The move to Katherine!

If you’re reading this, chances are you already know that I’ve taken a job with the ABC in Katherine, in the Northern Territory.

I finished up at The North West Star on New Year’s Eve, and started driving on January 2.

I went to Google maps to see how far it would be between Mount Isa and Katherine - about 1200 kilometres. But the directions were pretty funny.

Head out of Mount Isa on the Barkly Highway, continue for 635 kilometres. Turn right onto the Stuart Highway, continue for 648 kilometres. Arrive Katherine.

So it was pretty unlikely I was going to get lost.

I head off a bit later on Sunday than I had hoped. I was house sitting for the photographer at the Star, Jane, and by the time I put the last few things in the car, vacuumed the house and did the dishes it was 10am.

Here’s the Queensland/NT border, just west of Camooweal. The only time I’ve “been” to the NT was when I went to Camooweal for their campdraft and drove 100 metres across the border.

Up until this point the car was going fine, loaded to the max as it was. But when I stopped for a loo break a bit later, there was something a bit weird going on, less power in the car.

But I meandered along, had lunch at Barkly Homestead, and then came to the one intersection of the trip where I actually turned left and drove into Tennant Creek.

This is what the Barkly Plain looks like, more or less for all 600 odd kilometres. Sometimes there were bushes. An info sign I stopped at said it hasn’t changed for the last 500 million years. That’s what it felt like.

Now, some back-story. On New Year’s Day I broke the door handle of my driver’s side door. Annoying, yes, but I figured it was just one of those things that happens. But being a public holiday, and the next day being Sunday, I figured I would just have to deal with it.

But when I stopped at the motel in Tennant Creek I shut the door on my seatbelt and couldn’t get the door open. At all. Luckily I had renewed my NRMA membership before I left, and I was able to call the NT version – the AANT. Unfortunately the bloke in Tennant Creek was on holidays and couldn’t come around until 8am the next morning.

So I went and had a few beers at the Tennant Creek Hotel and went to bed. After my late start on the first day I wanted to get on the road much earlier. But it was about 9am when the AANT guy arrived and opened the door with a bit of a jiggle of the door handle – very embarrassing.

But I asked him about the engine and started up the car for him.

He said he wouldn’t drive it, and the engine was missing pretty badly. I could give it a go and might make it, might not. He would drive it, he said, but he did point out that he was a mechanic.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not a mechanic. In fact I once had to take my bike to the bike shop after trying to tighten the brakes. But it was January 3, the New Year’s Day public holiday and there was nothing open in Tennant Creek.

The worst-case scenario would be breaking down in the middle of nowhere, which is describes pretty well all of the Stuart Highway.

So after a chat with Dad, I decided to see how the car would go from Tennant Creek to Three Ways roadhouse, 26 kilometres up the road. If that went well, I would see how it went to the next roadhouse, and so on.

The car sounded alarmingly like a lawnmower, but once it got going it seemed okay. So I continued on, holding my breath.

It was all going well until I stopped for petrol in Elliot, and, embarrassingly, shut my door on my seatbelt again!

I had seen the guy open it, and he said all I needed to do was open the door a bit harder. But I tried and tried and couldn’t get it open, and I didn’t want to break it. The guy at the servo directed me to the AANT guy’s house, and he was good enough to come and open it first try for me. I’m really going to have to learn that technique.

So up the Stuart Highway I went. The landscape for the first few hundred kilometres was quite outbacky, with a few hills and crests.

This was a memorial to Sir Charles Todd, the bloke who designed and oversaw the construction of the Overland Telegraph. For those of you playing at home, that was the telegraph line that linked the rest of Australia to the UK for the first time. Amongst other thing, this meant we could get the cricket score in the UK overnight, rather than in a few weeks. The memorial marks roughly where the line joined. It was built from the south and the north and met in the middle. Note the telegraph pole in the background. I’m not sure if this is legit or not, but it’s interesting!

I actually wish I had gone to the repeater station at Tennant Creek, but I was fretting about my car when I passed it and didn’t want to stop when it seemed to be going well. I also reckon I will be back down there for work at some point, so watch this space. Katherine also has a repeater station, which I will visit in due course.

