!  No wonder people were so adamantly telling us we were going the wrong way!  It was a pretty good workout though and I was proud of Derek for seeing it through!

Our final sight of the day was Katherine Gorge. The water and cliffs were beautiful and we even got to do a little rock "scrambling."  It was a beautiful end to our day in Katherine and "surounds."