A slightly different Australia!

Sunday, October 7th, 2018 Gianna

After you mainly got Fabian's impressions of our Australia trip in the last blogs, I will share some of my experiences of the last few weeks with you in this blog. Have fun! 😊

The first few days in Darwin were quite unspectacular. We stayed with an Australian family in a small separate cottage for two days. We slept in, did some sightseeing, went out for dinner, and enjoyed ourselves. Just like the last three weeks in Bali! 😃☺️

With huge anticipation, we picked up our Land Cruiser and filled it with groceries for our journey along the Gibb River Road. On the first day, we drove towards Kakadu National Park, where I had my first encounter with the wildlife. At the entrance to the campsite, we were greeted by wallabies and a sign warning of crocodiles. As there was a river with saltwater crocodiles near the campsite, I asked the lady at the campsite if the crocs also come to the camping area. Luckily, she said probably not, since it's the dry season. As soon as we parked our car for the night, Fabian wanted to go crocodile hunting. I couldn't understand Fabian's sense of adventure, but I obediently went with him. In the end, we didn't see any crocs (fortunately, I thought at that time). 🐊

When it got so dark (around 6 am), I started to feel quite uneasy. It was also unusual to have wallabies in the way at night when I wanted to go to the bathroom. Moreover, there were frogs everywhere on the premises and in the toilets, which I didn't really appreciate! 😅

In the following days, we went on a boat tour where we saw several saltwater crocodiles. Fabian was completely fascinated and always wanted to get as close as possible to the crocs, while I kept a good distance. After all, crocs can jump 80% of their body length out of the water, which is quite high for 5-meter crocs! 😅

With the Gibb Road, Fabian then started his longed-for hikes to various gorges and waterholes. When we decided to do the Gibb, I thought, yeah, it's just a road he wants to drive on. Not that I automatically agreed to hours of walking through the sand at 40 degrees. But I guess I did, because that's all Fabian wanted to do. Explore everything and see as many crocs, snakes, spiders, etc. as possible. Help, what had I gotten myself into!! 😩
If you've seen the photos from Fabian's blogs, you're probably thinking, oh, it looks so beautiful! Sure, there were some beautiful spots, but all in all, it was always very exhausting. First of all, you have to apply sunscreen even though you're already sweaty and everything sticks even more disgustingly. In addition, you always have sand everywhere, especially in your shoes, which was really annoying. And all that just to walk to a place where there was a bit of water. Wow, Lake Constance also has water. Only there you can swim! Of course, you could also swim in the naturally dammed pools and streams. But then you'd be together with freshwater crocodiles, water snakes, lizards, turtles, spiders, etc. Whoopee, I'd rather stay on land!!
Since I didn't want to let Fabian go on these hikes alone, I always forced myself to go with him, even though I regretted it on every hike. I hated the sound of all the lizards and snakes scurrying away as we walked along the path. It wasn't a relaxing hike because I had to watch every step to avoid standing on a snake or something. My fear of snakes was really high on the hikes, as we were really far away and a venomous snake bite could have been my death. Besides, during the hikes, there were always about 10 flies in my face, blocking my view. I've been told that they always want to get to your eyes and mouth to get protein there. I don't know if that's really true. 😃
But of course, since I wouldn't have forgiven myself if something happened to Fabian, I always bravely went along. 👫

The last hike on his to-do list was through a cave with water inside. I really had to pass on that one. A cave hike in the dark, through the water with the crocs, etc. Why would anyone do that voluntarily? It's really incomprehensible to me...🤔 So I handed Fabian over to an Australian family and waited for him in the car, reading a book. I liked that much better.📖😎

Another point I initially struggled with was that it gets completely dark around 6 pm. Now you might think, yeah, no problem, it's like that in winter for us too. Yes, that's true, but as soon as it gets so dark, you can hardly do anything anymore. Cooking, doing the dishes, taking a shower, reading, etc. becomes really tiresome with just one flashlight and a thousand mosquitoes attacking you as soon as they see light. So we almost had to make sure to have dinner, wash up, daydream, brush our teeth, etc. by 6 pm. It was always more stressful than feeling like vacation. And of course, you also have to watch every step to make sure you don't step on a snake, spider, or frog. So most of the time, we went straight to bed when it got dark, and most of the time, we fell asleep soon after. From 5 am onwards, it was already getting light again, and the parrots were screeching so loudly that you couldn't sleep anymore anyway. 😬

And then there was the night in Katherine...
After this night with the drunk Aboriginal people, during which I almost cried all the time, I seriously asked myself why people want to go on vacation to Australia. Why the hell did I decide to sit in dusty, 40-degree hot Australia with venomous snakes, hungry crocodiles, 1 million flies, sandflies, spiders, and everything else that crawls around there? What a shitty country! (Fabian had to hear that several times) But I was also to blame, because I didn't really inform myself about our travel destinations. If I had, we wouldn't be here now, which I would also regret a lot, because Australia also has a lot of beautiful things to offer. 😉

When we arrived at Cape Leveque in early October, the nature of Australia completely captivated me. The red sand, the green trees, and the deep blue sea were breathtaking. We parked our camper right by the water and already saw a small shark, dolphins, crabs, numerous fish, and monitor lizards on the first day. It felt like a little paradise, just for the two of us, and most of the worries and fears disappeared during these days. 🌅

The following days in Broome were also really good. We rented a room from an Australian and could sleep in a bed again after almost 3 weeks. God, that was wonderful! Also, taking a shower in a real shower without frogs, where you could determine how hot or cold you wanted to shower. Indescribable! We were also able to do our laundry again, which was desperately needed! To celebrate our mastering of the Gibb, we went out to eat. Fabian had a huge steak and of course, I had pizza! 😍 I had almost no cell phone reception the whole time in Australia and was delighted that we had Wi-Fi in our accommodation and I could call my parents. That was even better than pizza and a shower combined! My mother encouraged me to write this blog, for which I am very grateful, Mom!❤️

Now more days have passed and we have already picked up our next camper and are driving down the west coast. Meanwhile, I have gotten used to the constant 40 degrees and no longer have such fear of the animals. But that doesn't mean I want to have them all around me like Fabian does! 😉
In our current camper, we have a small kitchen where we can store our groceries, a stove, and even little lights, so we can cook even when it's dark - perfect!! 😃 Plus, we can build a small bed for ourselves and no longer have to sleep in the damp sleeping bags on the roof. What a luxury! Who doesn't know it, if the night was crappy, the day doesn't start well either.. As you can see, everything has turned a bit for the better for me, and I'm excited to see what we'll experience in the next part of our Australia trip and I'm looking forward to it! ☺️

So that the blog doesn't stay without photos, I'll upload a few photos from a visit to a crocodile park in Broome. I gave Fabian this visit as a birthday present, and he was overjoyed - which of course makes me happy too! 😊 Until next time maybe!