Day 56 – Mataranka to Katherine Gorge (Mon June 18^th)

After another wonderful swim and cruise down the Bitter Springs stream, we left on our way to Katherine Gorge.

First stop was the Stockyard Gallery and Cafe for an average Mocha, but beautiful apple and cinnamon muffin for the kids. Whilst sitting here we saw 2 of the V8 Supercars promotion trucks pull up across the road, they’re on their way from Darwin to Townsville for their next leg of racing.

Cam loves watching the V8's with Grandad

We had to try a famous Mataranka Pie, and were lucky to grab the last 2 on our way out of town, yum yum!

The rules are so different in the NT, here is their speed limit for the highway.

We arrived in Katherine and couldn’t get over the amount of caravans and campers parked on the large grassed area outside Woollys. We felt like we were at a caravan and camping show! We’ve been blessed so far on the trip, with not to many people around, we’ve had most places to ourselves. We realize that is all about to change, especially with the school holidays fast approaching.

After a huge shop in a very busy and unorganized Woolworths, we drove the 28km out to Nitmiluk Camp Ground at Katherine Gorge. The camp ground was busy, but not over crowded, with heaps of room in the unpowered section. Unpowered camping is $36/night for 2 adults. The kids loved the little kangaroos that cruise around.

They have a nice pool here, and once we were set up, we all enjoyed a refreshing swim. The poolside cafe was full with campers tonight, and it had a great vibe about it. We were good though, and saved money by cooking at our camp.

Saucy Lips

Proud of their pile they collected and snapped

The days are quite warm now, up to 35 degrees or so in the afternoon. The nights are still cool, and so are the early mornings, which is great for cosy campers.