Goodbye Lake Argyle, farewell the Kimberley, see ya later Western Australia – we’re crossing into the Northern Territory.
We pulled out of Lake Argyle & before we knew it, we entered the NT and headed for Katherine. Spending the last four months in WA has been a good, hot and dusty experience and although a lot of our visit to the territory is going to be much the same, we’re looking forward to heading into the tropics up north!
It took just about all day to slowly drive over to Katherine. Getting there so late, we didn’t bother checking into a caravan park and spent the night at King West Rest Area just before reaching town.
From Katherine, we’re heading north then coming back down again. So that we can head into the national parks and some other places that don’t allow dogs, we checked Papi into a dog sitters and set off for Litchfield National Park.
Eva picked a campground just near a waterfall to set up base for the next few days, Florence Falls. Immediately after parking the van, we went for an unforgettable swim in the plunge pool below the waterfall!
Just beside the campground is a short track to a large set of stairs. The stairs lead into a dense tropical forest and a path goes along a crystal-clear creek to the base of the water fall.
Florence Falls Campground has become our favourite place that we’ve ever camped, swimming in the plunge pool was just so damn nice!
We couldn’t get enough of Litchfield! Spending the last few months in super hot conditions with a lack trees and plants really made us appreciate the shade of the tropical forest all the more. Litchfield National Park jumped right up the list of one of favourite places visited on our trip so far!
It’s hard to describe how good it felt going for a swim in the shade, beneath a stunning waterfall that’s surrounded by thick vegetation, after spending the last couple of months dripping of sweat in the Fitzroy Crossing heat. Read our blog post: Chasing Slow – Part 10: We broke down in Fitzroy Crossing.
Read more about Florence Falls Campground.
We took it pretty easy while we were here. The mornings were spent exploring the national park before it heated up, then in the afternoons, we’d retreat back to the campground and cool off at the waterfall.
Now, time to get our city fix in Darwin – it’s been a while!
About 15 minutes shy of Darwin, less than a couple of hours drive from Litchfield, we set up the caravan on the lush grass at the Robbie Robins Reserve, right where they play lacrosse, then went into town.
Read more about Robbie Robins Reserve Van Park.
We didn’t bother booking into an overly exciting camp ground, as we’d only be there to sleep and spent most of our time slowly walking around Darwin and doing some shopping.
Darwin isn’t a huge place, but it seemed to have a lot going on and will be a good place to fly back to one day for a holiday. The city has a nice layout that features the waterfront, but for us, the places surrounding Darwin caught our interest with our favourite being Howard Springs!
Seeing all of the animals at Howard Springs put us in the mood to check out some more wild life! Eva booked us into a jumping Crocodile tour nearby on the Adelaide River, off we went!
After the crocs did their best to grab some meat, the birds came in for lunch.
That’s about as much as we can handle of being beside the water in the searing heat without being able to jump in, so we made our way to the Katherine Gorge Caravan Park, set up camp and spent the rest of the day at the pool.
Read more about camping at the Katherine Gorge Caravan Park & Campground.
We woke up the next morning with excitement! Not only do we get to start the day by heading on a short hike to Katherine Gorge, but we’ll be picking up Papi afterwards.
The caravan park and campground is inside the Katherine Gorge National Park, just next to where the day hikes begin. We followed a short trail (about 2kms return) out to get a view of the gorge, then came back for a quick swim and before reuniting with Papi.
Up next: Our trip to the Northern Territory Top End is now complete and we’re going to start making our way south to the red centre to go visit Uluru & Kings Canyon before escaping the heat on the south coast.
If you’ve been to the top end before and have some suggestions of where we need to visit next time we’re up this way, such as Kakadu, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!