so here we are in australia, we made it in one piece, well just about. poor cathy had a major meltdown on the third night on board our flight to darwin ... exhaustion i think having dragged her from india to singapore to australia in 72 hours without a bed for a single minute ! i on the other hand had to deal with the 'runs' on my first day in oz ... so what the heck is that all about, i don't have a single bad moment in that department all the way through india and then i get hit much to the delight of tom with it in darwin !!!! it was only minor though in comparison to tom's & i had the luxury of a nice toilet !!!!
anyway enough about us and our poo's !!!!!!! subject closed (you'll be glad to know wazza) !!!
so we landed in darwin at 5am. we had planned to flake out in the airport until it was time to check into our hostel but as luck would have it we rang 'value inn' where we were intending to stay for a couple of nights and they told us they had a free room so essentially we got 3 nights for the price of 2 ! we all passed out before we even lay down on the bed and seriously didn't bat an eyelid until half 2 that afternoon. darwin was great for recovering from asia. it was just so clean & quiet & the backpackers place we stayed at had everything we needed. every single item in the backpack was machine washed for the first time in 4 months !
after two days of basically sleeping, eating, washing & hanging out by the pool we went off to the wicked campers depot to pick up our previously booked campervan. now everyone might think we choose this company because it is 'cool'. by 'cool' i mean that when you arrive you are introduced to your home with wheels for the next 5 weeks ... ours being an old toyota hiace van, sprayed black with ac/dc heavy metal slogans all over it. we on the other hand choose this company because it was at $3000 the 'cheapest' not 'coolest'. it was funny though when we saw it at first, you know that feeling where your not sure whether you want to laugh or cry ?! we were excited but definitely apprehensive about the whole thing. cats & i immediately started to change the dirty curtains for cleaner ones & sorted out our extremely basic kitchen facilities while tom went through all the boys stuff - engine, oil, temp gauge etc. within 30 minutes our road trip began ...
by evening on the first day we arrived at kakadu national park, an amazing vast aboriginal nature park about 200km from darwin. we had hoped to go to the north of the park to ubirr but as it's just the end of the rainy season & the beginning of the stormy 'knock em down' season the roads were closed as the waters have not yet receeded . we ended up staying at a camp site in the parks main area, jabiru. it was a fee paying campsite which was not part of the plan. we sneaked cathy in (we got her to lie down in the back of the campervan) so we just had to pay for 2 but then we felt guilty & went back and told them our friend had just arrived & paid the extra $5. i'm sure they were wondering if she landed on a space ship or something !! anyway that was the end of our guilt trips, after that it was in tom's words 'owt for nowt give us a shout' !!
it was a fab place though with a beautiful pool so it was worth the truth. when bed time came we began to think this idea of a campervan was a bit ambitious. too little space & no fan or air con in these soaring temperature. suprisingly after tom cooked us all eggy bread & omlettes (yes mam i now eat eggs !!!) we slept right through the night only waking at 9.20 the next morning. even though check out was 10 we still sneaked in another swim & a shower and just like we always do when we stay anywhere we checked out late. we went to the park information centre to find out what the best options were for us only to discover more than half of the park was actually closed due to these high water levels.. the lady did advise one area though, nourlangie. we went here & did a small 1.5km trail which brought us to an aboriginal shelter, some aboriginal art work & a viewing point. it was beautiful although seriously hot. everywhere there were signs waring of the dangers of crocodiles. on the trail we passed this tiny river & out of nowhere this kangaroo jumped out & i swear cats & myself almost had a heart attack as it was so sudden. tom just looked blankly at the pair of us thinking 'as if there would be a crocodile in that stream' ! anyway there is also a 12km hike in the same area which we decided we would do first thing the next morning ...
that night we found a free campsite & began cooking on our little gas stove as the day drew to a close. all of a sudden these huge swarms of mosquito's arrived in the area. never in all my life have i seen anything like it. cathy had a meltdown & ran into the campervan. tom & myself continued to cook but in no time at all the number of people having mosquito related meltdown's multiplied to 2. i just flipped out & joined cathy in the van leaving tom to fight the battle alone which might i add he did really well. seriously there was thousands of them but tom still managed to finish the cooking, pack everything away, dish out dinner inside the van, kill tonnes of mozzie's & talk cats & me out of giving back the campervan & flying to sydney !! you see us 2 girls had completely freaked at this stage so tom was left with no option but to drive us out of the campsite. when we came to the first junction tom asked very calmly 'which way girls ?' we were both shouting things like 'i don't care just anywhere' - 'i want to fly to the coast' - 'get us out of this park' .... at this point tom was shouting 'CALM DOWN GIRLS CALM DOWN' !! tom eventually succeeded in calming us down and brought us to another campsite where they had 'smoked the fuckers out'. we couldn't clear them out of our campervan though so we took out the tent & it was there we managed to get a decent nights sleep.
