Katherine Outback Experience

We had a lovely evening at the Katherine Outback Experience.  We have lived in Katherine for over 2 years and have never been here before.  It is now on our list of places to take guests.   My kids enjoyed watching Tom Curtain brake in a wild horse and he also showed us how he trains dogs to work on the cattle stations.  It was a fun evening!

He even sang to us while riding a horse.

Cody was in love with all the animals running around.

While we were getting ready to leave,

we got to enjoy this beautiful sunset.

A Tour of Our Church Building

About 50kms south of Katherine, Northern Territory, you turn left onto this small paved road.  It takes you to several Indigenous communities, many are several hours away.  (On a side note, if a road train is coming the other way, it's a good idea to go into the dirt and get out of their way!)  If you drive about 20 minutes down this road you will come to Barunga, a small indigenous community of about 300 people.

Welcome to Barunga!

We are very blessed to be able to work in this community.  This community has a good Christian foundation, but hasn't had a pastor for many years.  Over 40 years ago the AIM (Australia Indigenous Mission) built this church in the center of the community.   We've been told this is one of the nicest churches on any community in the Northern Territory.  For many years, some of the olgaman (older woman) kept the church going by teaching Sunday School and doing Bible Studies.  They were thrilled when our team came along to help them.

Front of the church

Our new church sign

Our family in front of the church a few months ago.

Our sanctuary towards the front

Our sanctuary looking towards the back.

We have a morning tea table (back left)

and a welcome table (back right).

Go down through that hallway and you come to this room: 

Our Sunday School room

It is also where the adults meet to pray on Wednesday nights.

We also a kitchen not pictured because it still needs a lot of work!   And there is also a room upstairs off the Sunday School room, but that is currently being used as a storage room, so not really photo worthy.  :)

We also have a good bit of land around us.

My husband recently put up a volley ball net, which the kids love!

And here we are on a Sunday morning.

The Lord has been filling the seats!

Thanks for allowing me to give you a tour of our church.

God is good!

10 Things I Wish People Knew About My Field

The Baptist Missionary Women blog is doing another fun blog hop!  This time the theme is

"10 Things I Wish People Knew About My Field."

Thanks for joining us!

Before I share my 10 things, I just want to clarify that Australia is a large country and I live in the Northern Territory, so that is what I will be talking about - the Northern Territory.  Just remember, it is much different here than what you see in Sydney or Perth.

Just so you have an idea of how big Australia is,

here you can see that it's about the same size as the US.

And this is to show you the states and territories.

I live up there in the Northern Territory,

very far from Sydney and the other big cities.

So, here are 10 things I wish people knew about my field...

1.  We have two seasons - the wet and the dry.  We are currently in the "build up" which is a mini season between the dry and the wet.  And it's just plain hot!  Our hottest time of the year is around Christmas.  Here are common temps this time of year (in Fahrenheit).  Anyone want to come visit and sweat with us?!

2. We have gorgeous sunsets!  People come from all over to see our sunsets.  This photo was taken in Darwin, about 3 hours north.  It's one of my favourite places.

3. They say pretty much everything here will kill you: the dirt, snakes, spiders, and ... crocodiles.  These creatures kill people every year, and  yet people still insist on getting in little boats and going down the river to fish.  So, if  you come visit, here's my motto: "Stay out of the water, stay alive."

4. We have many other animals, that are less dangerous...

5.  Churches have freedom to teach in public schools.  They call it Religious Instruction or Religious Education.  What an amazing opportunity!  If you are a regular here, you know I just started teaching RI in the community school.  I teach all grades, and am loving it!

6.  We have many long roads.  There is one main road from Darwin to Adelaide (check the map above), this is one long and nearly straight road.  There is even a section that has open speed limits.  I share this because travelling here is not like travelling in the states.  You can go very long distances without seeing a petrol (gas) station.  When we travelled to Alice Springs, we learned to fill up and eat when there was opportunity and take plenty of water!

7.  Most indigenous communities can be hundreds of miles from paved roads, and  you need a permit to legally visit.  During the wet season, it can be impossible to reach some of these communities.

