Adventures with G & T: 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.