Glamping in Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk Gorge)

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Yesterday I woke up a little bit rough from the Wauchope Cup (LINK HERE) and drove a couple of kilometers North to the Devils Marbles. The Devils Marbles are large round boulders that are formed when softer rock on the outside is worn away by the wind and rain, they were pretty cool.

I continued driving North until I reached the town of Katherine and checked in to spend the night at the campground of the National Park. This wasn't any normal national park setup though there was a massive tropical pool in the middle of the campground and there was a cook to order restaurant there as well. There were a total of 10 other people there, so it felt like being at an exclusive resort, well an exclusive resort where you sleep in your van. For dinner I had a delicious medium rare steak with both a hot and cold salad bar. Fanciest place I ever camped.

This morning I woke up and rented a kayak to paddle in the gorge. There are a series of gorges and you paddle to the end of each one and then walk to the next gorge and get in a new kayak and paddle on.

When I arrived at the end of the first gorge there was a tour group that had arrived by powered boat, a group of school children and a couple. I walked around a little bit to see the Aboriginal art on the rock face and jumped into the water to cool off.

After about 30 minutes everyone else left and I was on my own. It was spectacular! I was kayaking around, shouting things to hear my own echo and swimming, all without anyone else around.

Then I remembered that these waters were inhabited by freshwater crocodiles. I was advised by the park rangers that if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. Nonetheless I got all paranoid that I was going to be swimming and accidentally kick one, make it angry and it would attack me. Suddenly the idea of being out here all alone went from wonderful to terrifying.

So far Katherine Gorge is my favorite natural feature in Australia that I have been to, the scenery was absolutely spectacular, definitely better than Kings Canyon and I even prefer it to Uluru.

Check out the rest of my pictures HERE