KATHERINE NT

We left Litchfield NP last Friday and had a fairly uneventful (for us) drive to Katherine, arriving mid afternoon. On the way here, we called in to Coomalie Creek where Royce's godfather was stationed during WWII then stopped at Hayes Creek and made some lunch. About 1km south of Hayes Creek we came across what looked to have been a very nasty accident. A van and the caravan it was towing were lying on their sides and both were completely burnt out - nothing but a shell in both cases. The only thing we could see that may have survived was the car fridge. Police and fire brigade were still there and we were worried about whether the people were OK. We found out in Katherine that they were OK. The vehicle and caravan had rolled, the people got out and the fire must have started after that! We saw some nicer things on the road as well - at two separate water holes we saw Jabirus (unfortunately nowhere to pull over for a photo). We also saw two separate quite large flocks of black cockatoos. When we arrived in Katherine we had to do some banking and shopping then on to Manbullo Caravan Park (where we stayed last time). They only had 2 sites left and put us on one that was dusty and dirty. We weren't too happy but decided we couldn't do much about it so started setting up. We then discovered we didn't have anywhere to plug into the power so Royce drove back to the office (quite a distance away) and they had to come down and sort it all out, which was eventually done. This site is so dirty I had to sweep the floor twice tonight and it is still dusty!
When we got up Saturday morning and sat outside to have our cuppa, we ended up with our feet and lower part of our legs covered in fleas! Another trip back to the office and we relocated to a grassed site which is much better. Apparently the site we were on had been used by a long term resident living in a bus. She had two dogs and the CP owners had sprayed the site to get rid of the fleas, but they are going to have to do it again! They did give us one extra night free, which was pretty good.  We spent Saturday doing all the domestic chores.
On Sunday we drove out the Low Level Nature Reserve, Springvale Homestead (which also has a caravan park and we think we might stay next time), NT Rare Rocks (bought a couple of rocks), Cycad Gardens (had lunch but didn't go into the gardens this time), Knotts Crossing and had a swim at the thermal pool. It was a lovely day and the swim was terrific. We were in the water for well over an hour!
Today we drove out to Katherine Gorge and climbed to the lookout.  A bit arduous in parts and pretty hot but it was well worth it. We then did the shopping and came back and got ready to head off tomorrow morning.
We are heading towards WA but we have no idea where we will be camping or how long before we are back on line again, so until then take care.

One of the horses in the paddock next to our caravan park

What used to be a very large tree - Low Level Nature Reserve

Part of the Katherine River - Low Level Nature Reserve

No - not wierd fruit! They are bats. This was at Katherine Gorge and there were tens of thousands of the creatures!

The start of Katherine Gorge from the lookout

Blue winged kookaburra at the Katherine Gorge cafe

The front yard of someone's house - have a close look at the sign.