Friday 1st
August
We left
Cairns before noon, pointing our direction north to Port Douglas and Cape
Tribulation. Dean & Courtney had told us, that we needed to experience that
area before we left the east coast, and we’re so happy that we did so.
The
drive from Cairns to Port Douglas was absolutely beautiful, the road swings along
the coast and the views was breathtaking. It was exactly how we had imagined
the whole east coast to be like, but apparently it’s not starting before north
of Cairns. There is so many beautiful look outs and picture perfect sceneries.
We explored the Mossman gorge, and walked by an aboriginal community.
It’s up in
these regions that crocodiles are a common sight and before entering beaches we
are warned by signs to be aware of crocodiles. Erik also saw one floating
around in a river, we drove over.
Apparently the locals aren’t taking the signs
as serious as we do. They’re still swimming and even letting their kids play in
the waterfront. Probably the signs are just a warning that there have been
sights of crocodiles in the water, perhaps it’s long time ago, but we didn’t
dare risking it. We preferred to stay dirty, instead of dead.
At Wonga beach we
enjoyed our dinner, and then ventured inland to find a free place to camp for
the night. We realized that Daintree National Park was closer than assumed, and
by coincidence we drove straight into the cable ferry. The park is only accessible
by the ferry and is a unique area where the tropical rainforest meet the sea.
We drove 5 km on dirt road straight down to Cape Kimberley in the southern
part.
We couldn’t figure out whether if we should pay money for camping and
sleep safe or save the money and sleep somewhere outside. It was pitch black
and a bit spooky. The thought of sleeping in no-mans-land with crocs nearby,
wasn’t really tempting, but our final conclusion was to save the money.
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| Picnic area in Port Douglas... |
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| ...Not the worst view to enjoy lunch and a nab. |
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| The aborgines are very territorial, just like animals... |
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| Crocodile warning |
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| This nice beach is inhabited of crocodiles and not suitable for swimming.. Such a shame! |
Saturday 2nd
August – Sunday 3rd August
We explored
the national park on our way up to Cape Tribulation, we then headed back down
to Port Douglas again. In spite of the croc warning signs we followed the crowd
and ventured out in the ocean for a quick dip. There were plenty of people on
the beach, so we assumed it would be alright.
On the parking spot, while we
were measuring and sewing curtains for the car, some friendly Aussies came and
offered us beers and wine. It would be retarded to decline such a good offer,
and we quickly got along with them, more people soon joined us and it turned
out to a party on the parking spot.
Some government workers warned us against
sleeping on the parking spot, but none of us were keen for driving so we didn’t
take serious notice of their comment.
Next day we felt like a train crash – why
did we do this to ourselves!? Aaaw! Luckily no ticket in the window, or any
signs that the police/ranger passed by.
Erik was fortunately okay to drive, so we
started our trip into the desolated emptiness. Even though we didn’t meet many
cars on the road it was interesting to see the beauty of the nature, and the
surroundings changed all the time, we drove from curved mountain roads with
fertile forests surroundings, into dry open areas, where the roads are so flat
that you could see your dog run away for days. The areas are so remote and uninhabited
– it even astonished us jaded travelers. We felt so fascinated by the nature.
Due to the rich nocturnal animal life everyone has warned us about night
driving, despite the warnings we tried it anyway, but of course with very low
speed. It’s the first time we have seen so many kangaroos, they were everywhere.
A big truck passed us and we decided to follow him closely, which meant that we
could drive faster and not worry about hitting kangaroos. The truck would do
that for us – if it happened.
That night we slept on a small parking spot
beside the road, 30 km east of Normanton. The worst thing about sleeping in the
car is when you wake up and need to pee, because you never know what kind of
animals are waiting for you out there, and you can’t really focus on everything
around you, plus it’s super cold and you wake up the other person by the light
and the sound of the door opening. But other than that we sleep perfect in the
car, it’s really comfortable, everything taken in to consideration of course!!
A
couple of months ago I read some quite interesting facts about Australia. It
said that it is the world’s sixth largest country, and the largest island. It
is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is
also a country. It is home to the largest living thing on earth - the Great
Barrier Reef.
It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else in the
world. The 10 most poisonous snakes, are all Australian. 5 of the country’s
animals – the funnel-web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis
tick and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world. It is the
driest, flattest, hottest and most aggressive of all the inhabited continents.
