Is Katherine the happiest town on earth?

We found only happy, helpful people there from the checkout chick at Woolies, to the lady who ran the laundromat, to the bank teller, to the people at the Nitmiluk Resort, to the original inhabitants who sat on or near the paths as we cycled around town and sent out a cheery "hello".
To the guy who fixed our car rear window and the nearby veggie shop lady, who helpfully (or not) replaced what she observed was a less than perfect tomato with another one.
What is it about that place?


Well, I'm sure that there are plenty of travellers who would contradict that, but this is just what we found.
I'm sure everyone has their off day but we didn't happen on those days, thankfully.

Anyway we were happy at Katherine to get our rear window replaced which got broken on the way to the Douglas-Daly hot springs.
Not so happy that we didn't have the additional windscreen cover on our insurance. who knew that the windows weren't part of the car?
Anyhoo, lesson learned. (expensively)

Happy to be is such a beautiful spot  - Katherine Gorge is a wonder.
We camped at the gorge campground for 5 nights, which is one of the more expensive national park campgrounds, but after our chairs and tables got sprinkled by the watering system, we got a free night's accommodation.
There was plenty of hot water for showering and a swimming pool with a poolside bar and bistro (that handily opened in the evenings) just a few steps away. Plus the delicacies of the visitors centre cafe a 5 minute walk away.
The thing you have do do there, obviously, is go up the gorge - or as many of them as you can. There are 13 altogether and the cruise goes to 2 of them (sometimes, when the water is higher you might be able to get to 3.
Or, if you paddle a canoe you can get to the end of the 3rd gorge and walk into the 4th. Which is what we did - lunatics as we are!
Unfortunately it was a really windy day and the wind was against us - of course. Sometimes it was a real struggle.
Then we had to portage the canoe between gorges 1 and 2 which was up steps along a path and over rocks. It was further than we've ever carries before and it was a killer!
So we pushed on upstream into the headwind past the best part of the gorge. Towering cliffs.
The we had to carry again at the end of gorge 2, which wasn't as far, but it was over boulders and some of the boulders were in the water - it was tricky stuff.
We met a guy coming back down who said there was a great swimming hole at the end of gorge 3 if you walked up a bit. I wish we'd never spoken to him!
There was a waterhole but it was no better than dipping in at the end of the gorge and walking over the boulders in my sandals was very challenging.
We thought it would be easier paddling back downstream, but it didn't seem to be. The wind had dropped or was in our faces again.
Along the way there are lots of places where you thing "ah, that'd be a nice place for a swim - a nice sandy beach etc." But, no! You couldn't swim there because it's a freshwater crocodile nesting site. Gah!
But there are lots of places you can swim too.
....and we did see couple of freshies - just near the picnic area/ boat ramp.
It was a looooong day, and that evening my arms ached so much I had to take heavy painkillers. Not such a happy traveller.

There are also some walks along the gorge ridges which lead down lookouts or to spots on the river. G went on a longer adventure. But I just went to the lookout.

Other things to do in Katherine include riding your bike along the bike paths while your car is being fixed.
Gazing longingly at the hot springs because you forgot to take your cossies with you.
Drinking a decent coffee.
Visiting an old house in town and learning about Stanley Williams sheds!

Happy? Yes we were.

along the bike path

our campsite at Katherine gorge

Katherine Hot Springs

O'Keefe House

10 reasons to love Darwin

1. Climate
Darwin has 2 seasons - The Wet and The Dry. I cannot comment on the whole gamut of temperatures and humidity but The Dry is pretty good. Warm 30 degrees during the day and cooling to about 15 at night. Perfect.

2. Food.
Darwin has amazing food. Great coffee shops, great coffee. A whole raft of good restaurants. A pity we couldn't try more, but heartily recommend Moorish, Four Birds, Mindil Beach markets, Rapid Creek markets, cafe in Nightcliff, coffee cart at Nightcliff beach.

3. Bike riding.
Darwin's size and its dearth of hills makes it a cyclists heaven. There are bike paths from way out along the Stuart Highway into town and up and down the coast.

4. Markets.
Mindil Beach market is legendary, and rightly so. It is in a superb location. It runs 2 nights a week, to catch the amazing sunsets. It has a bazzilion food stalls, and a few OK craft stalls, and some of the usual junky stalls, but hey, you go for the food, watching the sunset from the beach and the vibe.
We also caught Rapid Creek sunday market which is full of produce stalls - but not just any old produce - a lot of asian stuff - freshly-made tofu, asian veggies, mangoes, and lots of food stalls.

5. Sunsets
The sun sets over the sea - every day!

6. Deckchair cinema

A must-do for us. It was great. We saw Rolf de Heers new film with David Gulpilil - Charlie's Country. Rolf was there and partook of a Q & A session afterwards. It was full house.
The location is great, so you can watch the sunset before the movie (see #5). There is food there - so you can dine. And a pretty good bar, so you can drink as well. The deckchairs may not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but there are some cushions and the locals-who-know bring pillows and blankets.

7. Museum and Art Gallery.
A beautifully curated little museum and gallery with something for everyone.
And a great little cafe (see #2 and #8).

8. Coffee.

9. It survived!
 WW2 and Cyclone Tracey. You just have to love how Darwin has bounced back after 2 catastrophic events. Imagine living through both of them!
Darwin and part of the Northern Territory was bombed by the Japanese in World War 2.
There was a mass evacuation of civilians southwards and there are remnants of military operations everywhere, including at the East Point reserve.

Then on Christmas Eve 1974 Darwin was hit by cyclone Tracy, which flattened 80% of Darwin.
But undaunted it was rebuilt, so that it seems like a very new city as most of the buildings are new, and the few that survived seem like a miracle.

10. Melting pot.
Being so close to Asia its inhabitants come from a range of cultural backgrounds - Chinese from goldrush days, a variety of Asian peoples lured by the pearling industry, Timorese and Papauans who are close neighbours.
You can certainly see the asian influences at the markets - it took me right back to South East Asia!

Litchfield vs Kakadu

As we were planning our trip we heard the saying Kakadont, Litchfield do" and that made us wonder.
We really enjoyed Kakadu and we wondered how much better Litchfield National Park must be?
And now we know!
It is a lovely area, there are lots of waterfalls and rockholes, lots of places you can swim. some short east walks and some history.
But - better than Kakadu? It's kind of like the proverbial apples vs oranges.
I think you need both!

Litchfield is small enough that you can base yourself in one spot and see pretty much all the highlights in a couple of days.
If you are short of time you can wizz around the most accessible places in a day.

We stayed at the National park campground at Wangi Falls although there are others more suitable for campervans, tents or only accessible by 4WD.
The falls at Wangi are close to the carpark and so it's a popular spot, plus the falls are pretty good and the swimming hole is enormous.

The campground was full to overflowing on the Saturday night with campervans parked in the day use spots and even a tent set up in the campground carpark.
But being a national park campground the sites are well spaced and we had a nice secluded little nook, although it was a bit tight getting out of it!

Tjaetaba Falls

Walker Creek

Wangi Falls

Tjaynera Falls

The ascades

Buley Rockhole

I love a nice bit of rusty old iron!
Here at Bamboo Creek tin mine ruins.

And here at Blyth Homestead

Where apparently hobbits lived!

Litchfield is also the home of the magnetic termite mounds which are oriented north-south as a heat-reducing tactic by them clever little critters.

Here are our daily visitors -