Longreach

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We had been in Katherine for a week during which time we had some repairs done as well as doing some of the Touro stuff. The portable fridge was giving us a little grief or was it the auxiliary battery? We had some mixed diagnosis but finally we were pointed in the right direction. This bloke was flat stick but said he would have a quick look in about 10 minutes, fair enough I thought. Not 5 minutes passed and out he came to the car park, ran a few tests, back inside to grab some stuff to do a few more checks, located the problem, back inside to get the parts necessary to carry out repairs, fitted said parts, used up 25 minutes of his time and the fridge was once again firing. You beauty I thought! During the 25 minutes we had exchanged some friendly banter as I am want to do, he’d moved from Queensland many years earlier and I thought he’s a nice bloke.



Having been in the unfortunate position of having my car serviced in the NT I knew the Territorians could charge like wounded Water Buffalo. “How much do I owe ya”, I asked. “Oh”, (a silent gulp from me)”$10 will be fine”, he said. Ripper, I could barely contain myself, we gave him $20 and could not thank him enough.



Whilst in Katherine we headed off to the Gorge, not far out of town on the LHS in someone’s front yard they had an old army truck and a sign nearby saying – Japanese Bomb Crater 1942, which was next to an obvious hole in the ground. Fact or fiction I don’t know but I believe it to be true (photo’s will follow in the not too distant future). At the Gorge we did a walk to the Barrawei Lookout, a challenging trip in the hot sun but very beautiful scenery. From here we watched what was probably a 6 foot Croc gently swimming near the waters edge, with a nearby kayaker dangling his feet in the water while fishing I aimed my camera thinking I could get some award winning snaps here, fortunately for Mr Dangly it was not to be. It was only a Freshie anyway so that was not likely to happen.



Cutta Cutta Caves were very interesting and our guide Ethan was knowledgeable and entertaining. Knotts Landing was a very popular spot for swimming and the water at the Katherine Hot Springs was crystal clear and again very popular. Had a nice ride around town on the pushy and checked out the old railway bridge.



We stayed in 3 different caravan parks but the standout was at Manbulloo Homestead about 12 k’s out of town, this is a working cattle farm and boasts having the Katherine River as one of its attractions. Another attraction is the serenity of the place, aah yes, the serenity, though this was occasionally broken by the Tongan mango pickers on site breaking into song or prayer. A pleasant interruption at worst.



A couple of job offers came our way, in a number of spots around the country and working in very different types of jobs but we decided on Queensland and so hit the road again. We are really looking forward to starting next week and it is in another very beautiful location. Another bonus is it is near enough for us to visit our children or them visit us.



First night we stopped at Banka Banka Station where we met a nice couple from Victoria enjoying a wonderful trip then onwards to the Queensland border. I have said it before but I’ll say it again, Qld has the WORST roads in the whole of Australia, they are nothing short of a bloody disgrace!! Second night stopped in Mt Isa, it had started to rain intermittently 10 minutes after we crossed the border, not happy Jan! It rained a fair bit during the night and was damn cold in the morning, first night we’d slept without the aircon on for a while, there is always an upside. Tonight Longreach will enjoy our company. The night is cool and we have an old fella playing some tunes on his guitar right outside our van and peddling his CD’s with good interaction from the audience. Nice.



Got a few more K’s to go yet so best be preparing myself, talk soon.



Remember – it’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice.

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