The Stuart Highway has a lot of tourist signs advertising World War II historic sites. Again, I wanted to stop and have a look but the roads were dirt and wet, and given the mechanical dramas I figured it would be better to visit another day. But I’m pretty keen to have a look. After all, in terms of Australia in WWII, this was where the action was.

As I drove along under clear blue skies I eventually saw some clouds on the horizon. As I edged closer it became apparent it wasn’t just a few clouds. This was a monsoonal low! Excuse the dead bugs on my windscreen.

I hit some pretty serious rain, which was actually quite nice because it cooled things down a bit.

The landscape also changed and the country became greener. I suppose the further north you get the more rain falls. There were more trees as well. This photo is pretty blurry, but you get the idea.

So I was pretty well stuffed by the time I got here. The ABC is putting me up in a caravan park cabin for a few nights, and I have a couple of numbers to ring about a place to live.

I start work tomorrow. It’s a rural reporter position, which means I will be filing for the Australia’s longest running radio show, the Country Hour – not Hamish and Andy believe it or not. I’ll also be presenting a 15 minute rural news segment at 6.15am (that’s early!) three days out of every six. There’s also opportunities to file for national programs like Bush Telegraph on Radio National and the World Today.

Katherine seems like an interesting sort of town. It’s about 9000 people and has similar sort of services to Parkes. In fact the Woolies seems a lot nicer than Mount Isa’s, which is almost triple the size of Katherine!

The heat and humidity is pretty spectacular, but I’m told it’s worse in Darwin. But I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the whole thing and looking forward to my first day at work tomorrow.

I was thinking about my first few days in Mount Isa, and it’s definitely a better feeling to be here! Though I suppose a lot more had changed when I moved to Mount Isa.

I’m going to try to post blogs a bit more regularly. I well and truly dropped the ball in recent months, but with a new town, new job and plenty of travel for work I’m sure there will be plenty to write about!

Watch this space.

Back in Mount Isa

Well, I'm back in Mount Isa where it's 34º with a UV rating of about four million. But at least it's a dry heat, which has the added bonus of drying my washing in ten minutes (that's not actually exaggerating).

Being back home was awesome, as was the training that I went to. The best part was getting a tour of The Sydney Morning Herald office, and getting to sit down with the editor for half an hour and ask questions. There was also a really good session on photography, and a lot of stuff on writing. Also, I learned the beginnings of shorthand and now have to practice a lot so I can try to get it up to speed.

The week after the training I went to Mum and Dad's at Moss Vale, and borrowed a car to go to Newcastle to see some people. I also went down to Kiama for a day, which was absolutely lovely. Then back to Sydney for a night, and I've flown back to Mount Isa via Brisbane today.

So here I am, absolutely exhausted, waiting for my washing to finish. There are a lot of mixed feelings about coming back. Part of me really didn't want to, but part of me was excited to come back and see my friends up here again.

But back I am, so I will just have to make the most of it. Actually, one of the things that I realised when I was back is that I actually have grown fond of the place, or at least some of the people. If I contrast that with how I was feeling in the first few weeks, it is a big, big change. I wouldn't say I love it or want to spend the rest of my life here, but I'm two months into a twelve month cadetship already, and I want to make the most of my time in the north west.

So it's back to The North West Star tomorrow, back to getting up early and ironing shirts. But there's also a lot to look forward to.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to catch up with me, I really appreciate it.

House hunting

No photos today, as I've spent most of the day house hunting or sleeping!

I'm really, really tired, I guess the driving is catching up on me. I've seen a few places today, and am waiting to see a shared house this evening that I'm feeling good about. So fingers crossed!

I have also discovered that I can come sit in McDonalds and use their free wireless internet! It's much better than paying to use to internet in my motel room. Now, I know that some of you will disown me for visiting McDonalds, but I'm not buying anything and I'm using their internet, so really I'm just ripping off the corporation. Power to me!

I had intended to do a few touristy things, but by the time I saw a few units and got some groceries for lunch, I was absolutely exhausted and had to have a nap! Maybe the heat it zapping me too. It's not too hot, but I've been driving around in my car and as it turns out there is pretty much no shade in Mount Isa. This makes for a sweaty and dehydrated Stevo.

