The English part is pretty much done but I couldn't translate it all into German just yet. But better read something than nothing... I hope :)
Hallo zusammen. Ich hab den Post hier reingestellt, obwohl er leider noch nicht ganz fertig ist. Der englische Teil ist sogut wie fertig, aber bei der deutschen Übersetung fehlt noch ein Teil. Tut mir leid. Aber hoffentlich seht ihr das auch so: besser ein bisschen was lesen, als gar nix... :)
When we finally left Port Willunga, our destination was Coober Pedy. The first night we stopped in Pimba: our first night sleeping in the car. :) It was surprisingly comfortable.
Wir haben es dann auch tatsächlich irgendwann geschafft, Port Willunga zu verlassen. Unser erstes Ziel sollte Coober Pedy werden, aber unser erster Stopp und somit auch die erste Nacht im Auto war in Pimba. Das neue Bett ist erstaunlich gemütlich :)
This is how we set up the car: half a cupboard (or "coffin" as Peter, granny's son, used to call it) served as bed AND storage :)
So sieht das Auto von innen aus: unser halber Schrank (oder "Sarg", wie Peter, Shirleys Sohn, ihn gern bezeichnet) bietet unten drunter viel Stauraum und oben drauf kann man super schlafen.
Almost sunset just before our first stop at Pimba.
The following morning we continue to Coober Pedy:
Already quite a while before we actually came to Coober Pedy there were warning signs for unmarked holes.
Schon lange bevor man Coober Pedy tatsächlich erreicht, findet man diese Warnschilder, die auf nicht markierte Löcher im Boden hinweisen.
When we arrived we first checked in at Riba's Underground Camping which claims to be the only underground tent camping facility in the world(?). As they had a special offer for a free stay in their underground cave if you booked a mining tour for the night, we decided to take that offer.
We still had plenty of time so we went to town for the day after checking out our accommodation.
Als wir dann in Coober Pedy ankamen, haben wir uns direkt bei Ribas Underground Camping für die Nacht angemeldet. Angeblich findet man dort weltweit (?) die einzige Gelegenheit mit dem Zelt unterirdisch zu campen. Das fanden wir natürlich spannend. Außerdem gefiel uns deren Angebot: Wenn man eine Minen-Tour für den Abend bucht, bekommt man die Nacht kostenlos.
Bis die Tour losging, hatten wir noch viel Zeit. Also fuhren wir, nachdem wir schon mal die Schlaf-Höhle angeschaut haben, erstmal in den Ort rein.
Entry to the underground camping area:
Bit spooky...
Schon ein bisschen unheimlich...
Our first stop in town was the tourist information where we checked up on what we wanted to see. The Serbian Underground Church was the first place of interest.
Nachdem wir uns in der Touristeninformation erkundigt haben, was wir sehen müssen, stand eine Serbische Untergrund-Kirche zuerst auf dem Programm.
The second was Faye's Underground Home:
This home was originally built by a lady called Faye. In Coober Pedy, it pays out to have an underground home, as day temperatures in summer can rise up to 50°. Nights in winter (and in summer, too) can be freezing cold though. In Faye's underground home there is a constant temperature (day and night, winter and summer) of about 23-25°. Very pleasant.
Dann ging's zu Fayes Underground Home. Ein echtes Haus und Zuhause unter Tage. Errichtet hat dies eine Dame namens faye. In Coober Pedy machen diese unterirdischen Gebäude das Leben deshalb so viel leichter, weil man im Sommer durchaus Tagestemperaturen bis zu 50° erwarten kann. Die Nächte (vorallem im Winter) können aber eisig kalt sein. In Fayes Underground Home herrscht eine konstante Temperatur von 23 - 25°. Sehr angenehm.
One of the bedrooms
They have a bar!!!
underground lounge :)Being titled as the "Opal Capital of the World", Coober Pedy has lots and lots of opal shops, mines, museums and souvenir shops all around the precious mineral. This is the most special one (at least from outside).
Nicht ohne Grund wird Coober Pedy als "Opal-Hauptstadt der Welt" bezeichnet: es gibt unzählige Geschäfte rund um das wertvolle Mineral. Dieser Shop hat mir (zumindest von außen) am Besten gefallen:
Being so close to the Oodnadatta Track, Juuli and me couldn't resist to give it a few minutes "on the road". Originally, we wanted to get to Coober Pedy via this track but then ran out of time and decided to take the highway.
