I've done a whole lot of cool things in Australia, so it means a lot when I say that the Northern Territory outback is quite easily and emphatically in my top 3 favorite places in the entire country (with Tasmania and Melbourne). I can't bring myself to put them in order, and they're probably all too different to do so anyway, but Northern Territory is definitely #1 in novelty value. Think unbelievable landscapes, surreally remote towns, and beautiful natural swimming holes. It's like another world, one without many people.
I also adore Darwin, the isolated city at the very top full of awesome nightlife and never-ending heat. My plan to reach Darwin from Alice Springs was to look on the website Gumtree for people advertising a rideshare. Often other travelers will post if they're driving from one part of the country to another to see if anyone wants to join and split costs. I expected that I'd find something eventually, but I got very lucky with how quickly the perfect road trip popped up for me.
I seemed to be having no luck at first as I was searching Alice-Darwin, but as soon as I broadened the search criteria at the suggestion of a friend, I found an ad for two guys driving a campervan from Melbourne all the way to Darwin. I decided to shoot the main guy a message, and to my great fortune, they already happened to be in Alice Springs and were leaving the following day! He asked for $200 to help cover fuel costs and all for the entire 930 miles between the two cities. I was more than happy to agree, and the following morning I met my new travel buddies, handed them the cash, jumped in the campervan, and we were off.
Day 1
Barrow Creek, Devils Marbles, Tennant Creek campout
The guy who had organized the trip was Ricky from Newcastle, and the other passenger was Pierre from France who was a bit quiet and limited with his English. They were both nice guys about my age, and they'd planned to stop at all the highlights on the way up north. The campervan was no cheap Wicked-style vehicle either; it was a spacious, fully-equipped, comfy ride. The front had enough space for everyone to sit if necessary and the huge back had a microwave, stove, fridge, sink, cabinets, cushioned benches with storage space underneath, makeshift stowaway table, and an overhead pull-down bed.
The great thing about not being able to drive stick-shift was that, well, I wasn't able or expected to drive. That means that most of the time we were on the hot, bare, outback roads, I was taking naps or lying up top in bed listening to music while the breeze flew through the windows. Not a bad life.
Two hours into our trip, I was sleeping off a hangover in the back when Ricky pulled off to the side of the road. Our van hadn't quite broken down, but it was about to. The whole van smelled like burning rubber and the guys opened up the engine compartment under the front seat to find the entire belt smoking. I'm no car expert, but as the guys kept revving the engine to see what happened, I urged them to please stop so we could flag someone down before the whole thing was destroyed.
We were on the Stuart Highway in the middle of nowhere. When I say middle of nowhere in the outback, I don't mean some town in the boonies where there are still scattered houses and AAA service, I mean middle of nowhere with no phone signal, suffocating heat, and 10 miles to the nearest service station, which is actually luckier than we could have been.
I flagged down an old couple who were passing by, and they pulled over to let Ricky and I hitch a lift to Barrow Creek, that nearest town 16k away. Pierre stayed back to watch the van. The couple was friendly and we chatted with them until we reached our destination, where we thanked them and went into the service station.
I don't know exactly what I expected, but Barrow Creek was nothing BUT a service station/bar. There was nothing else, no real town, just that little stop in the middle of the outback. It was the kind of Aussie outback experience you would imagine. The pub had writing all over the walls, locks on the outdoor bathrooms, a landline telephone, a cat sleeping on the bar, just beer and RTDs on offer, and dead venomous local snakes in jars.
Ricky used the phone to call the campervan company, and after ages they finally let him know that they wouldn't be able to send help until Monday (it was Saturday). Feeling a bit amused by the situation and with my head still pounding, I decided to sit back and order a scotch can.
Thankfully the guy behind the bar does towing, so he offered to at least bring our van up to the service station at no cost. Appreciative of his awesome hospitality, Ricky and I jumped into his truck (my RTD can still in hand) and made it back to our camper to rescue poor Pierre who had been stuck there for the past hour. We hopped back in the camper with him while it was towed back to the pub.
Back at Barrow Creek, the guys all took a look at the van while I treated myself to another scotch can and played with the cats. They determined it may be an oil problem, Ricky bought some oil to refill the van, and after further inspection it was back up and running.
It was a good thing we'd left early, because despite the 2-3 hour delay, it was still only mid-afternoon when we were back on the road. We thanked the two beyond helpful barmen/mechanics/probably overseers of the surrounding 100 miles and headed on north to Devils Marbles.
The Devils Marbles are a crazy thing. You're driving up through the barren outback with nothing for miles and all of a sudden you happen upon a widespread desert park full of gigantic boulders precariously stacked on top of each other. How did these boulders end up here? How are they haphazardly balanced the way they are or in some cases split right down the middle? I mean, let's be reasonable... it's probably aliens, right? (There's a boring geological explanation online if you want to take all the fun out this.) The Aboriginal Dreamtime explanation is that they were created by the Devil Man, hence the name.
