Hello Northern Territory!

After a very uneventful border crossing (no fruit and vegie checks) we were zooming across into the Northern Territory. The Boab trees disappeared and the Pandanas began to line the highway along with herds of Brahman Cattle bound for the live export market. By early evening we reached the Territory's 3rd largest town of Katherine. We stayed the first night at the Springvale Homestead van park then went into Nitmuluk National Park and stayed in their camping ground (with an awesome pool) for two more nights. On our second day we did a boat tour of Katherine Gorge and it was beautiful. Our Aboriginal guide was fantastic and informed us about all the indigenous medicines and bush tucker provided by plants and animals, and the story of the Serpent who made the gorges and now lives in the 2nd gorge. It was really interesting and the view was amazing. In town we were able to stock up on groceries at the big Woolworths and were introduced to restricted opening hours for buying alcohol. In an attempt to reduce alcohol related violence and anti-social behaviour in Katherine, the bottle shops can not open before 2pm and there is a restriction on how many take-away items you can buy. Apparently the annual per capita consumption of alcohol in Katherine is 70% higher than the rest of the country. With daily top temperatures of 38 degrees and no breeze.....maybe it's the tourists!