Da wir ja nun so nah am Oodnadatta Track waren, konnten Juuli und ich nicht widerstehen, wenigstens ein paar Minuten drauf zu fahren. Ursprünglich hatten wir ja vorgehabt, Coober Pedy über genau diesen Track zu erreichen, hatten dann aber nicht genug Zeit und nahmen stattdessen den Highway.
Even though we didn't stay on the track for very long, it was still really nice to drive it for a little bit. At that time I had no idea I'd be driving the whole track later that year. :)
Obwohl wir nicht lange auf dem Track fuhren, hat es doch richtig Spaß gemacht. Zu dieser Zeit hatte ich übrigens noch keine Ahnung, dass ich den kompletten Track zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt fahren würde.
Just before dark, we got back to our camp. We set up our "beds" and went to the meeting point for our underground mining tour just to hear the disappointing news that the tour was cancelled due to a lack of people. Great! :/
Very disappointed, we went to have dinner in the "cave" and then go to sleep rather soon.
Kurz bevor es dunkel wurde, waren wir zurück im Camp. Wir haben unsere "Betten" gerichtet und sind dann zum Treffpunkt für die Minen-Tour gegangen, nur um dort zu hören, dass die Tour wegen zu wenigen Teilnehmern gestrichen wurde. Toll! :/ Ziemlich enttäuscht gingen wir zu unserem Nachtlager zurück und haben dort vor dem Schlafen ne Kleinigkeit gegessen.
We put down rubbish bags on the ground, then sleeping mats and on top our sleeping bags.
Apart from us, there were no people staying underground. They were all overground. Slowly but surely we were starting to freak out a bit, thinking strange thoughts about how everyone overground knew that it was only the two girls underground and that no one would hear you scream. Snakes, spiders or even dingoes that could find their way into our camp seemed to be a minor threat in this case and at this point. However, in the end we decided to be proud and brave enough to stick with it.
And sure enough, the next morning came....
Abgesehen von uns war übrigens keine Menschenseele in dem Untergrund-Camp. Die waren alle über der Erde. Langsam aber sicher begannen wir uns Sorgen zu machen. Darüber, dass oben ja jeder wusste, dass hier nur zwei Mädels schliefen und dass bestimmt niemand unsere Schreie hören würde. Schlangen, Spinnen und sogar Dingos, die sich durchaus auch ohne große Probleme in unser Camp verirren konnten, schienen da noch die angenehmere Alternative. Im Endeffekt entschlossen wir uns dann aber doch zum Durchhalten. Man hat ja auch seinen Stolz.
Und der nächste Morgen kam natürlich auch...
We left Coober Pedy and took a bit of a detour to see the "Dog Fence", not only the longest fence but also the longest continual construction in the world. It stretches over 5,300 km (beginning east of Surfer's Paradise, Queensland and ending north of Ceduna, South Australia). It was built to keep dingoes away from cattle and sheep.
Über einen kleinen Umweg verließen wir Coober Pedy entlang am "Dog Fence", der nicht nur der längste Zaun, sondern auch die längste zusammenhängende Konstruktion der Welt ist. Er erstreckt sich über 5.300 km von Queensland (Surfer's Paradise) bis hin nach Süd Australien (Ceduna). Sein Zweck war (und ist) es, Dingos von Vieh zu trennen.
From there, we followed a sign towards the Breakaways. Driving through this kind of landscape makes you feel like you're in a different world or on a different planet. The moon... most likely!
Von dort aus folgten wir spontan einem Wegweiser zu den "Breakaways". Durch diese Umgebung zu fahren ist wirklich verrückt. Man fühlt sich, als wäre man in einer anderen Welt oder auf einem anderen Planeten. Dem Mond zum Beispiel.
The range of colours was amazing! The view from up top, too!
It was a bit windy...
Can you spot the lizards that we met as we continued on the Highway? There's three...
Könnt ihr die Echsen sehen, die uns auf dem Highway begegnet sind? Drei sind's...
Finally, we had to say goodbye to South Australia and hello to the Northern Territory.
Yes, ALWAYS take spare petrol. You never know when you need it. Sometimes, the next petrol stop you counted on suddenly does not exist anymore even though your road map said so.
