Lottarock Farm

Lottarock Farm

08 October 2010

Week 4 on the Road

Cutta Cutta Cave

Katherine Gorge

Magnetic Termite Mounds

Litchfield Falls

Port Germein Pier (the longest wooden pier in the Southern Hemisphere, 1.5km long!)


10,000 K and Onwards

Let me see, what have we done in the last week. I believe we left you all hanging in suspense when we arrived in Katherine. Well. We arrived in Katherine, about three hours south of Darwin, just after midday and splurged on a motel room with AC. It was hot, about 38C and we just weren’t used to it. After cooling down and veging out, the next day we went to the Cutta Cutta caves, just amazing as you can tell by Steve’s photo. That afternoon we went down to the hot springs that was just a short walk form where we were staying. Despite the water being 34C, it was clean, clear and refreshing, just what we needed.

Next we got a campsite up at Katherine Gorge. A definite must for anyone traveling to the Top End (the northern end of the Northern Territories). The three gorge trip that we had wanted to take was booked out for the day so we opted for the sunset dinner cruise and it was the best. I think we were the youngest of the 40 people on the cruise that night, everyone else was from a tour, but we had a ball. The tour started around 4:30, taking you up the first gorge, then you get out, walk about ten minutes to the next boat and then travel that gorge. Then back we go walking to the first gorge again, but this time getting on the dinner boat. It was beautiful, white linen tablecloths etc. so while we were eating we just floated around the gorge enjoying the sunset and the moment. It was magic.

Then next day we headed up to the famous Kakadu National Park. Well, lets just say for us it was a bust. This park is to be seen during the wet season, not in the build up season, and we honestly didn’t see it anything special. They call it Kakadon't for a reason. During the wet, if you were to fly into Darwin, go on a three day guided tour, it would be great, but right now… so we ditched Kakadu and drove on up to Darwin and spent the night.

We said good morning to the Timor Sea at dawn from Darwin's esplanade, and headed south to Litchfield NP, a much better park with lush greenery, curvy roads, elevation, magnetic termite mounds, waterfalls, rainforest and more. We loved it so much more than Kakadu, but again, it was hot, about 42C by 10:00 in the morning, so we continued south on the famous Stuart Highway back to Mataranka where we spent the night.

Now we are on the great race to get out of the Northern Territory. Darwin to Mataranka, day 1; Mataranka to Alice Springs, day 2; Alice to Coober Pedy, day 3; and here to Port Germane, SA for three days. The highlights on the way back down the Stuart Highway? Well, we passed the 10,000K mark since we left Suffolk Park and we have been traveling for almost 4 weeks straight. No really it has had some fantastic parts, but a lot of it was just driving, driving, driving. Can’t even play those driving games like how many license plates can you get? Just 7 if you’re lucky. I spy? No good, it all looks the same…so we just listed to downloaded books and music waiting to get somewhere that is somewhere. It will be much better now…..


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