to Darwin and back: 15/07-17/07

Sun, 15/07/07
-> Old Telegraph Station 2401 km
--> K. desperately tries to operate mobile
--> seen central market
--> Westpac ATM gives us only 20$!
--> ANZAC Hill beautiful; good overview of Alice
--> M. a little moody
-> Ti Tree 2700 km,
Red Sand (Aboriginal art shop) is a big rip-off
-> Wycliff Well 2887km, 1.76$/l,
Ufo capital,
K. tries to call home
-> Wachope 2905 km, 1.70$/l,
K. complains about lack of flat bread,
little Aboriginal boy wants money for a drink, give him chocolate instead
--> Devil's Marbles, OK but not too impressive
-> Tennant Creek 3021km, 1.46$/l,
Mary Ann Dam is beautiful,
M. makes stones jump on the water
-> Banka Banka 3131km,
best camping spot with microwave, fridge, washing machine, drier, hot showers and a slide show in the evening,
again: Australians do not communicate too much, at 9 o'clock everything is quite,
only some Irish want to talk,
M. gets sick of camel satay made of Mongolian camels,
nights are warmer already

Mon, 16/07/07
--> overtake two vans and one truck
--> Elliot
-> Dunmarra 3390 km, 1.59$/l, discovered first toad
-> Daly Water 3463 km, 1.66$/l,
more expensive than highway,
Lonely Planet lies regularly, do not trust it,
it is getting hotter

-> Larrimah 3561 km, wild chickens,
-> Elsey Cemetry, graveyard of some unknown ('We of the Never Never')
-> Mataranka 3656 km,
beautiful hot springs in Elsey National Park,
palms everywhere,
first bathing opportunity
-> Bitter Springs 3660 km,
less crowded hot spring,
K. sees a snake (probably lizard),
looks almost like a jungle
--> dead animals everywhere (even wild pigs)
-> Wild Camping II 3788 km (between Katherine and Mataranka)

Tue, 17/07/07
-> Katherine 3783 km, 1.33&/l,
first real signs of civilization after Alice
->Nitmiluk National Park 3810 km,
swim across Katherine Gorge without seeing crocodiles,
want to use a canoe but they are sold out, want to book in advance on our way back
--> bush fire and lots of dead animals alog the road
-> Leliyn (Edith Falls) 3910km,
beautiful swimming lake,
K. too lazy to get to upper pool (2h walk),
crazy youngsters jump from the rock (15 m),
K. prevents M. from imitating them,
meet German teacher couple who travels around the world (Europe->Asia->Australia->America)
-> Pine Creek 3977km, 1.53$/l
--> enter Kakadu National Park
-> Kambolgie 4071 km,
from now on constant crocodile warnings,
crazy French group occupies camping site,
warn us to go away because it is going to be very loud,
they did not lie and used a generator the whole night,
they get up before dawn!,
hear dingoes howling,
lots of birds in Kakadu