Hi all,

My family and I have been living in Sydney for the past year (from the States) and have to go back to the U.S. in late December. Both my husband and I are working here, so vacation time is limited.

Our boys (ages 5 and 9) will be on school holidays during the first 2 weeks in October and we are intending on taking one last long vacation before we return home.

We have been to Cairns/Trinity Beach,Lady Elliot Island, the GOR in the past year, but now we are trying to decide if a trip to Darwin/Kakadu or Uluru is the best bet.

Our boys are good walkers and travellers, but I'd rather not spend more time travelling than sight-seeing.

If we were to go to the Darwin area, can anyone recommend an itinerary that might be interesting to younger children? If we were to go to Kakadu, what sort of supplies are needed as we have no camping equipment?

Would you recommend Uluru over Kakadu? Remember this is for early October 2006 so the climate needs to be taken into consideration.

ANY advice or suggestions would be so greatly appreciated! I just don't know where to begin!

Thanks!

Although my kids were a little older than yours when we lived in Australia, I would recommend taking your vacation to Darwin/Katherine. Since you will be travelling in early October, you should be there before The Wet. Recommendations of things to do with kids--1) hand-feed the fish at Aquascene, 2) visit the Fannie Bay Gaol (free admission, self-guided tour), 3) visit the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (free admission and even if your kids don't like museums, they will enjoy seeing the "stuffed" huge crocodile, Sweetheart, and the room of "stuffed" animals, including many that will kill you--always cool to kids), 4) go to the Mindil Beach Sunset Market on Thursday for good food and entertainment, 5) Australian Aviation Heritage Center if there's any interest in planes. Day trips outside of Darwin would be: 1) Territory Wildlife Park and Berry Springs--These two places are located right next to each other about 45 miles from Darwin. Go early and spend several hours with the animals at the wildlife park and then have a late picnic lunch and swim at Berry Springs in the natural pools. 2) Litchfield NP--The highlights here are the magnetic termite mounds and swimming in the various natural pools. Our favorite is Wangi Falls, but there is also Florence Falls and the Buley Rockholes. There's a great picnic area at Wangi Falls, too. The pools here are deep, so your kids may need to have flotation devices. There are also some flying foxes in the trees surrounding Wangi Falls which are cool.
Next, I would drive down to Katherine for a couple of nights. Spend several hours at Edith Falls NP. If your kids are decent hikers, I would recommend the hike up to the upper pools for the views and the nice swimming up there. Good picnic area and good swimming in the lower pool as well. You can go out to Katherine Gorge and hike and/or travel through the gorge by boat. They have guided boat tours or you can rent canoes and do it yourself. Also, not far from Katherine are the Cutti Cutti caves which you may enjoy visiting. We were there for the first tour of the day and had a private tour as we were the only ones there! Finally, a must would be the Crocodile Night Adventure in Katherine where you take a boat up the river at night spotlighting crocs on shore. There's a delicious BBQ dinner under the stars and maybe a visit from a croc (at a distance of course). This tour and the canoe rentals must be done in advance and can be arranged through a company called Travel North.
I think you would have enough to see and do in and around Darwin and Katherine to entertain you for a week. If you are there longer, you could consider going to Kakadu. Frankly, it wasn't our cup of tea, but you might like it.
Finally, before booking this trip, I would consult both a good guidebook AND the tourism office in Darwin to find out weather conditions in October.
P.S. If you haven't already done so, take a weekend trip to Canberra before you leave Australia. We lived there and we loved it. Go, if possible, when Floriade, the city's big flower extravaganza, is going on. It's beautiful and there are kids activities at Floriade--even my kids enjoyed going. Go to Parliament House and take the elevator to the top where you can walk on top of the building and see great views. (You used to able to roll down the grassy hillsides of the building, but no longer.) Spend at least 1/2 day or more at Questacon, the hands-on science musuem. Drive out to Tidbinbilla Tracking Station if your kids have any interest in outer space and see the huge tracking dishes. There's also a good free museum there. Finally, drive out to Namadgi National Park (about 45 minutes from city center). Stop at the visitors center and enjoy the exhibits and get a map for the Yankee Hat Hike. It's an easy 6km RT hike and you will see hundreds of kangaroos around the trail. (I've done this hike at least 10 times and there are always lots of 'roos.) At the midpoint is a rock with Aboriginal drawings and you will likely be the only ones there.

