Heading South, then West

Since leaving Darwin on Friday 10th July we have travelled south back down the Stuart Highway staying overnight at Hayes Creek. From Hayes Creek it was an easy drive to Katherine. We arrived in time to catch the Saturday morning markets in the park. There wasn’t much on offer so we took a walk around town and then had lunch in the parkland surrounding the visitor’s centre. After lunch we took in the 45-minute film in the visitor centre that gave us a real good insight into the difference between the wet and the dry season.

It was a drive of about 30Km from Katherine out to the famous gorge where we checked into the campground. This campground is quite large and reasonably pleasant, but in our view overpriced with an unpowered site costing $28.00 per night and powered $32.50. We were looking forward to the renowned scenery and the chance to put our kayak in the water for a paddle up the gorge. After a late afternoon visit to the info centre we found that you need a permit to put a private boat (canoe or kayak) into the waters of the gorge. Early the next morning we set off on the 3.7 Km circular walk that takes in the main lookout. Even though the view is pretty good it was not as spectacular as many we had seen previously and this led us to the decision not to bother with the kayak trip. In fact, overall we were a little disappointed with Katherine gorge, feeling that it did not measure up against places like Lawn Hill gorge and others. Returning from our walk we packed up and headed back into town to re-fuel and re-provision. When heading west from Katherine your re-provisioning needs careful consideration because of the strict quarantine rules at the WA border. We had to calculate how much fresh produce we would consume before the border crossing so as to have just enough without running out. The basic rule is no fresh fruit or vegies and no honey. With strict enforcement and heavy penalties at the 24-hour checkpoint we have to make sure we comply with all the rules.

On the way west from Katherine we have so far stopped overnight at Limestone Creek, Flora River National Park, Victoria River and Timber Creek, and intend to visit more of Gregory N.P. and Keep River N.P. before reaching the border. Each of these locations will be covered in more detail in later posts along with what I hope to be some good photos, so keep watching!

The main problem with keeping our Blog up to date is lack of Internet coverage in these areas, so it may be a while until our next post.