Blogs from Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 3

In no time at all, we arrived at Katherine, one of the hottest places in Australia. Today it was a balmy 37 C. Our excursion was a cruise down the Katherine River through the Nitmiluk Gorge. In the boat we were surrounded by towering red sandstone rocks. Occasionally, we glimpsed a crocodile laying in the water, or its distinctive tracks on a sandy bar. Our guide told us these tracks often led to where a crocodile had laid its eggs – these are protected and there is a fine for violating these sites. There are only two seasons here – the wet season and the dry season. This impacts the entire ecosystem including the height of the river. Early in the wet season, the boat is able to traverse the entire length of the river, but ... read more

Another week has flown by. I know all our regular students names now and am getting to know more and more about the student's themselves as the days progress. Such a great 'mob'! The school grounds are lovely, and there are lots of murals and art all around the buildings, with descriptions in both English and Kriol. The school has a grassed area where the boys play footy (AFL) every recess and a basketball court that is always packed. The student's are all very active and enthusiastic with sport - and it shows in their skills! I'm starting to take more and more lessons as the days progress and getting lots of feedback from my mentor teacher who is not only very supportive but always ready to help with resources and answers to all my many ... read more

Well, I have been in Ngukurr for 8 days so far...what an amazing place! Early last week we found a green tree frog in our toilet. I tried to coax it out but it climbed up under the rim. One of the students gave me excellent instructions on how to get it out with a stick, but thankfully he came out at his own accord a few days later. The Ngukurr Community School is just lovely, and filled with enthusiastic teachers. The school day operates differently to any I've experienced. Students have breakfast directly from the school canteen first thing in the morning (before 8:00am), and then have either assembly (lower Primary years) or play sport (upper Primary/ lower Secondary), so every morning we meet the children at the basketball court and then head into class ... read more

Greetings from Ngukurr! Today we left Katherine and made it to Ngukurr late in the afternoon after stopping at Mataranka for lunch where I saw Gareth, Henry and Harriet. They all seem to be having a fantastic time, and it was difficult to leave them again. The road in to Ngukurr was pretty ordinary – certainly one of the bumpier ones I’ve been on during our travels, particularly the last 32km after Roper Bar. We had two river crossings, which were a bit of fun too. We are in our own three-bedroom house, which has a great view – I’ll take a picture tomorrow and post them. There wasn’t any cooking equipment in the house, so we went and borrowed some from the school kitchen. The school looks lovely, and there is also a new early ... read more

Hello there, So this day, we woke up just by ourselves. Or to be clearer, the neighbour kids woke us by playing soccer next to our camper. Thanks guys! We wanted to do something today, some little tour, but we were kinda late to book everything. So we made a little plan. We would take a boat tour at 3 pm, before we would have a pancake breakfast, get the groceries (yes, again) and have a swim. The pancakes were very ugly, but suprisingly delicious. After some grocerie shopping, we went back to the camping for a swim at the pool and at 2:30 pm, we walked ourselves to the touroffice and got on the boat to have a trip through two of the Katherine Gorges. They were absolutely beautiful. We saw a lot of rocks ... read more