An escape can be many things to many people, and a destination needs to offer something for everyone. Only 3 hours drive from Darwin, Katherine –home of the Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge – has a surprising number of activities for the whole family and some you will never have heard of! Here are our top 10.

The jewel of the region has to be the Nitmiluk Gorge, and there is no better way to experience it that on the Nabilil Dinner Cruise. Experience the spectacular beauty of the Gorge by candlelight whilst your onboard chef prepares a delicious meal of Australian cuisine.

Or take to the skies on a Twin Parks Flight over Nitmiluk Gorge and out over Kakadu National Park to appreciate the rugged beauty and the harshness of the landscape that has been home to the Jawoyn people for thousands of years. Still in the Gorge, and take the short climb to the Sunset Viewing platform with a bottle of bubbles and watch a spectacular sunset over the Gorge and the surrounding stone country.

For a typically Australian night out, try Marksies Stockman’s Dinner – a camp oven meal by the camp fire with great Aussie humour; true and not so true yarns; the good, the bad and some a little bawdy. Visit Mimi Aboriginal Arts and Craft to view artworks by local Indigenous artists – many of whom are internationally recognised. Keeping with the cultural theme, stop by the newly opened Godinymayn Yijard Rivers Centre , the new performance and visual arts space designed to showcase Indigenous artists and Indigenous culture.

The Katherine Hot Springs are a hidden gem – crystal clear minerals springs just minutes from the centre of town –the perfect way to refresh after a day touring. A little way out of town, visit NT Rare Rocks to see semi-precious stones polished, set and transformed into coffee tables, bookends, and more. And then head out to the Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park which covers 1,499 hectares of limestone landscape with spectacular features and formations and a complex cave network to explore.

Back to the water and try your hand fishing for the famous NT barra on the Katherine River, or grab a canoe and spend an afternoon exploring the first two gorges of the Nitmiluk Gorge system.

More than 10 already, and we still haven’t listed the Katherine Museum, helicopter flights over Nitmiluk Gorge, picnicking at Edith Falls, Mataranka Hot Spring, Katherine Museum and World War II experience, Springvale homestead, Jatbula Walking Trail and the list continues…