Most of the real estate agents have this policy that I have to drive past the place I want to rent before I can inspect it. So that's what I've been doing today, and I've got a jam packed morning full of inspections-proper. The weird thing is that there doesn't seem to be any apartment blocks here, in the way one would see in Newcastle, Sydney or even Parkes. There are a lot of big houses that have been divided, or a block of maybe four little apartments constructed out of cinder blocks on a very narrow block.

If anyone wants to lend me a few hundred thousand, we can go into the property developing business. The market seems pretty tight up here, more expensive than I thought it would be.

But hopefully I'll have a place soon!

I'm here!

20º 43’ 31.0”S 139º 29’ 48.3” E

Hello from The Isa (as us locals call it)!

Yes, I’m finally here, sitting under the air conditioner in my motel room. The drive was very long and tiring today, but I’m here safe and sound.

The Editor of the paper, Tahnee, is going to come meet me and show me around tonight, so for now it’s a chance to rest a bit, which is much appreciated and needed.

Again, I was pretty surprised at how green it was today, not the Outback experience I had expected.
And this is why. There has been big water puddle on the side of the road since Moree or so, but this was the road past Longreach that was closed recently. The road was on a levy bank and the water was particularly close, but there were a few cross roads that I could see were cut off.

As I was coming into Longreach I could see this big red thing that I thought looked like the tail of a Qantas jet. But that would be silly, I said to myself, it would have to be a 747 to be that big, and what would a 747 be doing in the middle of the desert?

Well, it was at that point I remembered that Longreach is the birthplace of Qantas! This jet was there, and you can see an old jet behind. I would have liked to have stopped and had a look, but it was only eight thirty in the morning and I didn’t really want to stop for long. I guess it will still be there for another day.
I have stopped to look at a few interesting things along the way, but I’ve tried to balance seeing what I wanted to see with not wanting to make a long trip longer. I would have liked to stop and learn more about the dinosaur fossils at Winton, and have had a look at the Workers Heritage Centre in Barcaldine. But again, I guess they’ll still be there another day.

I also went through Cloncurry, which is famous for two reasons. One, it was the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (I remembered that from my days working there!) and two, it has the record for the hottest recorded temperature in Australia. Something like 53.3 (from memory). Not quite that hot today, but hot enough.

A lot of very straight, boring road again today. Except for a while it looked like I was in a roadrunner cartoon! There were a few ranges around every now and then, and occasionally there was this weird formation.

The road from Cloncurry to Mt Isa was very different from most of the trip. It was mainly over hills, with a turns and ups and downs. It was much more interesting!

Okay, that’s it for today. I guess I’ll put up some more about Mount Isa when I explore a bit more! I’m going well though, am very happy to be here safely and to not have to drive anymore.

On a last note, all those naysayers who were bagging my car can now go get stuffed! Russel (my car’s name) passed with flying colours!

CORRECTION: Qantas was actually founded in Winton, but for some reason the museum is in Longreach.

The road less travelled

I'm going to take three days to drive to Mount Isa, around 700-750kms a day.

This is the way I'm gonna go:


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I'm leaving Newcastle on the 10th of January, and aiming to make it to St George, hometown of Barnaby Joyce, on the first night. That'll be 750kms.

The second night I'm going to aim for Barcaldine (I'm not sure how to pronounce this town, can anyone help?), which will be 723kms.

The last day will be 742 kms, and take me all the way to Mount Isa.

That's a total of 2215kms over three days! A long, long way...

Getting the band back together

I've decided to fire up the ole' blog because I'm moving to Mount Isa in Outback Queensland!

I've accepted a cadetship at the North West Star which is a Monday to Friday daily paper. There are three other journalists in the newsroom, so I'll definitely be thrown in the deep end. This is a good thing, though! It means I will have to cover a wide range of stuff, and I will get opportunities that I wouldn't get in a well resourced metro newsroom.

So, where is Mount Isa, I here you ask? In the middle of no where, as this map will show you!


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It's roughly the same latitude as Townsville, but something like a 10 hour drive inland. To put it another way, it take two hours to fly to Brisbane in a 737.

So right now I'm packing up my stuff in Carrington. I'm only taking one car load of stuff, so everything that doesn't fit is being sold, given away, thrown out or stored in Mum and Dad's shed in Moss Vale.

It's a pretty big change, and I'm both excited and nervous.

I'll try to update this once a week or so. I've worked out how to post from my mobile phone, so I might even try to post something from the road (if there's service!).