the next morning we set off for nourlangie rock to do as planned our 12km walk, the barrk sandstone bush walk. the walk began by climbing a steep rocky valley through pockets of sandstone pandanus palms & various types of ferns where we met the base of the wet season waterfall. we then climbed to the top which offered magnificent contrasts between lowland plains, woodland & the escarpment. from there we ended up surrounded by sandstone pillars & rough conglomerate rocks. we then passed through 2 massive boulders & descended into a shallow valley via a small creek. at this stage we weren't even half way through & due to the rough terrain had been walking for about 2 and a half hours & had drank more than half of the 4 and a half litres of water we carried, why we didn't carry at least 9 litres i'll never know especially at it was now 10am and the sun was rising high. we continued on to the nanguluwar rock art gallery where the best of the aboriginal art to be seen in the area was. we battled the second half of the hike until we came to a low rocky ridge that had a stream flowing slowly through. without a word between us we all jumped straight in to cool off while gulping mouthfuls of water from the fresh spring. revitalised we walked the final stretch while all the time appreciating the spectacular views of nourlangie's cliffs ...
after kakadu national park we followed the stuart highway as far as katherine. this was so cool. we went to the edith falls which had a waterfall fed plunge pool at the base. we just spent hours here soaking ourselves in the cool waters as the australian skies above us burned like fire. this national park is also home of katherine gorge, where the katherine river has cut through rugged sandstone & left a gorge in its wake. unfortunately we couldn't swim here as the water levels were high which means the salt water croc's will eat you !!
tom continued driving his girls in our 'heavy metal' campervan down the highway until we reached mataranka. here we were treated to natural thermal pools. basically you walk this forested boardwalk which leads you to this crystal clear rainbow springs thermal pool shrouded in rain forest, a perfect way to kick off the day ... this is all enroute to alice springs. it's just crazy that people tell you if you drive this 3000km stretch of highway from darwin to adelaide via alice springs you will see a whole load of nothing. well in fact it's a superb road trip. incredible sunrises & sunsets, the quirkiest of unexpected natural treats & a night sky only second to that of the great thar desert in india. we never slept in the campervan again after that mozzie attack in kakadu, not because we were traumatised or anything like that simply because we realised how much we would be missing with a roof over our heads obscuring our view of that night sky above. instead we now go to sleep everynight watching the moon alter every 24hours & the stars sparkle like gems in the sky. the beauty of the great outdoors ...
the stuart highway then led us to daly waters. not a waterfall or thermal pool but a pub ! it was here amy johnson landed on her monster flight from england to australia in 1930. the pub lay's claim to being the oldest in the territory as it's liquor licence has been valid since 1893. so yes we had to have a pint here & get some photos in the public house where people of all ages & sizes leave something behind. tom especially enjoyed the bra bar !!
south on the highway the following day led us through newcastle waters, a one time droving town & then further south to the cattle town of elliot where the land just gets drier & drier & the vegetation sparser ... it's from the bush to the outback now ... we thought we would stop of for the night at banka banka, three ways or tennant creek but we just kept going in search of a 'free campsite' ... we sort of found one, an unmanned campsite with an honesty box with envelopes supplied & a price list, so yeah to us that meant free !! we're so guilty of being so dishonest in a country of extremely honest people ! in saying this they are all descendents of criminals right ?? so they did well to turn out this civilised. have i mentioned the aboriginals yet ?? well they have a huge roll to play in australia as essentially this is their land but sadly they seem to live a very obvious disfunctional existence ... you only ever see them loitering around shopping centers or to be more precise liquor land & parks, thrashed drunk fighting with each other or even with themselves. it's weird, it's strange, it's hard to describe ...