Man sollte wirklich IMMER extra Benzin bei sich tragen. Man weiß nie, wann man es braucht. Manchmal ist nämlich der nächste Tankstopp, den man so fest eingeplant hat, gar nicht mehr da. Auch wenn die Karte das behauptet...
And then again, it is a good idea to carry plenty of water and refill it whenever possible. Rainwater tanks always have a sign attached to them "water may not be suitable for drinking". Most of the time it is perfectly fine though. You can always boil it first if you want but normally you can tell by the look and the smell of the water if it is alright to drink. If it's not - trust me- you don't want to drink it boiled either...
Dann macht es auch Sinn, immer viel Wasser dabei zu haben und es nachzufüllen wann immer man die Gelegenheit dazu hat. Die meisten Regenwassertanks haben immer ein Hinweis-Schild, auf dem steht, dass das Regenwasser möglicherweise nicht trinkbar sei. In den meisten Fällen ist es aber völlig in Ordnung. Man kann es natürlich auch vor dem Trinken abkochen aber normalerweise kann man schon am Geruch und Aussehen des Wassers sagen, ob man es trinken möchte oder nicht. Und wenn nicht, glaubt mir, dann möchte man es auch abgekocht nicht trinken...
Shrubs after a preventive bushfire.
Juuli and me were really waiting to see camles. As we finally did we, weren't all that excited anymore:
I guess you can tell why...
Arrival in Ululru Kata-Tjuta National Park:
We arrived at Yulara Resort before noon. While we had lunch, we planned our stay. For the first day we decided to go to the Olgas, do the Valley of the Winds Walk and then stay there to see the sunset. The sunset with its range of colours is quite amazing and really pretty to watch. Still, to me, it cannot compete with sunset at Uluru.
Wir sind noch am vormittag im Yulara Resort angekommen. Während wir was gegessen haben, planten wir unseren Aufenthalt hier. Für den ersten Tag entschlossen wir uns, zu den Olgas zu fahren und dort erst den Valley of the Winds Walk zu machen und dann gleich zum Sonnenuntergang zu bleiben. Der war zar auch toll und sehr farbintensiv, aber ich muss sagen, mit dem Sonnenuntergang am Uluru vom Vorjahr ist es nicht zu vergleichen. 
Valley of the Winds Walk
Sunset at the Olgas
The next day started way too early as we wanted to be at Ayers Rock for the sunrise. From there, we took several walks. One of the walks was a guided ranger-tour which was really interesting. Our guide told us parts of some dreamtime stories, gave us cultural background and explained caves, holes and other outer appearances of Uluru and linked them to Aboriginal interpretations. So, if there's a deep rut or furrow in the rock, he would tell us that in Aboriginal belief, this would be where one of the ancestral beings, the Rainbow Serpent, for example, came down from the rock. He also demonstrated how Aborigines used caves as shelters, “kitchens” and “classrooms”.
Der nächste Tag begann viel zu früh. Wir wollten zum Sonnenaufgang am Ayers Rock sein. Von dort aus unternahmen wir dann mehrere Wanderungen. Zum Beispiel auch eine geführte Ranger-Tour, die unglaublich interessant war. Der Ranger erklärte uns viel zu den historischen und kulturellen Hintergründen der Aborigines und den Dreamtime Stories. Außerdem erklärte er uns Höhlen, Löcher und andere auffällige Merkmale von Uluru und begründete diese, wie die Aborigines sie begründen würden. So deute zum Beispiel eine Furche im Fels darauf hin, dass dort die Stelle sei, wo einer ihrer Urahnen, die Regenbogen-Schlange zum Beispiel, vom Felsen herabgestiegen sei. Er hat uns auch erklärt, wie die Höhlen in der Felswand als Unterschlupf, aber auch als eine Art "Küche" oder "Klassenraum" genutzt wurden.
After the ranger’s walk, we decided to do the 10,6 km base walk. It did stretch quite a bit but it was well worth it and really beautiful. Stinking hot, too. :) It was fascinating to see all of Uluru’s different faces and it has a lot!
Nach der geführten Tour haben wir dann noch den 10.6 km langen Gang um Uluru gemacht. Er hat sich dann zwar doch etwas in die Länge gezogen, aber es war es definitiv wert und richtig schön. Aber auch verdammt heiß! :) Faszinierend war es, die verschiedenen Gesichter von Uluru zu sehen und davon hat er wirklich so Einige!
