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Other entries in Katherine

Home of the road train......

We got into Katherine and realized that we had a 6 hour stop there. To make it even worse the train station was about 7 kilometers from the city, so the only real option was to take the shuttle into the city and back for $9 AUD. We didn't want to wait there for 6 hours but didn't want to pay either so we got a map and decided to walk in. I was surprised to see a few others with the same idea, but it was early in the morning and it was still cool outside.

After walking about a kilometer and getting onto the main highway I had the brilliant idea to start trying to hitchhike. Antonio was with me and he is a pretty big guy so why not, it's Australia after all and we were in the middle of nowhere. With our thumbs out the cars kept on passing us and road trains went way too fast to even consider picking us up so we optimistically carried on. We saw the group walking behind us get picked up so we figured that it was the shuttle making us pay because you weren't allowed to walk on the roads. It wasn't the case and a cool guy from the Kookaburra Hostel in Katherine picked up all of us and took us the rest of the way for free.

Once in town there wasn't much there without heading out to see the gorge which was lots more cash, so we sat on the sidewalk and watched the Aboriginals go by. Behind us was a grocery store and we were both hungry so we got some bread, cream cheese, juice, and donuts and each spent $3 for the feast. After that we headed to the library to get online but were denied access as the rules here were a bit tougher. We looked at Lonely Planet books from the early and mid 1990's and then headed out into the grass for a rest. We saw loads of road trains coming through town at their maximum length of 4 trailers and got some photos, then headed to the bus office where we had to get tickets for the bus. We each paid $5 to get back to the train station.

I think that it is crazy that they charge to get back and forth from the city. They purposely stop there for 6 hours so you are left with no other choice but to head into town. We managed to at least pay half of the fare, and it was frustrating that no one checked our tickets when we got on the bus back, so that gave me ideas for the next time I pass through town. Anyway, from there we got back onto the train and were in the final leg of our journey to Darwin. We both said little prayers that our onboard situation wouldn't change, as we each had 4 seats to ourselves and turned 2 of them around to make a little sleeping area. We had loads of space which made the long journey up there a little better than if we were cramped like sardines for the trip.......

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