Katherine Gorge/ Edith Falls (Nitmiluk National Park

After Mataranka, we drove the short trip to Katherine. We didn't stay in town, but in Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park about 30kms out of Katherine. The campsite isn't your usual National Park campsite but a commercial tourist park with a gorgeous pool surrounded by a resort bar & café. Not exactly doing it too tough here. It was a close walk to the Nitmiluk Visitor Centre and also the area where the Katherine Gorge boat cruises leave from. We would have loved to kayak the gorge instead of doing an organised cruise, but they don’t allow under 5’s and you have to be over 12 to paddle yourself which ruled our family out for that one. Maybe one day when the kids are older because it looked like a lot of fun.  The cruise was beautiful and as much as we are not usually fans of group tours, you do get a lot more information and it puts things in perspective when you hear the background of the place from a tour guide. The gorge is spectacular and we had front row seats on the boat so Chris got some great photos. This was also where we saw our first croc on the trip- a freshie. We learnt the difference between a freshwater crocodile and saltwater crocodile. Apart from their different snout shapes- a freshie is timid and will swim away from you while a saltie is aggressive and will swim towards you. Not exactly the way I wish to find out which is which!

Katherine Gorge

 

After the cruise we had a short drive to the north side of Nitmiluk NP- Edith Falls. We were lucky to find one of the last spots in the popular National Park campground that was walking distance to the lower pools of Edith Falls. Here we had a refreshing swim with our new friends from Melbourne, who we have travelled with for the last week or so. Then back to camp for BBQ dinner and a few drinks with friends while the kids played together in the grassy campsite- bliss! Next stop- Kakadu!


The beautiful Edith Falls, Nitmiluk NP