The campground at Nitmiluk is one of the best-positioned in the Territory — 30km from Katherine on sealed road, right at the entrance to Katherine Gorge, with a visitor centre, café, and canoe hire all within walking distance. It’s large enough to absorb the peak season crowds without feeling overwhelming, and it has enough facilities to suit travellers who’ve been doing it rough further up the track.
Katherine Gorge is actually thirteen gorges — a series of connected sandstone canyons carved by the Katherine River through ancient rock, connected by short portages between pools. The water in the gorge is a deep, still green that changes colour through the day as the light angle shifts. Rock wallabies pick their way along the cliff faces at dusk and dawn, occasionally looking down at you with the complete confidence of animals that know where they live.
Boat tours depart from the visitor centre 500m from the campground — they range from 2-hour basic tours to full-day multi-gorge journeys. The canoe hire is better if you’re fit and prefer your own pace: a self-guided paddle upstream through the gorges, portaging over the rocky sections between pools, camping on sandbanks further in. A two-day gorge paddle is one of the finer experiences in the Northern Territory.
Swimming is possible in sections of the gorge — crocodile management programs keep the main swimming areas assessed and monitored, but heed all current signage and never swim anywhere not designated as clear.
The campground itself has good shade, a pool (welcome after a day on the water), hot showers, and a camp kitchen. Katherine is 30km away with full services — Woolworths, Coles, fuel, hospital, and the usual.
Book ahead through Nitmiluk Tours in peak season (June–August); this one fills up.