I just, and I mean just, returned from a trip to the NT with husband and 10 yr. old daughter. I'll write more later, but generally agree with longhorn about everything EXCEPT that we loved Kakadu and I'd hate to see you not consider it as a destination. Our 10 yr. old loved it too. Climbing to the top of the Nadab lookout at Ubirr ranks as one of the best things we did and one of her top favorites also.

Thanks for the detailed feedback longhorn55 and LynAK. Both kids are great travellers and really good swimmers, so they would love the pools. We were recommended to go to Kakadu on the advice of a friend here who went with her mother and 6 week old infant. (Ironically, she said the mother was more difficult because of the heat!)

Would you recommend doing more things by organized tour or just hiring a car and doing things ourselves?

When we went to Cairns/Daintree Rainforest, etc., we did a guided tour which we felt was nice on the one hand (i.e., didn't have to drive), but we also felt limited at what we could see and limited at the amount of time spent at each location.

I have not even considered Canberra (I think I was put off of it by Bill Bryson ans so it was way down on the list of things to do), but if it is managable over a long weekend, then we'll try to squeeze that in as well.

Can you recommend any lodging at Darwin, Litchfield and/or Katherine?

LynAK - Please write when you can about Kakadu - I'd love to hear your feedback and experiences on this!

Cheers!

Bic--Here are my recommendations for accomodations in Darwin and Katherine. In Darwin, we have stayed at the Parap Village Apartments and the Cullen Bay Apartments, both being serviced apartments. The Parap Village Apartments cost less than the Cullen Bay Apartments but were located about 5-7 minutes from the city center. There are shops/restaurants nearby and a market on, I believe, Saturdays. On our second visit to Darwin, we wanted to be closer to town so we chose the Cullen Bay Apartments. They were a bit fancier, but also more expensive. They are right on Cullen Bay and within walking distance of the Mindil Beach Sunset Market. I could easily recommend either place to stay. For dinner, I can highly recommend Tim's Surf and Turf. It's located on a small side street near the GPO, so get directions before you go. You'll feel like you are eating in a tropical forest and the food is both delicious and well-priced.
On both of our visits to Katherine we stayed at the St. Andrews Serviced Apartments and I would recommend them. For food, I recommend going to the RSL Club. There's a wide choice of food and it's a real Australian experience. (A local recommended it to us on our first visit and we went back on our second visit because we enjoyed it so much.) There's also a good barramundi and chips place on the main street for takeaway.
I certainly hope you get the chance to visit Canberra. Bill Bryson's book on Australia came out while I was living in Canberra and I never could understand why he didn't do a little more research on places to stay and things to see before he went there. He would have learned that just across Lake Burley Griffin from Canberra's city center are Kingston and Manuka where there's lots of great restaurants and pubs. I still can't believe he didn't ask one adult that night where to go to eat and drink in Canberra! Well, at least he got the part right about it being like living in a park. It's a beautiful place!

Hi,
Our family did Darwin/Kakadu/Katherine about 3 years ago when kids were 6 and 9. They LOVED it !! We also stayed at Cullen Bay apartments - central to everything as mentioned in other posts. Thoroughly recommend Mindl Beach markets, fishfeeding, museum, Fanny Bay jail, War tunnels, fish and chips on the wharves. Day trips to Berry Springs and animal park a must.The highlight of our trip for the kids was Kakadu which included - Window on the Wetlands, termite mounds, Ubirr Rock with Lightning Man,.Stay at Cooinda to do sunrise Yellow Water Cruise, Noulangerie Rock.Edith Falls top pool on the way to Katherine is excellent. Katherine Gorge boat trip - the 4 hr one is good, thermal springs. We stayed in a family cabin at the Low Level Caravan Park ( near thermal springs). It was great! Loved Buley Rockholes, Florence Falls and Wangi all located in Litchfield NP. Check on a site for weather - I believe the humidity and heat are up at that time of year - my brother,wife & 3 kids went Oct hols last year and experienced some very hot days so pack plenty of bottled water. As we were on a budget we hired a car and mostly self catered where possible with picnics etc. I would have to say that this holiday was one that the kids still talk about and we have done Fiji, Phuket since then.Heaps of opportunity to swim - all places we stayed had at least one pool and is a must after the walks. There are heaps of easy walks most with aboriginal art etc. I just remembered - the kids loved the Adelaide River jumping crocodiles !

Thanks, Wallos.

It sounds like your family situation is very similar to ours. We are also on a budget and will be hiring a car, planning to pack picnic food, etc.

how many nights did you stay at the various places?

