Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July, 2024
On Saturday morning we drove to Katherine. First things first, we had hot drinks and shared a breakfast roll at The Coffee Club. Then it was off to Woollies to get fresh fruit and salad supplies as well as a few other groceries. It was extremely busy and we were just coming off the major internet outage, fortunately our card was accepted.
Katherine has a paid water facility and dump point on the edge of town, both of which were useful. Although the campground we are staying at has drinking water we didn’t want to arrive needing to fill our water tank. The water here at the camp is from the Katherine River and our host swears that it is good to drink.
Our purpose was to visit Katherine Gorge. When Stephen was doing his trip around Australia on Greyhound buses one of the things he did was go on an all day walk in the national park here. As it was a hot day he took a swim, having been told that it’s safe to swim with fresh water crocodiles, and he then decided to swim across the river. A boat came along and he had to hide behind a rock as he was naked, didn’t bring his swimming gear with him.
So, I really wanted to see the gorge for myself. We didn’t go to the actual spot where he swam, but from the reception/café walked to a lookout. It wasn’t very far, but involved a lot of steps. We found it challenging, but worthwhile for the views.
Returning to the café we had cold drinks and shared a hamburger and chips. Then it was back to the Sherwood, then driving back to our campsite to rest. We both felt the effects of the challenging walk, but also pleased that we did it.
We’ve enjoyed being at this campsite, a bit expensive at $40 per night with no power or water to our site. But, our host is friendly and made us feel welcome, and the showers are clean and the water is hot. I’ve had two showers here, a bit unusual for me as I usually much prefer to shower in the van. I’ve also been putting on sunscreen for the first time on this trip. We have a lot of exposure and it feels sensible to take precautions, as well as wearing a hat and long sleeved shirt.
We get some interesting colours here at the campsite as there has had preventative burning off, so we have orange leaves and blackened earth as well as the usual colours you would expect. We’ve just seen a sunset followed by a full moon rising.
Some photos from our gorge walk to the lookout. We didn’t see any crocs.
And some photos from our second evening here.
And us at the lookout.