Day 85 – 90 17th to 22nd June: Katherine / Leilyn (Edith Falls)

Pushed on 100k’s up the road to Katherine, to continue our exploration of the Territory.
We stayed at Shady Lane C.P. located about 7 km’s out of town on the road to the Katherine Gorge, and this was very comfortable. Very shady with clean amenities and a nice pool, which the girls loved and of course “the greys” to keep a lid on things ever getting out of hand. Katherine also gave us our first taste of tropical N.T. weather. It also introduced us more closely to the indigenous culture of northern Australia. The Territory has recently introduced quite stringent limitations on the purchasing of alcohol by both blacks and whites as well as the policing of the availability of Pornography. They are also far stricter on the consumption of “grog” in public. Whenever purchasing alcohol i.d. must be shown and you cannot purchase more than $100 worth in one day. Exposure to the way that the Indigenous culture operates with in the white society structure was quite an eye opener for us. It has been great for the girls and us especially, to see how the other half live.
Went out to see Katherine Gorge in the Nitmilik N.P.. There was a great visitor’s centre, which had fantastic information. The boat rides up the gorge were very exy so we opted to walk up to the look out and see the main gorge only.
After a few days in Katherine we stocked up for the next week or so and then drove 62 km’s up the road to Leilyn (Edith Falls), which is also part of the Nitmilik N.P.
This was another beautiful place with a waterfall and huge plunge pool as well as some walks to some upper pools with further pools, just waiting to be explored. We all had a great time (again) . The campsite was also a beauty. Unpowered sites, with watered grassed areas and with access to hot showers, water and power within the amenity blocks.
We had 2 nights at this place before moving on again.