For example, if we flew to Darwin (from Sydney),would the following itinerary be recommended:

day 1: arrive Darwin, sleep here
day 2,3,4: Stay in Kakadu
Day5: depart Kakadu, arrive Litchfield
Day 5,6: stay litchfield
Day 7: drive to darwin, fly back to Sydney

We can be a bit flexible with time, but I'm just trying to get a sense of whether 3 nights in Kakadu is too much and perhaps one of those days should be spent exporing Darwin.

Also, what makes Katherine special and worth visiting?

thanks,
Bic

I'll write a bit now as I have some time; don't know how much I'll be able to get in but will write more later.

We arrived in Darwin at 8 pm, spent 3 nights there at the Palms City Resort in a deluxe room with a Q and one twin plus a kitchenette with microwave. The room was nice, a little small, bathroom very small, but we were on the second floor with a private balcony with table and chairs which was very nice. This place is across the street from the Esplanade, perfect location. Cost was AU$165 per night. There was free wireless so we could use our laptop (no computers for guest use), but you had to ask for the wireless code and they didn't advertise that it was available. The pool was small, but clean and OK, nothing special. Laundry room available. I liked this place and would recommend it, but you might also check into the Mirambeena Resort which is also close to downtown and we visited someone there and were impressed with the room, the pool was fabulous and the other good thing was that they had a bistro and gathering area by the pool so it would have been a good place to meet people. I don't know the comparable cost for a triple, but these folks had a double for AU$175 and it was nicer than our place. We had a bit better location, but Mirambeena is worth looking at. Also, if you have a car it is worth checking out Parap Village. It is out of town a little bit, but it looked like a nice little area and would be less expensive. It isn't very far from downtown and the Sat. market there is cool. We would consider Parap if we stayed in Darwin again, but if it is your first time, you might want to be downtown.

We got our rental car our first morning in Darwin. I wasn't sure we needed one in Darwin but was glad we had it for the freedom. We drove to the Mindil Market on Thursday night (make sure you go to Darwin when this is happening on a Thursday night)--parking was not too hard, lots of cars but they have a lot of space and we didn't have too much trouble finding a spot. The market is wild and wonderful. Hard to believe they pull this off every Thursday during the winter. Lots of ethnic food, buskers, crafts, etc. Free sunset on the beach.

I could write more about what we did in Darwin but Longhorn has mainly covered it. We liked Darwin a lot.

We self-drove to Kakadu, leaving Darwin after 10 am. It took us a few hours to get there. We stopped at Fogg Dam and thought that was a good stop. Lots of birds. This is 10 km off the main road, so you should allow about 45 min. for this stop. Nothing formal here, just a few lookouts to the wetlands, a walking trail we didn't take, very few people, quite serene, but interesting...we saw a sea eagle take a rat and we saw a cockatoo really close up eating a pandanus fruit. We also stopped at Windows on the Wetlands, which I could have passed on but there are exhibits which appealed to my 10 yr. old so you might want to stop. It is free. We had lunch at a picnic table there. We also stopped at Mamukala (sp?) overlook. The walking trail here is closed due to crocodile sightings along it (!) but the wetlands are nice to view. They aren't very far off the road along a boardwalk. The best thing about this stop was that as we walked along the boardwalk we came upon a wallaby having a feed and he just looked at us and kept on eating. He was about 3 meters away and this absolutely thrilled our 10 yr. old.

Onward to Jabiru where we stayed at the Lakeview Caravan Park in a Bush Bungalow. These are AU$85 per night. I am going to post a review on Tripadvisor with photos at some point. We loved this place. The bush bungalows are a little like upscale camping with a tent-like thing on a platform, double bed and bunk beds, fridge (so there is electricity inside) and outside cooking facilities, with grill. The bathroom is a brick block little house that is very clean and your own private place but you do have to leave the bungalow so that can be a hassle in the middle of the night. Some people would probably not like this if they want more luxury. The Lakeview also has cabins but we didn't see inside any of them.I think these are ensuite. Otherwise your choice is really only the Crocodile place in Jabiru which is pretty expensive.

Note on the Lakeview...they lost several bungalows during Cyclone Monica and are in the process of rebuilding them. If you think you might want to stay here book immediately.

You can see the effects of Monica all around Jabiru and the outlying areas. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of gum trees all downed in the same westerly direction.

We stayed at the Lakeview for 2 nights. On our first morning in Kakadu we went to the Bowali Visitor's Center, which is good and got some good brochures and advice from the park rangers there. We booked on the East Alligator river cruise for 3 pm and took a 2.5 km walk near the boat launch. Interesting walk and you can get a brochure about it from the Bowali center that gives info about things to notice along the walk. Interesting cave and rock formations.