In any case, it's a cool place to see. There's almost no one else around, because of course, the only way to reach them is by driving hours upon hours from the nearest tourist destination. Not even an info center, just an informational sign in the car park. The landscape is all brown with scattered gum trees.
We walked around and took some photos, but we really had to keep our outdoor excursions short because the heat was at least a dry 100 degrees and hard to tolerate for too long.
It was just a quick 60 miles to go before we reached Tennant Creek, the town we were camping near for the night. The "free site" was a few more kilometers past town, and it was less a site than a small, deserted park. We set the van up for dinner only to discover that the stove was out of gas, so we sat at our little table having beans and toast. On the bright side, it was so hot outside that the beans straight out of the can were warm enough to imagine that they actually had been heated on a stove.
The sun was setting as we set up the beds to sleep. The boys gave me the top so I had my own area while they slept on the beds pulled out on the floor of the van. I was a little cramped on head space, but it was so made up for by the fact that I was next to the windows and got the breeze coming through all night.
Even more exciting was that Ricky had the full final season of Breaking Bad on his laptop. Let's take a moment to talk about TV and travel. You fall so far behind on your shows while away that sometimes when you get to a hostel with fast wifi, you just want to spend a full day in bed streaming everything you can possibly catch up on. I think I holed myself up for two entire days at Gilligan's once just to watch TV. At this point, after spending four months in Marlborough where I was unable to watch anything at all that wasn't on a DVD or USB drive, I had missed a lot, the most important of which was the end of Breaking Bad. When I found out I would finally have the opportunity to see it while in the middle of the outback, I was beside myself with excitement. We sat up that first night and watched three episodes until the laptop battery was too low to keep going.
Day 2
Daly Waters, Mataranka, Katherine campout
On Sunday morning the guys both woke up at 5:30 AM and just started driving, which was fine with me as I woke up at 9 to find myself already at Daly Waters. This stop had been my own request, because I had read Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country" before I left for Oz and he had described in detail a night out at the Daly Waters pub.
It looked like a fun place, although obviously we were there in the morning which isn't primetime for a bar. The walls were absolutely covered in random items like bras, IDs, signs, money, clothes, etc. There was a pool outside the fenced in area on one end, and outside the other was a huge patio area with tables, plants, and Aussie outback items like saddles.
We paid $4 to use the showers at the campground there, then we ordered some food and a beer to drink beside the pool. I'd have loved to stick around and have an actual night out there, but we still had many miles to cover and had to move on.
Next up was Mataranka, home to the Mataranka Thermal Pools, my absolute favorite part of the road trip. It's basically like finding a rainforest oasis right in the middle of the outback. There are green palms everywhere, flying fox bats in all the trees, and these gorgeous blue thermal pools.
They look like something a nice resort would attempt to build, except they're completely natural and a million times better because there are hardly any people in them (again, not exactly close to anything). They had the clearest warm water and we spent at least an hour or two swimming and watching the bats fly overhead. It was beautiful and so relaxing.
After we forced ourselves to leave, we stopped off at Bitter Springs, another warm, natural swimming hole. I wasn't as big a fan as it was darker, littered with leaves and algae, and didn't have an outer barrier like the other pool, but I suppose it looked even more natural as a result.
Since we didn't stay very long at Bitter Springs, we decided we had enough time to make some more progress and reach Katherine for the night. Our campground was near Katherine Gorge, a paid site with electricity. There were kangaroos all over despite all the campervans, and one even had a baby in its pouch!
We had dinner and watched some more Breaking Bad. The boys went to sleep at some point, but I had to finish the season, so I laid in my pull-down bed until late in the night riveted watching the whole intense ending with my hands over my face. I'll always remember watching that finale by myself in the middle of the night in a campervan in the outback! Perfect.
Day 3 Katherine Gorge, Litchfield Waterfalls, Darwin
We woke up Monday morning and walked up a bunch of stairs to the Katherine Gorge lookout. It was a very dark, pretty gorge between two huge cliffs. You could kayak or canoe, but that was too expensive for us, so we just took our photos and headed on.
After a few hours, we arrived at Litchfield National Park around midday. It's full of waterfalls which we set out to explore. First up was Florence Falls, the only one where we were able to swim. It had two waterfalls flowing into a huge swimming hole, and best of all, the water was warm!
We swam out to the waterfalls and I clutched the rock face trying not to drown in the deep end.
Overall it was very pretty and I felt so lucky being able to swim in such a gorgeous place.
There were a few more waterfalls to see, notably Wangi Falls where you are usually able to swim, but due to recent crocodile sightings (both freshwater AND saltwater!), it was off limits during our visit and I was happy to comply.
The last stop was Buley Rock Hole, a series of flat pools that run downstream in steps.
