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NT NEWS LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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NT A MAGNET FOR TRAVELLING FAMILY

 
WE just wanted to let you know what we think of the NT. We love it.
This is our third visit in six years on the road. Our family consists of two adults, nine children, two dogs and a cockatoo. Our motorhome and trailer for our car have been our home since we left the Gold Coast some six years back.
The only part of the coast we have not seen is from Sydney to Port Augusta.
We were going to head that way and even go to Tasmania, but some unknown force has drawn us back to the NT.
It was very hard to leave last time. It felt like we were leaving home. We met so many great people who were so welcoming and treated us like part of their family.
The same goes for Alice Springs. We just wanted to turn around and go back as we drove out.
Our seventh child was born in Darwin in 2007. We lived at Truck City Berimah until the heat got to us and we rang the government tourism department. She told us we could hold-up at Robbie Robbins reserve and that it was to be reopened. We like to think we had a hand in reopening it.
We were greeted with beautiful shady sites. It was like moving into an oasis - a real blessing after being turned away from every park in Darwin: some saying they do not take kids at all.
This shocked the tourism dept as well as us.
However, we are camping at the Adelaide River showground at the moment as we missed this area last time. After two weeks we are still exploring the area.
We have a Facebook page (Holiday Road) if you would like to check us out. We are trying to promote domestic tourism in Australia.
We want to tell families it is possible. If we can do it, anyone can.
We would also like to fix a few problems families face when travelling - the main one being caravan parks. It is a huge problem in Darwin.
The cost of paying for each child makes it impossible for some families to stay. We meet many people who are cutting their stay short because of the cost.
Most of all we want everyone in the Territory to know they should be proud. We are always treated with respect and kindness.
Peter Cairns and family
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