I have to go now, but we liked the boat cruise, with lots of info by the guide on aboriginal customs, lots of crocs to be seen, a stop on the Arnhem land side where you can get out and walk around a little. Be aware that these cruises leave EXACTLY on time. If you are 5 minutes late you will have missed the boat. They last 1 hr. and 45 minutes.

After this on to Ubirr rock formations and art and the climb up to the Nadab lookout for sunset. Really a highlight.

More later.

Just saw your question about your itinerary, what there is to do in Katherine area, etc. I'll write about that as we did go there too.

Just wanted to mention that we stayed a 3rd night in Kakadu but moved to the Gagadju Lodge in Cooinda for the 3rd night so we could easily take the 6:45 am Yellow Waters cruise. I booked this late so could only get a motel room which was expensive AU$250 for the night but it worked out best for us that way so we did it. The dawn cruise was awesome, but our daughter did not like getting up that early and was a bit cranky, as the Aussies would say. My husband absolutely loved it. Lots of wildlife to be seen, though I don't think we had the best guide on this boat.

I did not think 3 nights in Kakadu were too many. After breakfast at Cooinda we began our drive toward Katherine on the southern Kakadu Highway. This is a long drive and took hours. We stopped at Edith Falls on the way. Wish we'd done the hikes there to the upper pools. I kick myself for just swimming in the lower pool and then going on toward Katherine. Swimming in the cold cold water of the lower pool, however, is one of the top 4 favorite things my daughter tells everyone about (others are snorkeling at the Frankland Islands off Cairns, Nadab lookout, Edith Falls swim, Katherine Hot Springs waterfall-slide)

Hi again,
First of all flight times in and out of Darwin can be a bit weird. We arrived at midnight which meant a hotel just to crash in. We then picked up our car, grabbed a load of groceriesand headed to Kakadu. We stopped at Window on the wetlands ( the kids love it ) Marmakula ? which is close to the road, had lunch along the way (picnic) drove to Ubirr Rock for late afternoon walk ( it is cooler) then onto Cooinda. It is fairly expensive but because of early start ( 6.30am) Yellow water cruise we thought it was worth it. Next day did morning cruise then backtracked slightly to go to Noulangerie Rock to do walk and had picnic lunch at the billabong. Stayed at Cooinda a second night as kids seems to travel better with less packing /unpacking. Headed off to Katherine next morning - stopped at Edith Falls for a swim. You must do the walk to the top pool - it is beautiful then walk to the bottom pool and have another swim before driving on to Katherine. We booked onto the 4 hour gorge cruise at our accomodation. Picked up some supplies in Katherine for BBQ dinner. Drove out to the Gorge next morning- loved the trip up the gorge with swim at end. Back into town to thermal springs.Stayed second night in Katherine. Next morning headed to Litchfield - did Buley Rock Holes and Florence falls in the afternoon. Next morning went to Wangi did walk and swim before heading back to Darwin.Stayed at Cullen Bay apartments for a week- did mostly 1/2 day activities as kids were tired and needed to veg out and relax by the pool as did their parents !! Fish feeding , mindl beach markets and museum a highlight. Don't forget Berry Springs and the Animal Park ( they are about 45 mins from Darwin ). Crocodile jumping tour is also good fun - it is on the way to Kakadu not far from Window on the Wetlands. Have fun !

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and this is an itinerary we are thinking of…Our Friday and Saturday plans below are still uncertain. Suggestions are more than welcome!

Tues Oct 3 – Arrive Darwin from Sydney at 1 a.m. – Crash at hotel.
Wed Oct 4 – Hire car, get supplies and groceries, drive to Kakadu
Go to Ubirr for sunset
Stay at Lakeview Kakadu in the Bush Bungalow – does anyone recommend this?
Thurs Oct 5 - Drive to Noulangerie Rock in a.m.
<p.m. plans undermined >
Stay at Lakeview Kakadu again
Crocodile Night Adventure Tour (I read about this somewhere, but cannot find any info on it!!!)
It was highly recommended somewhere!
Fri Oct 6 Stay another day in Kakadu (Cooinda to do a.m. Water Cruise) or head to Katherine ???
Sat Oct 7th - Either do water cruise in a.m., or do a later one, have lunch, depart for Katherine, stopping at Edith Falls.
Does it really matter which time you do the Yellow Water cruise??? Why is any one time better than another?
Stay at Knotts Crossing Resort
Sun Oct 8th - Drive to Katherine Gorge- do 4hr cruise, then thermal springs in p.m.
Stay at Knotts Crossing Resort
Mon Oct 9th - Drive to Litchfield, do Buley Rock Holes in a.m., picnic, then Florence Falls in p.m
Drive to Darwin and stay there. (Location TBD)
Tues Oct 10th - Drive to Wangi Falls in a.m., walk and then swim, picnic, relax - stay in Darwin
Wed Oct 11th - Venture out to Berry Springs and the Animal Park – stay in Darwin
Thurs Oct 12th - Hang out in Darwin and go to the Mindl markets at night.
Fri Oct 13th Depart for Sydney

