2nd week road trip North

For many, the 'Outback' is usually the route through Central Australia, past Ayers Rock, but it's actually much more extensive. We are now in the middle of nowhere. I have never seen such a dark red soil and the heat is getting worse the further we drive into the center. The first stop was Tom Price. There isn't much to see there, we just did some shopping and refueled. Of course, we also got a pack of ice cream from the offer. We filled up the water tanks, as we need to drink even more in this heat.

The next stop was the Karijini National Park. In line with the summer heat, we went in there. First, we went down the many stairs to the Fortescue Falls. Beautiful waterfalls. You could walk along some hiking trails that led through dense trees. That's how I imagine a national park. We swam at the waterfalls, which we immediately did to cool off. On the other side of the park, there was a Circular Pool. We had to get back in the car and drive over there. The path down to the pool leads along a hiking trail with a difficulty level of 4. That means no fixed paths, over stones, steep downhill. Did I mention that I hate such hiking trails? I was constantly afraid of slipping or something. But we arrived safely at the pool and it was beautiful again.
After a short cooling off in the water, we headed to the campsite. The first 30 minutes on the road, we had mountains and many trees everywhere. Really beautiful views. But the further we drove, the emptier the landscape became and we frequently encountered road trains with 4 trailers. It was already dark when we were near the campsite. But we didn't even get there. The road was closed. Now we didn't know where to go. It was already dark and there were no affordable hostels in the next town. There was a small rest area on the main road in front of the town. Camping tables and nothing else. There was indeed a sign expressly stating that camping is not allowed there, but what could we do. So we quickly ate a can of stew, which by the way didn't need to be heated, it had already heated up enough in the car and I also eat lukewarm food. Sleeping wasn't really possible because it was warm, so we opened the windows, but that made the noise from the road even louder. That's why we decided to get up early and head to the city. Luckily, no one caught us. The ranger usually comes by around 8:00 in the morning, but we were long gone.

In South Hedland, we used the free showers and had breakfast first. Mornings are also a good time to be here. South & Port Hedland are purely working cities. You can see iron ore mines everywhere, road trains, and a long freight train passes through the city every 5 minutes. Today, Broome was on the agenda. 600 kilometers through the middle of nowhere. It was hot and humid, and we were sweating. Shortly before Broome, you couldn't see more than 2 kilometers because it was so humid. It looked like the cattle on the meadows were standing in water. We arrived in Broome around 1:00 p.m. and checked into a hostel. It looked more like a resort and cost us $28 a night, which is normal prices. We washed our clothes and went to Cable Beach in the afternoon. That's the beach where you can ride camels. But we didn't want to spend the money. We waited for the sunset and took some nice photos. On the beach itself, small crabs formed little balls in the sand, which could be seen everywhere. Back at the hostel, we had dinner, took a shower, and made use of the WiFi. It didn't cool down much, but it was bearable in our air-conditioned room.

The next morning, we filled our stomachs at breakfast and then continued towards Halls Creek. Today was all about driving, apart from short refueling stops and bathroom breaks, there was nothing else. The landscape was again a bit more varied with trees and a few small mountains. We also saw bushfires from a distance. Most of them were almost extinguished, there was just some smoke left. It was getting dark and we still had 80 kilometers to go to Halls Creek. Since the campground is beyond that, we had to drive at night again. But just before Halls Creek, it happened: we had a flat tire. In Broome, we even talked about the tire not lasting much longer and that we would have it changed in Katherine, but now it gave up already. Luckily, Dominik knows how to change a tire and the damaged tire was quickly removed. But the jack never stayed in place and we couldn't put on the new tire. But quickly an Australian came to help us. Unfortunately, he didn't manage it either until a second one came later and they finally succeeded. But one of the Australians suggested that we should only drive with the spare tire until we reach Halls Creek and at a maximum speed of 80 km/h. He followed us for safety and when we arrived in Halls Creek, we bought something to drink and some snacks. The mechanic in the small town was already closed and will open tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. Now we had to find a place to sleep. Dominik wanted to sleep somewhere on the street to save money, but there were Aboriginal people everywhere and we felt it was really dangerous. There was a small caravan park where we went. But unfortunately, there was no one there anymore. There was a mobile number on the door and we were about to call when a man passed by. He was the owner who let us in and we were glad that everything worked out. We didn't do much else and went to bed. It was really warm in the car and no air was coming in from outside. I woke up in the middle of the night and panicked that I couldn't breathe and opened the door. Since we always lock the car at night, the alarm went off of course. So in the middle of the night, I made sure that everyone woke up. So Dominik was also awake and we opened the doors for a few minutes to get some fresh air.

In the morning, after a shower and breakfast, we went to the mechanic. A new tire + changing it cost Dominik $210. He was naturally not thrilled, but he had no other choice.

With the new tire, we then headed to Kununurra. When we arrived there, we went to the supermarket because it was simply unbearable outside at about 42 degrees. Of course, we first bought our pack of ice cream and bread and liverwurst. For example, they don't have Fleischwurst here, but liverwurst and it tastes almost like at home. Since the heat felt even more extreme now, we immediately drove to the campsite at Lake Argyle. We each paid $17.50 for the campsite, but it had an infinity pool, which was the reason why we wanted to go there. So we went straight to the pool until it closed. After dinner, we wanted to sit outside a bit, but the mosquitoes found us and we got bitten within 2 minutes. So we went to bed. It was somewhat bearable in the car because it was windy outside and a fresh breeze always blew through the car.

After a short cool down in the pool, we headed directly to Katherine the next morning. In the city, we naturally refueled again, went shopping, and made use of the internet connection. We decided to definitely stay in a hostel so that we can sleep at night. But there was only a small hostel that didn't have much to offer, but at least a room with air conditioning. We were in a 4-bed room with an English couple. They had some kind of rash on their legs and we hoped we wouldn't catch it. We planned the rest of our trip a bit and nothing else happened that day.

The next morning, we went to the thermal springs. They are almost like a river, but much much more beautiful, really tropical. There are several of them in the area and we visited all of them. When you think of thermal springs, you imagine warm water. But since the air is much warmer, it was more like a slight cooling.

From Katherine, we now headed back down through the center. The next stop was Daly Waters. The town is very small and there isn't really much to see, except for this one pub where every visitor leaves something and it's hung up there. The walls are full of t-shirts, IDs, banknotes, underwear, patches, flags, etc. We looked around there and had a drink until we continued to the campsite.

The second week flew by quickly and was definitely the hottest week. The weather in the north is already very humid and the rainy season will begin soon. We reached 6,000 kilometers in Daly Waters. Think about all the places in Europe you could visit with 6,000 kilometers. Unbelievable. Next stop is Ayers Rock!