Australia (Part 3/5) - Northern Territory
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2012
Katherine: Finally in a "bigger" place
I already moved forward to Katherine, which is a little bit a bigger place - again 500 kilometers in the east. As there was absolute, really absolutely nothing else between Kununurra and Katherine, I had to drive all the way today.Even it is a bigger city than Kununurra, it has very similar marginal tourist infrastructure compared to Kununurra! But at least here they have a McDonald's!.:) Tomorrow Ill go to the Nitmiluk National Park, which is the most famous place around here. Hopefully ill see some crocs.
I gotta have to obtain now some maps and information from the Nitmiluk so that I won't get lost there tomorrow..:)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2012
Katherine: The Nitmiluk NP
Finished with Nitmiluk&Co :D! Was there this morning and most of it was just walking or better said, hiking. It has some nice billabongs where people can swim. But - I don't like the thought, swimming the same pool with the chance hitting onto a saltwater croc.I just did about 3 kilometers of hiking in Nitmiluk, cause it was too hot.
Yesterday evening I camped somewhere besides a road beside the wilderness and meanwhile, I have to smile how the procedures works after the sun go down. As long the sun is up, the flyes are so annoying and after the sun is down, the mosquitos start their work. It like a shift change ..hehe¨! And the darker it gets it louder gets out there in the bushes! I was sitting there and listened to the sound and noises they make and the darker and later it got, the noisier it went and the more I had the feeling the animals in there come closer and closer to me – I felt as I was in a trap …:)! No idea what creatures were doing out there, but it got soo loud and I decided to move to the Pajiero. :)
After writing (here in McDonald), I will move on to the north. To the Litchfield NP, which is close to Darwin. Probably I will spend about two days there, before heading up to Darwin.
Today I will again grill some meat! Beef again! But it has another shape than the other ones before, so it a little bit a change..hehe!! Hopefully, I can go fishing around the Litchfield NP, so that I for the first time can eat my own caught fish…
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2012
Darwin: Arriving and relax a bit!
Finally managed to cut the beard little bit ..:D! I guess for the first time since I'm here in Australia, I'm able to relax for the next few days. Yesterday by night, I arrived in Darwin and I was so done. Completely tired and dirty and powerless – at the end with the nerves. All I wanted was getting a shower and have sleep. In Darwin CBD I didn’t find any accommodation which had available space. Just some dorm beds. So I decided to find a quiet place to get my shower from my camp shower and sleep for another night in the car. Both weren’t actually that easy. Especially finding sleep in that crazy heat without any wind was pretty hard.By now, I'm in a nice campground/caravan park and some minutes ago, I built up the tent for the first time :D! Excited how sleeping is in there. Ahh and, nooo insects here. Don’t know how they achieved to get such a fly-and-mosquito-free place! But if they hunt me again, I'm prepared! I have upgraded my equipment with a super-duper anti-mosquito spray, which makes them immediately fly away when smelling it!!
So for some days I will stay here, relax, fish, enjoy the city and plan the next days and weeks!
Thankfully I didn’t have problems with the car in that desert or other lost places the last few days. That would be a problem .. a not so funny one! Cause out there won't work any mobile phone. Some people have satellite phones. When you have a prob you just can be lucky that someone with the sat-phone is snowing by!
I'm going now watching, for the second time, if there is water in the showers. Last time they didn’t have :D! Then I will go for a walk outside the campground to find a restaurant where I can fill my empty stomach! Just had some canned salmon and some toast today.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2012
Darwin: The famous croco-cove
I'm sitting now in a beach restaurant and drinking coffee, after having some theoretical fishing lessons with some local recreational fishermen at the jetty. They gave me some great information about how, where and when to fish here in Darwin. I think I will try to realize the theory tomorrow. Today I was in the crocosaurus cove. It's the cage where people can swim with the crocodile. There is a swimming pool with the croc inside and tourists can climb into a plexicove, which gets dropped into the swimming pool. Around it, the rangers feed the croc with delicious smelling beef steak and the tourists can swim eye to eye with the monster. I didn’t swim in there, because the row was too long and the fee too high, but I watched other people swim and made pictures. It was really awesome there and watching the huge fat crocs getting fed.It's getting pretty hot here. I guess I was a little bit too long in the sun, cause I feel some headache and dizziness. So I better move away from here and go visiting the night market here along the beach road.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2012
Darwin: My daily businesses!
Sitting now in the campground and enjoy the
morning sun, after having two other busy days. Yesterday I tried fishing again with the 10 days old bait, which was already smelling like hell. No wonder there didn’t bite any fish…! Then I went washing my car. Then getting a new car battery in the midday heat, after the engine didn’t start again. Then had a talk to local fishermen for about two hours. They gave me a lot of information about the secrets of fishing. One of them invited me going today to Arnhem land with his aboriginal wife, a faraway aboriginal land – 2 days of driving away. But actually, I had enough stress the last few days. Also I don’t think that the Pajiero will make it in that dirty dirt road up to Arnhem land :)The photo i from the crocosaurus cove! The pic doesn’t show how huge the croc really is. Anyway, I was lucky that I had the chance to make a pic right at the moment the croc was swimming so close at the glass above me.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2012
Darwin: I'm not the only beginner in fishing
Still no luck with fishing yesterday.
