Being school holidays and also their show week Kununarra was busy so we decided to go straight out to Parry’s Farm in the Parry’s Nature Reserve out towards Wyndham. It is a lovely quiet spot with lots of birds and the Marlgu Billabong nearby which we visited on our last trip. We had a couple from Atherton, Gary and Heather, camped next to us. Gary and Paj both love their camp fires so we ended up having shared camp oven meals most nights. The first one was a pot roast. The next night another couple who Gary and Heather kept bumping into on their travels arrived and we all had honey chicken, damper with dates and the leftovers from the night before. Our last meal was beef casserole, roast lamb and veges and date damper with honey. We are getting quite good at this camp oven cooking! While in the area we went up to look at the Five Rivers Lookout at Wyndham. When we were there last year there were a lot of bush fires around so the view was very hazy. It was better this time but still very difficult to get a good photo. We went to the Billabong a couple of times and took some photos of the birds but there didn’t seem to be as many there as last year. We were there a month earlier than last year so that could have had something to do with it. Many of the birds are migratory and it was a little early for them.
We
arrived in Katherine on the 11th July and stayed till the 17th.
I spent some time in the library doing some research for my ESL Teaching
Diploma that I am doing while Paj relaxed back at camp. There were a
few things we missed doing last year so we did a bit of sightseeing.
Edith Falls was lovely. We had a long steep hike up to the top falls
but it was well worth the effort especially for those who don’t mind the
cold water. There was a lovely pool at the top. We drove up to
Katherine Gorge and spent some time up there bird watching. The
Katherine School of the Air was really interesting. It was a shame it
was school holidays or we would have actually seen it in action but we
had a good informative talk of how it all works. It would be a really
interesting and rewarding place to work. They cover Pre-school up to
Year 12 and it is nearly all done interactively over the internet. They
have special needs and ESL teachers as well. All the students have a
registered tutor at home whether it be a parent or a live in tutor and
they oversee all the school work and make sure it all gets done. The
students get visits from the teachers a couple of times a year and
during the school holidays the students and parents come in to Katherine
for a camp week based at one of the local schools. The students have
sports days, dances etc and Parent teacher interviews are held.
They have students all over the northern territory and some overseas,
including Thailand.
Heading East 2009
Part One - Perth to Katherine
