www.ntnews.com.au Northern Territory News, Friday, December 25, 2009 — 5

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

all around the world

REVVED UP: Diesel mechanic Alex White has been blown away by the sights of the Frozen Continent

He arrived in October and won’tleave until February 2011.

It was -10 degrees whenhe arrived.

‘‘But it’s quite nice now,’’ hesaid. ‘‘Just above freezing point.’’

Mr Slade has also worked in theArctic — he served a fly-in, fly-outcontract at the Swedish spacecentre Esrange.

He was working for Imparja inAlice Springs when he decided ona career change — from televisiontechnician to commercial pilot.

But colleague John Caswellpersuaded him to first try Antarc-tica where he had worked 30years earlier.

Mr Slade is not worriedabout spending winter on the

Frozen Continent with only 25other people.

‘‘I’m not worried,’’ he said.‘‘We’ve all been screened to makesure we can handle it.’’

Mr White, who has lived inDarwin for several years, saidAntarctica was the ‘‘most amaz-ing’’ place he had ever been.

‘‘Every time I go out in the fieldI see something that blows meaway, whether it be an iceberg ora snow petrel.’’

He’s working today, whichmeans his Christmas has been putback until Sunday. ‘‘We’ll have abig feed then and a few drinks.’’

The Australian Antarctic Div-ision is carrying out scientificresearch at Casey.

SPIRIT OF THE SEASON: Sgt Owen Auricht with wife Gail, their twochildren Georgia, 7, and Jake, 9, and the family dog Chester will not let livingin the outback dampen their Christmas

ByREBEKAHCAVANAGH

THE Auricht family loves Christ-

mas — and they don’t let living in

the NT Outback stop them from

getting into the festive spirit.

Each year they transform the

inside of their home into a magical

fairyland full of lights, tinsel,

decorations and even the odd train

cruising around on tracks through

the lounge room.

‘‘We go all out at Christmas,’’

father-of-two Owen Auricht said.

‘‘You have to watch you don’t

step on anything as you walk

around the house. But you’re only

a child once and the kids don’t

have any other kids to play with

out here so we try and make it as

special as possible.’’

Sergeant Auricht is a bush cop

based at Kulgera, south of Alice

Springs, just 21km from the NT/

SA border.

He will spend today in the

community with his wife Gail and

their two children, Jake, 9, and

Georgia, 7 — and some extra

family who have travelled from

Alice Springs.

‘‘It can be a little isolated at times

and we had to be very forward-

thinking with organising every-thing for Christmas as it’s not likewe can say, ‘oh I forgot a present I’lljust duck down to Kmart’.’’

But Sgt Auricht will not be ableto fully relax with a few beerstoday as he is on call and will haveto drop everything with his familyif duty calls.

And with severe weather threat-ening the area from the tail end ofex-Cyclone Laurence, as the dis-trict’s counter disaster controller,that is more than likely to happen.

‘‘Hopefully it won’t be too busybut it looks to be a very wet one,’’he said.

PARTYON: Life of the Christmas party Frank Scholz. Picture: BRAD FLEET

ByALYSSABETTS

DARWIN’S seniors will be havingtheir own hoedown this Christmas,if Frank Scholz has any say in thematter. ‘‘We’ll do something — wewon’t be quiet,’’ he said.

He and fellow reveller HanneloreGaertner — both social butterfliesand aged care residents at TiwiGardens Lodge — will probably be incharge of the music. ‘‘Maybe somegood Scotch or Irish music — whynot? That’s lively stuff.’’

As the festive season rolls on, the89-year-old charmer has been think-ing of his late wife Esther, whosebirthday was two days before Christ-mas. ‘‘We were married for 52 years.What a beautiful life we had.’’

‘‘She’d never get cross with me.She’d say ‘Frank, kiss me quick’ —she was a peacemaker.’’

Esther’s death — nearly two yearsago now — saw Frank move fromSouth Australia to Darwin, to beclose to his son David and his family.

While he’s a new Territorian, he’sranged across the NT many times —

usually with a rifle or two in tow.‘‘In 1950 we were in Alice Springs

... and I got arrested in a barber’schair,’’ he said.

‘‘The barber saw a pistol hangingon my belt — maybe he thought Imightn’t pay him or that I might pullthe pistol on him.

‘‘When the police arrived I said ‘letme get my haircut first and then wecan settle things’ — I knew I had mylicence, but I wasn’t licensed for theNorthern Territory. Had I knownthat I wouldn’t have taken itwith me.’’

His move to Darwin was terriblydifficult — leaving behind his andEsther’s home and most of theirtreasures to come to a humid city.

But Frank — whose room isstuffed with relics of his life, includ-ing a 75-year-old bowler hat he usedto wear as a teen to impress theladies — now loves it here.

And he thinks Tiwi GardensLodge is excellent.

‘‘I feel so free here — you can dothe same things here as you can doat home,’’ he said.