8. Most Australians we know make at least $50,000 per year, and housing and groceries are priced accordingly.  This article was in our local newspaper awhile back:

9.  The Indigenous Culture is very similar to the American Indians.  I've heard both groups say this.  Basically they owned the land first, and the white people came and took over, then later apologized and tried to solve the problems with money.  God called us to work with the Indigenous People here, and we were so blessed to be able to work with the American Indians (Navajo's) while we lived in America.  It was a great learning experience.

10. Australia is truly a beautiful place to live and the people are wonderful.  If you ever want to visit, we'd love to have you!

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to follow me or like me blog on facebook.

Please click here to keep going on the blog hop,

and meet Anne, a missionary wife in Thailand.

Field Trip - Tindal Caves

 

I've been a bit slack lately documenting our homeschooling.  I recently started working on our portfolios and often come back here for dates, and realized I've missed so much!

 

Last week we were able to visit the Tindal Caves (again!).  Tindal Caves is next to Cutta Cutta Caves. Tindal Caves are private caves and you are only allowed to go in when  you have a Park Ranger with you.  We've gone a few times with the Junior Ranger program, and Ranger Clare offered to take the homeschoolers.   Ranger Clare, as always, did an awesome job with the tour. 

 

We had several homeschooling families attend, I think this was our biggest excursion so far!

 

Because we had so many people (noise!), we weren't able to see any live animals.  The last time we went there was a snake on the handrail next to where Ranger Clare is standing in the photo.

 

At the back of the cave, Ranger Clare shared a beautiful story reminding us to be thankful of this great land we have hear and all the beauty it withholds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Territory Day!

Independence Day (4th of July) is my favourite holiday.  Obviously that's not celebrated here, but thankfully Territory Day is 1 July.  It's the one day a year where we can buy and set off fireworks!  Territory Day fell on Wednesday this year, and we have Kid's Club in Barunga on Wednesdays.  So we bought a box of fireworks and took them with us.  Our helper also brought a box, and a friend donated even more, so we had plenty to set off!

 

 

  

 

 

Everyone in the community was setting off fireworks, so we had quite a show!  The kids had an absolute blast.  This had to be the best Territory Day I've had here yet!

 

(Thanks, Kate, for some of the photos!)

 

Our Family Holiday (Part 6) - Uluru and Kata-Tjuta

On Thursday we left Alice Springs are drove 450km to see Uluru.  For years we looked at this photo on our prayer card and dreamed of seeing.  So this was a pretty big day for us.

 

 

Thanks for the reminder!

 

Mt. Conner

People are often fooled by Mt. Conner and think it's Uluru.

Still an amazing sight!

 

 

There she is - Uluru!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You were able to drive completely around Uluru and see it from all sides.

 

 

There are signs there asking people not to climb,

although they do allow it in some places.

But out of respect we just walked around.

 

Red dirt

 

About 50 kilometers from Uluru is Kata-Tjuta, or the Olgas.

 

 

 

A view of Uluru from Kata-Tjuta.

 

 

And Uluru at sunset.

 

 

Also, as a side note, it does cost to get into the National Park were Uluru and Kata-Tjuta are.  The cost for a year's pass for Territorians was $65.  I only share, because we hadn't budgeted this into our trip, and other's reading this who are planning a trip may want to know.  :)

 

We stayed in a cabin in Yalara, a little town near Uluru.

 

 

 

 

We found Swiss Miss hot chocolate in Alice Springs.

It was quite cold (4C), so they were happy to warm up with hot chocolate.

 

I wanted to see camels in the wild,

but this is as close as I could get.

 

Here is my favourite photo from our trip. 

Can you see Uluru in the background?

 

 

I absolutely love these clouds!

 

 

We left Friday and drove to Tennent Creek to stay the night.

 

I got this photo of a beautiful sunset there.

 

The petrol station offered kangaroo tails, fur and all.

Maybe next time!

 

 

That's the last of my photos.

Thanks for stopping by!