Last day in Katherine

Update on the rooftop tinny. When we first arrived in FNQ and NT, we were a bit unsure where we would use the tinny, and if so, how much we would use it. We tied it up to the jetty in Gove for 10 days and used it often there, and we also used it at Limmen Fishing Camp.

Not too many fish dinners were caught, but we had fun. Theo had pretty much made up his mind that he would sell it when we got back home, as he wanted to upgrade both the size the tinny and the motor.

Tinny update: we don’t have to take the tinny back home, as we sold it to a young guy here in Katherine, working at Hose Power, Andrew Elliott.

A few days ago, we went into Hose Power to get a hose for the compressor and one thing led to another and Andrew said he was looking for a tinny, and Theo said he had one that he was thinking about selling. We have extended our stay here until Saturday, as Andrew does not get paid until the end of the week, but we didn’t need much persuading to stay longer and explore more of Katherine.

Twelve years ago, when we were in the NT, we were lucky enough to be there for military exercises called ‘Pitch Black’. This trip we have been here in time for military exercises called ‘Talisman Sabre’ which started on 22nd July and finished today, 4th August. It is a multinational military exercise led by Australia and the United States across 6 locations in Northern and Central Australia, and USA. The exercises switch between Australia and US every 2 years. Other countries attending as observers are Fiji, France, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, NZ, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, UK, Canada and Germany. There is a lot of jets flying overhead and between Katherine and Darwin. Unfortunately, the Army Taipan helicopter that crashed and disappeared on 28th July near Lindeman Island Qld was part of Exercise ‘Talisman Sabre’.

We first heard the jets when we stayed in Katherine on 11th and 12th July, again when we were on the way back from Nhulumbuy when we were camping at Jurassic Lookout on the Central Arnhem Road. While we have been back here at Katherine, Theo has loved the roar of the jets flying overhead and has been sitting outside with binoculars and camera in hand oblivious of anything happening around him.

We have enjoyed our Happy Hours every night with fellow campers, some move on, and others stay longer like us. We have spent the week with Wendy and Pete but they are moving on tomorrow also, heading north to Darwin. Wendy gave us a large slice of her beautiful home-made chocolate cake today and we had it for supper tonight. So yummy. Thank you so much Wendy.

While in town, we walked on the old disused railway bridge spanning the Katherine River and tried to imagine the devastating 1998 floods when the bridge was under water. Quite amazing.

Our host, the owner of the property Marcus Bader has written a book, which has not been published yet, and is happy for me to download it onto a USB stick, so I am looking forward to reading it.

We went to the Katherine Museum today which was very interesting and spent a couple of hours there looking around, and I brought a couple of books about the area, so have quite a bit of reading to do. Maybe we need to stay away longer……Read more