Part 2 Sailors on wheels; from Darwin to Sydney

March/ April 2013

After part 1 of our road trip, we deserve some rest in a hotel, with a proper bed, a shower and free wireless. Amazing how big the room feels after 11 days sleeping in the back of a Toyota van. How luxurious it is to wake up in the air co and not being attacked by flies and have dinner in a restaurant instead of a roadhouse.

Why do you want to go to the top end and go outback in the Northern territories? The tropical north is a burst of birdlife, wild crocodiles (no swimming anywhere here!), rocky gorges and aboriginal communities. And as cherry on the cake; trillions of mosquito’s!

We followed from Darwin in the North to Adelaide in the south the Stuart highway nr 1. North brings you de humid climate of the rainforest and via the remote desert with sometimes hours no one on the road you arrive in the lush hills of Southern Australia. The route, a little over 6000 km, through the middle from this vast country:

Darwin- Kakadu national Park-Renner springs-Alice Springs-Kings Canyon-Ayers Rock-Coober Pedy-Tanunda-West Wyalong-Botany Bay-Sydney

Check it out on the map of Australia     View this trip

Kakadu national park

Encompassing 20,000 sq kilometres, an adventure in a natural and cultural landscape. A treasure house of natural beauty and aboriginal art. But also a big

Kakadu national park

challenge, because travelling in March, means travelling in the wet season. The big advantage is hardly
any other tourist, but the down side is that you need to check road conditions every day and a 4 WD was a little more appropriate than our little Toyota van. It also means the climate is hot, sticky and wet and impossible to escape the mosquitos.

So we did some survival preparations with

Preparations for survival in the rain forest

adding a rain tent to the camper and mosquito nets in the van. The tent worked fine but the mosquito’s were in such a huge quantities that we were hunting the whole night, got bitten everywhere and the only solution was sleep with all the doors and windowsclosed and go to bed when the sun goes down.

  

Sulpher crested cockatoo

But the beauty of this park is so overwhelming that you forget all the discomfort and enjoy the 

impressive nature.

 

The white settlement in 1863 had a troubled and violent effect on the Aboriginal communities. Most aboriginals were murdered or confined to Christian missions. Today the aboriginals own half of the land in the Northern territories. To really visit the Aboriginal communities is for short term travellers not possible because they like to be left alone. Unfortunately the pictures of Aboriginals in the city’s like Darwin is just an example of these with social problems as drinking & unemployment.

 

Luckily there are aboriginals groups who like to share the culture with tourist and Kakadu has the mind blowing ancient Rock art. For Aboriginal people the rock art is there major source of traditional knowledge and represent their archives and some of them are over 2000 year old. Some paintings have religious power and can influence the succes of the hunt.

  Nabulwinjbulwinj is a dangerous

Nabulwinjbulwinj

 spirit who eats females after   striking them with a yam

The landscape in Kakadu
has it all, from limestone
formations to swamps and
creeks.

We did Gunbarra Pool walk to experience
part of these wonders.

The most tourist trap in this park is of course the dangerous salt water crocodiles. As a must see we boarded the boat for a tour on the yellow river at 7 in the morning to spot the wild life. Camera’s ready although the guide started with excuses that the crocs are normally not easy to find in the wet season. So we started with the nicest bird species in these wetlands and YES after 1 hour we found the croc and the guide could be happy that everyone got the value for money.

White breasted eagle

 Kakadu national Park- Renner Springs-Alice Springs- Kings Canyon

We were really happy to leave the rainforest. The hot sticky nights in the van and the army of Mosquito’s. The long haul to the red centre was 1919 km with stops in Renner Springs and Alice springs. Endless stretches of desert and red earth.

Alice Springs was the first camp spot where it was a little busier than what we experienced so far. Fun to meet fellow travellers; backpackers in cheaply bough cars (which they hope to sell for more at the end of their trip), camping in tiny tents and professional Australian campers with huge trucks with TV and freezer.  The only thing we enjoyed was finding camp spots with WIFI (hardly exist) and a camp kitchen for some extra comfort to cook our meals.

 

Kings Canyon

Part of the Watarrka national park and rated as one of the highlights of the red centre is the Kings Canyon. We were absolutely delighted to be in the desert with the hot dry days and nice cool nights with billions of stars.

The Kings Canyon rim walk awarded us with awesome views and giant rocks and boulders. The light is spectacular and the colours seem to change every half hour with the progressing of the day. We started early to avoid a heat stroke and see the most optimal effects of the sun colouring the rocks.

 

Kings Canyon

Uluru (Ayers Rock) & Kata Tjuta

Uluru is one of the “must see” spots of Australia and a world heritage listed icon. So you should be prepared for the big bus loads with Japanese and European tourist who sees this as their Australian pilgrimage.

Our Ayers Rock camp spot

 

In the distance, but we save her for tomorrows sunrise

So we did, wake up early in the morning to be at the rock before the sunrise at 6.55. The leaving cars from the camping woke us up and checking the clock we decided to sleep a little longer. One big flow of cars and busses trying to get the best photo spot, took for us away the mystery of this rock. And of course we didn’t climb the rock! It is a sacred place of the Aboriginals and it can’t be trampled by human feet.  In the category of “we have seen it, we got the picture”.

Busloads of tourists watching

Sunrise in the morning, 6.55 hour

After a strong coffee we went to Kata Tjuta. These rocks, meaning “many heads” are far more impressive and walking in the “Valley of Winds” gave us that supreme spiritual feeling. We met a local guide who introduced us to the wonders of nature and met his group with of course a couple of Duchies in it.

On our way to the Barossa valley

We start our way south and realize that a couple of days desert and a lot of kilometres are needed to get us back to the civilized world of Southern Australia. We made a stop in a place Coober Pedy, where people look for opals and a lot of dreams and hopes on fortune are scattered. Mainly was to make as much kilometres a day and with a schedule of 2 hours driving, fuel up (always get fuel when the tank is halfway, because you never know where the next station is), get a drink and change drivers.

And then slowly the landscape changes. We see rolling hills with corn fields and vineyards. After all the weeks outback and national parks, we lingered for some nice food & wine. Where can you be better than in the Barroso Valley? An old German settlement where they love food (cheeses, mettwurst and schnitzel) and the great Shiraz.

Tanunda winetasting

The wines we bought

      We book a tour on a minivan and visited 5 or 6 micro vineries where we tasted fantastic whites and reds. Not  profession wine tasting, so just swallowing the wine, resulted in a nice buzz around mid day. A  lunch with cheeses and cold meats and relish in one of the vineyards, reminded me of being in Tuscany. The best tasted wines we bought and took home, for some lovely evening at the camp spots.

Botany Bay & Sydney

Starting with the last 3 days of our road trip, we all got sentimental to end our sleeping in the back of the van and the watching of the stars from the rear window. The last stop was Botany Bay, where James Cook made his landfall.  A nice beach with the skyline of Sydney in the background.

After 1 month in the camper van, still in love

Botany Bay where James Cook made landfall

 





In great spirits e arrived in Sydney on my birthday. Booked a nice apartment hotel so that we could organize a party and invite our crew friends from the Soren Larsen.After 9313 km we are back in Sydney. A fantastic journey and we are ready for our next adventure.

Sydney

Ready to go to sea and join the Royal Albatross in Singapore. The next blog I will tell you more about our sailing plans. It all went different, changed and got a complete new direction!

Ahoy Charlotte