Living on the Real Northern Beaches: A day in Gorge-ous Katherine

Sam had her birthday this week, so we decided to spend the weekend doing something a little different, so we decided to head 300kms down the road to Katherine and spend the nite there. And yeah, its the birthplace of the greatest Australian cyclist, Cadel Evans!!
Checking into the allseasons was easy, then a nice (massive) feed at the hotel, then sleep was on the cards.
Sam had checked out the Cutta Cutta Caves a few days before and wanted to head there in the morning. 27kms south of Katherine, this limestone cave system was found by stockmen who lost cattle. Our guide Ethan took us through the cave, which is a lot different to the wet caves normally found in southern climates. This was definitely a highlight and worth going to another time.
After driving back to Katherine, which itself is pretty average, except for the thermal pools just 2kms down the Victoria Hwy (heads to West Oz), we filled up and headed to the gorge.
We weren't going to head out on any tours, preferring to do it ourselves. However, after we saw that there was no hope of checking out the caves without a long walk, we took the $$ option and took a 2 hour cruise down the river. This was incredible. The gorge, is an amazing experience. A rain shower (tropical downpour) for a few minutes added to the appeal. Gorge 1 was pretty, but the real treat was gorge 2, which was one of the most beautiful places in the world I have visited. We didn't go any further, but that was ok, as gorge 3 is apparently really short and tour boats rarely go further.
I would love to take a chopper ride up and down the gorge, seeing all 13 of them (and in a few minutes!!), but that will need to happen when I win lotto!!
Other activities that occur in the gorge are swimming and canoeing, however due to the wet season and waters getting higher, the possibility of salties in the water are much higher, so its banned. They leave the freshies in there, they are just small and not so scary. We will head down there when the water drops (and the crocs are not there) and do some canoeing!! Cannot wait!