Super trip of awesome: Last Part of Australia: Katherine to Darwin to Kakadu to Darwin

Hooray! The last bit of Australia has been done! Well, the riding part anyway.

I left off in Katherine last time, stayed in the Motel there to get everything charged again.

So. I got up moderately early and headed out to Katherine Gorge to have a quick look. I didn't know that the car park was on the flats at the lowest part of the gorge, I thought you'd come up to the edge of it saving me any effort in walking anywhere. I just went for a wander along in motorbike jacket/pants/boots to have a quick look at where the river left the gorge, but I couldn't see much except for the stairs to the top. Well then I went to the top in the heat, in my jacket, no water, and it took me quite a long time.

This is what I saw:

Looking up Katherine Gorge

Out of Katherine Gorge

Worth the walk, but should have left my jacket with the bike. I'm getting better at organizing what to take with me and what to leave with my bike wherever I go. It takes time to get these things sorted!

Next was the run north to see how far I could get. And it turns out that was just Adelaide River. Not Adelaide River Bridge where the jumping crocodile cruises are, but the township of Adelaide river, which has a roadhouse, and a train museum which hasn't opened yet. There are still lonnnngggg stretches of nothing out here.

In the morning it was a quick run into Darwin to get new tyres. Expensive new tyres. $493 new tyres. I don't have a job anymore so that's a huge hit to the budget, but I needed them. I could have had a set shipped here for less than that, but, poor planning of course.

The other thing I collected was my Carnet. This is the bit of documentation that will allow me to temporarily export and import the bike around the world without paying import duties. The only places I can't go are Iran and Iraq! :( More on that later! But because I was early in Darwin I headed back out to Kakadu until it was time to check in to the hotel I booked.

The Kakadu park entrance is a long way from Darwin, and there's not much to look at on the way. More dry bushland, similar to what you see on Cape York. The first night I stopped at the first big campground in the park which turned out to be a privately owned roadhouse.

The next morning I set out fairly early expecting the scenery to change, but it still didn't happen. I guess I was expecting whatever it was I saw on the Bush Tucker Man. There are little pockets of that, but not much. I guess I have to come back here in the wet season to see what it's like.

Jabiru is, nondescript. There is the Crocodile Hotel, and umm. Not much else. Again, not like I thought it was, or what I had seen on TV before.

Aww, but I... Oh. :(

Next up was Nourlangie Rock:

Rock art at Nourlangie Rock

Nourlangie Rock. That lone boulder up there on the second step from the top is a feather from someones headdress, that was put there after they broke incest laws and created the rainbow serpent. I'm not sure if I'm remembering that right, there was a sign there that explained it.

I'm very very sure I've seen this on TV before. Something like Blinky Bill / Hunter / Totally Wild or something. There's one section of the walkway which must have been on several TV shows. Whatever show it was, It looks very different from what I thought it would look like. Maybe it's a dry season thing. Also the temperature was around 34 degrees that day. That night I stayed at Mardugal 2 which is a managed campground, it has showers and toilets and big open campsites. There were about 4 other people in the 10 sites there that night, prefect.

I went and had a quick look at Yellow Water in the morning, I think this is a famous one and might have been in the same TV shows I've seen.

Yellow Water

A Bird

Annabangbang Billabong

After this I headed out of Kakadu to get closer to Darwin for the following day. Had a plan of staying at Mary River but it was 4pm and this was the road in:

To Couzens lookout, Mary River

More dirt. There was a very deep sandy/dusty layer on top. Decided not to risk it and headed back out to the Bark Hut Inn for a noisy campsite.

Campsite rant:
I tend to try and set my tent up close to tables because I don't have one, and don't have room for one. Yet at most campsites I see there are caravans almost on top of the tables for some reason (most of the time after I've set up). Because they have one inside their van I guess that means that they need that extra one outside. Along with the other one I'm sure they're carrying somewhere. The moral of the story is, caravaners in the Northern Territory are the worst people on the planet :D

Bonus photos: