There is no such thing as 'a quick stop' at The Threeways, even if you are not getting fuel! But it did give us the opportunity to get some close up pics of the giant road trains we have been sharing the highways with! The landscape starts changing again with more trees and bushy areas and less of a view of the flat, spectacular horizon of the desert.
As you drive into Katherine though, you just automatically start feeling relaxed. I don't know what it is exactly, but its tropical, spread out and country-like, and we just felt like kickin back when we got here. We decide to book in for a week to have a break from moving and also to have time to take in all there is around Katherine. Our first stop is town and the regular Saturday markets, after settling into our van site in the spacious,shady, tree-lined Manbulloo Station about 10km from town. An afternoon picnic down on the Katherine riverbed at the back of the station is very nice, but no swimming here, as a 4mtr Salty waa trapped only 3 weeks ago downstream! Great treea to climb in though.
On Sunday, after meeting some lovely people at Katherine Baptist Community, we spend the rest of the afternoon in the Katherine Hot Springs, lovely and relaxing and very easy to while away hours!
On Tuesday, we head back down to Mataranka, a tiny town south of Katherine we had stopped for lunch in on the way up. Mataranka is the home of 'We of the Never Never, and has a replica of the homestead and characters displayed around the town. It also has the most amazing Bitter Springs and Mataranka Thermal Pools, both in Elsey National Park near the town, where we spent the whole day floating around and swimming in the beautiful warm, chrystal clear water. Very natural surrounds though, with spiders, webs and even a golden treesnake that jumped into the water with us briefly (and I jumped out!) even though it was nonvenemous apparently, so it is not for the faint-hearted. We floated all day, and probably could of been there for many more, it was just sooo beautiful.
On Wednesday, we spent the afternoon at Cutta Cutta Caves, just out of town, which were really great to see and experience. A well done tour. Nice and cool.
We decided to spend the whole of Thursday in Katherine Gorge, a spectacular place, where the Katherine river cuts its way through lava rock creating magnificent scenery. The very steep climb to the Lookout was worth the magnificent views, and we even got to spot a little Freshwater Croc sunning itself on the bank below. We picnicked with the very friendly wallabies beside Katherine River after our long hot walk.
After packing up on our final morning we have one final swim at the local hot springs before we head further north.
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