Advertisement
Published: November 13th 2007
Edit Blog Post
G'day! So... we arrived at Brisbane airport feeling tired and then made our way to our backpackers hostel. In that short space of time we realised very quickly just how insanely expensive it is in Australia! Even when we went to the supermarket to buy the food to cook in our cramped hostel kitchen, basic food items are more expensive than in the UK! We spent a couple more days in Brisbane which we passed by walking around the well-designed capital of Queensland, that includes the lovely parks and open spaces of the South Bank Parklands (great place for a picnic). Our last day we spent at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was a great day out. We managed to get right up close to Australia's native wildlife including: wallabies, kangaroos, emus, cassowarries, wombats, deadly Taipan snakes and of course koala bears. That evening we took a 4 hour flight to
the city of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
Darwin is possibly the most hot and humid place on Earth! To be honest there isn't a terrible lot to do in Darwin apart from get hammered in one of the bars, which we can't afford to do unfortunately. The hostel
we stayed at was cool though, and we met some really nice and helpful people in our dorm room, Laura and Trish. The one interesting thing we did in Darwin was go to the Museum and Gallery of the Northern Territory where we saw lots of aboriginal art and learnt more about how many Oz creatures can kill us!
On the 5th we picked up our
Wicked Campervan which we've hired for 3 weeks to get us down through the centre and onto Melbourne. Unfortunately it turned out to be not so "wicked" after all, as the supposedly cool design it has painted on it is one of pigs having sex! We were told that it was the only one they had. Great!
If we're both honest these first few days in Oz were quite a culture shock and not particularly enjoyable mainly because; we were missing Asia, Australia is
so expensive, and the travellers in the cities just seem to be British, Irish and German pissheads. We were starting to wonder if Australia was just a "hot England" which we'd been told by some people, so we were feeling a little disheartened.
But then... everything changed once
we'd set off on the open road in our Pig Porn Mobile! Not only has the campervan made us more free and independent, but its actually saving us money in the long run. Our first stop was the
Crocodile Dundee country of Kakadu National Park which is about the size of Wales! We spent 3 days driving around various sites within the park. Highlights were:
~Looking at 57,000 year old aboriginal rock art and watching the sun go down from the escarpment over the East Alligator River flood plain at Ubirr.
~Watching very big estuarine crocodiles feed on Barramundi fish at Cahill's Crossing.
~Seeing more rock art and aboriginal dwelling places used for thousands of years at Nourlangie.
~Walking around the sandstone scenery of Bardejilidji.
~The scenery and birdlife at Yellow Water.
~However, the biggest highlight of Kakadu was the talks at rock art sites given by Annie (Park Ranger). She has actually lived with aboriginal people and is inducted into a clan in northern Kakadu. She did various talks about rock art and aboriginal culture and philosophy at Ubirr and Nourlangie. Aboriginal culture is absolutely fascinating, its such a different way of looking at things compared to a
western viewpoint. It was great to learn of their refreshing views on the world.* (We'll do a seperate blog dedicated to aboriginal culture and philosophy)
After leaving Kakadu alongside some huge termite mounds, we arrived at Edith Falls in the afternoon. It turned out to be a really beautiful spot to relax. After the heat of Kakadu and the general Top End, we loved taking a dip in the pools at Edith, even if there were freshwater crocs in the system! Its ok, they are the small ones and don't attack people. Estuarine crocs are the big scary maneaters! We spent a whole day chilling out in the golden upper pool, and both evenings we went for a walk at sunset to see the wallabies coming into the campsite.
Next we were off to Katherine Gorge, after a quick pit stop in Katherine town for supplies. We did a short walk up to a lookout with an amazing view over the river, a gorge, and the outback in the distance. That night we had ourselves our first Aussie BBQ at the campsite which was greatly appreciated after a few days of instant noodles and pasta. Whilst devouring our
burgers we found a cheeky little wallaby rummaging around in the back of our van! :-)
The next day it was time for the long distance driving to begin! We spent the whole day driving roughly 600km from Katherine to a campsite just before Tennant Creek, called
Banka Banka. We found the scenery of
the Outback flat and simple but at the same time vast and beautiful, and its great to watch the colours of the landscape change as the sun goes down. The night sky over our campsite was unbelievable and every star seemed to be viewable.
Yesterday was again about another 600km slog, but it was nicely broken up by seeing the Devils Marbles and then a strange stop on the Stuart Highway called Wycliffe Well which seems to be very famous for UFO sightings, a fact they're very proud of! After crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, we arrived in Alice Springs at about 6.30pm. We've already clocked up a total of over 2,000km!
Was difficult getting used to living in a tiny van for a few days, but we're used to it now and really enjoying it. An added plus is that the centre
Croc warnings in Kakadu National Park
I think it is pretty safe to say that neither of us are going to venture in to any waterholes for a quick dip, no matter how safe the locals say it is! of Oz is cool at night, not hot and humid like in the north.
Have to say a big thank you to the Aussies we met in Asia, Nat and Jen (Vietnam) and Roy (Jakarta) who advised us to take this route rather than just doing the East Coast. We're absolutely loving the Outback! No worries! :-)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.955s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 9; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0459s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jonathan Brewer
non-member comment
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Well G'day mates, So.......that van is possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!! You have both become exceptional at writing these blogs, I practically feel like I am with you - just a Hot England doesn't sound too bad to be honest, but I reckon the place you guys are going to like the most will be NZ - I am the most jealous about that part of your trip and may have to unsubscribe from your blog. Especially as Cashy appears to have won the lottery and purchased a mansion so you will be staying in complete luxury!! Still missing you guys an awful lot but it’s jolly nice to see you so happy in all your pics! Don't get any ideas from those pigs!