Monday 27 October.(Happy Birthday Michelle). We rose dark and early from our hostel bed bug ridden slumber in Alice Springs and hit the road at 5.30am. We read in the local paper that the day before a hitchhiker had been found dead on the side of the road just south of Alice with his throat slit and the back of his head caved in. Lovely place they should put that on the holiday brochure. We headed north and after several long hot hours we reached the 1500 million years worth of eroded boulders known as the Devil's Marbles. We walked the track around the numerous boulder formations whilst having flies bombard every moisture producing orifice. The rocks were amazing, huge round smooth stones and some were split right down the middle. The aboriginal people of the area believe that they were formed by the rainbow serpent and the boulders were her eggs. We did plan to stay here to catch a sunset over the peculiar formations but the heat was intense well into the forties and there was not much shade but worse than that was the flies. You can't begin to explain how frustrating and relentless they are, in a period of five minutes walking breathing through your nose because you daren't open your mouth you are guaranteed to snort seven or eight. We jumped back in the van and headed Darwin bound. We camped in a place called Renner Springs that had a 17m swimming pool that we stayed in for hours. Some fellow campers gave us some free fruit, a couple of mangoes, a rock melon and half a water melon the size of the van. We were accompanied on this site by two very bold geese (brave not featherless) who were very interested in the mash potato that we were cooking. The following morning it was up early again before dawn to get as much distance under our belt as possible before the baking sun started its beating. At lunchtime we stopped at a place called Mataranka just south of Katharine. Here they have hot springs amongst tall palm trees with thousands of flying foxes squawking above. The waters were warm but pleasant and we cooled off here for an hour or so gazing up at the bats and breathing in the air mixed with sulphur and bat s***, quite pleasantly sweet really. Once suitably soaked we drove on to Katherine and as again we were down to our last few bucks we enquired about work picking mangoes. We were told there was plenty of work and made an appointment with an agency the following morning to fill in the required paper work. We camped in a local camp site and soaked in the pool for the best part of the night as the temperature was forty five degrees again and very humid. The next day we filled in the papers at the agency and she told us she would call in the afternoon so we headed back to the pool. We had a phone call in the afternoon saying that all the farmers were pushing to employ local aboriginal people and there was no work for backpackers….GREAT…. We need work and are willing and the indigenous population of Katherine don't want to work. We called home with our tails between our legs and asked Sid for a loan which was deposited in our bank that day. Wha hoo its great to have a millionaire as a father-in-law. With enough dosh now in the petrol kitty we headed north to Litchfield National Park. This was by far the most beautiful and most easily accessible national park we had visited. The scenery had now changed from parched red baron land to a mixture of greens and strange little palm trees everywhere. Our first stop in Litchfield was Buley Rock Holes which is a series of rock pools with small water falls. The water was cool and very refreshing in the heat of the day. We returned to the baking van which was now registering 58 degrees inside and 44 outside and drove the short distance to Florence falls. Here we swam in the plunge pool accompanied by several nude German girls which was very pleasant (the cool waters I mean). We went for another dip at Wangi (wan-guy) falls then attempted to drive a dirt road to get out of the park and save 100km. After ten minutes of having Sheila's suspension bounced to bits we turned round and went the long tarmac route. We filled with fuel and the lady in the petrol station gave us some free mangoes, what is it with people giving us free fruit all the time, do we look malnourished or something? We left Litchfield and drove to Darwin arriving late at night and camping in a posh residential area. Whilst in Darwin we visited Cullen bay, a hip harbour side street with lots of funky bars and eateries. Houses on the opposite side of the small inlet all had private moorings and huge power boats some were for sale but we purchased a cup of tea and a muffin instead opting to save our money for petrol and noodles. We visited the Northern Territory Museum which has many aboriginal artefacts and lots of information on local wildlife from the sea and land. There was a huge exhibit with photos and film of Cyclone Tracey and many other interesting things like stories of killer crocs. We had some seafood at the harbour then decided that we would make a push to reach the west coast in the next few weeks as the heat was becoming unbearable. For the past two weeks in the day it always soared well into the forties and at night it was impossible to sleep as the temperature only would drop a couple of degrees and the humidity felt like someone twice your size was