The Park includes the world famous Edith Falls and the Katherine Gorge, which I visited on November 11, 2008, during the pre-monsoon season. The shade temperature reached 40 degrees on this trip!

The Park adjoins the Kakadu National Park, and is reached from the town of Katherine.

The Gorge actually consists of 13 separate gorges, framed by dramatic sandstone cliffs.

I visited the First and Second gorges - there is a 500m foot-track connecting the two areas.

When we reached our turnaround point on Gorge Two, the steering mechanism on our boat failed - the steering cable snapped. This left us drifting aimlessly for some time - we managed to get back to the jetty about 1 km away safely, but very slowly, after improvising repairs.

This meant shutting down one of the two outboard motors and using the remaining motor for emergency manual steering. Some of us then grabbed brooms and poles to push our boat away from the cliffs.

This Park is magnificent - not to be missed on any trip to the Top End of the Northern Territory!