From Alice Springs to Darwin

Hallo,

while you worked hard to keep up the worlds economy (Thank you! :-) ) we have covered about another 1400km driving from the middle of Australia to the uppermost North: Darwin.

What we have seen: flies, saltwater crocodiles, another type of termite mounds (classify the shape for yourself this time :-)...see the picture), Kakadu Nationalpark, flies, dead and living kangaroos, wallabies (= kangaroo ??) , birds, flies, ants (they were either cleaning our dishes before we finished the meal or Mirko was licking their green tail end, which tastes (according to mouth-to-mouth-information (haha) like lemon ???...I didn't doublecheck it though)), flying foxes, freshwater crocodiles, lions, tigers, monkeys (guess where...:-) ), trees, rock paintings, bird billabongs without birds and aren't they supposed to have water as well...on the other hand...who the hell knows really what a billabong is???; flies, millions of magpie geese, flies, grass, sun, waterfalls without water, rivers without water, creeks without water, floodplains without water, wetlands without water....??????; eagles feasting on road kill, roadkill meat grilled on night markets, beaches, flies, dumb looking other tourists with fly nets :-) like us; a flat tire (on OUR CAR!!!!!!!), gravel roads, flies, fuel stations 'Sorry! out of order, we apologies for any inconveniences!' (AAAAAHH!); campgrounds; sitting on the calculated most middle point of Australia , adventure tour groups; flies.....

Here are the pictures.

But if you wake us up in our sleeps to ask us what we have experienced, the answer would definelty predominantely be: FLIES!!! So don't wonder if we kind of spastically wave everything we can wave with when we come back. One never know where the flies hovers.... so take care!! Maybe she is right behind you and you don't know it by now (aaahhhhhahahahahahah....)

Yesterday we reached Darwin and were glad to be able to sleep in a bed again (a real bed on four feet !) and don't have to walk through snake-, frog-, mosquito- and spider infested grass for a mile to the toilet in pitch dark. And by the way... there is a green frog following me around in the toilets! When he is not quick enough I catch him waiting for me in the basin! So take a good look at your toilets before using them, so that he can't jump you from behind. :-)

Otherwise the nature was good, the gorges good to swim in (and it was recommended too)...although we were told later that there where probably freshwater crocodiles in the pool swimming with us. But we were assured that freshwater crocdiles "only bite you" they "don't eat you"! What a relieve! ;-(

We will be going to the south again next week so we will probably be gone missing agin for about a week before we resurface. So don't worry. (would anybody anyway?? ;-))

We keep you informed ! :-) We send you a lot of sun!!!

Renate & Mirko

Driving through the "Red Heart" to Ayers Rock

Hallo,

we have been driving through the outback route "The Read Heart" to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and "The Olgas". On our way we have visited the "Western MacDonnal Ranges" with its attractions, the "Kings Canyon" to finally, after 4 days, reach Ayer Rock, which is situated about 400km to the South of Alice Springs.
The Ayers Rock was really impressing, standing there within the landscape. We walked around the Base and were thus able to view it from very different angles. After that we also visited the so-called "Olgas", another monolitic rock formation 50km away from Uluru. This was also very nice, especially when the afternoon sun paints the rocks really red.

Now we are back in Alice Springs to prepare for our going North now.
Click here for pictures :-).

Ah, something worth commenting on: the wheather here was not at all totally hot and cloudless, as one expects. Yesterday and today we had rain!!!! Even though in the weather statistics of Alice Spring it says "NO RAIN" in September. ;-) and it is also rather cool today instead of hot.

Alice Springs will also be historically known as the burying place of Mirkos hiking boots as they decided to give up and dissolve. We tried hard to prolong this but as the sole finally came off, we had no chance to stick to them ;-).

We wish you all the best. Kisses, :-)
See you!

Renate & Mirko

From Cairns to Alice Springs

Hi everybody,

after a lot of driving we arrived in Alice Springs.

