Finally we got here. I had hooked up with Fred(eric), the owner of a red Mazda mini-van with lots of character, and (Fride)Rike for the 1500 km road trip up to Darwin. The first night we stopped just some 300 odd kilometers north from Alice Springs at the Devils Marbles, a great spot for sunset and a nice public camp site (see more pictures here). Given the age of the vehicle, our cruising speed amounted to a mere 85 km/h, so there was plenty of time to get to know my travel companions.
On the next day we hit the road through continuous empty landscape. I think there is no better way to understand the vastness of the land than driving through it! At some stage the gear box started to make some funny noises, so we decided to drive on just using the fourth gear, which still sounded the healthiest. That meant our speed dropped down to about 65 km/h, but we were in no rush anyway. When we reached Elliot, we were happy to see some signs indicating a mechanics workshop. We were very relieved to see it was open, but unfortunately there was no mechanic around anymore at it was Saturday. But the owner of the place offered to send a mechanic around to the campground early next morning. We hence spent the rest of the day lounging around in the pool and watching the peacocks running around.
Being woken up by the screeching sounds of the peacocks too early in the morning, we were then greeted by the mechanic who had turned up even earlier than expected. He said the gear box had to be replaced and he happened to have the spare part in his shop. 1000 A$, thank you. Fred decided to rather keep on driving with the damaged vehicle, so on we went, slowly. On the way we stopped in Mataranka, to have a dip in the rain forest pool there. Fruit bats and cockatoos flying over our heads. Huge termite mounds by the hundreds seaming the road. The heat started to become oppressive. We camped at a free campsite near the highway, only disturbed by the occasional roaring of a passing road train (huge trucks with up to four hangers).
In the morning after a short ride to Katherine we drove around to find a mechanic, and after a few stops we found a place that would do the thing for 800 A$. So half a day later we were on the road again at our old cruising speed. We decided to keep on driving until we reached Darwin at about 8pm. Same heat here, just much more humidity. Good thing the hostel has air-conditioning and a pool!