If we were to shorten our trip by one day, what would you eliminate? Is this too much for a 5 and 9 year old to do?
Any recommendations of where to stay in Darwin?
Is a trip to Jim Jim and Twin Falls worth it?
Also, were there any items that you did NOT pack that you wish you had? What items are “must –haves”? Are the mozzies bad at this time of the year?

Hi Bic,
Looking good but there is a bit of backtracking. My suggestion -
Tues - arrive Darwin : crash out
Wed - car, groceries, Window on the wetland, Marmakula, Ubirr. Stay Jabiru
Thurs - Noulangerie am, Aboriginal Cultural Centre (can't remember the name) pm. Stay Cooinda
Friday - 6.45 yellow water cruise. This is the best time as animals are coming out - I have heard others say they didn't see as much wildlife later in the day. Jim Jim and Twin Waters is a huge day ( too much for the kids).
You will be back from the cruise by 9.00am and so have the day to travel to Katherine stopping at Edith Falls to walk /swim at the top pool. Book your cruise for the next day.Stay Katherine
Saturday am 4 hr gorge trip pm thermal springs. Stay Katherine
Sunday - drive to Litchfield pm swim at Buley Rockholes and possibly Florence Falls depending on time taken.
Stay Litchfield
Monday - Tolmer Falls, Wangi picnic and swim. Stay Litchfield
Tuesday - Drive to Animal park am cool off pm with swim at Berry Springs . Drive to Darwin (approx 45 mins)
Wed - Darwin fishfeeding (time with best tides) museum/town/fish and chips on the wharf
Thurs - Drive to Adelaide River jumping crocs am, pm rest/ swim then Mindl beach markets.
Fri - fly to Sydney
We enjoyed Cullen Bay apartments - ask for one that is on the pool level. This gives direct access for the kids and to you for the BBQ!!Be sure to pack Stingoes or tea tree oil for bites and stings. Water bottles a must.

I think Wallo has developed a good itinerary. The end of yours at Litchfield then staying in Darwin and then going back to Wangi, etc. is a mistake.

We stayed at the Bush Bungalows and really liked it as I described in my previous reply here. I'd book soon though.

I hope you have found the other recent thread here called "Litchfield and Kakadu" as it has info on all of this that you would find helpful.

Also, we had dinner at Katie's Bistro at the Knott's Crossing Resort so we got a bit of a look at it and it looked nice. The restaurant is one of the best in Katherine, so I heard, although they had a problem with our order and it took ages to get it...it was tasty, though.

Don't stay at the Riverview Caravan Park in Katherine. It is moving toward shabby. We stayed in a cramped, not well maintained cabin. Only thing it has going for it is the proximity to the Katherine Hot Springs, but it is easy to drive there and there is a close parking lot, so if you have a car, the Riverview loses that advantage. Definitely go to the hot springs...our 10 year loved it and we had to go back twice...and she would have gone again. There is a little waterfall/slide part of it that is loads of fun for the kids.

In Katherine we stayed at the Low Level Caravan Park across the bridge but still close to the thermal springs. The cabins were new ( about 3 years ago now). Park beautifully maintained, good BBQ and pool facilities. Also booking facility for Gorge tour . I highly recommend a stay here but pick up any supplies before you head there as it is about 8 mins ? drive away from shops.

We didn't see the Low Level Caravan Park, but someone we met along the traveling trail mentioned that they really liked that place. So sounds like it is worth checking out since Wallos liked it. Skip the Riverview cabins.

Thanks LynAK and Wallos for all of your wonderful suggestions for our upcoming trip.

The itinerary is shaping up,we just booked our flights and are now starting to plan the lodging part.

