Welcome Howletts to the Northern Territory!
Oh... the roast was magnificent! Melt in our mouths lamb and vegies... oh and it was great to see Marks folks too! The kids were stoked to see their Nan & Pa and hang out in their lovely caravan, something about a roof and 4 walls! I think little old trakkie is losing its novelty value!
The Big 4 at Katherine was lovely with a huge pool, a bit cold for me (yeah I'm a sook!) but Mark and the kids enjoyed it. We got a phone call from our German friends Jaman & Alex and found out they were in town too and had a lovely reunion at the caravan park, and heard all about their travels up to Litchfield, Darwin and Kakadu.
With Mothers Day coming up on the Sunday we booked ourselves, Pam & Lou and Alex & Jaman onto a 'Sunrise Cruise' on the Katherine Gorge, complete with a full buffet breakfast as the mist rises over the Katherine River. And it was magnificent! Alex and Jaman became 'Howletts' when the cruise organisers asked for "all the Howletts" to come up the front and go onto the boat first (as we were such a big group) so we could all sit together. It felt like we were kings and queens as we were served up a beautiful breakfast and the food was so distracting I think we missed out on appreciating the first 5 minutes of the gorge! Once the food was demolished, we sat back and enjoyed the amazing beauty of Katherine (Nitmiluk - the aboriginal name) Gorge. Nitmiluk consists of 13 towering gorges, with its walls up to 60m high which have been carved over millions of years by water swept down from Arnhem Land during the monsoonal rains. We all had a magical time, pinching ourselves that it was all happening. A cruise on Nitmiluk is a 'must-do' if you are in Katherine. Someone told us that they thought Geikie Gorge in Fitzroy Crossing was better than Katherine, but I think that is like comparing apples and oranges. They are very different and stunning in their own unique ways. And a cruise is definitely the best way to see a gorge's beauty.
The other spots we visited in Katherine were the School of the Air and the historic Springvale Homestead. The homestead (check out our spooky photo) dates back to 1878 and is the oldest station homestead in the territory. It's founder Alfred Giles led an epic pionering trek, spending 19 months droving sheep and cattle from Adelaide to Springvale. Gee they did it hard back in those days... The homestead is a really well preserved old house, now being used as a reception area to the nearby caravan park and has withstood floods upon floods. They really buillt things to last back then! The other special thing at this place was the for huge South American Raintrees. Giles wife Mary planted one for each of their children and they are stunning huge trees that have massive trunks that can support a canopy of greater than 30 metres. At night the leaves close and condensed water drips like rain when the leaves open again in the morning, hence the name 'raintree'.
The School of the Air was fascinating. No more using the simple radio to teach outback kids, now it is all high tech! When we arrived we could see in to the teachers 'classroom' studio area that has 4 camera's overhead to capture and zoom in to any angle. They call it IDL - Interactive Distance Learning and involves placing a computer, digital camera, CD burner, scanner, modem and microphone along with a satellite connection into family homes at a cost of $12,000 per setup (all government funded). This is run on the broadband system via satellite with one way visual (teacher to student) and two way audio system. The roll is called for the IDL lessons and students usually have 3 lessons a week. The correspondence material for each student is mailed out before the school holidays for each unit of work and the kids send their work back through Australia Post as well. The schools annual mailing bill is $40,000!
Mark & I loved Katherine. It had a lovely outback feel to it, a mix of old and new and Mark & I made a vow to come back one year up this way to experience a 'wet-season'. We saw photo's of recent floods back in 2006 and the amount of water that flows in is absolutely phenomenal, a must be 'seen to be believed.'
On to Darwin we go! Next stop Litchfield NP.
at CarPoint.com.au It's simple! Sell your car for just $30
