Katherine NT

Our last day in Katherine was a big one. First stop was the Katherine Outback Experience, based on Tom and Annabel Curtain's big working cattle property, a few kilometres out of town - off the Stuart Highway.  

At first sight - a few things looked very familiar to us - a young horse in the yard ...........

.... and quite a familiar looking arena - but about twice the size of what we're used to at Freshford/Forest Park back in Canberra ............

We sat down for the show - starting with Steph and "Espresso Martini" in the lunge arena. Steph described the young untrained horse (mare) as "spicy". She was being trained to accept Steph to approach her (without turning her hind quarters to her and delivering a kick) and eventually putting a halter and lead rope on her. 

We sat spellbound for over half an hour watching the process. Steph got within about 40cm of the horse's head eventually - but Espresso Martini wouldn't co-operate any more than that this morning. Steph had a mic on and talked us through everything she was doing - quite mesmerising really. As she says horses teach you PATIENCE! 

Interestingly, we noticed that as soon as Espresso Martini got let out into the holding pen she very quickly became more co-operative and accepted a halter and a big love up from Steph - but that was away from the main stage and everyone's attention!

There were quite a few families at this show so halfway through the Espresso Martini halter drama they offered the little ones a diversion - hand feeding the baby pigs and goats. That was very popular with the kids!  

Next we saw horses at a more advanced stage of training. This beauty had been trained to lie down on command - onto a swag. Others were just learning the early stages of this skill (lowering the head first).

They train their working horses to accept animals riding on their backs - 'cos apparently when you're out mustering in the Outback riders often have to carry their muster dogs with them - or a baby calf maybe?

They train their horses to work with buffalos too as they're a pretty common presence on an Outback muster too - along with feral goats and donkeys. This Albino buffalo was a very pretty resident on the property - and happy to accept a pat and a few snacks.

.... as were the resident donkeys.

Australian Brahman cattle are the foundation of the beef industry in the NT. They easily handle tropical conditions and are resistant to ticks and parasites. The station horses and working dogs are all trained to work with these massive, powerful beasts - although Steph demonstrated to us how gentle they can be once they're used to humans (although their tongues are like sandpaper she says).

We saw working dogs at various stages of their training working with the goats - and then the goats hopping up on the backs of the horses. The goats couldn't wait to do this after all those young muster dogs had finished herding them around and around the arena!

They wait until the dogs are at an advanced stage of training before they work with the Brahman cattle.

A demonstration of Australian Stockmans' Challenge skills and what's involved with Camp Drafting was pretty thrilling!

Although this looks a pretty showy trick in the pic below it was explained as getting the horses trained to cope with all the demands of an outback muster: being able to

jump up on a truck or float without ramps etc, coping with whips cracking, scary big animals everywhere etc etc.

The last demonstration was about training horses to be led as a group on short ropes.

Steph was using Tom Curtain's old roping saddle for this work - a fact I wouldn't have even noticed a few years back before I started to learn things about saddles.

These horses looked pretty chilled after their hard morning's work in the arena.

We really enjoyed the show at the Katherine Outback Experience. No doubt this was due to our increased interest in horses these days (thank you Abi and Sammy) but also because Rob and I still have some strong Queensland Outback DNA in our blood (thanks to our grandparents) that must score us some recognition with the dust, the animals, the harsh environment and the resilient characters who work with all that. 

Afterwards we enjoyed a simple but delicious lunch at the Pop Rocket Cafe under the trees outside the Tourist Information Centre, probably the only classy, hipster type experience you'll find in Katherine township.

We visited the highly recommended Top Didj Art Gallery a few minutes drive from our Discovery Park on Gorge Road after lunch. The gallery, which has been in existence for around 30 years, represents around 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait artists including Judy Napangardi Watson, members of the Pwerle family, The Nnapurulla family, Makinti Napanangka, and the Tjampitjinpa, Tjapaltjarri and Japaljarri clans. There were big prices on the works in this room.......

... and more affordable lesser known works in this area of the gallery where local and interstate artists come and work when they want to. An amazing gallery!

We were booked into a Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge Cruise on our last afternoon in Katherine. The Nitmiluk National Park is part of the traditional lands of the Jawoyn people and the whole of the gorge area is a very big part of Jawoyn dreaming.  We set out in the late afternoon for a two hour cruise of two of the thirteen gorges of Nitmiluk.

The gorges are home to many fresh water crocodiles (and the occasional Saltie!). It's nesting season and we saw a number of plump looking females sunning themselves on the sandy edges of the gorge. 

These sandstone rocks are over 1.6 billion years old - they were once part of a river delta when seas covered much of Northern Australia. They make a dramatic backdrop to the gorge.

At this point we disembarked our first boat - and walked for around 400 metres before boarding a second boat to cruise the second gorge........ allowing us to get this close up view of some Aboriginal rock paintings.

Not long after we started cruising the second gorge the so called "Jedda Rock" came into view. The 1955 film Jedda was the first Australian feature film shot in colour and the first to star Aboriginal lead actors. It was largely shot in Nitmiluk Gorge. The water near the rock is tied to Jawoyn Dreaming stories, specifically the Rainbow Serpent, and is a sacred site.

In times of flood in the wet season the water in the gorge can reach above the level of the second small "cave" in the pic below.

Returning to our boat parked in the first gorge, before the trip back ................

The cruise was a lovely experience and in the quietness of our return to the landing jetty I had time to look at my sneakers after our 3 weeks in FNQ and the Top End. They were new sneakers for this trip - the red dirt and the wear tell a story of the amazing holiday we've had. In a way it will be a shame to wash it all off when we get back to Canberra.

This tree lodged at height in the branches of another tree also tells a story of the flood damage of the last wet season.

We made our way back to our Discovery Camp cabin as the sun was dipping below the horizon. We were met with another distinctive Territory sight along the way - a "controlled burn" at the side of the road - making for a dramatic ride home and an even more spectacular sunset - and a fitting finale to our last day of Outback travel.