May 28, 2013 - Back at Katherine

In Katherine tonight after last night at Edith Falls, where we did enjoy the beautiful natural pool at the base of the waterfall. We have connected with Mel after her drive across from Kununurra and she will travel with us over the next five days as we head down to Alice Springs. She has her own little tent so isn't squeezing into the A-van with us!

May 15, 2013 - Katherine

Spent a day checking out the Katherine area, unfortunately our plan to canoe up the Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge was kyboshed by swimming and canoeing being banned due to heavy rainfalls at Easter which had resulted in the crocodiles spreading throughout the gorges so the safety of the waterways was still not guaranteed. A walk to the lookout at the first gorge had to suffice instead. The museum at the former airfield had a very comprehensive outline of the history of the region, including that of one of the pioneering flying doctors, Dr...

Sep 12, 2012 - Cruising

Today is actually the 17th but we have had no internet access since we left the gorge. We have only had phone coverage witin in the main cities of Coober Pedy, Yulara and Katherine (not in gorge) so sorry for lack of communication! Back to today. We all went on a 4 hour cruise up the spectacular Katherine gorge. The area consists of 13 gorges, 3 accessible by boat and that's where we went today. Walks in between changing boats to get across the rocks. Informative guide. Viewed 8000 year old Aboriginal rock art. Swam in one of the safe...

Sep 11, 2012 - Katherine Gorge

Filled our tanks and jerries with the bore water at camp, 135 lts. Only had to drive 120km today so took it easy. Visited Cutta Cutta caves, 30kmsouth of Katherine. Excellent guided tour. Named for the 'starry', crystallite appearances. Caves are magical! Stocked up at Katherine and then camped in the national park camp ground at Nitmiluk. Pleasantly surprised to find resort style pool 70mts from our campsite. Wallabies on our doorstep. HOT, at least 35 degrees and gone are our cool nights. Our rule of long pants, sleeves and socks at dusk...

Sep 5, 2012 - Mataranka to Katherine

Enjoyed our stay at Mataranka. Spending lots of time swimming in the thermal pools. Weather is definitely HOT! Air con is getting a bit of usage nowadays. Most of the tourist seem to be heading south now, we are the only crazy ones going further north at this time of year. Lots of wildlife roaming the park here at Mataranka Homestead Tourist Park. Max has been able to pat the wallabies and chase the peacocks. Off to Katerine on the 5th. Poor Anna is still scratching, looking forward to getting to a chemist!

Aug 18, 2012 - Relaxing in Katherine

Went shopping for supplies this morning in preparation for our trip West. Katherine is a vibrant town with just about any stores you want - even has Maccas! Came back to the park for lunch and a long swim in the Katherine Springs, about 400m walk from our camp site. Water was very refreshing and there were not that many people there which was surprising. Relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and had tea watching the sun go down over the Katherine River - beautiful sight.

Aug 17, 2012 - Travelling back to Katherine

Left Coolalinga for a fairly uneventful trip back to Katherine. Stopped for lunch at Pine Creek. Required the post office to send some materials back home as well as post some cards. Spent the afternoon looking out across the Katherine River from our caravan park on a warm afternoon.

Aug 13, 2012 - Hot Springs with Katherine!

Katherine hot springs – FABULOUS! Town NOT! Washing dried so fast unpegged it again before started! And had the ’most famous pie’ ever at Mataranka hot springs! Daly Waters - still haven't mastered Canopies 101. 'Mr Concept' gave Sam an hour's worth of tips which he had to write down! ‘Mr Rugby’ (of the smashed nose) gave a few tips on canopies. Great comedian accompanied Barra & Beef dinner at the pub in the middle of nowhere, where we saw the largest thong tree EVER!! Steve Parish heightened the adventure for us. His guide book told us...

Aug 5, 2012 - Katherine 2

Today we were just sitting back and relaxing at Springvale Homestead. At the beginning of the day we were tidying, cleaning and ironing. Dad and Keagan also went to the old homestead and took some good photos. In the middle of the day we were relaxing in the pool at the homestead. At the pool Dad was throwing the boys around while Mum was just relaxing on the noodle in the pool.At the end of the day we just sat back and relaxed. Mum was happy as she had her weekly supply of pasta for tea.

Aug 4, 2012 - Katherine

Today we drove to Katherine and went to the hot springs there. At the springs the boys slid down the little waterfall to the water a couple of times. The boys swam around in the other bits of the spring too. We also went shopping for some supplies and mum was happy we could get Brumby's bread! We decided to stay at Springvale Homestead in the caravan park which had a spring fed swimming pool. The pool was big and there was a little pool next to it and there was a slide that went into a small pool too but it was broken. The boys still...

Jul 14, 2012 - Back to Katherine

Hi, After some hectic days we have been having a rest stop for the last couple of days. We didn't get as early a start as we would have liked the other day because we slept in! But we were not too late and went to Gilbara. There was only one other person in the carpark and he is from Longford and drove a Pathfinder, so we had a good old location and vehicle chat. I did a small amount of serious 4 wheel driving - Barry has the photos to prove it! Then we went to Nourlangie and said it was too hot to do the walk to the lookout, so we did the...

Jul 2, 2012 - Lake Argyle to Katherine

Second last pack up before Darwin and we were off to the Northern Territory and Katherine. Not long after crossing the border I wanted to put my foot down as in the NT the speed limit is 130kms!! Rather excited I put my foot down to see what our beast could handle.....115km was the max before we decided it wasnt worth pushing it, considering the car needs to take us home and beyond. By crossing the border we also had to put our watches forward by 1 1/2 hours. The drive through the Gregory National Park was beautiful, we stopped off and took...