TripRoundUnder

After a few weeks in the outback, it was a shock to the system to enter a larger town like Katherine and an even greater one to stop at traffic lights! Katherine was surprisingly a large and bustling place, but unsurprisingly bloody hot, with a weeks forecast of constant 40+ degree maximum temperatures… Beautiful!

For a little bit of a changeup, we decided to stay at a farm stay, run by a local couple just outside the city centre and not only was it actually rather decently priced, you even got to experience feeding the farm animals and if you were game, a fishing spot down by the river. This creates a great option for families, but that does come with some drawbacks, as Steve experienced when he was excited to feed the donkey, but got elbowed out the way by some sugar fuelled kids!

The next day, we first headed into town for the local markets, in search of the mangos we had been searching for, ever since heading North. Unfortunately, it was still too early in the season and we left empty handed (minus a few quickly eaten pastries).

We also checked out the local hot springs, we had been recommended to visit by one of Steve’s old school friends. Although they were called “hot” springs, it was actually quite refreshing to go for a swim, as by mid morning, the temperature was already in the mid 30s.

In classic Steve and Lauren fashion, we were on a mission to fit in as much as possible into one day and headed out to the famous Katherine Gorge. And in even more classic fashion, we decided to do the 4km hike in the aforementioned 40 degree heat. In hindsight, not our smartest decision, although the views were pretty amazing from the lookout!

Post sauna sweat session, we headed further North to Edith Falls, one the most famous waterfalls in the Northern Territory. We managed to set up camp without passing out from heat exhaustion and after an afternoon spent surviving the heat, we ventured over to the falls for a dip. We spent a lovely evening swimming around the waterhole at the base of the falls and even worked up the courage to strike up conversation with some fellow travellers!

The next day, we learned from our previous mistakes and left for the walk to the upper falls before the temperature could reach crazy levels. Although the first half of the walk didn’t have a great deal of scenery, it more than made up for it with the swimming holes and views at the upper section of the falls. Such a great way to make the heat of the day more bearable! We’re going to miss having swimming holes on every hike when we eventually head back to Southern Australia!

It was now time to leave Katherine and head North towards our first capital city we had seen in 6 months, Darwin.

In the interest of best covering the Katherine area, the following section occurred on our way back down from the northern areas of the NT.

Post Darwin, we headed back down towards Katherine, stopping for dinner at the famous Daly Waters Pub, a true oasis of the outback! The amount of memorabilia in this place was off the charts, with travellers from all over the world leaving items as varied as clothing, underwear, photos, thongs and more.

After a classic roadside camp with the sounds of passing roadtrains lulling us to sleep, we stopped in for much needed refreshing dip at the Mataranka thermal pools. It’s amazing that these little oasis’s exist after driving through hundreds of Ks of nothing but scrub.

Although the weather created a little bit of a sweaty cloud over everything, Katherine and the surrounding area was such a cool place to visit! Subscribe for the next stage of our adventure, Kakadu National Park!