This day we (or Erik) drove 680 km.
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| Making sugar cane juice.. Good for hangovers! |
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| Japanese blossom tree |
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| Unfortunately we couldn't afford one of these |
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| We haven't seen these kangaroos yet.. |
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| Lunch break |
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| Danish lunch |
Monday 4th
August
We sneaked
into a campsite in Normanton and had a shower (free of charge). Normanton is
considered as a big town in these regions, but honestly there’s nothing there. It’s hard to believe how remote the bush actually is.
We took a little detour
to Karumba, to enjoy breakfast and to see the only coast town in the gulf of
Carpentaria, that you can reach by paved roads. Then we headed south to the big
mining town Mt. Isa.
The biggest town between Cairns and Alice Springs. After
only a few days in the outback we have been astonished and blown away by nature
so many times. It’s fascinating how empty and uninhabited it is. Our travels
from Cairns and down to Mt. Isa have all the time been exciting. We are so
happy to finally get away from the east coast, away from the tourists crowds
and just experience the real Australia.
For us the east coast has been
disappointing, it’s like everywhere else with nice beaches etc., but nothing
can beat the outback – it’s what we consider as the real Australia.
Our passion
for travelling is now back on track, it seemed completely gone at some point,
but the wilderness brought it back. This wonderful day we drove 716 km.
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| The highway |
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| Breakfast |
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| The first and only snake we have seen.. Was hit by a car and dead in the side of the road, but a big boy on 2,5 meters. |
Tuesday 5th
August
We crossed
the border to Northern Territory. The great virtue about driving through
emptiness is that when you come to anything –anything at all – you get excited
to see what it is.
We thought it would have been nice with a stop-over in
Tennant Creek, but after seeing all the aboriginals on the streets, we changed
our minds. They’re causing a lot of troubles, mostly because of alcoholism leading
to violence, and mostly it’s mutually, but they sure don’t look friendly. So we
happily continued our journey further south.
We drove to Devils Marbles, and
there we saw something quite fabulous - enormous piles of smooth granite
boulders, scattered over an immense area. They’re a lost wonder in the middle
of a boundless nowhere. If they had been located anywhere in Europe they would
have been a huge tourist attraction, and people would drive hundreds of
kilometers to see them - here they don’t really count for anything, except a
nice stop on your way to Alice Springs. They glow warmly during sunrise and
sunset, so we watched the sunset there and had a romantic can food dinner. We
drove 863 km this day, and slept north of Ti-Tree.
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| The state of crocodiles |
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| This is a common sight when driving in the outback.. This is two cows, probably killed by roadtrains. |
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| Devils Marbles |
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| European kangaroo jumping |
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| We loved the Devils Marbles |
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| All by ourselves at this spectacular place.. Only disturbed by flies!!! |
Wednesday 6th
August
We paid for
our morning shower in Ti-tree, and took good advantage over the $3 each bath.
Then
we finally reached Alice Springs. Between Tennant Creek and Alice Springs,
there’s a roadhouse every 60 km, but that’s it, nothing else than roadhouses on
that 507 km long stretch.
We spend the day in Alice Springs. A town that used
to be so remote that no one dared to go there, but these days the town has not
only become accessible (most people fly in), but it’s become a destination.
It’s full of motels, hotels, resorts, shopping malls and restaurants. It’s
crazy really. A town that was once
famous for being remote now attracts thousands of visitors, who come to see how
remote it no longer is.
We decided to stay one night and then head out to the MacDonnell
Ranges. Aboriginals are a big part of the population in town, and again they’re
mostly out for troubles, so it’s not a place we want to spend too much time.
At
night after splashing out with an Italian pizza, we parked outside the “Desert
Park” to sleep there. We doubted if it was allowed or not, but we decided to
give it a go. Unfortunately there was a guard who had to close the gate at 10pm
and he noticed our car, which we thought we had hided in the shadow of a tree.
He knocked on the window and kindly asked us to leave. Alright we can’t be
lucky every time.
Erik got out of bed and drove us to another parking spot,
where others were camping too. We got our rest there. A short day on the road,
only 236 km.
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| Outstanding sunrise at the rest area |
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| Mail boxes, but not a single house to spot.. |
Thursday 7th
August
We went to
explore the beautiful West MacDonnell Ranges. It’s an area filled with gorges and
creeks.
