2 December – 9 December
Thursday:
It rains all night, but luckily the sun is out first thing to dry our tent off. We leave Darwin today and head into Kakadu national park. We’re just far enough into the wet season for the plants to start growing, with wetlands forming at the side of the road.
We go to Ubirr to see some rock art and to climb a lookout, then take a 2.5km walk through some sandstone formations.
There are a lot of croc warning signs around and most walks anywhere near a body of water are closed for the season – we’re more than happy to oblige. I’m not too keen on seeing a saltie in the wild.
In the late afternoon we check into a campsite and cool down with a swim. Aah. The long warm evenings are perfect for sitting out in with a couple of beers, especially when the stars are as good as this. There’s a small owl in the tree above me, and what looks like a dingo slinking around.
Friday:
We stop by a few more rock art sites this morning. Our favourite is this guy with the big wanger, who apparently hits women with a yam before eating them (?!):
We then take a steep climb for some more beautiful views before heading out of the park. I expected the Northern Territory to be this vast, but not this lush and green.
Back on the Stuart highway we head for Katherine again, knowing we’ll find a good campsite there.
Janet adds: a kangeroo jumped out in front of us today, but luckily he was pretty quick and bounced out of the way again.
Saturday:
We’re going south, south, south, all the way to Adelaide via Uluru (Ayers rock). Today is going to be a big driving day, so after a swim to wake us up we get going. Now that we’re heading down the middle, I’d expected the highway to open up into vast, nothing to see from horizon to horizon desert, but it’s still pretty green. The roads straighten out and there’s hardly any traffic. The higher speed limit helps to eat up the miles as well. Of course not long after I’d taken over driving, the storm clouds moved in and it started lashing it down. I plough on with gritted teeth, but we’re through within a few minutes.
We’d planned to stop in Tennant’s Creek, but when we get there it’s hot, the campsite looks like a dustbowl and when trying to buy petrol our cards are declined. Taking that as a sign, we head a bit further.
We pass a place called the Devil’s marbles. I think the picture kind of explains it:
We stop for the night at Wycliffe Wells – Australia’s UFO capital supposedly. It’s decorated according to theme, with a few other random bits thrown in (statues of Elvis and the Hulk). There are chickens roaming about, a pen of emus and donkeys and cages of birds and rabbits. It’s all a bit random, but makes things interesting.
But camping isn’t all sunsets and starry skies and I’m having a bad night tonight. While trying to get the stove lit, a rogue match head attaches itself to my chest (still burning). Also, someone has left the light on in the ladies so the bugs in there have reached plague proportions.
Janet adds: note to self – when driving with bad visibility it’s best to take your sunglasses off.
Sunday:
Despite all the horror stories about venomous beasts in Australia, we’ve not spotted anything particularly scary looking (apart from the reef shark). Today we get our first real look at a snake – being carried off the road by 3 big blackbirds.
We weren’t expecting much from Alice Springs, but are pleasantly surprised. It’s a pretty, well-maintained town with a beautiful mountain backdrop.
It has all the amenities you could need, apart from some weird alcohol restrictions which mean you can only buy beer from your car round the back of a hotel (no, this was not some dodgy arrangement, just a ‘drive-through’ bottle store, you can’t get served on foot!).
In the late afternoon it starts to rain and for the first time in weeks I’m cold enough to have a warm shower. It’s quite lovely. It stays cool all night and I get the best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages.
Janet adds: we’re not feeling very xmas-sy yet, but kinda liking xmas Australian style…
Monday:
After picking up some supplies in Alice we head for Ayers rock. Unfortunately the cool weather doesn’t follow us and we’re soon up to 41 degrees again. The campsite isn’t great – expensive, because it’s your only option, but with no shade or anything to make it a particularly pleasant place to pass some time. The flies here are also the most persistent we’ve encountered, which is saying something. By the time the tent is up we’re both a bit grumpy.
We head for the rock, which isn’t disappointing. It’s beautiful and weird and out of place.
We quite wrongly decide that it would be a good idea to do the base walk round the rock. It’s still 40 odd degrees, the walk is nigh on 11km on and although the rock is pretty awesome, the walk doesn’t really add anything. When we finally make it back to the car, we’re thoroughly fed up. The sunset helps to calm us down though.
Tuesday:
We’re up early today to watch the sunrise over Ayers rock. Then we head straight to KT – a tumble of Ayers rock type boulders - to do the Valley of the Winds walk before it gets too hot. It’s well worth the effort.
We’re back at camp by 10am and since there’s nothing else we want to do (and nowhere to escape the heat) we decide to pack up and hit the road again. We cross over into South Australia (losing another hour – putting us 10.5 ahead of UK time) and find a convenient roadhouse (Marla) to spend the night. Just as we’re checking in a wild storm comes over. We decide to treat ourselves to a night in a room. After 26 straight days of camping I think we deserve it. We spend the evening soaking in the bliss of tv, a real bed, a fridge, ensuite bathroom and air-conditioning.
Janet adds: I hope this doesn’t ruin camping for me now.
Wednesday:
It’s our last big driving day today as we head down to Port Augusta. We’re onto our 7th straight day of driving big distances. The scenery finally turns into the horizon to horizon nothingness we’d been expecting.
Despite the good rest we’re both struggling with numb bums and wandering minds. Coober Peddy is the only town we pass through. It’s based on opal mining and is a weird place – a proper working town that’s trying very hard to turn mining and all things underground into tourist attractions. Apparently it regularly gets up to 50 degrees here and loads of people live underground. While we’re there, it stays pleasantly in the mid-twenties. It’s a full 15 degrees cooler than yesterday and the first day in weeks that we’ve not seen the thirties. No complaints from either of us.
It’s after 6 when we finally arrive in Port Augusta with a huge sigh of relief. We set up camp and as the evening sets in we actually have to change into tops and trousers. Weird. We even have to turn the fan off in the tent.
Janet adds: hurrah for making it all the way down the middle and for the cooler temperatures.
Thursday:
Today is for relaxing and catching up with ourselves (and the washing!). We laze about the campsite then take a wander into town. Port Augusta is pretty, built around the water with the Flinders mountain range surrounding it. We pick up some groceries, watch a film and just enjoy not being in the car.
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