Outback Show
Tom Curtain’s national award winning Katherine Outback Experience celebrates the Northern Territory’s unique pastoral history and culture through real horse-starting and working dog demonstrations and storytelling.
This is not your run-of-the-mill type of outback show or tour, rather it is an experience! It is raw and real, the same as if an audience wasn’t present.
From the comfort of elevated seating, under the shade of an indoor arena, guests watch and learn as the young horses and working dogs are trained for working life on the land. The team explain the psychology behind the training process, highlighting what can be achieved from a relationship built on trust.
Guests are also invited to pat and feed the station animals including the horses, dogs, buffalo, cattle and goats to name a few. The show wouldn’t be complete without stories from the team’s experiences of living and working on the land.
We offer a 2-hour Outback Show and Tailored Shows for special events.
We pride ourselves in creating inclusive and accessible experiences including:
- All shows are wheelchair and pram friendly
- Commentary is amplified
- Parking for large and oversized vehicles
- Designated disabled parking bays
- Universally accessible and ambulant toilet and shower facilities
- Accept companion card holders free of charge
- Baby change facilities
- More than willing to assist with alternative needs including charging station for motorised mobility device, providing alternative seating and providing alternative food options.
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What you can Expect to See and Do
Be captivated as our team works with a young horse, sometimes attempting to ride it for the first time (not always successfully)
Watch and learn how the working dogs are trained to muster cattle and sheep for life on cattle stations
Meet the team of trick and liberty horses and see just how clever they are
Pat and feed some of the animals commonly found on Northern Territory cattle stations
If you are lucky, you may even get to cuddle some of our baby farm animals
Enjoy humorous tales of outback station life.
Learn about the NT’s pastoral industry and history and its significance in the Top End today!
Have a chat with the Katherine Outback Experience team
The Show
2-hour Outback Show
Adult
Senior
Student
Child / Infant
Family
Opening hours
29 April to 5 October 2024
Scroll down for live availability. Please contact us on 1300 818 612 or 0447 816 222 or by email about alternative times and group bookings – you never know your luck!
Please note Katherine Outback Experience reserves the right to cancel / change shows if minimum booking numbers are not achieved. Guests will be offered an alternative date or full refund should this occur. To avoid the disappointment of shows being cancelled, we strongly recommend booking in advance.
FAQs
There is more than sufficient space on our property for the parking of caravans, buses, campers, motor homes, boats etc. The driveway is about 100m long and appropriately surfaced to be accessible all year and in all weather events. we also have a designated drop-off area and disabled parking bays closer to the show entry.
Site Plan showing the layout of the Katherine Outback Experience venue including accessibility.
We are constantly looking at ways to make our venue and services more accessible. Below is a summary of accessibility and inclusiveness at our site:
- Accessible to those with low-mobility including walkers, wheelchairs, walking sticks and prams
- Ambulant and disabled toilet/ shower facilities
- The site is flat and we are more than happy for guests to remain in their wheelchair, scooter, walker, pram etc for the duration of the show.
- Drop-off zones and designated disabled parking. Walking from the carpark to the show area is limited (no more than 70m). The ground is flat and void of any steps
- Gluten Free and vegetarian food options provided and are more than happy to provide for other dietary needs upon request
- The commentary of the show is amplified.
The beauty of our Show is it is for all ages and plays on the five senses. Where one sense is impaired, we will do our best to maximise another whether that be through further explanation of what we are doing or allowing guests to pat and cuddle the animals.
Further detail is available in our Accessibility Guide which can be downloaded from the following links:
A Social Story / Social Script can be provided upon request.
We provide multiple options for contacting us and making bookings including online, phone and email. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss further.
Itinerary for the 2 hour experience
May – October 2022 | Katherine | Northern Territory
- Gates open 30 minutes prior to the advertised start time
- Guests check-in at the front desk and are invited to undertake a self-guided outdoor tour of the small farm animals while they wait for the show to commence
- Guests are seated in our open-air undercover elevated seating overlooking the round yard (Arena 1). Guests with mobility issues are offered a chair or invited to remain in their wheelchair, walker or pram
- The team provides a brief introduction about our story, history and the experience
- A young horse is brought into the arena and our team get to work training the horse live in front of the audience, demonstrating the art of horse-starting. We explain the psychology between man and horse, showing how we build trust through comfort bubbles. If the horse is ready to progress, we will saddle and attempt to ride it, often for the first time. No horse is used more than three times in a show
- We then move to our more advanced horses, demonstrating what can be achieved with ongoing training and patience (we don’t want to give too much away)
- Our team of station animals including a buffalo, cattle, goats and a donkey are brought into the arena. We share some interesting facts about the NT pastoral industry and history and how it has shaped the NT’s culture together with adaptions of the station animals, before guests are invited to interact with the animals
- Guests are then guided to our large arena (Arena 2) where we bring out our team of amazing working dogs. They are all different ages and temperaments, mostly border collies. We introduce each dog before showing how we train them to work as a team. If you are in luck, you may even see them muster the cattle
- We then show how we train horses to work cattle and explain the purpose of this
- The show is never complete without some lively tales of life in the bush and on the cattle stations.
- And if you’re lucky, Tom will be around to sing some of his original songs, performed from the saddle, with guitar in hand and often at speed
- At the conclusion of the show, guests are invited to pat and hold any baby animals we have at the time, chat with our team and purchase merchandise including Tom’s music, which he will personally sign if he is available.
We strongly encourage guests to pre-book online in advance of their visit. Shows regularly sell-out, and even more so now there are social distancing requirements in place. It also allows us to notify guests if changes to the show occur.
The easiest way to book is online through our website. This is available 24/7 and kept very up to date.
We do take phone bookings from Monday to Saturday 9:00am-5:00pm during May to October, however due to our busy schedules, we are not always in the office or in reach of a laptop.
Our Office Team are working mums who also assist in shows, horse rides and events. We are often juggling nappy changes, school runs and running errands. Emails are great as we can come back to them when we have a spare moment up our sleeve (mum-brain is real).
We require payment at the time of booking unless agreed otherwise with management.
We understand that plans change. We are happy to rebook your Outback Show at an alternative time and/ or date, issue a voucher to be used at a later date or provide a full refund for cancellations made at least 24 hours prior to 9am of day of the show.
For cancellations made within 24 hours prior to the scheduled show, refunds will not be issued unless in extenuating circumstances as deemed by management. We are willing to rebook your tickets or issue a gift voucher to be used at a later date.
Please contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone on 1300 818 612 or 0447 816 222
Please note our Horse Riding Amendment/ Cancellation Policy is different to that of our Outback Shows. Please refer to the Horse Riding page.