(written by Dave)
We had another day in Katherine today – this was a more typical rest day with cleaning bikes, laundry and making a plan for the next few days/weeks. In the afternoon we made one last trip the grocery store and coffee shop. The Fringe Festival was still going on today but by the time we got out of camp, it was pretty much over. Nancy still got my photo in front of the festival banner. I felt a sudden rush of “hippy” posing but had regrets that I had not started growing my hair out sooner than 6 weeks ago. A tie-dyed shirt would not have gone a stray either.
For the third day in a row we stopped at the Coffee Club coffee shop for proper macchiatos and free internet. We had some real laughs asking for macchiatos at times on the ride up here. So many of the stops have the ubiquitous espresso machines from a company called EspressoEssential. It is good to see that the shops have upgraded from instant that we used to find when we moved to Australia. But it is quite hard to get a coffee without way too milk from one of these machines. No combination of buttons (“extra shot”, “splash of milk”, etc.) seems to make much difference, all you get is a flat white, and a weak one at that. And you usually have to pay at least $3.50 for it.
Passing through the outback it has also been very rare to find free or even paid for Internet. Even asking for it has been difficult – saying “free Wi-Fi” or even “free Internet” was often met with looks of puzzlement. Perhaps it’s my accent. Anyway, Coffee Club proved to be a great find here in Katherine.
Tomorrow we are heading out to Nitmiluk National Park (that is its traditional aboriginal name, it is also known as Katherine Gorge). We don’t have to leave too early as it is only a 30k ride. We plan to spend 2 or 3 nights there and are pretty sure that we will not have Internet (or Wi-Fi) of any kind so there will likely not be any updates for a few days. We have a sunrise/breakfast cruise booked for Tuesday and plan on doing a bunch of the bushwalks in the park on the other days. We are told that the caravan park is nice but that food is pretty limited. Not an issue as Nancy has us well stocked up.
There are supposed to be some nice pools and waterfalls in the park however, this year they are not allowing swimming. There have been some salt water crocs sighted – brought up during the floods. I guess the rule is that they only allow swimming once it has been more than 60 days since the last sighting. They have lots of traps set as well. If they catch a freshie, then they let it go. If they catch a saltie, they relocate it away from the park. Salties can be upwards of 20 feet so catching and relocating one has to be difficult.
We’ll post updates from the park if we can, otherwise we’ll do so when we come back through Katherine. The trip to the Gorge is an out and back trip. After the the gorge, we plan to ride to Edith Falls, a similar park a little further up the Stuart Highway. We have some time to really smell the roses now as our flight is still nearly a month away. And I’m sure we’ll have more than ample chance to get in a few more EspressoEssential coffees along the way, and try a few more button combos.
Impressive tan line Nancy!
Why do you think the swimsuit photo was only neck up? – dre
First, wow Nancy, what a tan line! For those of us that roast our own coffees and drink our coffee black, who may not know about a Caffe Machchiato –
Caffè macchiato (Italian pronunciation: [kafˈfɛ mmakˈkjaːto]), sometimes called espresso macchiato, is a coffee drink, made out of espresso with a small amount of milk.
‘Macchiato’ simply means ‘marked’ or ‘stained’, and in the case of caffè macchiato, this means literally ‘espresso stained/marked with milk’. Traditionally it is made with one shot of espresso, and the small amount of added milk was the ‘stain’.
Thanks for the tips and info Chris. We love macciatos, if only EE machines could make one. If you don’t mind, I’ll forward your mail to the EE folks. Maybe one day they will have such a button on their machine. Of course it will also help if they actually turn the milk setting down on all drinks – meanwhile I’ll keep the rest day Macciato duties at LWOP. – dre
hi guys, In the bush its Damper and a billy of tea…… not wi-fi and macchiato 🙂
Spoken like the true bushman that you are – “the bushman of Concord” – that can be your new name 🙂
Whoa Nancy, that is quite a tan line!
Fun to read, as always
You should see her in a swim suite 🙂 – dre