Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has more than 100 mastheads across Australia. Today's is written by Katherine Times journalist and NT correspondent Annie Hesse.
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Living and working in a small country town in the middle of nowhere has its challenges - like when the roads get cut during wild weather events and the shop runs out of food.
But those living remotely will also know that it is those challenges that bring people closer together and build a community.
My hometown is Katherine in the Northern Territory, and there is no other place where I've ever seen as much community spirit and care for each other - friends and family, but also complete strangers as there is in little old K-Town.
As a journalist, covering an area the size of Germany, I rely on the trust and the respect of the community - without it I couldn't do the job I do.
So when I was told that megastar Chris Hemsworth would be visiting our little town soon but I couldn't tell anyone because "nobody was allowed to know", I knew I had to keep a secret - despite it being my job to do exactly the opposite and share those types of stories with the world.
When my source told me the actor had arrived, I went for a drive to confirm the information was actually true.
Sometimes those things could be 'too good to be true' after all.
But, no, there he was. Thor. In black motorbike gear. On the side of the road. In our little town in the middle of nowhere.
Now, in 35 years as a journalist I've met a celebrity or two - from Keanue Reeves to Christina Aguilera, and a bunch of Prime Ministers, including Albo only just a few weeks ago - and I normally pride myself in being able to treat everyone the same, from the janitor to the super stars.
Let me tell you, that didn't work with Chris Hemsworth. When I drove past him - in my golden Jeep that stands out like dogs' balls - he turned towards me, pointed at the car and gave me the biggest smile.
Lucky there were no other road users there at the time, as I suddenly found myself on the wrong side of the road.
I nearly crashed my car on his film set, in front of 50 people and Thor himself, I was seriously starstruck.
Not so much because of who Hemsworth is. But because a person of his status chose to come to our little town.
The Katherine region gets forgotten regularly, even by our own Government - which only recently left residents of the small town of Timber Creek surrounded by flood waters and without food for three weeks.
So for Thor to pay us a visit is a big deal. Only I still couldn't talk about it because he and his team had to keep things quiet - understandably, as they didn't want half of the Northern Territory to show up on the film set.
And I was told in no uncertain terms that I was to keep his secret.
My journalist heart was aching.
The WORLD didn't know that Thor was here and that he was filming a new show - and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone.
That night, Hemsworth and his team stayed at a local hotel in Katherine for the night, again all hush hush.
But there aren't too many places in town where 50 people can stay and a huge convoy of marked rental cars is hard to miss when you know what you're looking for.
The next day, the star and his team were off to the small towns of Beswick and Barunga, about a 100km drive from Katherine, with very little mobile service along the way.
Despite having no intentions of breaking Thor's trust by running the story too early - and unleashing thunder and lightning - I had the yarn ready to go... just in case.
You can imagine the excitement on the kids' faces, when their super hero landed in their little communities.
But the excitement boiled over when Wugularr School went all out and posted all their Chris Hemsworth happy snaps on their social media account.
The secret was out, albeit only among those who follow the Facebook page of a school with about 130 students.
I think it took a total of 27 seconds after I published the story before my phone rang for the first time - it was the ABC. After that, all hell broke loose, with other journalists trying to find out where the star was, and with friends and strangers alike hitting me up to get looped in on the action.
What a scoop.
The next day, one of my sources called.
"He's going to be in Bulman shortly."
Bulman is a 300km drive from Katherine. It's the town where Chris Hemsworth and his brothers grew up.
It's where he was going to be filming for the day.
The road to Bulman is mainly dirt, but at the moment, after a huge Territory wet season, it's not just dirt.
It's potholes the size of a buffalo, and it's washouts and boggy patches that only recently tried to swallow a truck.
It took nearly five hours to get to the community - but every cursed kilometre on the road was worth it.
The Marvel star was all smiles while mingling with the locals in the place he used to call home.
And you can imagine, the town went absolutely crazy over their hero who had finally returned.
Hemsworth joked and laughed, and chatted, and hugged one fan after another, genuinely enjoying himself among the crowd in the town that created some of his "happiest memories".
But as his crew pointed out for the umpteenth time that he had to leave with a helicopter waiting, I realised there was one person in the crowd that had not taken a selfie with the star yet.
I bolted through his team. I couldn't let the Avenger get away.
He smiled when I asked for the treasured photo ... but I'm pretty sure on the inside he rolled his eyes when I couldn't remember how to turn on my phone and take a selfie.
Oh. My. (Asgard) God.
It took me way longer than I care to admit to manage to snap that one picture, but it's most likely the one photo of my career that I'll treasure the most (despite the pained and half-embarrassed grin on my face).
Despite my phone struggles, I managed to pull myself together and give him a copy of my book 'From Katherine with Love' before sending him off to his waiting helicopter.
Not without rubbing his bare arm first though. Yes. I did that. And I think the facepalm emoji would be the most appropriate reaction here.
Chris Hemsworth is a superstar that came and went, but his presence will be felt across the Northern Territory for a long time to come.
Our region wasn't forgotten for once.
Thor put a spotlight on the place we love and call home, and he did so because he has the same love and admiration for the Northern Territory.
"Some of my earliest and happiest memories are from that time," He later shared on his Facebook page with his 23 million followers.
"Now, 35 years later I've been lucky enough to take a trip back there.
"I couldn't be more grateful to the people of Gulin Gulin for welcoming us with such warmth and kindness. Much love and appreciation."
You have no idea how much love and appreciation the Northern Territory has for you, Thor.