Crusty Katherine campsite, Captain Pugwash and hot springs

Arriving in Katherine, we headed straight for Springvale Homestead Caravan Park – a place that had been enthusiastically recommended by a fellow camper in Kununurra. She had conjured visions of shady trees by a peaceful river, cute wallabies hopping up to us and nuzzling their soft heads against our legs, a crystal clear spring-fed pool – in short she described a heavenly campsite… The reality was that well… the place was cheap and crusty. In spite of our unappealing surroundings we rallied and hit the town for a big night of Chinese food and Madagascar 3 at the movies. Needless to say the kids loved the movie (and the choc-top), Bill thought it had some funny bits and Kate wondered whether she would ever watch a slow un-animated movie again…

Next day we headed for the local library – a place of air-conditioned comfort. Bill hooked into their wi-fi and was in download heaven, Zara grabbed a novel, curled up and disappeared from our world for an hour or two, and Sasha ran salivating to the children’s section and make Kate read 4 Captain Pugwash books in a row. We stayed at the library until they literally kicked us out and then headed for Katherine’s hot springs where we luxuriated for a couple of hours. The local kids were doing hair-raising jumps and bombs – making our itch to risk their own lives doing similar tricks.

Bill and Sash headed for the supermarket which gave Kate and Zara time to explore the Katherine Museum. Zara stayed glued to a video playing about the Katherine floods of 1986 whilst Kate checked out the other exhibits. Much of the information was interesting but the museum had a feel of one that hasn’t been updated in quite some time. For example, there was only a tiny display on the (incredibly rich and ancient) Aboriginal history of the Katherine region and the language and tone of the display was patronizing and disrespectful. Needs changing… Out the back we wandered through sheds of rusty old peanut picking machinery and the like. But the highlight for us was a sculpture made by a crazed local Russian who only ever ate tins of sardines – a rusty, abstract, space-based sculpture made entirely from – you guessed it – sardine tins…