sat on your head. We slept with the fan on covering ourselves with soaking tee-shirts. We spent a couple of days travelling through Kakadu, Australia's largest National Park. We stayed in one camp site called Corrobborree Park that had a pool which we stayed in for six hours in the night due to the heat. They also had a couple of pet crocodiles, one 3m freshwater croc and a 5m salt water croc called Brutus. Brutus was a mean looking thing but was kept in a small cage, we did hatch a plan to set him free but nothing materialised. We visited a place north of Jabaru on the Arhnam land border called Ubirr. There was lots of aboriginal rock art in various caves and overhangs some dating back over 40 thousand years. We camped a night in a place called Mary River and whilst preparing dinner the gas bottle lead decided to blast of the cooker spraying gas everywhere then burst into a huge fire ball. Vicki dived into the van and hid and I turned the gas tap until the fireball disappeared only receiving minor burns. We bodged fixed the pipe as our pasta wasn't cooked and finished dinner with the delightful smell of leaking gas and singed hair. We headed out of Kakadu and visited Edith falls. It was still early when we arrived and we had the huge crystal clear lake like waterfall hole to ourselves. We were a bit uncomfortable though due to the signs saying that there are fresh water croc here but they are fine unless you approach them but the occasional salt water croc (the man-eaters) ventures into these waters so swim at you own risk. We then visited Katherine George for another cool off swim and were even more concerned due to the water being murky and there being a huge croc trap on the opposite bank. There was another couple swimming so we went in and just made sure they were always on the out side. After our risky dips we drove back to Katherine where we got our gas bottle fixed. We camped the night here ready for our long journey west. Just as a random subject change you lot are probably wondering or maybe not about our toilet situation as we hardly ever stay in camp sites. Well let me tell you. Please skip several lines if you wish not to know! Well in the wide open country side its easy, just do as the bears do and s*** in the woods but what if you are sleeping in the van in a posh residential area and you get a turtle head poking out. Well taking a s***ty in the city consists of one bucket, one roll of swing bin liners, toilet roll and of course a wet wipe cos as it says in the bible 'thou shalt not skid with a wet one'. We line the bucket with two bin liners then……I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Tie up the bag and dispose of in a doggy poo bag fashion (throw it over the neighbours fence). Anyway enough of the toilet talk. So west wards bound. We had decided to drive for as long as we could and try and hit the west coast as soon as possible as we were sick of the heat. don't get us wrong we love the sun but over forty, day and night is too much. We were aiming for about 36 with a light sea breeze. We got up at 5am and drove all day swapping driving and snoozing duties every couple of hours. We reached the Western Australia border in the afternoon and upon having the van searched we were informed that we couldn't take any of the fruit we had purchased a few hours previously over the invisible line. So we sat on the side of the road on the baking red sand and consumed two grapefruits, five apples, two mangoes, an orange, two pears and an onion. Yum yum the squirts tomorrow, hope we don't have to city s***ty! We continued our drive. The afternoon heat was now at 44 degrees and heading west we had the sun in our faces (It just gets better doesn't it!). Once the sun disappeared we made the most of it and drove all through the night with several close kangaroo and cow splatting moments, (sometimes life just makes you feel in between a rock and a hard place!). We arrived in Broome at 10am in the morning. We had driven for 27 hours non stop, spent hundreds of dollars on fuel and driven 1720km. Sheila was a super star. Her temperature was steady as a rock just below half where it always is. We never really push her, speed wise we cruise at 80kmph, this also saves a heap of fuel. At 80kmph we get 450km per tank and at 110kmph (the speed limit is 130kmph) we only get 300km. On arrival in Broome we were both extremely sleep deprived, hot and sweaty and in need of air con. We booked into a hostel and slept in a cool room with crisp sheets. We slept most of the day and the night venturing down to the bar once to claim our free beer and have a snack. The following morning (6th Nov) we check out of the hostel but went back in and used the wireless internet all day on our lap top. We took a stroll on Cable beach and watched a brilliant red sun set, (our favourite sunset to date). We sat on the sand as small waves lapped at the shore and the sun reflected off a sea as flat a glass. When the sun dipped out of sight far out to sea it sent an explosion of pink and red through the wispy clouds above. It was one of the best sunsets we have ever seen. We then headed into Broome town for a wonder. The place was crawling with drunk Aborigines, huge groups of them sat on the playing fields drinking, others passed out on the pavements. One woman was beating up a man and biting