Our NT Adventure - Part 1
Day One:
We arrived in sunny warm Darwin from Perth in the afternoon and were instantly greeted by the laid back, relaxed vibe and warm tropical weather. We arrived at our hotel on the outskirts of the city and headed straight to the waterfront for a drink and something to eat. We were recommended Chow, which did not disappoint.
We woke early the following morning to commence the drive to Mataranka, four hours South of Darwin, made easy with their 130km/h speed limit. Our first stop in Mataranka was Bitter Springs, the crystal clear, natural hot spring is a short drive from the town centre. There is a large car park, picnic tables and toilets. The impressive palm trees tower over the hot spring where you can spend hours floating down the stream (bring a pool noodle).
Mataranka Hot Springs is only a ten minute drive from Bitter Springs, where you can explore the original Mataranka homestead. The hot springs consist of two large pools, surrounded by huge palm trees above which form a quiet little oasis. Today you are able to camp at the entrance of the hot springs and enjoy a cold beer or meal at the pub. Unfortunately if you do not have camping gear there are limited accommodation options in Mataranka, which is why we chose to drive back to Katherine and use it as our base for the next few days.
Katherine has a Woolworths, plenty of bottle shops, pubs, service stations and fast food options. Our favourite coffee shop in Katherine was the Pop Rocket Cafe, located in the car park of the Katherine Hot Springs (also worth a visit).
Katherine Visitor Centre has all the up to date travel information of the area, tours and bookings.
All three hot springs are free entry and an absolute must.
Day two:
This was one of my (Megan) favourite days on our trip. We started the morning with a surprise helicopter scenic flight over the impressive Katherine Gorge with HeliSpirit. The 20 minute scenic flight took us over the gorge where we could admire the expansive landscape. It was great to get some local knowledge and information about the gorge from our incredible pilot, Lewis.
Nitmiluk National Park is roughly a 40 minute drive from Katherine. Entrance into the National Park is free. In the park you can choose from a variety of hiking trails, river cruises up the gorges and kayaking (seasonal). There is an information centre which has a cafe and tour office where you can book river cruises. We chose to hike to Butterfly Gorge, a 12km return trail, which took us to Southern rock-hole, Pat’s Lookout, Jedda’s Rock and Butterfly Gorge. There are water tanks located on the hiking trails and shaded resting spots which are all labelled throughout the trails.
Day Three:
A short 40 minute drive North of Katherine will see you arrive at the popular Edith Falls (free entry). There is a scenic 1.6km loop trail which takes you from the car park to the upper pool (very refreshing) and multiple lookouts over the various waterfalls and pools. The lower pool was much larger than we expected with beautiful shaded grass areas, BBQ’s, cafe and toilets. Could easily spend a full day here if you had the time. We recommend arriving here early to beat the crowds and heat. From Edith Falls we continued to drive to Kakadu National Park ($40 Park Pass per person, during peak season) where we stayed in Jabiru (2.5hrs drive from Edith Falls).
Day Four:
We chose to base ourselves in Jabiru while we explored Kakadu National Park. I must admit we did not realise just how massive the park is.
We started each morning with a visit to the beautiful Marrawuddi Arts & Culture and coffee shop. While in Kakadu we planned to spend our mornings relaxing around the pool and enjoying some slower days.
Our first afternoon at Jabiru we drove to Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) which is home to multiple rock art sites situated on the stunning rock face. It is an easy shaded walk around the various art sites and to the stunning lookout from the carpark. There is also a billabong nearby to visit. We then continued to Cooinda for our Yellow Water sunset cruise. We were lucky to see many crocs, a huge array of bird life and a number of buffalo as the sun set over the stunning landscape (make sure you take a hat and plenty of water, it can get very hot). The Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre is also a must stop when in Cooinda (free entry).
If staying in Jabiru, dinner at Anbinik Thai Restaurant is a must!! It was one of the best Thai meals we have ever had. It was a nice change from the other restaurant options in Jabiru and very affordable for Jabiru prices. In Jabiru there is a supermarket, service station and multiple hotel and caravan parks. All of the caravan parks and hotels have on-site restaurants with meals ranging from $25.00 to $40.00.
What would we do differently?
Because of how spread-out Kakadu National Park is, we did find we were back tracking quite a bit to visit certain places since we based ourselves in Jabiru. We would recommend staying in or around Cooinda to access the sites in the area and experiencing a sunrise or sunset river cruise. Following that, we would then stay in Jabiru the next night and explore that end of the park. Though, backtracking wasn’t terrible, if you are conscious of time or money, it’s a handy way to plan your stay