As we had started the day so early, by the time we finished the walk it was only afternoon. We filled up on petrol and food and set off towards Kings Canyon. We didn’t want to go the whole way though as it would have been too far. We decided to stay in a place called Curtin Springs, which was only about 120 kms from Yulara. Just after we had left Yulara Resort nature gave us a pretty amazing sight. Just there by the side of the road stood a camel. It was huge and brown and beautiful! We stopped the car and stood on the side steps to have a better view. When I looked around I realised there were even more camels on the other side of the road. It seemed like they were waiting for their slow friend, looking at him as if to say “Come on” Hurry up, man!”
Slowly he crossed the road, pausing in the middle, posing for our picture. It was a picture perfect moment! Thanks camels. You made the day!
Da wir den Tag so früh begonnen hatten, war es auch noch recht früh, als wir den Gang um Uluru beendet hatten. Wir entschlossen uns also, noch Richtung Kings Canyon zu fahren. Den ganzen Weg wollten wir allerdings nicht mehr heute fahren, sondern nur ca 120km weit bis nach Curtin Springs. Kurz nachdem wir Yulara Resort verlassen hatten, bot sich uns ein gar spektakulärer Anblick. Gleich neben der Straße thronte ein Kamel. Es war riesig und braun und wunderschön! Da hielten wir natürlich an. Um besser sehen zu können, stellte ich mich auf das Trittbrett seitlich am Auto. Als ich dann in einen 360°-Blick schweifen ließ, sah ich zu meiner Verwunderung, dass auf der anderen Straßenseite noch mehr Kamele waren. Sie schienen auf ihren langsamen Freund zu warten und schauten ihn an, als wollten sie sagen "Nur komm, mach schon!". Langsam hat er dann die Straße überquert, blieb nochmal kurz in der Mitte stehen, als wolle er für unsere Kameras posieren. Es war ein Bilderbuchmoment! Danke liebe Kamele. Ihr habt den Tag gerettet! 
The next stop was even more spectacular. Not in a good way though. By now it was already dark and we were driving when suddenly, we saw something in the beams of our super bright spotlights (thanks, Pete!) ;) There were people in the middle of the road, waving their arms frantically!
Der nächste Stopp war noch spektakulärer. Allerdings nicht in einer guten Weise. Es war inzwischen schon dunkel und wir fuhren den Highway entlang, als wir plötzlich in unseren super hellen Fernleuchten (danke, Pete!) :) etwas sahen. Da standen in der Ferne Leute auf der Straße, wild mit den Armen rudernd.
Juuli and me were quite unsure what to do. We thought “what if they want to trick us” and “we will not get out of the car!”. We slowed down to have a closer look and a better think... As we came close enough to see what had happened we almost felt ashamed for what we had been thinking before:
Juuli und ich waren ziemlich unschlüssig, was wir machen sollten. Wir dachten "was, wenn die uns austricksen wollen" und "wir steigen auf keinen Fall aus!". Wir wurden dann immer langsamer und als wir schließlich nah genug waren, um zu sehen, was passiert war, haben wir uns fast geschämt für das, was wir vorher gedacht haben:
There were two people, an Asian couple, in the middle of the road, their car - completely crashed - by the side of the road. We were shocked. We stopped (of course) and they told us they had hit a kangaroo about an hour ago and since then no one had come by. We took them with us to Curtin Springs where they tried to organise themselves. Luckily, they weren’t hurt at all. You should have seen the car. It looked like it hit a concrete wall. I really don’t want to imagine what damage a camel would do if a kangaroo already has an impact like that....
Ein junges asiatisches Paar stand in der Mitte der Straße, ihr Auto Totalschaden! Wir waren schockiert. Wir hielten natürlich an. Die Zwei erzählen uns, dass sie vor gut einer Stunde ein Känguru frontal erwischt hätten. Seitdem wäre noch kein Auto vorbei gekommen. Sie waren überglücklich, als wir gesagt haben, wir nehmen sie zum nächsten Ort mit. Zum Glück war den Beiden nichts passiert. Ihr hättet das Auto sehen müssen. Es sah aus, als wäre es frontal gegen eine Betonwand gefahren. Ich möchte mir nicht ausmalen, was für einen Schaden ein Kamel anrichten würde, wenn das Auto nach einem Känguru schon so aussah...