Each of them was impressing and unique. There were several scenic walks
and spectacular lookout points. We had our shower in Ellery creek, it wasn’t
the most enjoyable shower due to the low water temperature, but the importance
of feeling cleaner made it worth it.
At lunch time the flies was driving us
crazy, with their constantly search for moisture in our ears, nose, eyes and
mouth. That was our que to jump in the car and drive again.
We camped at Neil
Hargrave lookout, a free campground for people like us.
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| Simpsons Gab gorge |
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| Simpsons Gab gorge |
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| Simpsons Gab gorge |
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| Standley Chasm |
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| Ellery Creek hole |
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| Ellery Creek hole |
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| Serpentine Gorge |
Friday 8th
August
Another day
spent in the West MacDonnell Ranges, seeing more gorges and stunning look outs.
We’re so happy that we decided to explore this area. It has been the best part
of Australia so far. We planned to drive to Kings Canyon, and further down to
Ayers Rock, through dirt road, but after hearing bad things about the road
conditions to Kings Canyon, we decided to drive back to Alice Springs, and then
take the highway to Ayers Rock (or Uluru, as the aboriginal named it when they
found it).
That afternoon we sneaked into a campground in Alice Springs and had
our “daily” shower. We drove south of town, to Mt. Polhill rest area (towards
Uluru) and camped there for the night.
In the popular imagination Alice Springs
and Uluru are so connected to each other, but in fact they’re 463 km apart. So
we still had a long way to go. This day we drove 340 km.
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| Ormiston Gorge |
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| Ormiston Gorge |
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| Ormiston Gorge |
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| Ormiston Gorge |
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| Oatmeal for me and omelet for Erik |
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| Redbank Gorge |
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| Fantastic rock formations at Redbank Gorge |
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| Another chilly dip in the ice cold water |
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| Breeding dragon flies |
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| Still Redbank Gorge |
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| Redbank Gorge |
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| Gosse Bluff & Tyler's Pass |
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| Dinner at a carpark in Alice Springs |
Saturday 9th
August
On our way
to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park we stopped by Curtin Springs, a roadhouse in
the middle of nowhere. Here we talked to a dutch guy working there, and he made
the work and the life on a roadhouse sound quite interesting. It must be
special to live so far away from everything, and it actually speaks to us. We
hope that we can find a job on one of these unique places, somewhere along the
way.
In Yulara, the town connected to the Uluru national park, we collected the
information we needed about Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Uluru is one of Australia’s
iconic symbols of the outback, in the shadow of that you have Kata Tjuta, which
is equally (some say more) impressive than Uluru. We took time to see them
both.
After seeing the rock on countless postcards, posters etc. around the country,
it was amazing to finally approach the immemorial rock. It was exactly what we
expected, only bigger and more fascinating than we could have imagined. It’s
3,6km long and rises 348m from the surrounding sandy desert. It belongs to the
aboriginals, and is a sacred site to them. They don’t want people to climb it,
it’s not a part of the experience, its a question about respect to what they
believe in. I don’t blame them keeping it like that, because so many visitors
climb it every year and get injured, some have even died of heart attacks up
there.
So there’s more than one good reason to stay on solid ground, and that’s
why we decided to walk the 10 km base walk around the rock.
The walk is
beautiful and we enjoyed it a lot. The most amazing thing about the
sunset/sunrise over the rock is that the rocks changes colors all the time,
from brown and into deep red. After watching the sunset we drove into Yulara
and slept on the parking spot in there. Today = 441 km.
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| Fascinated over the red soil... Its NOT Uluru in the horizon, but Mount Connor |
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| Terrifying nasty spider.. Can probably kill humans in seconds!! |
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| Curtin Springs Roadhouse |
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| Climbers on Uluru |
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| On our way around the rock |
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| The very rare human kangaroo |
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| Uluru |
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| Sunset behind the huge rock |
Sunday 10th
August
It’s said
that no journey to Uluru is complete without a visit to Kata Tjuta. So we rose
early and set off for the sunrise over Kata Tjuta (and Uluru in the horizon). It’s a group of domed rocks huddled together,
and shoulder by shoulder they’re forming deep valleys and gorges. The tallest
rock is 200m higher than Uluru. After sunrise and breakfast we ventured out on
the 7,4 km ‘valley of the winds’ loop walk, which is considered as the most
rewarding bushwalk in the park, it gave us excellent views of the domes and the
wilderness surrounding it.