I was at two different bays and I think that I'm doing something wrong. But at least I was not the only newcomer at the bay. I met a couple which started fishing there yesterday and, holy shit, they handled the rod and everything 10 times more complicated than I did in my “early beginnings” of my fishing career..hehe!! Thankfully they didn’t catch anything neither..haha!! Otherwise, I probably should copy their tactics on how to handle the fishing gear - or get rid of all my fishing gear with the conclusion, that I'm unable to fish :)I read some crazy articles and review from other tourists who have been in East-Timor. And it seems, in particular, a very very undeveloped and tourist unprepared country with a lot of gang activities going on there. And my plan for today and tomorrow is to read as much as possible about the “where to go’s” and “what to see’s”.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012
Darwin: Fishing can be deadly!
Sitting in McDonald's where they didn't have power anymore and the whole stuff is sitting full of sweat all around me and is doing nothing…haha! Actually, I just wanted a coffee!I went fishing in the bay and there was a dam out to the sea, made with big rocks. From there it is good for fishing and so I climbed out there at about 4pm. There I suddenly noticed that the tide is coming in, but I didn’t bother and just kept on fishing. The water got higher and higher and suddenly the way back was under water too and now I got stuck out there on the rocks, while the tide was about one meter below me. Thankfully it didn’t come up higher, otherwise, I must have a swim to the shore in the water where crocs and box-jellyfish were living. I got seriously nervous, cause after the high tide (the water was 7 meters higher than normal) the water didn’t go back so fast and I knew that I will be there for looong time. So it was about 8pm and pitch black dark when the water went back a little bit and at least the flooded rocks were visible on the tops. So I tried to climb back slowly meter for meter, with the fishing rod in one hand and the tackle box under the arm. But the shit rocks were so slippery and the waves were strong and I actually fall once between the rocks. Damn, thank god I was able to grab a rock and to get up again. After this, I waited for about another hour until the water went back again a little bit and tried it again, cm for cm. It took me about 45 minutes until I reached the shore and I knew, when I make a little wrong step and will slip again, then.. yeah.. no idea what would have been then….
Thankfully I didn’t have my camera with me, cause otherwise, it won't working anymore! Even all the fishing hooks I had with me, are now all full of stain and unusable. Also, the mobile phone I had there that time, is exploded while it came in contact with the water :D
At the end I came out healthy.. many scratches and a defective mobile phone – but that’s it, thankfully.
The cool thing about this was, that I probably will be on many many pictures! Cause I sat out there fishing the on the rock alone, while at about 6:30pm the huge red sun went down at the horizon behind me and lots of tourists wanted to see that from the jetty and the shore..hahaha!!
Tomorrow in the early morning I will leave to East Timor.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012
Kakadu: Is it overrated?
Huuuhh! Finally, I found a campground in Kakadu, where I'm able to sleep, shower and have an internet connection. But it’s a very godforsaken place here. There is absolutely nobody else on the campground – not even something like a reception or so – nothing. Just a ranger passed some hours ago to collect the camp fee. Around me its pitch black dark and I just can see my computer monitor and from time to time, I hear in the bushes some kangaroos hopping some meters away from me.But I think all campgrounds are basically safe. And my conclusion is, that the official campgrounds are probably more dangerous than any unofficial wild camping spot. Cause if I would be a robber, then I would first roam around the official campgrounds to find any things to steal, before searching somewhere besides the road in a remote place…
Kakadu… yeah, ehm, actually I expected a little bit more and honestly, I am a little bit disappointed. The “jim jim falls” waterfall is nice, even there was no water falling from the waterfall..haha! Kakadu is nicer than the Nitmiluk or Litchfield NP, but … anyway.. tomorrow is another day here (the last one) and then I will again hit the road for some kilometers. Next big destination will be Cairns, which is about 3000 km away..!!
I wish it would rain here a little bit too. I didn’t see rain for about 1.5 months.
Have to get now into the Pajiero. The mosquitos are getting wild all around me!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
Kakadu: The last day in Northern Territory
This last day in Kakadu I got up at 5:30
and made my way to the Gunlum lookout. That was indeed the nicest place I have seen all over Kakadu. Its a 1km hiking trail up to a mountain and on the top there are several natural pools, a few footsteps above the edge and the waterfall, which falls down about 100 meters! So when I was pissing into the water, it flew with the waterfall all the way down into the bottom pool!
Now I'm in back in Katherine. The place where the zombies
they are different than in other places. They seem to be drunk all day long and always walk the same routes around the mall and on the streets. And they are shouting around all the time! Then they stop and talk to their zombie friends before continuing their slow drunken-style walking to the next corner!are alive. Seriously, now I'm the second time in this place and these aboriginal people here scare me. I don't have anything about aboriginal people and actually its very interesting to talk to them. But here in Katherine,
However, I will leave here tomorrow (Sunday) and put myself on the so-called savannah way, which is probably the shortest way (in KMs) to Cairns. The negative about it is, that most of it is gravel road and there aren’t many food courts or similar in that area :D! Also I'm not sure if there is cell phone signal….! Also, I'm not sure how many days I will need until I'm in the next bigger place. Oh and it's not 3000 km anymore – just about 2400 until Cairns …:D!!
My route around Australia:
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Route around Australia
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