Thursday, 30 April 2026
Without as many Ks to cover today as we head for Kakadu, we set the alarm a little later and took our time getting ready. Our shower this morning was MUCH better than yesterday. I forgot to mention that yesterday’s shower was a dance with the shower curtain under very little water. The shower head leaked at EVERY joint and water was going sideways and squirting up the wall so very little of it was actually coming out of the head. Today we had a huge shower recess with a shower screen and a shower head worthy of the name.
Yesterday afternoon, when we went into Woolies we noted … no pineapples, again. Still cannot believe that the only place we’ve been able to buy a fresh pineapple was at the IGA at Yulara (Uluru). Last night, while we were at the club, we noticed on their local advertising screen an ad for Katherine Fresh Fruit & Vegg Market. This morning we set out to find it to see if we could secure a fresh pineapple. We drove out into the industrial estate on the eastern side of town and pulled into the street where we thought we were being directed to and found … a vacant lot.
Bernie entered the search again and it seemed we were being told to go around the block. We drove around the block and ended up kitty corner from where we had been and … we could see a butcher and a very nondescript place with very little signage. Keen to secure a pineapple, the fruiterer’s son galloped across the street and plunged into the store. By the time I waited for traffic and joined him, he had already told the fruiterer he was after a pineapple and he’d gone out to the cool room to retrieve one. Yay, fresh pineapple for a few days.
Our next stop was at Woolies, to stock up on kiwi fruit, apples, milk, kefir, juice … all the things necessary to cater breakfast for a few days while we’re in Kakadu. After rearranging the fridge to fit everything in, we drove along to the Visitor Information Centre to collect some information for when we return to Katherine in 10 days. The staff were so helpful, arming us with maps and brochures for Kakadu and Litchfield National Park too.
Before we left Katherine, our final stop was at Ampol to fill up with Amplify Diesel. Hidden away in a side street, rather than being on the highway, the fuel was about 30 cents/litre cheaper than the BP Servo. Then, when Bernie went to pay, he purchased two Cherry Ripes to qualify for another 12 cents/litre discount. Bernie estimated that we saved about $36.00 refueling at Ampol. The servo also had a couple of jet washing bays so Bernie decided to wash some of the worst dirt off the side steps and blast some bugs out of the front grille.
Finally, we headed out of town. We had been told repeatedly about the potholes between Katherine and Pine Creek, so wondered just how bad the road conditions might be? Yes, there were some potholes but, once again, not much worse than the Princes Highway between the city and Gippsland!!
We arrived in Pine Creek, without disappearing into a huge pothole. We had a look at the Water Garden, filled with pink and purple water lilies … and algae. There were signs up saying No Swimming but, it didn’t really look at all tempting for a swim. We drove up to the Mine Lookout which looks out over the former Enterprise Pit, originally the Enterprise shaft, when it was mined for gold and diamonds before WWI. The Enterprise Shaft was reopened in the 1960s and in the 1980s mining operations were expanded into an open cut. In the 1990s, as part of mine remediation, water was diverted from Pine Creek to fill the Enterprise Pit with water. I guess the lake we were looking down over is more attractive than a pit?
Driving back down the hill, we made our way to the Pine Creek Railway Station. This station was one of nine stations on the North Australia Railway between 1887 and 1976. The interpretative boards here finally clarified for us the realization of the transcontinental railway running north to south across Australia. The concept was first developed in the 1850s but, for more than a century, there was the Northern Australia Railway running between Darwin (formerly Palmerston) and Birdum and the Central Australia Railway (the Old Ghan) running from 1878 to 1980 between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. It was only in 2004 that The Ghan started its transcontinental service between Adelaide and Darwin.
For lunch we drove back to Moule Street to Mayse’s Café. Bernie had read somewhere that the homemade sausage rolls were excellent, so he had a sausage roll and a ham, cheese and tomato sandwich. I opted for the chunky egg and lettuce sanga. Bernie agreed that the sausage rolls are delicious and the sandwiches were fresh and generously filled. Finally, our lunch time experience lived up to the expectation we had from the reviews!
Just north of Pine Creek, we turned right onto the Kakadu Highway. The boundary of the national park is 60 kilometres from the Stuart Highway turn off so we still had Unfenced Road Beware of Wandering Stock signs. We saw some cattle, well of the road, but lots of their leavings (cow pats) on the road!!
After we entered the Kakadu National Park, we made stops at the Ikoymarrwa and Bukbukluk Lookouts. We almost missed the first one – the sign was very subtle – and had to turn back for the view out over the tree tops. At the second lookout we took a dirt track off the highway and then had to walk about 800 metres to reach the lookout. Thank goodness it wasn’t further it was HOT this afternoon. There was one more lookout, Gungurul Lookout, on our map but it is on the the road to Maguk (Barramundi Gorge) and that road remains closed following the wet season.
We arrived at Cooinda and booked into the lodge for the next four nights. While we were checking in we booked the Yellow Water Cruise for dawn tomorrow. And, we are all set for the next four days … there are Splices in the shop freezer! It was mid-afternoon so we declared it Splice o’clock before heading off to find our room and unload our gear.
Installed in our room, we changed into our bathers and wandered off to the Lagoon Pool, one of two pools on-site. The pool was refreshing BUT full of children and mosquitoes. After getting in and getting cool, we pretty quickly decided we’d be more comfortable returning to our room. The Lagoon Pool is very, well, lagoon-like, with the garden encroaching on it from all sides. We think we’ll try the other pool tomorrow. It looked more open, so maybe not as many mozzies hanging around?
Off to the Barra Bar & Bistro for dinner. It’s an open air restaurant so that was an interesting tussle with all the insects being attracted by the lighting after dark. I had to keep a serviette over my glass because there were too many kamikaze insects that wanted to drown themselves in my soda water. Then the frogs and toads started to hop around. Gotta love the tropics, eh?
Steps: 6,521 (4.17kms)
