Day 14 - Katherine (NT)

Just a short drive from Mataranka to Katherine and we were able to find a great campsite just a few kilometres from the town centre.  One of the trailer tyres had a slow leak so our first stop was the tyre centre and we were dismayed to find that the leak was in the sidewall of the tyre and it is illegal to repair.  So had to buy a new one - at country prices too!  We spent one day out at Katherine Gorge which is beautiful.  Our plan was to canoe through the first couple of gorges, but the late wet season caught us again.  The rangers had been unable to remove all the crocs so canoeing and swimming were a definite no-no.   We climbed to the lookout where we took this photo but decided against a boat trip as we are coming back here in September with Jeff and Senya.  We're taking the train from Darwin to Adelaide and included in the trip is a 4 hour stop at Katherine and we are able to do a cruise on the first two gorges in that time.  We enjoyed a couple of good cups of coffee at the Coffee Club which is the best place in town by far and had to dodge the indigenous locals who all seem to sit on the footpath during the day.  We had to limit our shopping here as we were not  able to take any fruit, vegetables or honey from the NT into WA.  We had heard some horror stories about people who had virtually had their vehicles taken apart, but we must have looked honest as the border official just looked in our fridge and pantry and in the back of the car and sent us on our way.  Kununurra is only about 50kms across the border so we knew we could restock there.