Day 26/ 27 (June 24th / June 25th, 2015): Katherine Gorge

HLThis morning we left Gunlom & Kakadu NP.

We are now beginning our journey south towards home. We had skipped over visiting Katherine Gorge on the way North so that we had some new places to visit as we headed home (going back the way we had already travelled). 

So off to Katherine Gorge we headed - with a much needed stop in Katherine to do stock up on food supplies - as we were starting to get very depleted.

We also made a stop over in Pine Creek where we were able to get a mechanic to do an oil change for us (we had now done 5300km since the ute was serviced - done just before leaving on this trip).

We rang ahead to the Toyota dealership, and couple of other places in Katherine, to organise for the oil change to be done - but this was not an option as they were currently taking bookings for the following week.

So we had to go treat ourselves to a nice lunch of yummy home made pies at a local Pine Creek cafe whilst we waited for the ute.

Into Katherine Woolworths Supermarket again and lots of stocking up this time round. We were there after 2pm this time so we were able to access the bottle shop to get some wine. 

We were pretty shocked by the presence of 2x security guards and 3x police at the bottle shop. Also had to show your licence for ID and asked where you planned to drink the wine.

There is apparently a huge problem in Katherine with the "locals" and alcohol.

Not sure that I mentioned on our previous visit that as you walk back over to the huge car/caravan carpark behind woollies you are discreetly followed by indigenous guys. It did freak me out a bit the first time we shopped there - as I was on my own asking and this guy seemed to appear out of nowhere asking me could he take my trolley back. He was very polite and chatty and just waited a bit away from me til I was ready to give it to him. 

They are after the $1 you need to insert into the trolleys - so when they take it back for you they retrieve the $1. I was happy for them to have it.

Arriving at Katherine Gorge campground we secured an unpowered site for 2x nights - not far from the pool. Settling for drinkies we were happily chatting with the travellers next to us who lived in a Brisbane suburb quite near us. We have noted on this trip that there seem to be more Qlders holidaying in NT than from any other state - where as when we holidayed in outback QLD a couple of years ago it was mostly Victorians we were seeing.

We were up early the next morning and headed off to do the Gorge lookout loop walk - a good steep walk to the top - but nothing too taxing for us. At the top you reach a lovely lookout over Gorge 1 - there are actually 13 gorges in total that make up what is Katherine Gorge.

We did have some fun taking the panorama shots on my camera - you may notice that I appear twice in the same shot - so clever!!

Coming back down from the lookout we decided that we would head over to the cafe for a late breakfast. This was a real treat - and was yummy - out on the deck over looking the Katherine River. Whilst here we had a young blue-winged Kookaburra settled in the tree just below our table. 

There was also another adult Blue-Winged Kookaburra that flew in for a short visit nearby us.

After breakfast we enjoyed a lovely wander around the information centre 

-- and then headed back for an afternoon of poolside reading and swimming.  This travelling life just keeps getting tougher!!!

Next morning we decided to opt for a helicopter flight over the first 8x gorges - rather than a boat trip up 1 - 3 gorges. 

The flight was at 8.30am just as the sun was starting to get into the gorges.  It was a15minute flight but it seemed longer and was quite exciting - a fantastic way to get a sense of the grandeur of these gorges. 

This was only my second ever helicopter flight - and I loved it once again!!!

On the way up we saw kayakers heading up the gorge. This was the first day they had opened it up for the kayaks - as they had still been doing croc surveys and still catching some salties. 

The pilot suggested that he would not like to be one of the "Guinea Pigs" (as he called them) heading out into the gorge in a kayak - he said he prefers to wait a bit later into the season - at least a few weeks when it's a bit more certain that the danger of "Salties" is minimal. We were then not too disappointed that we were going to be moving on and missing out on a canoe trip - something hat I had thought I would like to do on the gorge.

After our chopper scenic flight we packed up camp setting off now further South for another stopover in Mataranka.

But before heading out of Katherine we took ourselves out to have a look at "The Gahn" - as it stops over in Katherine from 9am - 1pm on Fridays.