A few weeks ago, I posted some notices around port Douglas looking for someone with whom I could hitch a ride to Darwin (a city about 3-4 days drive away). I was feeling antsy for adventure again, and figured a road trip through the outback would be just the thing to satisfy my need for random ridiculousness. I got a few calls in response but most were from people leaving within the week I posted the signs and that was too early for me. To make life a bit more exciting, I managed to spill water on my already fragile cell phone, so I could occasionally turn it on long enough to check my texts, etc, but that was about it. I’d resigned myself to having to buy a new phone, but that meant having to get to Cairns (a larger city about 1+ hours south), and that also meant having to wait at least a week to find someone who would drive me there. In the meantime, I got a text from a boy named Sam who offered me a lift around the time I was looking to leave. I told him to come into the bar when I was working to discuss, as I had no way of talking about it over the phone. Later that day, I had sort of forgotten about that text, and when a tall, dark and handsome boy walked into the bar and said “are you Kayla? I’m Sam.” That was pretty much all the convincing I needed. We discussed preliminary trip details and all I knew was that we were leaving on August 15th and that we would be traveling in 2 caravans with 4 other people, all of them French. After a somewhat frustrating couple of weeks of trying to plan my next steps for my trip, it was such a relief to know that on a certain day, and a certain time, I would be leaving town with a stunning Frenchman to head off into the outback wilderness. The next night I went with him to meet our fellow travelers and thought they were pretty fun (although I got the impression, rightfully so, that there would be a LOT of French speaking going on).
My last night in Port Douglas was just the send-off I needed. We got to leave a day later than originally planned, so I was able to spend one last Fri night out on the town, in a new dress and borrowed heels (the first time I’ve worn heels since Sydney…God that felt good…people hardly recognized me out of my backpacker attire). It was a good night and I got to say goodbye to almost all the people I wanted to see. (Not sure why my head looks so abnormally large in this pic...)
I was somewhat drunk when I got home and unsurprisingly forgot to set my alarm for the next morning. I was none too pleased with myself when Dave, the hostel owner came into my room and woke me up to the news that a “latino-looking guy” was waiting for me downstairs. I was hungover, probably still drunk, and I hadn’t even packed everything! Sam had lost his phone the night before and so he couldn’t even have called me to wake me up. Awesome. Anyway, I threw my stuff together as quickly as humanely possible and went in his car with him over to his hostel so he could finish doing what he needed to do.
At about noon we were finally on our way. Our first stop was a beautiful swimming hole with a waterfall where we spent a few hours hanging out and swimming in the freezing water.
We arrived at our campsite after dark, but it wasn’t a big deal. The place was pretty well-lit and there was a really nice Irish couple next to us who invited us to sit around their fire (there was no way we could have collected any wood for one at that time anyway). It was a relief for me to be able to speak English freely. Even though Sam, Antoine and Thomas speak beautiful English, both Max and Elsa’s English is somewhat broken and the group often lapses into their native tongue. Given that I’m traveling with 5 French people, I knew that was pretty much inevitable, so when they do that I just kind of zone out and contemplate the vastness of the universe.
Anyway I slept well that night and the next day we took off somewhat late to start heading west into the outback. We drove for only part of the day and hung out at this beautiful beach spot for lunch. That was the last water we’d be seeing for a while…we were about to head off into the interior of the country. There’s obviously not much to describe by way of scenery along the route, but the lack of scenery is what’s so amazing. I felt as we were driving like the emptiness of the desert was eroding the plaque-like buildup of my jumbled thoughts these past 2 months. It was very meditative, and very silent as well-- the MP3 player was broken and we didn’t have any music to listen to. We camped that night off the beaten path in the bush. There was no one around and it really felt like we were in the wilderness. Plus there was an incredible sunset to keep us company as we set up our tents.
Thomas, one of our travel companions, is a chef (seriously, what luck) and he whipped us up this delicious chicken and rice dish that I took no time in scarfing down. We had a pretty decent fire going, and luckily the frenchies were in their English-speaking mode so I was able to join in the conversation. The night sky was spectacular with the full moon illuminating the same cloud formation that had been present at the sunset. Beautiful night.
We went to bed somewhat early and I set my alarm so that I could see the sunrise. It was by far, the most breathtaking sunrise I’ve ever seen. I took about a hundred pics, The pinks were just so hot and the sky was rippled with this gorgeously pock-marked cloud formation that spread all the way across the desert sky. I’d been hoping to get the chance to see a sunrise like that just once on my trip, and I was not disappointed.
