On the road to Katherine - June 20 and 21

Time to leave Kakadu National Park and head for our next destination ... Katherine. We took the Stuart Highway because that was the only road there was to get to Katherine.  Stopped at a little gas station/cafe/bar on the way.  Guess they had not received any of their shipments yet because they were out of gas and most supplies.

Saw many large termite mounds on the way.

So back on the road to another small town called Pine Creek and the Lazy Lizard

They had homemade mango ice cream and some Aborinal art souvenirs.  After that short respite, we were back on the road.  Four hours later, we came to Katherine.  A small town by our standards, but a large town for the Outback with 11,000 people.

Checked into the Pine Tree Best Western and was ready for our next adventure.  We walked around town and spent some time in the Aboriginal Art galleries looking at their art and reading their stories.  Ate dinner at the Big Fig. We recommend this place highly.  Then we had a wonderful night swim in the hot springs.  It was pitch black so we had to use our flashlight app to see where we were. Very refreshing, if not a little concerned that we couldn't tell if there were any crocs or snakes.

 

Day two in Katherine, we decided to visit another art gallery on the way to Nitmiluk National Park.  That might have been a tactical error because we started our walk to see the Nitmiluk George in the heat of the day 33 degrees C ... Damn hot but there was a nice tropical breeze blowing so off we went. I think that is the hottest walk I've ever taken.  After about a 3.5 km hike, we reached the first part of the gorge. 

Decided that was all we were going to see today because we still had to get back ... Another 3.5 km. but we kept thinking that when we got back to the Visitors Centre, we could go swimming in the river at the bottom of the gorge.  Just as we got to the river, a croc was spotted about 5 feet from where some people were swimming.  The ranger said that it was a freshwater one and we didn't need to worry, just don't grab it by its tail!  Don't worry. We won't AND we didn't go swimming there either.  Decided to go back to the hot springs and take a look at what we were swimming in last night.  Beautiful area, nicely maintained, 3 pools of water that was like bath water but still refreshing after our long, hot wall.  

Dinner at the Big Fig again.  Keep in mind, there aren't a lot of choices in this small town and the food was exceptionally good and we ate outside around a big fig tree and little lights.  

Tomorrow, we make our way back to Darwin with a stop at Litchfield National Park.