Katherine

Short distance to drive today - a fraction over 100km. Bitter Springs was still closed this morning so it will have to wait until our return trip. We had a quick stop at Cutta Cutta caves, which are a series of limestone caves. We decided not to do the tour today.

Katherine is the fourth largest town in the NT but it’s population is less than 10 000. There is a large defence base and a bit of a government department hub. Regan has always noticed the jobs available in Katherine which he used to tempt me with. After an extensive walk around the town in 36 degrees we weren’t quite so keen.

Katherine is a tourist hotspot as people head into Kakadu and Lichfield from here. Our first stop was a caravan parts store as our plumbing challenges seem to have returned. The lady in the store was excellent and had everything we needed. We of course bought spares as we think we might need them 😂.

Next stop was the tourist info centre to get some ideas and to book a boat trip up the Katherine Gorge. The tour we wanted was not available until Monday so we will need to stay an extra night. I hit the shops looking for some lighter clothes and thankfully the Vinnies provided what I needed, there wasn’t much of a choice otherwise.

When we arrived at the camping ground I was able to book an extra night so no travelling for 4 nights - our longest stop so far. The camp is large and full. It has a swimming pool and it’s about 400m from another natural spring. We opted for the pool today and will do the springs tomorrow. I thought we were leaving the red dust behind but this site is the dustiest one yet. At least the showers are private. Regan shared both days showers with frogs while at Mataranka.

We are still struggling with the heat but is is lovely to have dinner outside in shorts and singlets. Tomorrow is a bike ride along the river before the heat of the day, a trip to the thermal springs and night markets for dinner.Read more