On the way to Curtin Springs they told us they had only arrived in Australia a few days ago, had come to Alice Springs that same day and got their rental car from there (FIRST day!!!) Unbelievable, isn’t it? Luckily, they had the car insured properly and the next morning they told us they’d get a new car.
Auf dem Weg nach Curtin Springs haben sie uns erzählt, dass sie erst seit ganz kurzem in Australien sind, an diesem Morgen in Alice Springs angekommen waren und von dort aus mit dem Mietauto Richtung Ayers Rock gefahren sind. Das heißt am ERSTEN TAG so ein Unfall. Unfassbar, oder? Zum Glück hatten sie ihr Auto ordentlich versichern lassen und haben am nächsten Tag einen neuen Wagen bekommen, wie wir später erfuhren.
On the way to Kings Canyon:
Before we got to Kings Canyon, we stayed a night at Kathleen Springs which is really only a day use area (picnic area) but we decided to risk it. It worked.
The next morning we went to Kings Canyon early to do the Kings Canyon Rim Walk before the day gets too hot. It is a 6km loop which takes you to the top of the Canyon and then follows the rim around before descending to the car park. It is as beautiful and the views as spectacular as I remember it from last year.
Am nächsten Morgen ging's dann sehr früh zum Kings Canyon, damit wir den Canyon Rim Walk noch machen konnten, bevor der Tag zu heiß würde. Der 6km lange Weg bringt einen zuerst auf die Spitze des Canyons und führt dann an der Kante entlang bis man wieder zum Ausgangspunkt zurück kommt. Es ist immer noch wunderschön und die Aussicht noch genauso spektakulär, wie ich sie vom Vorjahr in Erinnerung hatte.
Hurry up, Juuli :)
When we got back to the car, we went to Kings Canyon Resort to ask about the Mereenie Loop, which is an alternative route to Alice Springs instead of taking the Highway. It leads you on unsealed roads into the West Macdonell Ranges and on to Alice Springs. Considering the time of day (it was early afternoon by now) we asked the lady if she thought we’d make it off the dirt roads before dark. “No worries” and “You’ll be alright” she assured us... She said it would take us only 2 hours to get off the dirt road and only 4 hours altogether to get to Alice Springs. I didn’t quite believe her then but I thought even if it took –let’s say - 4 hours to get off the dirt roads that would still be ok.
Als wir zurück im Kings Canyon Resort waren um zu tanken, fragten wir nach dem Mereenie Loop, der eine Alternative bietet, nach Alice Springs zu kommen. Statt über main Roads und Highways geht's hauptsächlich über Dirt Roads durch die West Macdonell Ranges nach Alice. Da es schon relativ spät war (schon Nachmittag), fragten wir die Dame hinter der Rezeption, ob sie auch sicher garantieren könne, dass wir vor der Dunkelheit von den Dirt Roads runter seien. "Klar, überhaut kein Problem!" Sie meinte, wir wären locker in 2 Stunden zurück auf asphaltierten Straßen und bis nach Alice Springs wären es auch nur 4 Stunden. Mhhh, ich hab ihr zwar nicht abgekauft, dass wir in 2 Stunden aus'm Busch raus wären, aber ich dachte, selbst wenn es 4 Stunden bis zur Hauptstraße dauern würde, würd das bis zum Sonnenuntergang auch noch klappen.
So, we took off and already after about 10 kms into that track we had enough. The track was absolutely horrible. It was so highly corrugated that we sometimes had to slow down to about 15 kph and continue like that for ages... I know that there is a certain speed so that you don’t feel the corrugations as much but sometimes it was simply impossible. Especially with a heavy loaded car and on a track like that. You had to watch out for sharp stones on the track as well. Once we were trying to go faster but the car even jumped out of gear with all that shaking! Lovely!
This, unfortunately, is not soft sand but hard, corrugated ground.
Driving tips: Lift um foot = Runter vom Gas
Puttum back down = jetzt kannste wieder Gas geben!
Fucking 6 hours later, we were still on that exact same road, the sun had gone down and the only thing we say when we stared into the darkness surrounding us was a camp fire here and there. Creepy. We didn’t even want to stop or slow down. We were really fed up with that road but even more so with that woman. So angry! How can you be so irresponsible as to let 2 girls go on a track like that when it’s getting close to late afternoon already?!