Back in Yulara we watched a cultural dance show,
before we headed back on the road again. At Finke river rest area we couldn’t
keep us selves awake any longer. We drove 432 km.
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| Kata Tjuta sunrise |
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| Looping around the rocks |
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| Figure that one out.... |
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| Gossip in Yulara |
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| Watching the moonrise! |
Monday 11th
August
We had a
morning walk around the Henbury meteorite craters. It is 12 small craters
formed after a meteor crashed in to the earth many years ago. Then we headed
back into Alice Springs.
We’re thinking a lot about our job situation, and what
our possibilities are. We visited some auto workshops, and talked to some
people about a job for Erik. You might think that he should do that by himself,
but here they’re so use to backpackers and searching for a job can be very
casual.
By coincidence a man overheard that Erik is a mechanic, he needed his
head gasket changed on one of his cars soon, so they exchanged data. Erik said
it would be very easy earned money, but apparently the man didn’t need it
desperately, and we didn’t wanna stay in town to wait for his reply. Erik could
have earned $400 for us, but we doubt that the head gasket would be in stock in
Alice Springs, if not, it could take several days, or weeks to get it shipped
into the middle of Australia – which is why we decided to continue our journey
up north, to Connor well rest area. Total km = 305.
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| Henbury meteorite craters |
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| Erik discovered this little guy sun bathing on the road
Tuesday
12th August
We regret
that we paid for our shower at Aileron Roadhouse, because they were trying to
fool us, and make us pay more money than the actual price. Felt like we were
back in Asia for a moment there!
We visited rustic Barrow Creek, one of the
highways popular pubs, where the tradition once was to leave your name on a
banknote and pin it to the wall. But people leave everything there, like study
card, driver license, old used train tickets, pictures, t-shirts - basically
everything. The toothless owner then keeps it, and shows it to the next people
coming from the same country. We left our passport photos there, together with
a little note. A funny little place in the middle of nowhere!
Erik kindly asked
the owner if he could use the outdoor car ramp, to change the oil on our car –
of course he could. It only took him 10-15 minutes, then we were on the road
again with 5 liters of fresh engine oil in Migaloo.
Another funny place is
Wycliffe well roadhouse, where the locals seem to believe that UFO’s fly over
them regularly. The place is decorated with Alien figures, UFO newspaper
clipping and a spooky doll collection. We stopped at Attack creek, and enjoyed
the afternoon and the night there. While we were cooking our delightful chili
beef dinner, we discovered some light in the horizon. For a short while we
wondered what it could be, until we realized it was the moon rising – full
moon. The sight of it was so outstanding and extraordinary. It was crazy really.
We never saw the moon rising before. We’ve seen tons of sunrises and sunsets,
but never the god damn moon. 478 km.
       
Our cozy bedroom
Wednesday
13th August
We stopped
at Daly Waters, it’s another famous roadhouse on the way north, actually it’s a
detour from the highway, but I read it should be a unique place. The place were decorated with all kinds of stuff from previous visitors. It had its own bra
and thong collection, plus a massive T-shirt collection – all left by visitors.
We very quickly liked the place and after talking to the nice staff we decided to stay on their campground for the night. Every night there’s live music, it’s quite fascinating that this place is right in the middle of the outback, and still so well visited and well known. We had a fun night in the bar, and actually applied for jobs there as well. 336 km.  
Daly Waters Pub bra collection
Our pictures at Daly Waters Pub
Nearest Mcdonnalds... 286 km.
Number plate collection at Daly Waters Pub
Thursday
14th August
On our way
up to Darwin we stopped at every single roadhouse on the way and asked for
jobs. We are really into the thought about working on a remote roadhouse, just
be far away from everything, save money cause there’s nothing to spend them on
and the feeling of feeling like a cowboy/girl for a while sounds amazing in our
heads. The wage is also better, than in the cities, we will get extra money for
being in a remote place. At some of the places it sounded like they needed new
staff soon, so we had to send our resume and then wait for a hopefully positive
answer.
When we arrived in Darwin it was dark and late – we decided to stay out
of the city, and found a shaded and hidden spot on the wharf and slept there
for the night. It had become a lot warmer now, even at night time it was
obvious that we were in the tropics again. The next couple of days we will be
job hunting in Darwin and the surroundings. 614 km.
From northeast to the middle of Australia
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