Tie me kangaroo down sport...

Australia, the beginning of the end. We arrived into Darwin airport at 3am and instead of checking into a hotel for a few hours sleep, we decided to wait there until the hire place opened and we could get our campervan. So ten am saw us bleary eyed being shown round our new temporary home by an Irish fella called Sean. As much as we mock caravans in the UK, these campervans are ideal for Oz. They have all creature comforts including double bed, microwave and gas cooker, air-con and mozzie nets. We booked an appointment with the local GP and then set off to Woolies for supplies and then the open road waited for us. Woolworths is the Oz equivalent of Safeway and was great to stock up on tins of beans, cans of beer and bread etc – we’d find a butcher later for meat. One thing that amazed us in the supermarket was that everything had a sticker on saying “produce of Australia” as opposed to the UK where everything seems to be imported; perhaps they actually have pride in their farming industry in Oz.
Heading south out of Darwin on the main Stuart Highway which runs 4000km south to Adelaide we soon left the traffic behind and as the buildings thinned out and disappeared completely we quickly found ourselves in the middle of the desert. Because we were so tired after our journey from HK we decided not to head too far that day and 300km later we arrived at Batchelor Big4 campsite which is where we’d spend the night before heading deep into Litchfield national park the next day. Christine knocked up a great meal on our little cooker and we turned in for an early night, not taking advantage of the swimming pool, bar or exotic birds aviary.
Bright and early the next morning we set off into Litchfield national park driving past termite mounds the height of houses to our first stop, the hot rock pools where we could have a dip in water heated by natural thermals to a constant 38c. The place was virtually deserted so we had a refreshing swim in croc free waters then climbed the escarpment path to look out over the valley – with hindsight; we should have walked first and swam later! Bloody hell this country is HOT!! Heading south we drove to Hayes Creek Roadhouse. One of the constants of driving in the NT is the prevalence of these roadhouses where truckies and everyone else covering big distances stops for a break, a beer and a bite to eat as well as fill up with fuel. Hayes Creek Roadhouse is bang in the middle of nowhere; around 80k in each direction there is nothing so you don’t have much choice of where to stop. We were glad we did though as we parked up and got into the shady bar to chill and have a break from the road. Within 10 minutes we were having a chat with the owner and his son who’ve been grafting in the field out back and were popping in for a beer break before going back out to dig a cesspit. Far from the reputation of being gruff and unfriendly, the Territorians were the nicest people we met in Australia. Everyone was interested in where you were from, what you thought of the NT and what the beer was like in England (“Isn’t it just flat and warm?”)
The next day we had to head back north to Darwin for Christine’s first ultrasound (yes, the rumours are true) and meet our friends for a bite to eat before heading off again as the truck had been delayed at quarantine. The ultrasound was amazing, being able to see this little thing with a heartbeat and everything. We got a photo, some advice and details of the hospital in Adelaide for the next check-up and were on our way again. This time we were heading a bit further afield down to Victoria River on the border with Western Australia. A big drive but just a tiny fraction of the map, places here are measured in time not distance, e.g. “How far to Vic River mate?”, “About 6 hours if you get yer toe down.” Stopping a couple of times for a loo break and a leg stretcher we met some Ozzies who lived on the road – Pikeys in other words. Unlike our Pikeys they were a friendly bunch happy to offer advice on the road ahead and where was good to camp. We arrived at Vic River just as the sun was starting to set and the canyon walls were a beautiful red and gold and the flies were starting to pack up for the day. Did we mention the flies? Everyone says that Oz is full of things that will kill you, snakes, spiders, crocs, sharks. What they don’t tell you about is the flies, there are billions of them and they insist on getting into your ears, eyes, mouth and nose. When they’re not invading any orifice they can they’re buzzing round your head, sitting on your arms and generally being infuriating. The only good thing is that they dont bite!
Victoria River is a beautiful place, a real get away from it all type of town, well it’s not really a town being made up of petrol station, bar, post office and general store! We met an ex-army guy there who was driving through the Simpson and Gibson deserts in his Hi-Lux and was a great source of information on the area and Oz in general. He is aiming to move to Oz so that he can spend all his spare time driving around the outback, not a bad way of life if you like that sort of thing. We spent the next day walking in the area, discovering Aboriginal art and climbing the escarpment to view the whole river valley. Fortunately we didn't see to many things that will kill you!
The next few days were spent having a leisurly, scenic drive back to Darwin via Katherine and the spookiest stopover ever. On our way north we saw a sign for a “Historic Hotel” which seemed worth a look – 30km later down a dirt track as dusk was setting in we weren’t too sure we had made the right decision. Undeterred and spurred on by the sight of Kangaroos hopping across our path we carried on. Eventually we came across the hstoric hotel, historic must mean dilapidated in the Ozzie dictionary! This place was straight out of Wrong Turn, there were rusting hulks of cars and trucks in the field next door, the main building was made out of wood and corrugated iron and there were old tools covered in cobwebs everywhere. We found the bar to be deserted and were about to leave when the oldest woman we’d ever seen appeared and asked what we wanted, over a drink we decided to park the campervan up and stay over as they seemed nice enough (and we were too tired to drive back), if they were going to kill us in our sleep, we’d have a decent BBQ first! The old lady’s husband got the barbie going and we huddled round the fire chatting and watching shooting stars.
A couple of days later we made it back into Darwin, alive but heartily sick of flies (and Australian beer!) in time to meet our friends and the truck. Kirsty and Steve organised a BBQ on the waterfront where we had Roo, Croc and Ostrich as well as beef and chicken. A good night was had by all especially when we retired to the hotel bar for the night.