Katherine

Travel Guide Oceania Australia Northern Territory Katherine

Introduction

Katherine Gorge - Walk

Katherine is a town of under 10,000 inhabitants, making it the third largest town in the Northern Territory in Australia (after Darwin and Alice Springs). Traditionally, gold was the economic life source of the town, but tourism has been increasing as travellers are drawn to the town for its location near Nitmiluk National Park and Katherine Gorge.

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Sights and Activities

Nitmiluk National Park - Nitmiluk NP features Aboriginal rock art and a number of gorges, including the popular Katherine Gorge.
Kakadu National Park - A little further north is Kakadu National Park, which can be reached by driving up the Stuart Highway and turning onto the Kakadu Highway at Pine Creek.

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Weather

Katherine has a hot and humid tropical climate. The hottest days are during the built up to the wet season in October and November when temperatures hit 40 °C during the day. Even some nights are around 30 °C during these months. The wet season lasts from November to March. Wintermonths are still warm and humid but with average daytime temperatures around 30 °C this is obviously the best time to visit. It is mostly dry with the occasional shower.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg Max	34.4 °C	34.1 °C	34.4 °C	34.2 °C	32.2 °C	30.1 °C	30.5 °C	32.2 °C	35.9 °C	37.6 °C	37.4 °C	35.7 °C
Avg Min	24.2 °C	24.1 °C	23.1 °C	20.8 °C	17.1 °C	14.1 °C	13.2 °C	14.5 °C	20.2 °C	23.8 °C	24.7 °C	24.5 °C

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Getting There

By Plane

Katherine does have an airport, but no commercial flights fly there. Charter flights can be arranged. Most people get to Katherine by flying to Darwin and driving from there.

By Train

The Ghan is an train that runs from Adelaide to Darwin twice a week (and vice versa), stopping at Katherine along the way. Note the Ghan is not cheap: an adult one-way ticket from Adelaide costs at least $710; from Alice Springs, it costs at least $355 one-way.

By Car

Katherine is located at the intersection of the Stuart Highway and the Victoria Highway. You can drive south to Katherine from Darwin along the Stuart (4 hours), north from Alice Springs along the Stuart (13.5 hours), or east from Broome along the Victoria Highway (18 hours). Since these are very long distances through desert, make sure you are carrying enough water.

By Bus

Greyhound has buses towards Darwin and Alice Springs and even buses to Perth (originating in Darwin) are available.

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Sleep

Upscale

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Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafés are very common in the larger Australian cities and popular tourist destinations. However, once you leave the major population centres, you might have trouble finding somewhere to log on. Free wifi is getting more and more common (either with or without a code) in places like restaurants, some bars and coffee places and hotels. Sometimes a fee is required.

Phone

Post

Australia Post is the government's postal service. Most suburbs will have at least one post office. Opening times are mostly from around 8:00 or 9:00am to 5:00pm though larger ones keep longer hours sometimes. A standard letter or postcard sent within Australia will cost $0.60. Internationally, it costs $1.70 to send postcards anywhere in the world. Letters cost $1.85 to send within the Asia Pacific region and $2.60 to anywhere else in the world.^[1]. It is also possible to send things as parcels or by express mail. You can also use use private courier companies like TNT, UPS or DHL as they are competitive and reliable.