This was the only thing that made the drive worth it. A huge group of camels! Fantastic!!
The driving was really exhausting: you had to hold the stirring wheel really tight, sometimes the gear stick too, but also stare in front of your tyres for sharp stones, PLUS now that it was dark you had to constantly check the side of the road for kangaroos and other suicidal animals. What a fun drive.
You can imagine our excitement when we finally hit bitumen again. Yet, we weren’t overly happy as the places we passed and had planned to stay for the night, weren’t all that inviting... So in the end we decided to drive all the way to Alice where we arrived at around 1 in the morning.
In “The Alice” as the city is being called, we saw the Desert Park, School of the Air and had a look around the centre. It is a fascinating place really. I do quite like it.
At the Desert Park, I finally got to see my so long longed for “Thorny Devil”, a little creature which looks nothing like I have ever seen. It was friendly enough to pose for my pictures before turning around and disappearing again.
View over Alice Springs from Anzac Hill
School of the Air was particularly fascinating and a very different concept from any European school. The school has its base in Alice Springs but gets students from all over the Northern Territory. The student who lives the furthest away is a 9 year old girl and if I remember correctly, she lives about 1,300kms away. Actually, her school should really be in Katherine now (that also has a School of the Air) but as she used to attend the school in Alice Springs before her family moved away, she was allowed to stay registered there.
Opening of the Desert Festival.
From Alice Springs we took the Highway towards Katherine. We passed Aileron, a perfect stop for taking some pictures.
On the way to Katherine: Devils Marbles.
and a night at the very popular Daly Waters Pub.
Getting a souvenir from the pub ;) Long story...
Before we got into Katherine, we went to a place called Mataranka, where a friend of us (we used to work with him in Cobram) worked on a watermelon farm. We spent the night there and sometime at night we took my car and he directed us deep into the melon fields where he picked 3 beautiful huge watermelons for us to take with us on the road. Yum!
Breakfast at Mataranka Hot Springs.
When we left the next morning just before we got into Katherine we saw something strange on the road. A huge “thing” in the distance which didn’t look like an animal or a human being but not like a car, either. As we got closer, we saw what it was: a fully loaded camel and its owner J
Of course, we had to stop to ask what it was all about. Shawn, the owner, told us he was going to walk Noodles, his camel, to Alice Springs as it was too humid and tropical in Katherine! We were fascinated. As much as Noodles was with our bowl of watermelon which in the end he gobbled up in about a minute. Shawn equally appreciated our watermelon as he said Noodles didn’t have to drink anymore for that day. Every day a good deed...
Our journey then continued and we arrived in Katherine. We spent a few days there. Also my birthday which was a fantastic day. Thank you, Juuli for the many surprises! :)
I wanted to do something special so we decided to book ourselves into a cultural experience. This meant that you were going to hear a bit about a certain Aboriginal tribe, listen to didgeridoo music, get to throw a spear, make fire but best of all paint with the Aborigines!!!
It was amazing and so much fun. Juuli and me went into different groups. I chose “dot-art” where you could tell your own story. My “teacher”, Adriana, gave us a few pieces of paper which explained the different symbols that we could use and showed us some samples. While we painted she told us stories and answered questions. It was a truly unique experience.
Walking in the Nitmiluk National Park.
Before going to Darwin (the final stop in Juuli’s journey) we wanted to see Kakadu National Park and Litchfield National Park. Of course now, with the right car, my focus was on doing as much 4WDing as possible. We did. And it was amazing!
On the way to Maguk, a beautiful water hole.
Green Ants holding up a frog leg.
We went to Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls in Kakadu. It was fantastic. Even though I have to say that my timing, when it comes to Kakadu and those two falls, is not the best at all. Last year, with Martin, Thomas and Ela, it was still too close to the wet season so that the only way to get to the falls was by helicopter. This year, however, it was that far into the dry season that Jim Jim Falls stopped running completely and from Twin Falls there was only one left and that was close to only dripping. It was still absolutely worth it. The drive alone was unbelievable. Real 4WDing! I knew why I wanted a car like that!!! It just takes you anywhere. I find it hard to find the right words to be able to share my emotions about ... well... driving! Deep soft sand, water crossings and just being off the beaten track feels fantastic! But the pictures will do more than words I guess. ;)
This time we also went to Cahills Crossing, which is meant to be the best spot in Kakadu to see crocodiles. Very true. We saw heaps! Pretty impressing sight really. Shame we didn’t go there last year.
