Katherine Hot Springs

You really shouldn’t come to Katherine without a visit to the hot springs.  Don’t miss it.  The water is beautiful and clear.  I’ve heard it can be incredibly crowded but one of the advantages of being here at the end of the season is that there aren’t as many tourists.  We swam in the hot springs on three different occasions, two on our first visit to Katherine as we were going north to Darwin and once on our way back through before heading west. There’s a set of stairs leading down to the springs and the kids were quite put off by the crocodile warning sign at the top.  Once you get down there you realise a crocodile would have no chance of hiding in this clear water.  During the wet season I’m sure it’s a different story, we’re told the area floods and the river with its resident crocodiles is just over the hill. There are different areas to explore, this waterfall was a favourite.  We all had turns going over it, even TurboBug (2) on a boogie board.  This was the only section with deep water.  Most places I could touch the bottom except right near the waterfall.   There was enough movement in the springs that you could let the current carry you. I walked up to the top of the trail to see where the springs come out.  There’s no access for swimming up here but I’m sure that doesn’t stop everyone. Look how fast the springs move! It’s just such a beautiful spot. The water is so clear, especially the places where there are no people around to stir up the rocks and mud on the bottom.  LadyBug (5) especially had fun collecting rocks off the bottom.  She’d bring them up and give them to TurboBug (2) who would carefully place them on her boogie board. Some jumping had to happen, there was that one deep pool and a wall perfect for jumping from.  On our next trip they jumped off the other side landing in the deepest section near the waterfall. We were told that this place can be very, very crowded at times.  We were lucky to not have huge crowds while we were there.  See JitterBug (8) at the top of this picture, under the water?  He spent so much time in that area.  He was playing some sort of game where he’d attack the roots under the water and then catch whatever came out (mostly loosened plant material), I think he was pretending he was a crocodile.  There were a few fish in here but not many. On our last visit we had our snorkels.  See all the bubbles from the waterfall?  It was magical swimming through there with a mask on.  The bubbles felt so amazing and tingly. We stayed at the Boab Caravan Park.  It’s a small park that only allows caravans and camper trailers, no tents.  It was very clean and had an open grassy area for the kids to run around in.  All the sites had concrete slabs, which is nice after camping in dirt.  There is a boab tree there as you’d guess from the name, but it’s surrounded by concrete and buildings, poor tree.  There are some boabs in the NT though they become more common as you move west. Insert random toddler picture (taken in Katherine).  Every once in a while I get a good smile out of this guy! One of the memorable parts of our stay in Katherine was watching the bats soar overhead every night at dusk.  We are not strangers to bats leaving for their nightly feed but I’m pretty sure this was more than I’d ever seen at once.  So many of them flying overhead, it was such a sight to see!