Katherine, NT

Next stop for a refuel and stock up was Katherine where we arrived on the Friday afternoon of a long weekend – another random long weekend we knew nothing about until we got there! I can honestly say Katherine was a bit of a culture shock. It certainly had a very laid back vibe and we definitely felt very safe and calm, but the security guards and police were everywhere. Even outside the loo at Woollies. Showing ID to the Police was mandatory at the Bottle Shop and it wasn’t because we looked underage!

We kind of figured it was a deterrent to the locals buying cask after cask and drinking it on the street. There were hordes on the streets, but no one was drinking, perhaps due to the excessive “supervision”. The woman in front of me in the supermarket – which in itself was an interesting exercise, was told she could only buy one butane gas container (the ones you use for cooking when camping for our non campers) per transaction in case she sniffed it. Mmmm fair enough…

I’m not sure if it was pay day, or just the norm, but everyman and his dog, grandparents, cousins, aunties, brothers and newborns – it did seem like entire tribes were in Woollies doing their groceries. Of course I couldn’t help giving the trollies the once over. Given there was a 30 minute wait at the checkout (I’ll never complain about Mona Vale again!), what’s a nutritionist to do?!? Sliced white bread – about 10 loaves, half a trolley of sausages and the other half filled with Coke or Creaming soda seemed to be the norm. It was an eye opener!