Day 71

Day 71 Katherine

Given our disappointment with the Tourist Centre, we made up a list of places we had pieced together and headed off. On the drive in we passed two sings, one said WWII Airbase and the other WWII

Bush Turkeys everywhere

Abattoir, so they were our first targets. During the war this area was very busy with army and airforce bases. It was a very important support centre for that time. We started driving out to the Airbase when we came to the rail crossing bridge and Maureen said that she had wanted to check the rail times as the Ghan comes through Katherine, her friend from school Jenny Morrison had mentioned that she wanted to do the Ghan. Just as we got on the bridge we could see a train at the station. Whack on the skids, screech into the turn off and up to the station and guess what the train was – the Ghan. It had just pulled in and was there for a 3 hour stop over and restock before heading on up to Darwin.

The Ghan

The Ghan

We drove out to the airbase sing and headed in about 4 kms and there it was, this straight section of tarmac that goes for 2kms exactly. It was made in 1942 and it is still in good nick today. We drove to the end and there were tracks off where they could taxi planes off into storage areas and there was a track straight of the end that went to a huge Mango Farm. The site has been used for a camp are by the looks of it but is

Old airbase

Trude ready for takeoff

now abandoned.

We drove back towards Katherine and found the old abattoir site sing and headed down the track. We found the site which really is just a heap of concrete slabs that was where they had established a huge processing plant to kill and freeze the meat. We headed back out and Maureen wanted to get a picture of the sign saying what it was and there was a faded sign

WWII Abattoir

underneath that actually said access to the site was prohibited! Oops!

Back in town, we went to the Museum. It was a great little museum with local history and stories and is well worth the visit. They have an original Tiger Moth that this guy Clyde Fenton flew as his part of getting medical services to the outback. He was a Doctor who learnt how to fly and went to Flynn and asked to be part of his Flying Doctor

Oops

Cadell Evans born here

service but he did not employ doctors as pilots! Not to be put off, he bought his own plane and did his own thing – mainly crashing planes by the sound of it! He crashed 3 planes in 6 months. He was eventually made part of the RFDS but was very popular around here. They had a video of when it flooded up here in 2006 and it was flowing 2 ms down the main road here and the hardships they faced. They have displays

Clyde Fentons plane

Clyde Fentons plane

on all the different cultures and ethnic backgrounds they have from White Russians back in the 1919’s through to the Vietnamese of the 70’s.

Whilst there we went over to have a bite to eat at the little café there. It is run by a lovely guy by the name of Geoff Mark. Apart from the café, he does Stockman Camp Tucker Nights where he cooks up a selection of different dishes all over open fires.

One Camel that did not get away!

Machinery

We ordered our Camel Burgers and sat and talked to him. We were his only customers and he was very friendly and chatty. We mentioned the tourist information, or lack of it, and he agreed. The town has a lot of history but does not promote it well or at all. He suggested that whilst we were over this way, down the road was the water tanks and if we were lucky, the gates would be open and we

Bomb

Bomb crater

could get a good view of the town; go to Knotts Crossing, the original town site until they shifted the pub and the town followed; there was the Crossing itself and there was also a bomb crater from an air raid during the war that was preserved out there. He mentioned that he had come to town many years ago and had walked into the pub and was greeted with “what the bloody hell are you doing?” this was from a mountain of a guy standing at the bar. He said “ I am looking for work” thinking this guy is going to

Knotts Crossing

Sabu Peter-Sing

kill him and the guy said, “ there are only 3 types of people who come here, Murderers, Misfits or Missionaries. Which one are you?” he said, “ I don’t have a bible on me and as far as I know I have not killed anyone, so I must be a misfit” The guy says “Come over here and have a beer, you are going to fit right in here”. We had our lunch and our chat and we would highly recommend his place to anyone coming through.

We followed his advice and went out to the water tanks but the gate was closed and Maureen made

an original home in town

me press the buzzer on the gate to see if they would let us in, but a very friendly voice said it was a secure worksite. Back down and over to the bomb crater, just beside the highway – no sign just roped off. Someone I think has tried to make something of it as an attraction, but not going or failed or gave up. It looks like it is in these people’s front yard, never mind. Then down to Knotts Crossing and there was water flowing over it but I could not get Maureen to go for a swim even though there were 2 others already there, might have something to do with the crocodile warning sign, she said 2 idiots were enough, I said the more idiots the better, changes the odds. Then up the top where the old town was until the guy who owned the pub there decided to shift it to the current town site and everyone went with him. We went past the hot springs which were full of backpackers and saw one of the original houses in town from the 50’s.

We went back to the Tourist place because Maureen needed to book a tour to Katherine Gorge for tomorrow (spoiler alert) and then we headed over to a statue of one of the stockman legends here named Sabu Peter-Sing. He went on to be the first aboriginal to take on the full role of station manager and was a horseman of some legend. Back at base we went to the pool for a swim and watched the ghost bats (see I looked them up) flying over and on their way to feed and then home to dinner.