Report No 6

Thanks to Oli's great efforts in getting us a car before we arrived downunder, he saved us alot of time finding something suitable. Our Toyota Landcruiser Trooper Bushcamper, 4.2L diesel, with 2 diesel tanks, a water tank and a fridge is the most common 4x4 in the Outback and off-road areas. We can all sleep in the car and with a little bit of organisation we manage fine.

After getting a few things done in Melbourne and enjoying being with Oli, Irma, Gita and Tiana we headed up north (end of Sep). In Shepparton we visited Gereon and bought the last things for our trip.

Our first night in the bush we spent at Cocoparra Nationalpark where we camped wild in the middle of the bush all alone. We enjoyed the peace, the kangaroos, the emus and all the parrots alot. A week later we arrived at our first highlight - Fraser Island.

We spent a whole week on the world's largest sand island and saw the sand dunes, the beaches, the clear blue lakes, dingos, very rough and bumpy tracks, deep sand and a breaching whale. We all thouroughly enjoyed ourselves and we got our first serious off road experience with our car. It did very well - never got bogged :).

After Fraser Island we carried on north further inland (the east coast we saw 10 years ago). The humidity dropped drastically and the temperatures rose. At Undara NP we went to see the lava tubes.

A few times we didn't find campgrounds shown in our map, so we spent the night at a rest area or in a park of a village\ town with a nice playground for Luca. Swimming pools on our route had a magnetic force on us.

In Cairns we bought ourselves a UHF CB-radio to be able to communicate within about 15 km depending on the conditions (a lot of people have them here).

Talking to various people over the last few days put our earlier plan of going up to Cape York (the northernmost point of Australia) within reach again. We decided just to try and see how far north we get. The way from Cape Tribulation to Cooktown showed us how bad corrugation can be (there was more to come). In Cooktown we got some last infos and did the necessary shopping. Cape York is about 800 km north of Cooktown, only accesible by 4WD and due to creek and river crossings, sandy patches, very corrugated roads and its remoteness, it is considered as one of the last Australian frontiers.

The Old Telegraph Track led us away from the main road and offered us some real 4WD driving. Only very few crossings brought adrenaline into our blood. The water was never the problem (max. knee deep because still dry season) but the steep banks. It was amazing what the car took us through.

The corrugation had a fatal impact on our digicam, which means no photos since two weeks.

Seeing people swimming in a supposedly croc infested river made us speak to them and made us jump into the luke warm water as well. After a whole day in the heat very refreshing!

We then visited the northernmost tip of Australia which wasn't too special. On the same way back down the corrugation showed some minor effects - loose screws and bad electrical contacts.

Heading south again we met some people from Austria, who we travelled with for the next 1 1/2 weeks to Darwin. We enjoyed the company.

Heading west with them we passed through Normanton taking the remote Gulf Track towards Mataranka. We did a detour to visit the Lawn Hill NP. As the days were getting hotter it was always nice to find a spot to go swimming to cool down. A cold shower doesn't get below 30°C.

As we are now at the end of the dry season everything is very very dry and brown, only the eucalyptus trees are still green. We saw quite a few active or recent bush fires.

Our next sight was the lost city in the Limmen NP. A lost city is sandstone columns sculptured by wind and rain.

Joining the Stuart Highway in Mataranka we visited the thermal pools, which actually were refreshing with 34°C. We weren't so impressed by Bitter Springs, also a thermal pool but with a smelly layer on edge.

In Katherine we stocked up and had cell phone reception for the first time again since Cairns. At Katherine Gorge our planned canoe trip didn't work out as they wouldn't allow Luca on a boat! Instead we went for a hike in the heat, Nati visited the "school of the air" in Katherine and then we went to swim at the Edith Falls which was great.

Our next stop before Darwin was the Litchfield NP. We really enjoyed to swim in some of the waterfall pools and rockholes. Luca did his first 1,5 km hike all on his own and was rewarded with a swim where he really enjoyed to put his head under water as often as possible. He loves to dive.

In Darwin we bought a new camera and had quite a bit to do and see.

We are all very well and enjoying ourselves. Luca is still a happy traveller. At the moment he loves waving bye to everyone and everything. He still loves water, starts diving and gets very excited. He has a blow up ring which he can sit in. Whenever we can (in the bush not too often) we stop at playgrounds and let him run around a bit. He is not talking yet but when he sees a car he says "au" ... His first half word :)

9th November 2004, Darwin (Northern Territory)