If you haven't experinced it yourself you probably don't really know how it feels driving hour after hour, day after day through landscape containing nothing but bushes, grasses and sand. The occasional occurence of a road house (every hm...ca. 200 km) is a real highlight.

And if a Kangaroo hoppels along the side of the road you feel like having got the jackpot of action.

We covered about 2000km in these days!

If you ask us what you do all the time, staring out of the car, having a cruise control don't even having to bother to keep your feet on the gas pedal..... don't ask...we have shut our brains to 'standby'.

But at least some of the ideas you have (during higher spiritual moments throughout the drive) I want to share with all of you:

1) The names of the characters "Kanga" and "Roo" in Winnie the Puh actually put together form the word "Kangaroo", which they are...but "Hey"...first time I have seen through this deeper meaning...WOW, isn't it ??

2) Kanagaroos look right and left, before they cross the 'Highway' but I haven't figured out why still there are so many dead kangaroos on the side of the road, especially as the traffic is reduced to approximately two cars an hour..... ???

3) Water can get very hot in closed cars exposed to sun. Next time I try making tea...will keep you informed about the thrilling results.

4) Mounts of termines around Alice Spring are more shaped like penises than those near Cairns. ??? Someone knowing if there is scientific research on that?

5) It is not possible to think 'NOTHING'...all my attempts have resulted in thinking nonsense..even worse than the points above... so beware!!

On our way we tried to stuff in as many sites as possible: Lava tubes in Undara National Park, canooeing in Lawn Hill National Park, Devils Marbles, Old Telegraph Stations, scurril Road Houses in the outback...hm.. that's it...probably ;-)

Click here for pictures.

On Saturday we will start off for another 7-10 days Outback driving... which means no telefone, no internet, no fridge, but instead flies, mosquitos, sun and dust. :-) But that's what we came for, isn't it :-)

We hope you are still with us and look forward to your comments! :-)

Hear you again after the outback. :-)

Kisses, Renate & Mirko

P.S.: see out new link for our picture gallery about 'signs' ;-)...will be updated throughout the whole journey!

Beware of Kangaroos

Hi to all of you!

Believe it or not Kangaroos are not harmless, sweet and cosy!
Two days ago I was attacked my a monstrous kangaroo about the size of 3o cm height! -> see picture to the right which was taken only minutes before the horror started!!!
It attacked me as I wanted nothing else than watch it in a ZOOOOO!!! Ok, one can ask: "What the hell were they doing in a zoo, if all of Austrlia is full of Kanagroos??" but this was a so-calles "Rain Forest Wildlife Habitat" and showed a lot of animals, you won't spot so easily in free nature.
The kangaroo scratched my feet and wanted to bite me!!!!!!! I tried to defend myself using a sheet of paper and my Ray-ban sunglasses - ok, the idea seems a bite strange to the observing eye, but I didn't HAVE ANYTHING else to defend me with - and I lost both of them in the hard fight.
At the moment of sheer terror Mirko stepped in heroically to distract the raging animal and got himself into the fighting scene. And I got away. uf... Mirko, ah, yes, he got away too...

So let me tell you...never trust a Kangaroo - be it as small as it may!
Everytime we pass a road-sign "Beware of crossing Kangaroos" a shiver runs down my spine! I got a real trauma here! DON'T YOU DARE LAUGHING out there in you safe officies!!!

We also made a trip to Cape Tripulation and Cooktown, where there are amazinly beautiful and empty beaches. They look wonderful, but they are treachous, because you have crocodiles as well as deadly stingers (Jelly fish) there and there is a warning to go swimming...this probably kind of explains the "emptness"... we left pretty soon as well ;-)

Have a look at the pictures.

We are not sure about our next steps...but the main direction is West (Alice Springs) :-)
As there is nearly no internet and other means of communication as soon as you leave the city, we don't really know when we will be able to make a new post. So please be patient with us :-).

We send you our best regards!! Thanks for yout comments and emails! We love it!!!
:-)
Renate & Mirko