After 3 nights in Darwin it was time to head south and hence we had a simple breakfast in the apartment as we packed up. The boys went into town to collect our 4WD hire car and by 8.30 we were on the road to Katherine.
It’s about a 3 hour drive and we stopped quickly en route in Adelaide River to get snacks. It’s not the most interesting drive - very flat, with some birds of prey circling overhead at times and the odd road train.
On arrival in Katherine, we called in to see Tim’s brother Tony who was working there (and lived there for 20 odd years having recently moved to Tamworth which is a little closer to us). We then checked into our accommodation - Knotts Crossing Resort. This was our 3rd stay here - whilst there is the word resort in the title - this is a misnomer! We stayed in a basic hotel room which is comprised of dark brown walls, inadequate lighting and old tins at the front door of your room as ashtrays. Anyway, we were expecting this so it wasn’t a surprise. Last time we booked an executive suite but this was laughable. It was just a bigger room with dark brown brick walls (but bright yellow taps and toilet seats) so thought we’d save the extra cost. We went to the club for a quick lunch, headed to Nitmiluk Gorge and National Park (previously known as Katherine Gorge). This is a spectacular natural attraction well worth seeing (and plenty of visitors are normally drawn here for this). We took a 2 hour 2-gorge cruise where we saw plenty of crocodiles and gorgeous scenery.
It is the dry season currently so water levels are low and you need to walk 400 meters in 33 degree heat between the boats although it’s an easy walk (heat aside). The guide was great. The crocodiles we saw are all freshwater crocs which are relatively harmless. In the wet season, the saltwater crocs can get into the gorge but markers are set to determine their presence and cages are set up to trap them and move them out.
We were quite hot and exhausted after this (I felt a bit like I had run a marathon - not that I really would know how that feels) so went back into Katherine to Woolworths to grab some ice to cool down our left over drinks from Darwin and some nibblies. Katherine Woolworths is always an interesting place to visit.
And then we went back to the resort where after a quick shower we sat in the heat in a ramshackle area in the dirt on an uncomfortable picnic table with our drinks and several flies. Unfortunately we got no photo of this amusing sight.
The one redeeming feature of this “resort” is it does have quite a nice bar area and restaurant and we did enjoy some shared plates including crocodile spring rolls and lots of drinks before returning to our 1 star rooms! We managed to rack up a decent bill here and some hangovers so we did enjoy it!
We woke up leisurely and checked out.
Whilst loading the car the cleaners couldn’t wait for us to actually leave and were loading their vacuums etc into our room before we had even left. And very amusingly, Kylie and Mark were charged an extra $50 cleaning fee (notified after we left) because of the mess their dog left! Funny!
We then found an awesome breakfast spot - a pop up restaurant operating out of shipping containers near the river. Really good food! Despite coming to Katherine maybe 6 times before, we never knew they had their own hot springs. We have been to Mataranka a couple of times but it’s a bit out of town in the other direction to Darwin so we didn’t go this time. So we had a look at the Katherine Springs, and they are actually really worth a visit for anyone who goes! Really clean and warm - can’t believe we didn’t know about them before!
And then we set off for Darwin, calling into Adelaide River pub for a drink. It’s a classic outback pub with a taxidermied crocodile out the front and some interesting paraphernalia inside before heading back to Darwin.
2025-02-11