Experience the best of Katherine

Katherine lies on the Katherine River, some three hundred kilometres south of Darwin, where the Stuart Highway meets the road west towards the Kimberley. The explorer John McDouall Stuart named the river in 1862 after a daughter of his sponsor, and the Overland Telegraph line later crossed it, giving the settlement its start in cattle country.

Nitmiluk National Park, owned by the Jawoyn people, lies a short drive north-east and centres on a chain of deep sandstone gorges cut by the river. Edith Falls, with a large pool at its foot, lies north of town, the warm pools of Katherine Hot Springs sit close to the centre, and the limestone caves of Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park lie to the south.

Beef from the surrounding cattle stations, barramundi from the rivers and mangoes in season shape the local menu, and the months outside the storm season of about November to March are sunny and warm, with cooler nights.