Men collecting firewood...

Honey and Apricot Chicken, cooking in the fire - yum!

Masterchef Australia!

Short stop to collect some wood for the bushcamp

4 x 4 dirt track on the way to King´s Canyon



flooded roads

The Tropic of Capricorn


Devil´s Marbles

What a spot for a good Meditation



Green Tree Frog
Daly Waters Pub, and the Entertainer with his Eagle in disguise as a chicken who made us, the ozbus crew, come up the stage and sing Waltzing Mathilda...


Katherine Gorge

Katherine Camp


Family fun at the Rodeo



Taming wild horses at the Rodeo


Beautiful Waterfalls in Kakadu National Park

What a view! Chilling out on top of the mountain at Gunlom Falls...

Tiger Snake! Spotted and caught!


The boss sitting in the pole position


Birds at the Yellow River

The Oz Bus Australia next to a gigantomanic Termite Mound, and: Beware of the Crocodile!


Sunset at Ubirr Rock

Learning how to play the Didgeridoo and Weaving



The Welcome to the country ceremony





And now, welcome back to Australia!

It was grat waking up in sleepy Darwin, back in the good old backpacker hostels, with some more sun to shine on our noses before we would head down into the cold Australian winter. Another couple of days of doing not much, going for a walk to the beach, stocking up on tinned tuna and boxed wine for the big camping trip through Crocodile country and the Desert, and meeting my friend Hayley from the Snowies.

Kakadu National Park was great, and I have to admit being on a chartered tour with a guide who knows everything about the smallest bush, bird or Kangaroo pooh is a lot of fun!
First we watched the Crocodiles jumping on the mirky … river. Then we got welcomed by an aboriginal community and got shown some of their hunting techniques, cooking, weaving, painting and dancing and the good old didgeridoo. He told us that after his blessing we would face no harm during our time there, but mine was followed straight by a moskito bite. Maybe this one did not pay any attention to my blessing... We spent the afternoon at Ubirr Rock, the great Crocodile Dundee lookout and had our first night in camp. It was really ready set-up tents with beds in it and electricity and a kitchen tent with barbecue grill and all that comfort, but it was really good to get away from the usual hotels anyways. And the stars were amazing!

The next day was probably one of the best ones on the trip, we drove along dirtroads, picked up snakes on the way and had swims in beautiful waterholes on top of big waterfalls. Nobody had really expected that so we were all in the best moods. To finish off a day like that, what better could there be than a Rodeo-show in Katherine. Finally we could see some real men, riding all sorts of wild horses and Bulls, fierce fighting to win their points and get through to the finals. Dinner had to be kangaroo burger, of course! A brillant show, followed by one, or maybe ten cups of wine by the campfire underneath the stars...

The wheels on the bus keep rolling and we get closer to the centre. Next stop, Daly Waters, but not without visiting the impressive Katherine Gorge National Park. Boat cruising, canoeing, hiking, and everything finished off by another dip into the cool and refreshing water. Again I have to say how much I love Australia and this is certainly the best way to end our big journey!

Our lunchstop was at the Devils Marbles, the giant balls in the middle of nowhere, yet another great Kodak moment. It was funny going back to all these places that Beckie and I have been to before, but I have to say that I probably still enjoyed myself just as much as I did the first time! I was even happier that we were staying overnight at the Daly Waters Pub, that quirky place with Tshirts, Bras, Drivers licenses, and anything you can imagine stuck to the walls. We had a substantial meal – Burger with Fries again – and got asked to move up to the stage where this crazy guy with his chicken (sorry, it was really an eagle in disguise!) was performing his nightly show. Apparently he had been doing this for ybout 70 days in a row, just like us we thought. Very professionally we were singing along to the tunes of Waltzing Mathilda and had this way another kind of Welcome to the country ceremony. To be a real part of it, we were all sleeping underneath the stars, in swags. To those who don´t know what this is, it is like a sleeping bag, but bigger. You can put your sleeping bag inside, it´s got a mattress inside and can be zipped up all the way to the top, so that the snakes leave you alone. So that´s what we all did, after months of hotels, some better, some worse, some 0stars, some 4, and much to the delight of some and the horror of others, this was our only choice at Daly Waters. But everybody survived, and I thought it was absolutely great!

Back on the road, off to alice Springs. We got there just in time to stock up on alcohol, not the easiest thing to get there, due to the very strict laws in the Centre of Austrlia. You have to bring your passport as ID and are not allowed to buy more than one box of wine per person. And it is better to take a taxi to and from the Bottle-O which makes it quite a dear glass of Red. But after all these beers and Gin Tonics in Asia, there was really no way around it. And who wnats to sit around a campfire without a drop of booze in your hands... We had a very good Aussie Dinner at Bojangles Saloon, when my dear family spent the afternoon watching me online and even dedicating some songs, which was really good! I did not go for the 800g-Steak option, even if I would miss out on a Certificate for having eaten it, but had a very good Kangaroo and some Oysters instead.

The drive to Kings Canyon, about 5hrs southwest of Alice, was another real otuback adventure. We left the sealed roads and drove along the Larapinta Road for about 2 hrs, only stopping once to collect firewood for our next camp, and watch the sun going down...The views were great and I was happy sitting on the uncomfy front seat of the big 4 x 4 Truck and be able to see it all! And also, even though the roads were just as bumpy as the ones in Nepal, we were still driving twice as fast as there....

The camp in King´s Canyon was the best and we had some great Tucker. Honey-Apricot Chicken, cooked in the fire, and real Australian Damper. And swagging underneath the stars again...not before Andy and Tony chased for some more firewood, and because they couldnt find any, just stripped down a tree. It was dead though, but so is Andys leg now...

A beautiful walk around the top of the Canyon was waiting for us early in the morning, and we learned more about the aboriginal culture.