A Tale of Two Irishmen

As we enjoyed our four-hour trip up Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge), we were privileged not only to see four of the 13 gorges, we were treated with a half-hour swim in the river on our return. As we cooled ourselves in the water and were refreshed with cake and oranges, a lone rower approached from upstream. As every canoe we had seen to that stage had two occupants, I joked about him losing his partner overboard. In a thick Irish accent, the gentleman responded matter-of-factly, “He’s coming.” Sure enough, we could see another man (or just his head) floating down the river about 100 metres away. Further enquiries revealed that the boat was sinking with both aboard. When asked whether they had drained the hull, the quizzical look gave the complete answer. Ev, herself no rower, walked over and unscrewed the plug which resulted in water spilling out. The look of surprise was priceless, particularly when Ev commented, “You realise you’ll give Irishmen a bad name!” “Really?” he seemed surprised by the comment.

Needless to say the rowing companion had arrived, been fed two oranges and pieces of cake. Water was still spewing from the hull. One could almost ascertain a rise in the water level in the river. Some twenty minutes later, water still flowing from the hull, and Ev and Gary still struggling to keep a straight face and offer some compassion to the tired (half-drowned) swimmer - at the same time seeking to reassure them that the last part would be much easier from here, seeing they would be about 150 kg or so lighter, the Irish gentlemen were still talking about botting a lift from the cruise captain. When the boat had finally drained, we set them on their way, with a blessing that the rest of their holiday would be a little easier than this.