Visiting the West Katherine Region with the Katherine School of the Air
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My Adventure at Auvergne With Simone
G'day my name is Eddie. Today I jumped on the Greyhound Bus. I had to travel 3 hours on the Victoria Highway to a station called Auvergne. Auvergne is 180 kilometres east of Kununurra and 75 kilometres west from Timber Creek. The bus pulled up at the sign.
As the Bus drove off I saw a Toyota and I couldn't see any one driving. I thought to myself "How am I going to drive when I can't even see over the dash board being such a small lizard." Then all of a sudden a girl stepped out of the car and she smiled and said, "My name is Min. I am allowed to drive because this is a private road. It is about 10 kilometres in". I walked over to the car and jumped in the front seat. "You are going to have to do two gates," said Min. I said "That is OK.'
She pulled over to the side of the road and showed me the East Baines. "This is our drinking water" she pointed out to me. Just then a fresh water crocodile popped up. We sat there for 5 minutes.
We arrived at the Homestead, I said "What a beautiful garden." "Yes, we are very lucky to live on a river bank," chuckled Min. She strolled me down to the graves and the first one she showed me was for Samuel Burns Crokes born 1852 died 1892. He was one of the managers who didn't survive on Auvergne. Samuel was shot dead arguing over a card game! George Nudely Fogarty Born 10-6-1895 Died 15-12-1972 also was a manager on Auvergne. Min told me he was a Digger in World War 1. Archibald V. Skuthorpe died June 30th 1918, 32 years old. He belonged to a Famous rodeo family.
After we did that Allan, Min's father took us fishing. He said "We don't let Tourists fish here because it is private property. We like to try and keep rivers clean and healthy." We were in the boat and Min caught a Barramundi which was well over 55 centimetres Half an hour later I caught one. They are a real thrill when you are winding them in. Min tells me that she has caught a 36 pound barramundi and a 26 pound barramundi We sat on the river bank and ate steak and boiled up the billy. At about 4:00 pm we left to go back to the homestead.
Min and Eddie outside her schoolroom.
It was 4:30 pm when we arrived back at the homestead. Min took the Hilux and she drove me down to the Big Boab. It was massive. Min told me that it was about 100 years old. The trunk is about 10 arms round. Min drove me past the homestead and took me for a swim. She told me there were no crocs in the billabong. We played on the rope and had swimming relays. We played in the billabong for an hour. Then when we got back Min caught the horses and we went for a ride.
It was 7:00 pm by the time we got back from riding. At 7:15 pm I said Good Bye and my mate picked me up and took me back to Darwin.
Our next hosts will be Luke and Dan at Newry Station.