When we arrived in Katherine, we booked into the Boab Caravan Park which seemed close to everything. Our next stop was the golf club so John could organise a game. He had missed out at Broome because of vertigo. Then we drove into town and spent as little time as possible there. Katherine, Kununurra, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek all come under the same umbrella for me: they are all gateways to incredible national parks and gorges, but the towns themselves leave a lot to be desired.
What I do like about Katherine though are the Hot Springs and the Pop Rocket Cafe beside them. I was disappointed to find out the springs were still closed for the wet season. However, we thought we would go and have a coffee as the Cafe was open.
Then we wandered down to look at the Springs. Other than evidence of how far the water had risen in the recent floods, it all looked as it did last time we were there. We were surprised there were no chains or signs saying they were closed. When we walked back through the cafe, I asked someone when the Springs would open and he said ‘today, just opened!’. So we went back to the van and changed into our bathers. We had a lovely soak and were the only people in the water.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the caravan, catching up on our reading and watching the football on TV! I did take a dip in the pool too. The weather is perfect swimming weather.
The next morning, I dropped John at the Katherine Golf Club and went to look at the Stockmans Pioneer Memorial in town. This beautiful sculpture is of a stockman on his horse, recognising the contribution rural and regional communities make to the Australian identity.
Of course, the next thing I did was head back to the Hot Springs for another soak!
When I went to collect John after golf, he was sitting in the beer garden chatting to two men he’d golfed with, so I joined them. The area was quite busy. Both men said they’d lived in Katherine for years, they had come for work but lived well out of town.
When we returned to the caravan park we were invited to join the other campers for Anzac Day celebrations but we decided against it. Instead I had a quiet afternoon reading while John watched another football game on TV.
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