Katherine

 21 - 24 May 2022

We left Mataranka and continued north towards Katherine where we had a caravan park booking. It was a fairly short drive and we arrived in time for lunch. We were very happy with our choice of van park as there was plenty of shade and a very nice swimming pool too. We settled in and then ventured into town to restock supplies and call in to the visitor information centre. We tried out the pool late in the day too.

On Sunday morning we drove out to Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park. It's about 1/2 hour from town and we arrived around morning tea time. We had a coffee on the large deck overlooking the river. There is really only one short walk so we set off - in the wrong direction. By the time we realised this and found the right path, it was getting very late in the morning and the temperature was rising. We generally try to walk early in the morning but had badly miscalculated this one. We continued on as the path parallelled the river, but some distance from it, until we reached the steps up to the lookout. I didn't go all the way up, but Mick did. We returned to the visitor centre along the path beside the river, which we found to be much nicer. We headed back home for lunch, a rest and another swim.

Late in the afternoon we went down to the Low Level Nature Reserve for a walk and to look for birds. It is quite a lovely spot, but not a good swimming spot due to the possible presence of crocodiles. Never-the-less we did see some people splashing in the shallows.

On Monday morning we drove to the Katherine Hot Springs which are quite close to town. Another very popular spot, these springs are a series of pools joined by narrow channels. We paddled and floated the morning away, enjoying the scenery and relaxing in the just warm water. Later we went into town to do some more shopping and run some errands, including arranging a couple of new tyres for the camper trailer.

On Tuesday morning we took our time packing up and revisted the Low Level Reserve before dropping the car and trailer off for the new tyres to be fitted. We filled in time poking around the shops before collecting the trailer and setting off for Leliyn (Edith Falls).