Katherine Gorge, Edith Falls, Bitter Springs and Mataranka are as well known as the Territory gets, and in July you share them. We spent four days finding out whether they are still worth it, and where the quiet is hiding.

Half the people we met told us Kakadu was worth a week, the other half called it Kakadont and told us to keep driving. We gave it five nights, four campgrounds and a long run south from the East Alligator River to Gunlom. Here is how it played out, and what we would do differently.

For Paul's birthday we parked both Toyotas and moved onto the water for two nights: a houseboat called Carol, out on the Mary River wetlands, with a fair few saltwater crocs for neighbours.