On the road again

First of all, we would like to thank our loyal readers for the many likes, comments, and WhatsApps. We are thrilled that you are accompanying us.

We will continue to write daily updates, but the internet connection here in Australia is not always reliable, especially in the outback. We are lucky if we can even send an emergency call. So, enjoy reading!

The shower this morning was great. There were 2 clothes hooks (Carsten even had 3), a shower curtain to prevent the whole cabin from getting wet, and it was clean and free of animals. I could have stayed in the shower for hours. After breakfast, we headed to Alice Springs. 520 km and just under 6 hours of driving separate us from our next destination.

Time for some facts:

Alice Springs is the second largest city in the Northern Territory after Darwin, the capital. The Northern Territory is 4 times the size of Germany and has less than 300,000 inhabitants (of which about 65,000 are Aboriginal people). It is not a state but a self-governing territory under the influence of Canberra. Here, extreme living conditions prevail: hot, barren, and dry.

First stop on today's route were the Devils Marbles, located 110 km south of Tennant Creek. For the Aboriginal people, these are the eggs of their sacred Rainbow Serpent. However, it is not clear why they are called "Devils Marbles". But it was impressive, and it must be amazing to see the marbles glow red at sunset.

So, what can I tell you about the next 4 hours? It was a copy and paste from yesterday.

Oh wait, there were a few things that were different. This time, it wasn't the color of the asphalt that changed, but there were lines on the road and sometimes there were none. The termites also lost interest in building mounds. The terrain became hilly from time to time, and suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, there was a bridge. From a distance, it looked like a launch pad, but it was a railway bridge.

Otherwise, we were alone again, just the two of us. The heat shimmered above the asphalt, making the road look wet. New signs like "Watch out for cows" or "Caution: cows and sheep" (which could also be mother cow and baby cow) or "Watch out for animals" or "Watch out for people" were placed on the roadside. However, unlike yesterday, we didn't see any animals/people, neither alive nor dead on the side of the road. Occasionally, our sleep was interrupted by a roaring sound when we drove over grids embedded in the road, called grids.

Today, there were no adrenaline rushes either. The highway was empty.

We arrived in Alice Springs at 3:00 PM. From a distance, we could see dark clouds getting bigger. And then it poured down - right in the middle of the sausages.