Last night in Kakadu.
From Kakadu we went to Litchfield where I had already been 3 times. I just love that place. I have to say it’s more beautiful when it’s not peak season. Simply due to the fact that there are less people then. When Juuli and me went there this time it was way too crowded.
The only places that weren’t were ... have a guess... right! The places that could only be reached by 4x4 cars.
Lost City:
...and more Green Ants...
We saw the “Lost City” and took the drive to the “Surprise Creek Falls” and what a surprise it was! It is definitely one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. But from the beginning: After we got back to the main road (after having seen the “Lost City”), we took the track towards the Surprise Creek Falls. We weren’t really sure whether we could make the whole track as there was meant to be a deep water crossing on the way. We decided to just drive (it wasn’t that far) and see what it looks like. Luckily, just after the turn-off from the main road, we saw two other cars. We stopped and asked them if they were planning to go to surprise creek, too. They were. So, we went in a convoy which was fantastic! The feeling that someone was there to make sure you’re ok was great! Also, one of the guys, Steve, was a real 4x4 expert. Him and his family have done loads of off-road driving and pretty much know all about it. Whenever it looked a bit daunting and you weren’t really sure you could trust he knew exactly what to do.
We had an awesome trip together:
Surprise, surprise!
Juuli and me decided we liked it that much that we stayed at the camp area nearby. The next day we wanted to continue to Darwin.
On the way back we had a look at Blyth Homestead:
Hier waren Wespen am Werk. Sie formen diese kleinen Gefäße um ihre betäubten Opfer und mauern sie lebendig ein. Zuvor legen sie aber noch Eier in oder an ihre Opfer damit der Nachwuchs direkt ein frisches Mahl vor sich hat. Gar kein schöner Weg zu sterben...
Built in 1928/9 this little house was home to a family of 16 (!). The family was basically self-sufficient and also had a tin mine on their property which provided their main income.
Hier steht eine Water-Crossing an:
Ganz locker geht's hier durch. Ist ja nicht mal 40 Zentimeter hoch...
Juulis neuer Freund.
Schon irgendwie süß :)
Hoch das Bein!
Wasser auffüllen. Wo könnt's besser schmecken, als direkt an der Quelle?
Dann hieß es auf Wiedersehen Litchfield...
.... und hallo Darwin!
Sonnenuntergang am Mindil Beach
Doesn't look too good, does it?
Sometimes, things don’t go the way you plan it though. We took the way back towards the main road and all of a sudden we heard a “BAAANG” from under the car. Shocked, we stopped the car and had a look but couldn’t find anything. We continued but every now and then the car would make a strange sound. I wasn’t happy at all. When we finally got to the main road and parked the car on a level ground, I didn’t want to trust my eyes: one side of the car was jacked up like on a jack, the other was pushed down so that the wheel hardly had space to turn. I felt like crying.
Very slowly and carefully, we drove to the next service station we could find and the guy there told us it was the springs but he couldn’t help us. He called up a garage in Darwin which would help us and told us we’d be alright to drive to Darwin but not too fast... Oh, really? I wouldn’t have thought that. Those 150 km were probably the most anxious I’ve ever driven.
When we got to Darwin, the guys handed us the pair of new springs but said they weren’t able to change them for us. Well, that was helpful. I was close to tears. Also because the set of springs (not even fitted yet) cost me around $700. After having tried to find a solution, the guy in the garage finally came back to me and said that he has a backpacker working for him who’d be willing to help me with the fitting of the springs. I burst into tears. I was so thankful!
Sieht nicht so gut aus, oder? Beim Off-Road-Driving ist mir leider ein Teil der Federung gebrochen, bzw hat sich so verklemmt, dass das Auto auf der rechten Seite hochgebockt wurde und ausgetauscht werden musste. Nicht nur ärgerlich, sondern auch sehr teuer so ein Paar Federn... Zum Glück war ein ganz netter Backpacker bereit mir diese zu tauschen.
To deal with that shock, Juuli and me had to go out for a drink...
Also for our goodbye.
Daraufhin mussten Juuli und ich erstmal einen Trinken gehen ....
Auch auf unseren Abschied!
Thank you Juuli, it was an amazing trip with you! :) xxx
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