One of the things we had become convinced about while driving in Cape York was the need for some decent tyres. All the experienced 4x4 drivers had tread in which you could lose your arm; by way of comparison, the tread on one of our tyres was barely more than one of my chest hairs.

We therefore bit the financial bullet and bought four new Bridgestone all-terrain tyres, junking the illegal spare and the two which were barely passable. We had mixed opinions about which of the other two to use as a spare - another all-terrain and an off-roader, both of them with a reasonable amount of life in them - so in the end kept both. The only problem is that while one hangs on the rear door, the other has to be carried inside the car - meaning even less space inside than we had before!

We also had the rear bushes done, which doesn't mean much to most of you, now does it? Nor me, though now Ramsey doesn't make terrible groaning noises when we drive over bumps.

Thus suitably equipped, we headed off on our long drive west and then north to Darwin in the Northern Territory. And I do mean long. The first day, we covered more than 800 km and only a little less on the second. We were driving through some really dull terrain most of the time, stopping only to change drivers. The sole point of interest came when we crossed the border into NT - if you look at the photos, you can see just how featureless the land was at that point.

We turned north on the third day and after a mere 680 km or so, arrived in the town of Katherine. After stocking up on supplies, we headed for a campsite at Katherine Gorge, in Nitmiluk national park.

This was a planned stopover as we had read about the gorge in our various guide books and leaflets. We booked a boat trip on the river for the next day and settled down for the evening. As we ate our potatoes and baked beans (more haute cuisine!) and drank our fine wine (well, reasonable quality) in the dusk, two wallabies appeared out of the surrounding woods - much to Katy's delight. They wandered around the campsite quite happily, keeping their distance but obviously used to the presence of people.

The next day, we went down to the river and boarded the boat for our trip up the gorge. According to most books and indeed our guide, there are 13 gorges though one source insisted that it was a single gorge divided into 13 parts. To 99.9% of the population, however, such a distinction is utterly irrelevant.

Our trip was only up the first three gorges as we are in the dry season and there wasn't enough water to reach any further. It wasn't as if the river was dry - in one particular place it was more than 30 metres deep. But in the wet season, a further 8-10 metres comes rushing down, which would make quite an impressive sight.

One good thing about not having too much water in the gorge, however, was that there were no saltwater crocodiles! These are the nasty ones that quite happily attack and then eat people - especially hapless tourists. However, in the dry season the water level is too low for them to reach the gorge - Katy, believe it or not was quite disappointed, though we will probably be seeing these revolting beasts in the next few days.

The gorges were very pleasant to sail along, towering above us in the sunlight. The guide gave us both accounts of how they were formed: the scientific explanation involving millions of years of sandstone deposits and then a gigantic upheaval, and the Aboriginal legend involving a giant serpent.

One of the most interesting parts of the journey came at a small cave which was home to a colony of Fennymartins. These little birds made their nests on the roof of the cave so had to perform aerobatics to enter and feed their young.

The cruise was only a half day and later that afternoon we went looking for the wallabies and found a few lurking in the woods. Katy took a few photos and videos of them but we couldn't get particularly close. Later, we climbed to the top of the gorge to watch the sunset - and also for the exercise, which was just as well as the sunset was a little disappointing.

On the way back to the camp in the fading light, we crossed a grassy area where about 20 wallabies were enjoying supper. Katy was really annoyed that the camera battery had just given out, especially as one of them wasn't as shy as the others and it would have been a perfect opportunity,.

Richard