Katherine

On arrival into Katherine Bel and I went straight to the car wash. Everything was covered in dust and mud which would transfer onto us whenever we opened something. It was the end of the dirt for a little while and Katherine had a great jet wash facility – it was very popular too!

Before….

After…

We checked into the caravan park for three days so that we would be here to vote on Saturday. We only just got a spot. There are 5 or 6 caravan parks and they’re all full. We got the second last unpowered site. There were caravans everywhere as we drove in – very different to the last few weeks. 

The afternoon was spent doing a big shop for supplies. Going into BWS up here is a new experience. There was a policeman on the door checking every ones id, and asking where the alcohol was going to be consumed – very awkwardly I said “in my tent” 😳

We started Friday with a Maccas brekky, can’t take the Maccas out of us, and then headed to Nitmuluk NP (Katherine Gorge). 

What a fantastic day. We started with the 4.5km walking loop overlooking the Gorge. 

It was very hot so we grabbed an ice block at the end before going on a 3 gorge cruise. We had planned to paddle but the first gorge was closed to swimming and kayaks due to a suspected salt water croc in the area. 

The cruise went for 4 hours and gave you a stunning view of the gorge. 

The 3 gorges are separate pools that link together with small rapids. In the wet season there aren’t any rapids, but during the dry you have to swap boats to go up to the next gorge. 

On our way up the first gorge we saw our first Freshy. They’re Johnson freshwater crocs and are quite shy. 

We ended up seeing about 10 crocs all up. 

At the end of the first gorge there was aboriginal rock art estimated to be 8 thousand years old. 

The second and third gorges began to narrow for some really beautiful views. 

So beautiful and peaceful. 

On the way back we stopped at the second gorge for a swim. Water temperature was perfect. 

That evening it was Cracker night! The NT still do it to celebrate Territory day. You can buy fireworks but have to preorder and can only pick them up on the day. We see and hear fireworks going off around us well into the morning. 

Our last day was very quiet. We voted, did some vehicle maintenance and more cleaning and then went for a walk down to Katherine Hot Springs. 

 Another very pretty spot for a swim. 

Camping next to us that evening we had a backpacker from Canada and a young couple from Lichtenstein, Robin and Dyna, who rode in on their bikes. They had ridden from Broome and were heading to Darwin. They had rigid 29ers with 3.0 tyres and had taken all the back trails. Very inspiring but certainly a contrast to our setup. 

We were early to bed to rest up before heading off again to Kakadu NP.