our next overnight camping after a day of hearty sing a longs in our campervan was devils marbles ... another honest box/free campsite. it's just this stunning mass of huge granite boulders in precarious piles beside the stuart highway. we did the guided walk here when we woke up the next morning, we had planned to stay here for the day infact but got back on the road because the midday heat is so intense you just can't chill out in it ... we've even been known to run into sprinklers fully clothed just to cool down ! hitting 38 degrees during the day it's better to be on the road with a bit of air flowing into the van, even if it is hot air ! and of course a roof over our heads protecting us from the deadly sun. the only stop we made on this day was at wycliffe well roadhouse. this place is totally weird. it's decorated with alien figures and newspaper clippings claiming countless numbers of ufo's have been spotted here. tom wondered had nobody told them about aeroplanes !!!! i actually tell a lie because we made 3 more stops that day, one at the tropic of capricorn which was brief due to the ambundance of flies at this sight. you know we took the p*** out a bunch of tourists that morning we saw getting off a bus with these big nets over their heads and at this point we were wishing we had one !! we also stopped at aileron which had this huge statue of an aboriginal. our final stop was to take a photo of some graffiti that my friend paddy fitz did while he was in oz many years ago, long before he knew kara's name began with a 'k' ... !!!!!!!
so on thursday evening 2nd april we arrived in alice springs & made a quick decision to change our plans & continue on south to adelaide, melbourne & then sydney instead of going back on ourselves & across to the east coast. a good decision it seems. in doing this we completed the 3000km journey from darwin to adelaide on the stuart highway through the heart of australia, the reverse of the route of the first white person to traverse the continent.
while in alice springs we decided to part with a few dollars & stay at a proper caravan park complete with jumping pillows (an adult bouncing castle type thing). it was a nice weekend break after completing the first half of the route. we put the feet up, cooked plenty of the usual beans on toast, omlettes, tuna melts, spuds & even managed to squeeze in a few beers. while in alice springs apart from singing the song '24 years i've been living next door to alice' about two thousand times we got out and about to visit a few places that were high on our list. alice springs school of the air was one of these. this is the worlds largest classroom, covering 1,300,000 sq km (10 times the size of england). basically from the age of 4 the children living in remote bush lands in central australia get educated over the air, the closest student lives 80km away & the furthermost student is 1300km away. these students generally reside on cattle stations, road houses or in national parks. the school provides each student with all the satelite & computer equipment they require. the teachers then conduct live lessons from the studio in the school of the air in alice springs and the children at the other end throughout central australia are online following the lessons ! we were lucky enough to be there during school hours and saw a live lesson, a real insight into how it all works. it is amazing stuff to say the least especially since the school of the air opened in 1951 and all the lessons were done by radio. the flying doctors service of australia is also based in alice springs and this was another place we thought was definitely worth a visit. here you see the story of how medicine, aviation & radio have been jointly put to work in the service of people who live & travel in the remote inland of australia. established in 1928 the flying doctors provide medical aid in emergencies & also a comprehensive primary health care service to those in remote areas. this service covers an area larger than western europe reaching into the heart of the australian continent. again what is most fascinating about a visit here is not what they do today but how they worked this service back in the days when modern technology did not exist & they used pedal radios & planes definitely not fit to be called 'air ambulances' ! but luckily technology has developed and everyday these flying doctors are saving lives.
when our time was up in alice springs we were back on the road this time taking a detour west to uluru, also known as ayres rock. enroute we decided to try a bit of off roading in our sprayed up hiace. with over 300,000 km's on the clock & numerous cracks on the body work, a make shift loosely fitted kitchen at the back & a gear stick made to crunch, off roading was probably not the best idea especially as we were not covered by insurance to do this. but in this our year of no laws, rules & regulations tom blasted the van through the red dusty roads and we laughed our heads off. at one point the handles of the saucepans seperate themselves from the excessive rattling of the van, i really don't know how the wheels didn't fall off !! sorry mam if this causes you to add a few prayers to the huge amount you already say for us everyday !! anyway when we got back onto the sealed road we made our way safely to uluru. i wasn't too sure about this, alot of extra miles to see a rock was my thought but tom really wanted to do it so like you do in relationship you agree to make the other person happy, right !!!!! after all i did get 5 weeks in india ! but when we got there it was stunning. the 'rock' stands out amongst the australian landscape & constantly changes colour like a mood ring. the most obvious at sunset when the rocked glowed red. we did the 10km hike around the rock too which was pretty special. much to our delight it wasn't the only thing to see in this area. mt conner on the way was a beautiful sight, it was here we sat on top of red sand dunes watching the sun put the sky on fire, well thats what it felt like ... the sunset of the trip so far. also in the area was kata tjuta, 36 steep sided domes just west of uluru. just like uluru it is sacred to the aboriginal community. anyway here we did the valley of the winds walk which was breathtaking.