We finally arrived in Darwin that night at 6, checked into our party hostel, Melaleuca, and headed to Shenanigans for a night out to precede two weeks full of nights out.
Darwin
Darwin is hot, relatively small, and fantastic for partying. I ended up there for two weeks and probably would have stayed longer (considering I had multiple people tell me they could get me a job in the city) if I wasn't rapidly coming up on my last month in Oz. I had the wildest time there.
I stayed in Melaleuca, a hostel on Mitchell Street in the heart of the nightlife. The rooms were nothing impressive- a small, bare-walled block with two bunk beds and a linoleum floor. The highlight was the outdoor patio on the second floor which looked out over the street and contained a bar, jacuzzi, and swimming pool.
The kitchen was also located in an enclosed area outside, and there were picnic tables under the tarp covering half of it. The pool was the best part (it was hot enough outside without a jacuzzi) in two tiers with both sections lined with rocks and right next to the bar.
As I said, the nightlife is great. There's something going on every night, and unlike in some cities, a few bars are open until 4 AM. One night I went to a glow party with a UV paint station at Monsoons, and despite the fact that I had heard there was a bikini competition with prizes involved and decided to just wear my bikini, nobody else had shown up in one. I didn't care, I covered myself in paint and danced all night, even on stage with the band, and one of the DJs ended up giving me a free voucher for a Fraser Island 4WD tour on the East Coast! I was so excited, I had been planning on doing that tour anyway and so wearing a bikini to a nightclub ended up saving me over $450.
Another night I entered a competition to lick chocolate sauce off the torso of a ripped champagne boy. The prize was...? What was the prize? Was a prize even necessary?
I didn't technically win, but I think we were all winners here.
There was plenty else to do aside from drink. Darwin has a great lagoon (again, no swimming in the ocean!) that's right next to the sea but separated by barriers. There's also a wave pool and everything right next to it that's very popular in the heat.
Nearby is a jumping crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River. I went with Ricky and Pierre on our first full day in Darwin while we still had the van. The Adelaide River is absolutely swarming with crocs, and we went out on this boat with open sides and I was slightly terrified. As soon as we pulled away from the pier, you could look out the back and see crocs stealthily and silently begin to appear behind the boat and follow us to the middle of the river. The guide warned to absolutely not put your hands or head over the side unless you wanted to lose them.
After the crocs had swum up, the guide would dangle meat on a stick over the side and get them to jump out of the water to grab it. When I say jump, I mean full vertical leap!
When they're submerged in water you can just see the top of their head, but when they blast out of the water you can see how gigantic they are! And they're so fast! Nope, no thanks. Between their size, stealth, prehistoric genes, and calculating ways, crocs win my vote for scariest animal in Australia.
I did, however, get the chance to hold a baby croc at Melaleuca. A few doors down is a place called Crocodile Cove which I sadly never had the money for (you can do one of those cage dives in a tank with a crocodile inside), and every week one of the hostel guys would bring over a baby croc from there. Its jaws were banded shut and it was actually pretty cute.
The Northern Territory museum next to Fannie Bay is free and just a bus ride away. It had Aboriginal art, tons of taxidermy animals including a massive croc, an exhibit called Smalltown I enjoyed with photos of some extremely rural Australian towns and how empty and rundown they can be, and a whole exhibit about Cyclone Tracy, the storm that completely destroyed Darwin in the 60s. It included photos and videos, sample houses to show how they were built prior to and after the cyclone, and a pitch black sound booth where they play an actual recording taken during the storm.
Mindil Beach is walking distance from the city, and they run night markets there. Everyone arrives in the evening to watch the sunset from the beach, then you can do your shopping at night with the place all lit up. There are all sorts of booths with souvenirs, clothes, art, and food, plus performance artists like fire spinners.
Another cool thing in Darwin is the deckchair cinema. It's a large outdoor projector screen where they show indie flicks every night. There are comfy lawn chairs set up all over and a bar at the back.
One day I also had dinner out at the wharf past the lagoon. There are a bunch of tables outside along the waterfront and little food places all over. I grabbed a spicy Thai meal and a cider and we sat out next to the sea and fed the barramundi and batfish (and inadvertently the seagulls). On the walk back the sun was setting over the marina and it was a nice evening.
I experienced the start of wet season in Darwin as flash monsoons struck randomly. I loved standing out at night under the roof of the hostel and watching the rain batter the city. I also rode my first pedicab, those bicycle taxis usually driven by backpackers (I even looked into the job before remembering what little strength I have). I really didn't want to leave, but I booked flights to Cairns to leave after spending just a week in the city so I could finish up my trip.
Of course, I didn't take that flight to Cairns. Instead, after an extra week in Darwin, I found myself feeding monkeys in the middle of a Bali jungle. The tale of how that came to be is easily my craziest travel story to date, and I'll have to tell it next time when I post about emergency landing in Timor-Leste. (Wait, I thought I said Bali? Yeah, it's a weird story.)