Right now the lodging is looking like:

- the Bush bungalows at the Lakeview Kakadu,
- One night at Gagudju Lodge in Coodina (not many options here, eh?)
- 2 nights at Knotts Crossing Resort in Kathering (or low level caravan park)
-2 nights at Batchelor Resort in the Cabins
- 3 nights in Darwin (TBD)

We are planning on carrying as much food with us and having picnics and BBQ when we can. Given the nature of the places that we'll be staying at - what food supplies do you recommend???

(Of course, we WILL bring wine and a corkescrew!!), But do we just plan on bringing a loaf of bread,peanut butter and jam, trail mix, cereal bars, etc?
We are big fruit and veggie eaters (as are the kids) and the kids are big milk drinkers. How did you pack food? What sort of things were good to have and what did you bring that was a mistake?

Thanks in advance!

-Bic

OK food..Jabiru has a small grocery store, nothing on the order of a Coles, but fairly well stocked as this is the main supply spot for all of Kakadu. There are fruits and vegetables, but selection is limited. You can get cheese, yogurt, sliced meat for sandwiches, other meat to cook, canned goods, cookies (biscuits), fairly wide variety of some things, less so for others...as for bread (look for the cabinet that sells the fresh bread baked daily..these are little sub type loaves, very good and better than the limited regular loaves of bread..they do the same thing in Batchelor..I think a company supplies these places with frozen loaves and then they bake each day.)

We bought a collapsible fabric eskie/ice chest in Darwin at the Woolworths. It held everything we needed and kept things remarkably cold, ice stayed well even when locked in a hot car for awhile. Ice was available at all the towns we went to. Then we were able to pack the eskie and bring it home on the plane. You might want to get one in Sydney and take it with you so you don't have to spend time looking for this. I think Woolies had the better selection in Darwin vs. the Coles for the eskie.

Anyway, shop in Darwin for a good variety of stuff but you will be able to replenish or pick up some stuff you might have forgotten in Jabiru (hrs are limited on the grocery though it is open every day, but only from soemthing like 9-1 on Sunday).

You can cook out at the Lakeview on the gas grill which also has a gas burner. They have pots and pans to borrow (ask when you check in) so you don't have to take any. There is a very limited choice in restaurants in Jabiru. We ate out one night at the other caravan park by the pool and it was expensive and took a long time. There is a restaurant at the hotel that looks like a crocodile but the menu looked expensive. There is also another place at the local sports club, I think. My suggestion is to plan meals for your nights at the Lakeview, and get most of the stuff in Darwin.

Then at Cooinda it depends on whether you stay in the motel part or the caravan park part as far as the cooking for yourself goes. We were in the motel and ate at the bistro in the evening and the restaurant for breakfast. Food was good, breakfast buffet was included with the room for an additional $30 and it was worth it. We'd been having cold cereal, yogurt, etc. for several days so it was a treat to have a hot breakfast bar at Cooinda. If you were staying in the caravan park I guess you could cook there, but we booked too late to get a cabin so did the motel thing that night.

There is no real store at Cooinda, just a little convenience store type place. So don't plan to buy a lot of supplies at Cooinda. They want you to eat at their places, of course.

For breakfast and lunch we got peanut butter, cheese, bread, poppers (juice boxes), a screw top bottle of milk, box of cereal, butter (we needed a better butter container than the one we bought along the way so you might want to get something with this in mind that seals tight before you go), hummus, etc. Typical stuff.

Katherine is a pretty big town (relatively), so you will be able to get whatever you want there. Batchelor is not big, but you can get stuff at their little grocery. It is smaller than the one at Jabiru, but reasonably well stocked.

Have you called the Lakeview yet? If not you should do that right away. You can always cancel but they don't have many bush bungalows to rent since the storm.

Hi Bic,
We packed a soft esky that we had here at home and took a back-pack picnic set. This must be packed in luggage- we added a few cereal bowls etc. Fruit and veg are not that fresh as they seem to fly in delivery to Cooinda . We stocked up in Darwin at Woolies . It was close to car hire place and easy to park. Katherine also has a big Shopping centre with Woolies. Fresh bread or rolls can be an issue so grab them when ever you see them.We mainly did the BBQ and salad thing as this was easy. I took a few munchies in my hand luggage to get us through the flight. There is great food at Mindl markets so you can eat there on your last night.Enjoy.........

Bic, I noticed you mentioned booking the Crocodile Night Adventure while you were at Kakadu. This tour actually is out of Katherine. You can book it through Travel North in Katherine. (See their website for more details.)

bump, as this thread has good info, even if a couple of years old