so we got back on the road again to start our 1500km journey to adelaide, easy ! the funny thing about driving here is you hardly ever see another car, you meet a couple of scary road trains everyday & you have to stop every now and then when a few kangaroos bounce across the road, but other than that we just sit back sing our songs and enjoy this once in a life time trip.
we stopped off in a little one horse town called marla the next night. after marla we found ourselves in coober pedy, the opal capital of australia. the surroundings of this town has more than 250,000 mine shafts so it's best to keep to the town centre especially if you have a few wines !! we did meet one guy there who did actually fall into a shaft a few years ago, lucky to be alive to say the least. anyway coober pedy was one dry & dusty town with most people living underground in dugouts. to continue with tradition they built shops, restaurants, hotels & churches just to name a few all underground. two days here was more than enough. we then moved on to port augusta. we arrived here late so just sneaked into the campsite & then spent the next day in the little town. it was a beautiful day. the temperatures down in southern australian are lower than the northern territory so now the sunshine in the high 20's is really enjoyable. we sat on the grassed foreshore beside the boardwalk area overlooking the river & took out our little gas cooker & whipped up lunch. the afternoon was tough, shopping & eating ice cream. have i mentinoed that the ice cream in australia is the best ice cream ever. seriously we have had to put a limit on it as we were spending more on ice cream than breakfast, lunch & dinner together !!
so the last leg of the big drive brought us to adelaide. we spent 5 nights staying with brenty. we met brenty in thailand last december & sort of invited ourselves to go & stay at his for easter ! just after we arrived he said he thought we would text him when we were near. but then we told him we had no phone & he just thought this was the craziest thing he had ever heard. apparently if you drive from darwin to adelaide through the centre of australia you are supposed to inform the police before you leave & then if you don't arrive at your destination they will try & track you from mobile phone signals ... all this because of the amount of tourists disappearing in the outback over the years !!!!! oops !!!!! anyway we made it so as they say here 'no worries'. we had a great laugh with brenty. we spent the long weekend strolling around the city of adelaide, lunching down the bay, picnicing at the beach & indulging in brentys gourmet cooking at his easter sunday dinner party. talk about delicious ! cheers brenty
a few days ago when we finally got it together to leave the home comforts we headed for the adelaide hills. what a beautiful few days it was too. one of the days we spotted a few clouds in the sky and of course being true irish/english people we said out loud that we hoped it wouldn't rain. of course the aussie standing next to us heard and said 'what the heck you saying, we haven't had a drop of rain in flamin months, we want rain' !! the finer things in life were all around us here & again we were indulging in cheese, jam & chocolate ... all free of course ! we couldn't leave without spending a day in the barossa valley. it was a little embarassing though i have to admit, actually extremely embarassing pulling up to these fab vineyards in our campervan. seriously it was ridiculous ... we were gona hire bicycles and cycle around but the price of the bike hire was just stupid, we could have bought a new bicycle instead ! so we were left with no choice but to rock on into these wolf blass, penfolds & jacob creek vineyards in ac/dc ! ouch ! it was even funnier then watching tom transform while inside & put on his perfecly perfected posh voice as he discussed the fine wine's, fruity flavours and aromas hahahahahah ... ha seen as cathy is under 18 and couldn't enjoy this treat we brought her to gorge wildlife park for some koala cuddling the next day and also treated her with a visit to the melba chocolate factory.
so we're already 3 weeks into our australia journey & with 4500km under our belt in the northern territory & south australia it's time for us to move on. and just incase any of you think our average of 1500km a week is alot of driving thats a match to what my dad does on his bicycle for feck sake ... this week he's cycling from rome to paris !! super gaga !!
as always tom is beside me working hard on the photos & cathy is sitting in between us correcting my spelling and shouting at tom 'no not that photo' !!!
this time we had to divide the photos over two links for storage reasons ... look above you will see two links, one for NT and the second for NT&SA, hope you enjoy them. in 3 weeks time we will do a second blog on victoria & new south wales so keep an eye out ...
