Around Oz with the Munchkins: Losing a wheel in Litchfied, seedy hotels and plastic bowls in Katherine

We decided to take the scenic 4WD track out of Litchfield towards Douglas Hot Springs, our next destination. It was pretty rough, but fun and very pretty and so we were travelling along happily until Bill glanced in the side mirror and screeched a series of expletives. One of the trailer wheels was wobbling madly and threatening to fall off altogether. We had no choice but to creep slowly along in an attempt to get into phone reception range so we could call for help. Bill did an excellent job steering carefully over some pretty rough patches and through a couple of water-crossings but finally with a tremendous thump the wheel fell off and the trailer crashed down on the right side. It was unmovable and in the middle of the track. At this point, Bill burnt two fingers badly on the fallen wheel –just to add to the general drama of the moment. Sasha was still talking 19 to the dozen about Harry Potter and Zara was deep into a book and hadn’t really even noticed that we had stopped…

We reckoned that 4WDs could get around us ok and anyway there didn’t seem to be anyone else using the track, so we unhitched the trailer, grabbed a few essentials from it and headed towards the main road to call the trusty RACV. Bill travelled with his fingers in a container of water while Kate navigated a few more water crossings and was relieved that we didn’t meet anyone coming the other way who would come across our discarded trailer. We couldn’t get reception for at least an hour after we hit the main road, but eventually we got onto the RACV total care people and discussed all sorts of options for towing and accommodation. I’m not going to say much about RACV total care because I don’t want to be accused of having the blog sponsored… but wow they have totally saved our buts twice now…

We knew we would have to bypass Douglas Hot Springs, Butterfly Gorge etc and head straight for Katherine to wait until the trailer was towed and fixed – and so we began the long drive to the seedy Katherine hotel into which the friendly RACV folk had booked us… So much for our return to the bush… But the kids were besides themselves with excitement – they LOVE hotels and felt it was the height of luxury. Kate and Bill less impressed – particularly by the knock on the door at 3am by drunken woman asking for water!

Next day we learned that we would be in Katherine for about a week whilst the trailer was being fixed. We were glad we had our cases of clothes etc but quickly realised that we hadn’t grabbed our crockery/cutlery box, any food, books and other necessities. We spent the week eating very basic food (lots of BBQs) from plastic bowls with teaspoons… All part of the adventure.

While Katherine might not be everybody’s cup of tea, it’s really not a bad spot to be stuck for a week. The kids were happy to spend some time in the excellent Katherine library, we enjoyed the hot springs again, checked out the three local op shops, and had a ‘cultural experience’ at the Top Didj Gallery. This involved an friendly Aboriginal guide called Manuel who chatted to us a bit about his life out bush, his first experience of white people, his sadness at the lack of cultural knowledge in areas like Katherine, and tried to explain a bit about the complicated kinship system. Manuel then taught us how to do a simple painting and we all had a go, which was heaps of fun. Bill painted a squid (!), Zara a yam, and Sasha and Kate painted long-necked turtles. Zara and Sasha also painted their clothes! After painting we learnt how to make a fire with sticks, which was remarkably quick and easy. We were all beside ourselves with excitement at having done this especially Sash who has been telling everyone since that he started a fire without a clicker. We also had a go at throwing a spear using a woomera – aiming at a cut-out kangaroo. Sash then announced that he would be hunting for our dinner each night from now on, but Manuel told him gently that boys didn’t start to hunt until they are in their mid-teens.

We also used our time in Katherine to do some day trips. We visited Douglas Hot Springs which was total bliss – shallow pools of water of varying temperatures in which we wallowed for hours chatting to a physics teacher and a bloke who specialised in making stuff from animal by-products. As they often do, the kids joined another family leaving Kate and Bill to wallow and chat in peace… Another day, we drove down to Bitter Springs and Mataranka for another day of wallowing in hot springs. Really, the NT has a ridiculous amount of beautiful natural swimming spots. We feel a bit sad at the thought of returning to Melbourne where, lovely as it is, swimming is usually confined to indoor pools.

A highlight of our week in Katherine was a visit from Tanya. We had been hoping to see her because she has recently accepted an exciting job offer for which she will be based in Katherine and so is travelling regularly from Darwin to attend meetings etc. Lucky for us Tanya decided to visit despite no meetings being scheduled. We were all excited to see her but Sash was positively trembling with anticipation. Tanya took a room in our lovely (?!) hotel and each of the kids had a sleepover with her. We did a day trip to a lovely place called Edith Falls – yet another glorious swimming spot north of Katherine. Zara, Tanya and Kate swam over to the falls and saw a water monitor whilst Bill and Sash played a game called ‘dump me under like rumbling thunder’- another of Sash’s inventions.

Sad to say goodbye to Tanya again the next day but we consoled the kids with the fact that we will see her on Christmas Eve - which is not that far away (frightening!). We shopped up a storm, collected and packed our trailer and resumed our journey.