Flag Inn Poinciana Darwin

... and I resisted the temptation all day. But some Aussie fueled peer pressure led me to try one since I couldn't let them think Americans aren't an adventurous people. So in order to make you guys look good back home, I had to rise to the challenge and take one for the team. And surprisingly that jolt of lemony goodness really does taste good.

And speaking of food, I bought some mangos from the back of a pickup truck out in the ...

... with bare essentials and kayaked up the gorge to a couple of remote camp spots on sandy banks that would be at least 10m underwater during the wet season. We crossed 9 rock bars there, and the same back. What is a rock bar? A complete blockage across the gorge made of rocks. To cross these required portage, aka a mixture of dragging, pushing and carrying the laden kayak over slippery rocks. I openly admit that after the 4th ...

... durchs Zentrum beinhaltete eigentlich alle. Dennoch hat uns die Stadt mit der schattigen Uferpromenade und dem netten Hafenbezirk sehr gut gefallen. Endlich fanden wir auch ein gutes Internetcafe und konnten uns wieder informieren, ob der Rest der Welt noch ok ist oder ein Atomkrieg ausgebrochen ist. Den Freitagabend nutzten wir zum fortgehen bis fruehmorgens auch das letzte Lokal ...

... the owner, we went to * few more b*rs *nd then finished the night *t Shen*****n's, *t the f*r end of the strip. In f*ct we spent so long in there listening *nd d*ncing to the live b*nd th*t it w*s suddenly 2:30*m *nd we were being chucked out of the b*r due to closing time (* record for us these d*ys!). It w*s just * short st*gger to our hotel, *nd then we cr*shed out in our lovely big bed, with cle*n crisp white sheets- blissful slumber *t l*st!

... on top of the boogi board with not even a toe in the water! Just for the Grans, there were definately no crocs in the water!

From there we had a quick lunch out the back of the ute and headed off to see an old House, where the this guy uprouted his wife and fourteen children, out miles from anywhere to build a house where his children could mine for tin, while he stayed at the holmestead. It was quite facinating!

Lost city was next, and it was hot in the midday ...

... stop from Darwin to Melbourne and back to Darwin and then back to Melbourne! The space for the pilots was really cramped and I can't imagine how uncomfortable a 15 hour stint must have been.

In walking around the centre of Darwin yesterday it feels young, fresh and vibrant.  Of course a lot of that is due to the fact that Darwin was all but destroyed in the early hours of Christmas Day in 1974 by Cyclone Tracy. So the city has needed to be rebuilt.

Yesterday we walked along ...

... dont require much thought so they have much more of them here then in other casinos (sorry Darwin). But its a nice Casino and we spent the first few minutes playing the pokies and then headed into the buffet for dinner.

It was the best all you can eat buffet ive ever seen. We didnt have to book, of course, but there was prawns and CRAB (can you believe it - crab, at all you can eat!) and oysters and everything!! It was the ...

... mir wirkliche Hoffnungen dass es sich nur um eine Schwellung handle und ich meine Outbacktripp angehen koenne. Welch ein Irrtum! Des Arzt machte einige Bewegungen mit meinem Bein und als ich an einer Stelle uebelste Schmerzen bekam, meinte er das sieht zu 99% nach Meniskusriss aus. Aber um das exakt festzustellen, brauche man eine Operation, die einen dann 2-3 Wochen ausser Gefaecht setzt. Ich fragt noch ob ich mit Bandagen und Schmerzmitteln trotzdem durchs ...

Adieu Adelaide, re-bonjour la route! Nous quittons Adelaide après une courte visite de la ville et apres avoir fait des reserves de bouffe et d'eau pour la grande traversee du desert ou comme disent les Australiens, du Red Center. La route s’etire sur des milliers de kilometres entre le sud et le nord et les paysages sont constitutes presque uniquement de plaines de sable rouge. On se croirait sur Mars!

Dormir sous terre…

Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia sabaustralisim

... there for a couple of nights. We had heard it was a great spot, but unfortunately we got there on the Sunday of a long weekend, and it was a bit feralled out. Also a bit disappointed as the brochure had said there was a pool, but this apparently had been filled in! And still with no swimming and a heat wave, and mozzies galore! On top of that the fishing wasn't much good if you didn't have a boat (M thinks that’s cheating anyway!) so we only stayed 2 ...