his arm whilst punching him. What a lovely place and race. I do have some understanding why they are like this, they have after all been oppressed, violated and cast out for hundreds of years and now the vast majority have turned to alcohol and drug abuse. In my opinion the indigenous people of Australia were once a very proud and successful race. After all they were here on earth before most of us and have survived in the harshest of conditions. But since European invasion, not through fault of their own, they have turned into an angry, violent, resentful race on a fast track to nowhere. Many times driving in the middle of nowhere we have passed cars with their bonnets up and an Aboriginal woman and a few kids waving down passing cars. We have never stopped as it is very common for passers by to pull over to help, then be high jacked by hiding men. We made a pact to never stop but you still feel a pang of guilt as you drive by leaving these poor sods cooking in the oven. We have seen this same scene many times so either they have really s*** cars or something is suss. Some even resort to lying in the road playing dead but when you drive pass they sit up and curse you. When driving down one street in Broome, three women stepped out in the road and tried to block the path of the van then started shouting abuse. It always seems to be the women that are causing trouble. In all the outback towns we have been in there are always women shouting and fighting. On the way back to the hostel we were driving down a really dark street when there was suddenly an Aboriginal women in the road. We swerved all over the road and only just missed her. She was wearing dark clothes and there was no street lights, we didn't see her until we were right on top of her. We turned around and drove back and she was just wandering down the middle of the road in a daze. We leant out the window and asked if she was ok but she didn't answer she just kept looking at the floor and wandering slowly towards the town in the middle of the dark street. We went back to the hostel and slept in the car park in the van, not before sneaking back in for free showers. In the morning we snuck back in again and used the toilets then helped ourselves to the continental breakfast buffet…. Well we had to get our moneys worth we are on a tight budget you know. The following day we went into Broome town again and looked around the many pearl shops as nearly all Broomes industry is pearl based. Vicki purchased a string of pearls as a bracelet and a silver necklace with a single pearl on it and I bought a pair of black pearl earrings that I chopped up and put the pearls on my beads adding more crap to the ever growing pile that weighs my neck down. We went on a tour at the Pearl Luggers which was very informative. We were told the history of pearl harvesting and how first of all Aboriginal slaves were used to dive with no apparatus then when all the pearl shells were gone from the shallow waters and diving gear was introduced lots of Japanese were employed as well as Aboriginals to dive as it was far to dangerous for white people. (pompous gits). The death rate was over 20% and divers never staged there ascent so limb paralysis was very common or the Benz. As a result of the pain caused from nitrogen in the blood from surfacing to fast doctors prescribed opium to all divers. We were shown the diving gear used and were able to hold the gear to see how heavy it all was. The helmet weighed 30kilos then you had two 35kilo weights around your neck 20kilo boots and a huge rubber suit over two massive thick woollen jumpers, two thick woollen stockings and two pairs of thick woollen socks due to the coldness of the water so you were basically carrying three times your body weight if you were a small Japanese diver. The pearl shells used to be fished mainly for the actual shell to make buttons with and the occasional pearl would be a bonus, but now they are farmed so all shells produce a pearl as they are artificially impregnated and buttons are all now made from plastic so the shell itself isn't that valuable. The guide passed round a pearl that was about the size of an eyeball (not that I've sized up many eyeballs in my palm) and it was worth $100,000. I did think about swallowing it and making a quick dash but the thought of surgical gloves entering an exit only zone snapped me back to reality. At the end of our tour we were given pearl meat to try. Its not the greatest taste, a bit like a scallop but blander and at $120 a kilo you could have smoked salmon, oysters and lobster cheaper. We decided after our tour that we would hit the road again and after consulting our Lonely Planet Bible we decided that Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef would be our next stop. We were hoping that the distance we would travel south coupled with the sea air would drop the temperature a wee bit. It was just over 1000km so we started our usual 80kmph plod, after eight hours we stopped in Port Hedland for a few hours of sleep in a motel car park. Even at 11pm there was heat shimmer on the road as we drove. We then headed on for another ten hours reaching Exmouth in the late afternoon on the 8th of Nov. We plan to stay here for a good few days to just chill out. Read, laze on the beach and spend a lot of time snorkelling Ningaloo Reef.