Day 79 Kakadu National Park to Katherine

 

It was time to leave Kakadu behind and back track to Katherine for a couple of days. This was about the time we started to see the phenomenon known as the “tourist season”. You join the Stuart Highway at a small place called Pine Creek which would be about the size of Goornong near Bendigo. We drove into town thinking we could grab some extra fuel. One look at the 10-15 vans lined up for fuel and it was on to Katherine. Russ had extra fuel on board so could use that if we needed.

Its 91 km from Pine Creek to Katherine and we counted 90 vans heading north.. That didn’t include the motor homes or the roof top tents. Stayed at a place called Manbulloo Station which is 7km out of town and luckily, we got there early as there weren’t many spots available. Great place as there is access to the river for fishing, he takes the kids down to feed the cattle and they do provide entertainment on certain nights. We made the mistake of going into town to get some groceries – it was like Epsom the day before Easter- people everywhere.  It then dawned on us it was the start of the school holidays.

So what did we do in Katherine – first was a couple of visits to the hot springs. Not as well known as Mataranka, these springs are situated in town and access is simple. Around the 32 degrees and you can just float down on a noodle or just sit in one place. Very popular but I didn’t get any photos!!

The other thing was a visit to Katherine Gorge in Nutmulik National Park. Another beautiful gorge but again no swimming. You can do a cruise, but we were too slow booking and missed out. We did tackle the lookout walk which seemed to have 1000 steps – hopefully it will show up in the photo.

Great view from the top.

Stairs to the lookout

Katherine was a great little stop over and very busy as it is the place that connects the west and east together so lots of traffic.