Working step at RAAF base in Katherine

Work description

We worked for two month in the Air force base kitchen. We were kitchen hand and stewart. We pilled and cut vegetables, washed dishes, cleaned the kitchen and the dining room.

Accomodation

You can sleep in a Caravan park or backpacker but the cheapest way is to find a spot in the bush and settle your camp here for the night.

Sightseeing in NT

Katherine Gorge

Katherine Gorge is only 30 Kms from Katherine, it's a beautiful spot for canoeing.

Edith Falls

It's a beautiful place for hiking and swimming close to the waterfalls.

Lichtfield NP

With 4 waterfalls, the Litchfield NP is the best place to swim in the Northern Territory. If you get up early in the morning, you will have enough time to see the park swim in all the pools.
Don’t miss the Wangi falls where a walkway takes you to a platform on the edge of the pool. If you are lucky, as we were, you will see bats roosting in the trees.
Contrary to the Kakadu NP, most of the roads are sealed so you don’t need to rent a four wheel drive and use your own car.

Kakadu NP

The Kakadu NP,located over 200 kms east of Darwin,  is a massive national park famous for its flora and fauna and aboriginal culture. We rented a 4X4 Jeep Landcruiser with two friends as it’s the only good way to see the park…We went in any order, to Ubir, Twin falls, Jim Jim falls, Nourlangie and Gunlom…
Jim Jim Falls is the picture on every postcard of Kakadu. However, the waterfall only falls in the wet season.  Apparently the waterhole is amazing, but we didn’t manage to get there because the walk is pretty rocky and I (Léa) was a bit afraid (Shame on me!). You have to go on the top where there’s nobody and swim in a beautiful pool.
Twin Falls, at the end of a 70 km four wheel drive track, is really an amazing place. For us it was the best in Kakadu! It’s truly the most gorgeous, highest waterfall we ’ve ever seen (I can’t imagine what it is in wet season!).
We also had a short hike up to Nourlangie Rock, which has a lot of Aboriginal Artwork painted on it.Gunlom is so beautiful. There is a big pool below the waterfall and if you walk to the top you find more pools to swim. You definitely have to go on the top where the view is astonishing.

Darwin

Capital of Northern Territory, Darwin is an amazing city, very spread out, but only 100,000 people…
It’s a multicultural city with a friendly and relaxed outdoor lifestyle. At night you can party as much as you want in the nightclubs and pubs. You can also find good restaurants serving crocodile or buffalo dishes. On weekends the city is scattered with open air markets at Parap, Nightcliff and Mindil Beach (the best one for me).
It was a good place to rest and party before hitting the road again to Alice Springs.

On the road again

2 500 kms return, we can't see the end.

Alice Spring

We won’t say that Alice Spring is a boring town but… Let say that one or two days is enough to visit the town and buy some souvenirs in the Aboriginal shops. Anyway it’s on the road to Uluru…

Uluru / Kata Tjuta

Over there, you realize how Australia is huge! We travelled so many kms each day to get from place to place. But it is definitely worth it!
Uluru (Ayers Rock) looks so unreal - a big fat rock in the middle of absolute nothingness.
We hiked the famous 'Valley of the Winds' in the Olgas (aka Kata Tjuta, meaning 'many heads' - so called because it is made up of 36 large rocks).

Freezing during the night but otherwise the weather was pretty good.

Kings Canyon

King’s Canyon surprised us and is definitely our favourite hike of this area. The rock formations and the views were some of the best we had seen to this point. Every corners that you turn gives you something new and amazing to look at.
Don't skip it for Uluru alone!