Katherine Farmstay

We arrived late Friday evening at Katherine, after initially not being certain we would drive all the way to Katherine that night. We made a last minute booking en route at Katherine farmstay, a working farm with lots of animals to meet and greet, and a fabulous shaded pool area. The kids headed straight for the playground area, and were delighted to find some older kids had set up a drawing stand and were looking for willing customers to draw for. Eva got a self-portrait done, and Millie requested a drawing of a bunny - full compliments to the artists in residence.

Saturday was a slow day. I was up early and took a stroll down to the river, and heeded the warnings not to swim due to crocodiles - I'm certain I saw at least a half dozen cruising around just beneath the surface of the water, staying hidden, creating just ever so slight ripples on top of the water. The rest of the morning was spent lazing in the pool, before heading into town to visit the Tourist info centre to get our bearings on how best to spend our time in the area, grab lunch, and do a big grocery shop. We came out of the shops with food, but had all lost our marbles by then, so time to head home.

On Sunday, father's day, we headed out to Cutta Cutta caves for a tour in the morning. First stumbling block - everyone needed to wear fully enclosed shoes, and only one of us had on proper footwear - shocking, it was Ben. They had shoes for sale, but at $25 a pair it was going to make for a very expensive cave visit on top of the entry fee. Fortunately the tour guide at the desk sympathised with our predicament, and agreed that Millie didn't require shoes as long as she was carried the whole way (lucky we brought the carrier), and leant Deb a pair of shoes belonging to another tour guide - Size 8, a perfect fit for her tiny feet, as you can imagine. At times it felt like a clown walk.

You'd expect some relief from the heat in caves, but alas the further we ventured into the caves the hotter and more humid they became, because they're connected into the vast hot springs network in the area. Nonetheless, an interesting and enjoyable experience, with our Spanish tour guide full of local trivia and jokes to keep us laughing.

We then spent the afternoon at Katherine hot springs, with a picnic lunch from the kiosk before hitting the water. Others we'd met at Mataranka had shared that the Katherine hot springs were by far their favourite so our expectations were high. Although we enjoyed the afternoon there, and met a lovely solo traveller from Sydney working remotely 4days/wk on the road, we definitely rated Bitter Springs #1, followed by Mataranka hot springs, with Katherine hot springs coming in at #3 - so far.

We made it back to the farm in time for the daily animal feeding, hand feeding the cows, camel, ponies, goats, emu, pigs and buffalo - well, the kids were a bit too timid so Deb and Ben did the feeding. The farm owner did his party trick of feeding the emus their pellets from his mouth - two parts entertaining, one part disturbing. We also got to meet the resident saltwater crocodile, and the rabbits with their newborn bunnies, born just days earlier.

More time in the pool in the afternoon, homemade iced chocolates, dinner, then bed after a big day. Czytaj więcej