Road trip from Katherine to Alice Springs

So, I'm writing again in the car and we should arrive in Alice Springs in about an hour. Today is Thursday, September 15th and on Tuesday we left around 12:30 pm. So far, we've covered 1111 km and now there are just over 100 left until Alice. Quite a long distance!! Andi and I are starting to have back pain from sitting for so long. At the beginning, we were looking forward to the hours of "doing nothing", but eventually it becomes exhausting. Especially because the roads are really straight through savannah land and you eventually fall into a kind of trance. That's when overtaking the endlessly long road trains or a caravan becomes the most exciting thing :D But no, that's not entirely true. The nature is also beautiful. It has changed along the way and we saw amazing landscapes and rock formations. The land is not as flat as you might think, so you always have a nice view from higher up or drive through hilly landscapes.

Our first stop after about an hour was Mataranka. There are warm springs there as well, which are supposed to be very nice, so we wanted to take a quick dip. And this stop was definitely worth it! We thought the water in Katherine was clear, but we were proven wrong here. I have never seen such clear water in a stream before! And it was so beautifully turquoise. Marvelous. You could go into the water on a staircase, let the current carry you around a few curves, and then get out on another staircase. You always thought you could stand because the bottom seemed so close, but actually the bottom was mostly 2 meters below the water surface. Because the water was so clear, swimming was like snorkeling without a snorkel. Totally cool. Everything around it was untouched nature and in the end, we even saw a turtle in the water! The water was even a bit warmer than in Katherine, but still very pleasant. By the way, we were at the Bitter Springs in Mataranka. Then there are also the Thermal Pools, but they are more touristy and can sometimes be crowded. That was not the case at the Bitter Springs, so we did everything right :)

After swimming and having lunch in Mataranka, we continued driving. Next, we stopped in Daly Waters. There is a famous historical pub there and it was really cool! Inside, it was full of stickers, t-shirts, bras, posters, and other stuff. They also had a really nice terrace with WiFi and everything. I really liked it there! But we were only there to use the restroom, refill the tank, and get a Fanta Slushie. Then we continued driving because we wanted to cover some more distance. Actually, we planned to drive all the way to Elliott, where there is a nice free campsite at a billabong, but we didn't quite make it or it got dark at some point and we didn't want to drive any further. We've already seen enough dead animals on the side of the road and didn't want to add to that. We drove until about 7 o'clock in the evening and stayed overnight at the free campsite "Newcastle Waters". It was actually just a rest area on the highway, but at least there were compost toilets and a picnic table where we could spread out while preparing food. We had meatballs with feta and carrot-potato-vegetable. Because we went shopping on the same day, we could treat ourselves again. Our great cooler box, which we bought specially, had a broken plug and now we can't cool anything anymore. It's really great. We'll have to see in Alice Springs if there is a Jaycar and if they can somehow take the part back. It's under warranty after all. Still, it's annoying for our situation.

After the delicious meal, we went to bed. We set the alarm clock for the next day quite early because there was no shade at the rest area and we thought it would get hot pretty quickly and we could start driving early. But that wasn't the case at all because a storm came during the night. It was very windy and there was a bit of rain and when we got up, the whole sky was covered in clouds. The clouds stayed all day and it rained from time to time. So that's not how you imagine the desert :D

We left our rest area at half past 7 and made the next stop in Tennant Creek. Well, I'm not listing every stop, just the big ones, because in between we also stopped to change drivers, go to the toilet, or just to move a bit. But in Tennant Creek, we took a longer break, got some potato wedges from Red Rooster, drove to Mary Ann Lake, and had lunch there with the leftovers from the previous day. Because of the clouds and the wind, it was actually cold! Really unusual for us. There were no people at the lake, only lots of different birds. And roosters that were very pushy and wanted our food :D

After lunch, we refueled and filled up our jerry cans so that we didn't have to refuel again before Alice Springs. Moreover, the petrol wasn't that expensive at 1.35 there. And then we continued. For several hours. For the night, we looked for another rest area like the first time. It was just before Aileron. When we got out there, we really noticed what to expect in the next few days: it was so cold! Probably also because of the clouds and the rain, because the next days it should get warmer again, but the contrast was still extreme. We put on some warm clothes and immediately started preparing dinner because we wanted to spend as little time as possible outside. This time we had pasta with pesto. It was quick too ^^ Then it got dark and we packed up our stuff, went to the toilet again, and cuddled up in bed. We closed the trunk and only had the two front windows slightly open because otherwise it would have been too cold. We also took out our sleeping bag and a thicker blanket. It was really cozy in our bed! And it was only 7:30 pm, so we watched two episodes of Lucifer before going to sleep. We set the alarm clock a bit later because we hoped that the sun would warm up in the morning. With 10 hours of sleep, we had enough :D

In the morning, the sun was actually a bit warming (although not much) and we set off on our way. Then we drove the remaining 1.5 hours to Alice Springs. We have now arrived and I am finishing this entry in the Public Library. We really like the city at first sight! It's also not so cold during the day anymore. Now we're planning what we want to do in the next few days and hopefully we'll experience great things like we have for the past few weeks! :D