Paying money for point to point transportation is never fun, so I put up some ads to share a ride with someone going to Darwin, and found a guy who wanted to bring 2 cars from Alice Springs to Darwin. Another backpacker and me took turns driving one of these - rather ramshackle - cars, and managed to safely arrive in Darwin in one day.
I got along fine with my co-driver and upon arrival in Darwin we decided to rent a car together to spend 2 days in Litchfield NP. 2 beautiful days, one rather uncomfortable night, sharing a small 2-person tent ;-) Having had a taste of self-organised trips, I had liked to repeat the experience for Kakadu National Park. However, finding a couple of people to rent a 4x4 together, proved more time consuming than I had expected, and running out of time in Australia, I finally booked a tour (2 days, 1 night). Luckily, our great tour guide made it a fantastic experience. Very impressive views, great plunge pools, and swimming with crocodiles (only the freshwater crocs though ;-)), I could have easily stayed there a couple more days. Returning from Kakadu, I had a flight waiting for me: one way to Bali! The Aussie adventure had come to an end. In all, a very enjoyable experience, but not being able to work in Australia (at least in an official way), it wasn’t the cheapest 3 months of my trip, and I was happy to go back to superb value-for-money Asia!
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Another Greyhound bus ride took me to Alice Springs, the basis from where trips to Uluru (aka Ayers’ Rock) and ‘nearby’ Kata Tjuta (aka the Olga’s) and Kings Canyon depart. The pretty stiff cost of such tour made me consider doing this trip outside of the organised tours with a couple of other backpackers, but feeling like I was a bit short in time, I gave up that plan and booked a 3-day 2-night tour. First day was spent exploring Uluru, the biggest monolith in the world (300 m high, 6 km deep!) and sacred place for the Aboriginals. An impressive view, but the sunset viewing in the presence of some 100 other tourists detracted a bit from the experience. The tour was an adventure tour, that means camping (glamping actually: our campsite had cooking facilities, showers and toilets)! Sleeping options were a basic camping cabin, or, my preferred option, under the stars sleeping in a ‘swag’ (basically, a big sturdy canvas bag with a thin mattress in it; just roll out, chuck your sleeping bag in there, zip up, and you are ready to sleep outdoors, no tent needed). Second day, getting up at 5am to be in time for sunrise. Unfortunately, the above 100 tourist had the same day planning ;-) Then off to Kata Tjuta for a small hike there, with some stunning views. Another swag night (a very cold one: by the time I had to get up, I was pretty much wearing all my clothing…), and another early start to be able to do a 4 hour rim walk at Kings’ Canyon, a truly stunning place.
On the last night before the start of our road trip, Filip had arranged for him and me to spend the night in the home of Val(erie) and Charlie, a New Zealand / Australian couple which he had met during his time in New Zealand. They gave us a very warm welcome! We enjoyed a roast of lamb leg with oven baked vegetables (not our daily meal as a backpacker!), good conversation, useful camping tips and a good night of sleep. Next day, we headed to the stores to buy some camping equipment (for me, only a basic tent and a blow up mattress (Val and Charlie had given me some old blankets so I would not have to buy a sleeping bag, 30 AUD in total, thank you Kmart!)). Due to some trouble with the roof rack Filip had ordered, we ended up leaving Townsville in the dark. But off we were. The next days, we drove km and km of straight road, and camped at free, low-cost and medium cost camp grounds. Highlights were the beautiful wildlife (birds, kangaroos and wallabies, possums), the superb starry nights, the Australian monster trucks called “Road Trains” and the vast (though sometimes rather boring) landscapes. 4 days later, Filip dropped me off at Tennant Creek, from where I would continue my journey to Alice Springs by Greyhound bus. Tennant Creek used to be a gold mining town, but those days were long gone. Except for the excellent Battery Hill mining tour and the aboriginal talk with included bush tucker (ie bush food), it seemed to me a pretty depressing place. The hostel I stayed at (the only one in town) seamlessly fitted that picture: ramshackle buildings, dirty dorm rooms smelling (badly) of cigarette smoke, run-down bathroom and kitchen… My worst hostel experience so far. The only upside was that I seemed to be the only guest, so my four bed dorm turned into a private room.
Before heading to Ayr, I had met a Belgian guy in my hostel in Townsville, Filip, who was in the process of buying a car and was going to drive to the Northern Territory, in order to meet his parents in Darwin. Since I had to go the same way for quite a while, before heading South to Alice Springs, we discussed driving together for a bit. Filip ended up having all kinds of trouble with the purchase process, which delayed the departure date. In order to “kill time”, I joined some newly made friends in a trip to Magnetic Island. Beautiful views and good company, it was a good trip.
My diving instructor at the Great Barrier Reef had indicated that, as an “advanced” open water diver, I was now able to dive the Dongala wreck, one of the top ten wreck dives in the world. Only trouble: I had already passed the site, and going diving there would mean backtracking some five hours… So I decided against it. Until I found out that in order to go to my next destination (Alice Springs in the Red Centre), I would have to backtrack anyhow. Yes! Done deal, on the bus I hopped and a couple of days later, I was sitting on a large Zodiac, being shaken thoroughly by a (still) rather rough sea. An hour of full speed waveriding later, our small group of divers (only 12 people) tumbled in the water to explore the Yongala wreck. Despite visibility not being completely tops, it was a beautiful dive, with as highlight a (highly venomous) olive sea snake swimming up to me…
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