Katherine

Our first day in Katherine was spent doing at least 10 loads of washing as well as hosing the down the van, which was covered in red dust.  The car was in better shape - it had been kicking up all the dust and just pulling the van right through the clouds.

The caravan park we stayed in has a restaurant called 'The Big Fig' and we went for dinner one night.  The seating is all outside under a big fig tree (hence the name obviously) and fairy lights are strung around the tree.  The food was nice but they really struggled to tell me which meals had egg in them.  It was like they'd never been asked about allergens before.

Ben collects bottle tops and was stoked when the lady behind the counter gave him a full bowl of the ones she had accumulated through the evening.  Some of the XXXX ones had trivia on the back so that provided some entertainment too.

Katherine isn't as big as I had imagined and most of the shops were shut by midday on the Saturday.  We wanted to have a coffee and nice sandwich for lunch but finding a cafe was impossible.  We ended up with pies and coffee from Brumbies, eaten standing up in the shopping mall because there was no seating.  Luckily there is a big Woolworths and we were able to stock up on everything we needed for the next few days.   

We visited the nearby Cutta Cutta Caves and did a one hour tour with a very non PC tour guide.  She cracked slightly inappropriate jokes and was very knowledgeable but said "in saying that..." every second sentence which was a little distracting.  She said that the caves were named by the local Aboriginal tribe in the 80's at the request of the government. The elders came into the cave, saw the sparkling rocks inside and named them Cutta Cutta, meaning 'Many Stars'.

Rock formations on the roof of the cave.

Sparkling rocks.  Cutta Cutta means 'many stars'

That afternoon we also went to the "Top Didj Cultural Experience" where we spent a few hours with a local Aboriginal man called Manuel.  He was awesome and told us about his childhood and his culture.  He is obviously very motivated to share his culture and was honest about the challenges that his people face.  He is frustrated and disappointed that the young Aboriginal people have no interest in learning the traditional ways - it must be devastating to see your history and culture being lost so quickly.

Manuel playing didgeridoo for us.

He played didgeridoo, sang for us and told us about some of the rules within the tribe that govern who they are allowed to marry and how their family structures work.  He showed us how to paint in the style of his tribe and we each did a small artwork following the seven steps that he outlined.  We tried making fire by rubbing sticks together and then had a go throwing a spear at a wooden kangaroo using a woomera (spear holder).  At the end of the afternoon we met a rescued wallaby joey called Annabelle and the boys fed her pieces of sweet potato.  They wanted to take her home and thought she was the cutest thing they had ever seen until the owner brought out two more baby joeys, so small that they are still wrapped in blankets and being fed only milk.  This was one of our favourite afternoons of the trip so far and if you ever go to Katherine you should definitely go and meet Manuel at this experience.

With Manuel and our paintings.

Ben making fire.  It's hard work!

Ben about to let fly.

Ben and Daniel with Annabelle.

Lou with a joey.

Ben with a joey.

Our second awesome experience in Katherine was going to the 'Katherine Outback Experience' show.  It was at the property of Tom Curtain who is a horse breaker/trainer, working dog trainer and country music singer/songwriter.  He combines all of these skills in the show which starts with a demonstration and explanation of horse breaking.  He took a flighty, feisty young horse who had never been handled and over the course of an hour or so gently persuaded her to tolerate being touched, having a rope around her neck, a bridle, then saddle, then rider.  He finished up that activity cantering around the ring on her.  It was absolutely fascinating.

Get away from me, human!

Now happy enough with a saddle on.

Riding!  Amazing transformation.

He then brought in his own horse which he has trained to roll out his swag for him and lie down.  He got out his guitar and sang a song on horseback (sitting), sang one later on horseback (standing!) and another whilst riding and guiding the horse with his legs while be played guitar and sang.

He and the horse had just been lying down on the swag.

They brought out a couple of buffalo, a mule and Brahman cow for everyone to pat and the boys got to water down the buffalo with a hose.  We were then treated to a working dog demonstration which concluded with the dogs riding on horseback before they ended the show by allowing us all to play with half a dozen puppies.  It was awesome, interesting, enlightening and fun.  We loved it!  Tom's songs are also great so we bought his CD too.

Ben watering the buffalo.

Playing guitar standing on horseback.

It is interesting being up here in the outback and gaining a different perspective on things.  They talked a lot about the impact of the live cattle export ban and how this show that they are doing was born of necessity when all of a sudden, cashflow into the cattle business dried up.  Tom went from having 15 horses a month to break/train to none and he ended up gigging 4 nights a week to earn money.  Even the local beautician in Katherine closed as overnight they lost 30% of their clientele.  Things are only just starting to recover now, and tourism is playing a big part too.