chaval

hiya...reality check...there aint many good parts and Katherine is some what "out of control" at the mo.....lot of indigenous peeps doing what the majority seem to do all day and every day...which is abit of a shocker....unless u really have a reason to move there u'd best doing the tourist thing see the gorge and move on....

all the best

ubdai

This is the reason I posted. Need to know what I would be letting myself in for if I decided on it. With me it depends on where I could find employment in my background. Autocad drafting, land surveying.

I fancy NT, mainly for a change in the pace of life. Somewhere I bit more laid back. Where you 'live to work' or is it 'work to live' can never remember which is the best out of these two.

tia

emelems

We went there when we were touring Oz.. the gorge is beautiful.. the place itself was quite depressing and a bit intimidating.. I won't be going back..

Em x

emelems

There are plenty of places have a change of pace and different outlooks... if it were me, I would suggest that you have a reccie before you decide... there are a lot of social problems in Katherine...

Re the Land surveying, if Katherine didnt work out, you could try Pilbra or The Kimberelys over in WA... they are much much nicer and quite different from the UK lifestyle..

Em x

Em x

njk435

Katherine is home to RAAF Base Tindal, so there will be Defence Civilian jobs going there.
Wikipedia has a good write up on the town, don't dismiss the place on the posts of transient tourists, it can't be all bad if the RAAF are there (RAAF are very fusy and like to live in 5 star hotels!)

I believe the main reason the RAAF went there is to have a base in the north that is not too susceptible to cyclones.

upyerfud

Reckon you could add all the 'hotels' in Katherine together and you wouldnt get 5 stars. I stayed one friday night on the way back from a job over the border in WA. The motel was the type which locked the cars in at night. Pissed up locals roaming about. It was a taxi 400m to the RSL type club for a drink. Only white people inside kind of sums the place up. OK for a visit to do the touristy bits, not a good place to live.

calNgary

I think what everyone is trying to say is, if you like getting pissed in the park every day, then maybe a fight in the afternoon katherine is a good choice, but if not have a look out of town, i think the beer shop is always looking for extra staff on giro day

njk435

Not everyone!
There are plenty of people who live in Katherine who like it, I guess there are some who don't too. Stating that somewhere is not a nice place live based on a fleeting visit is a bit dumb, surely you would need to spend a bit of time there and see what else is around before deciding.
OP may be able to land a top job in Katherine, be able to own a nice property with some land and only go into town for shopping. I'd love to live down there and visit the national parks every weekend

emelems

I hear what you are saying, but I think gut feelings are usually what most people work on.. ie, you go to a place and you either like it or you don't... or you don't care one way or the other.. spending more time there usually enhances that feeling but rarely, inho, changes it... (tho I know there are always the exceptions)..

When I got to Katherine I just knew that it wasnt a town I was keen on.. like I said I found it depressing .. didnt say a word to my OH as we were travelling all over but when we left he said he felt exactly the same..

However, it is good to hear a different point of view.. if it were me and I fancied NT, I found Darwin a much nicer place.. it had such a feel-good factor about it!

Plus as these places are quite different from anything in the UK, I seriously think that a reccie would be the best bet.. that way the OP can make up their own mind..

Em x

calNgary

I agree but would hate to see this family arrive their without knowing what gose on it a lovely area when you get out of the town & its not just katherine alot of towns are the same. I think it would be dumb to not say what gose on sorry if my post offended enyone.

renth

I wonder how many of them are new migrants from the UK? my guess would be none. Christ, a huge number of the people who come to Perth don't settle so I can't imagine any "new chums" coping in a dusty, hot outback town full of aboriginals and blokes with ZZ Top beards.

Face it, nice canyon and hot springs but other than that Katherine is a Dump (with a capital D).

Gordo Marshall

Hi

Lived in the NT for 3 years out of the last 7 in Australia. Lived in Alice Springs, but been to Katherine a few times en route to Darwin. It is still around a good few hours from Darwin the the north, three-ways and Tennant Creek in the south, and even further to Alice Springs. So, please be aware these distances are vast!. Think about how you will manage remoteness, and I mean significant remoteness; it is not for everyone. Imagine being at Lands End and nothing until a place near Edinburgh for example!. These are the kind of distances you are talking about, and further ...

They do get flooding at some times in the big 'Wet', and with floods a couple of years back there were crocodiles swimming down the main street.

Having said all that Katherine is stunning in places, and really is the entrance to the Tropical North - so think about humidity too!.

Think about things to do - there is only so much, but the folks are salt of the earth in the NT I found, and the nicest and most 'Australian' in the whole of Australia is my personal view, having lives in other places too, which seem very superficial and consumeristic having lived in the territory.

Got to say the most fickle place I have ever lived in during my time in Australia was in Brisbane ... sorry folks, personal view, but I just hated it. Full of Red Necks, where the NT was NOT actually. Eccentrics yes, red necks, no.

Cheers

G

TakenThePlunge

I have friends who moved there 10 years ago and they're happy with the place. Still they moved from Selebi Phikwe in Botswana so were comfortable living in an isolated hot area