I went back to sleep for a bit and we woke up at around 8, had breakfast, and hit the road. We drove for a good portion of the day and nothing eventful happened. We camped that night off to the side of a rest stop, had another great meal courtesy of our chef, and created a massive blaze. It was really fun, we were all drinking and sitting around the fire and chatting. I slept fitfully that night…it was FREEZING out and I think the wine I drank was also making it difficult for me to stay sound asleep. Then the birds started in at around 4:30am (they literally sound like a mixture of braying sheep and screaming women) so that was it for any attempt at decent rest.
Anyway, we spent that whole day driving, and it was a looong drive. At mid-day we had a shower at a public roadhouse and continued on our way till well past dark. We arrived at the next campsite too late to bother making a fire, so we had dinner and I prowled the premises looking for cool stuff to take pictures of. I did manage to get some interesting shots, but because it was so dark out, I couldn’t get the right focus and some of the shots are way blurrier than I would have liked. This was one of the better ones… (the swirling light is me walking swinging my flashlight around trying to create a kind of magical effect).
So the next couple of days consisted of driving and driving and camping and camping. Here a few random pics from along the way...
The sun was beating down hard during the day and as we worked our way north it only got hotter. At one point, we stopped at this funky little outback pub and had a “night out.” It was pretty silly. The women had to go onstage and howl like wolves at the command of the singer who was putting on a show for the crowd that evening.
The first real break in routine came when we got to Mataranka national park. This park is famous for it’s warm thermal pools of crystal clear water, and it was a truly special place. Palm tress and gorgeous natural vines graced the riverside, and the weather was beyond perfect. There were busloads of tourists around in the main pool area, which was highly annoying, so I ventured out into the main river where, it was warned, fresh water crocs resided. I splashed about by myself for a while, jumping off of whatever I could swim to, and it took some convincing, but I finally got the rest of the gang into the water the next morning. We were, thankfully, left alone by the crocs.
After spending virtually the whole day in the thermal pools, we camped out and left the next morning for Katherine Gorge. Exhausted, a certain member of our tribe decided to take a nap... wherever he could get it.
We stopped first in the town of Katherine and I was saddened to see the downtrodden and drug-ridden state in which the aboriginal population there lived. Alcohol was introduced to them as recently as the 1960s and many have abused it so heavily that they were kicked out of their villages and have since begun populating the urban centers. The result is shocking. The Australian government belatedly apologized for wreaking havoc on their culture and on their family structures by removing aboriginal children from their homes to send them to live with white families, but the apologies don’t go very far and many aboriginals fell victim to drug abuse, alcoholism, and crime. What we see in these northern and outback cities are the worn out shells of a once thriving aboriginal culture.
The following morning, bright and early, we rented canoes and took them out on the beautiful river. We found some insanely high rocks to climb up and jump off. We were so high up that it brought back bungee jumping memories as we took running leaps off the cliff face into the water.
Katherine Gorge was beautiful, but our next stop had something that Katherine Gorge didn’t. Massive waterfalls...and massive termite mounds.
Litchfield is a national park that encompasses 5 magnificent waterfalls and natural rock pools, and the water is fresh enough to drink (well, we took a chance anyway). We spent 2 days at this park doing nothing but swimming in every river we could find, and it truly felt like paradise (minus, of course, the presence of all the tourists).
Sleeping was difficult, as 2 of us were in the van and we had to leave the doors open to let in some fresh air lest we suffocate in the stagnant heat. This turned the van into a bit of a torture chamber, as I spent the entire night not only insanely overheated, but constantly scratching my fast-multiplying mosquito bites. We were exhausted the next day and Sam was sick as could be with a throat infection. Our group of 6 has been sharing water, food, etc without regard for germs so I fear it’s only a matter of time before we all come down with the plague. Time to stock up on vitamins.
We finally arrived in Darwin yesterday, exhausted, dirty, and covered in mosquito bites, but the trip was fantastic and was just the kind of rustic craziness I was looking for. We camped out at a site on the edge of the city and we’ll be hanging out here for the next couple of days. After spending over a week camping in the bush, it’s such a luxury to have hot showers and a real sink in which to wash our dishes. It’s funny how my perception of physical comfort has changed so much… I never thought I would consider it a luxury to have a working electrical outlet, but hey, that’s gold to me now.
Since I’ve made absolutely no plans for the last month of my trip before I go home, I have some options I need to consider in these next coming days. I can go with Sam in his caravan to the west coast and camp out in the wild for the next month, or I can stay in Darwin for the next 2 weeks in my friend’s company house and then fly to Sydney for the remainder of my trip (serendipitously he will be getting to Darwin in the next 2 days and I had no idea that he’d be here before I planned my trip). I’m trying not to worry about what to do, as I know things will work out just how they are supposed to (the result of making no plans and going with the flow was this beautiful trip, so I’ve come to embrace the role of chance in my life more and more). Regardless, the next month should be pretty fun, so stay tuned for more posts (hopefully ones less long-winded).
