Roadtrip Day 74 / Alice Springs & Tennant Creek

The expected storm only arrived in the morning, so we had to wait in the tent until almost 10 o'clock until it was over. After everything was packed in the car, we headed to the center of Alice Springs. We had a bad feeling. From stories and TV reports, we only knew about wild indigenous people who destroy everything and rob the whites. However, we were pleasantly surprised. We encountered 80% indigenous people, who were fortunately all very peaceful. Maybe it was also because it was only 11 o'clock and alcohol can only be sold from 12 o'clock. We bought some food and drinks.

Shortly after 12 o'clock, we continued on the Stuart Highway towards Darwin. It's only 1470 km to Darwin now. Our navigation system informed us that we should continue straight for 1463 km and then turn. We will never listen to that again. Somewhere on the highway, the well-known scenario that all Australians had warned us about occurred. Aboriginal people pretend to have a car breakdown and if you stop, you will be attacked. Or one of the group throws themselves in front of your car, so you actually have to stop. In our case, there were two vehicles (minivans) in the ditch and 20 Aboriginal people sitting next to them. One waved to us to stop, but we continued. Shortly afterwards, a little boy jumped onto the road, luckily Padi reacted quickly and swerved to avoid him. In between, there was a small national park with strange rock formations (called Devil Marbles) that you could drive through.

We drove until just before 6 o'clock and reached Tennant Creek. This town feels like it's only inhabited by indigenous people who are heavily intoxicated and jumping around on the streets. We chose a well-fenced campsite. We spent the night there safely. However, you could hear the screams of the Aboriginal people until early morning.